Is not all a fairytale:

Being Cabin Crew is not all about glamour. We all know the easy advantages of the job: traveling, living in very good furnished apartments in mayor Capitals´, getting to know new places all around the world, sightseeing, enjoying exotic beaches and staying for free in amazing Hotels. That´s the easy part; the part that we tend to show and reflect most of the times that someone ask us about our jobs. But there is the other side which one doesn´t frequently hear.

When you attend an Open Day or Assessment from a Middle East carrier they will show you a small 15 minutes video which crew testimonials about the company, the positive sides and the negative ones. They only mention very phew negative points: the job is very physical, it´s hectic and that it´s a very demanding career. But there is much more than that:

1) Forget your legs, your nails and menstrual period: when you work in a constant environment were its ambience is pressurized and unpressurized your legs may develop something called Deep Vein Thrombosis even if you wear a special stocking to prevent it. If you had cellulites you will have more and is very common to live with swollen feet. Also, due to the fact that you´ll be working in something called galley (the tiny kitchen of the plane) your nails will disappear as you will have to move and down preparing trolleys, open and close compartments, prepare food trays. Due to this I have fake nails and I need to do maintenance every 5 days or else bye bye nails. Finally you can say goodbye and not for good to your menstrual period. As a direct consequence that you fly in different time zones your body will not understand what is going on and you won´t have time to re adjust to the time zones difference from one country to the other. Is very common to have your menstrual period twice a month and in the next you don´t have it. You must take into consideration that depending in the country that you´ll be working you may or may not take certain contraceptive pills from certain brand or with certain pharmacological strand. Many countries around the world ban certain medication that is allowed in other parts of the world. And all of these 3 points may happen to you even if you take plenty of water, have a pleasant sleep and work out.

2) Sleep privation: one of the ironic things that I remember about the corporate video that I told you about is the fact that a crew said: "I eat when I feel I have to eat and sleep when I feel I have to sleep". Well, that is not entirely true. As I mentioned before you live on something called roster (that is the flight plan dynamics that you´ll have each month – the flying agenda of where to go and if you have a layover or stopover). Because you´ll be travelling between different Continents each month, you may have an Australia and then a United States, the time zone difference between them is extremely big. Even if you rest (depending on the carrier) 4 hours in the plane, if the journey is an extra long haul one, you´ll arrive tired and totally jet lagged. Even if you slept the whole day in Australia and went to the gym, the time zone change is so sudden that you may not adapt to it. Is very common to start wearing glasses after a while because you will feel your eyes tired and due to the fact that you may develop sleep privation your mood may be not the best even if you try to mantain positive.

3) Fake oxygen: up in the sky at 10.000 feet you breathe recycled fake oxygen and that may not be good for some. Many Crew develop though out their career year’s shortness of breath and in some cases asthma.

4) Homosexuality: it will depend in the country that you´ll be working and in the airline. In some regions of the world in not acceptable to be gay and that is it. That also apply for the airline. So if you are gay, you may find a lot of homophobia between Crew even so that 80 % of Crew may be homosexual and there is nothing you can do about it.

5) Passengers and human resources: depending in the carrier that you´ll be working HR will help you or not. Another fact is Nationalization. HR will tend to provide priority to Nationals and in a case of report (fake or not – because sometimes there are fake reports about the conduct and attitude of another Crew), they will give priority and will tend to believe in what the National said about the other Crew even if he / she is not right or accurate about his / her story. Also, that happens if you want to swap destinations or for your roster. In other cases Human Resources will make you a report if you report first a passenger for bad conduct as they tend to protect passengers and not staff. So whatever happens is better to shut up about what happened in mid air and just let it go, or else you´ll loose your flight pay and loose a lot of time in ground making the report that will take you no where. Remember that your behavior is always monitored: up in sky, in the destination that you are or even if you are back in your HQ (headquarter).

6) If you quit you pay: many working contracts from many airlines says that if you quit before 6 months you´ll have to pay them back everything that they invested in you: airplane ticket – training – clothe – living allowance – transportation – uniform – make up. So if you quit is not for free.

7) BMI: if your body mass index becomes an unhealthy one they kindly ask you to lose weight or gain weight. You need to be physically fit to fly.

8) Trade Union: depending in the airline and country that you´ll be working you may have or not a trade union. Some trade unions facilitate the work of the employee and protect him / her against certain things; in others´ it´s just a big discount in your wage; and in others trade unions doesn´t exist by law.

9) Social life and love life: yes, you´ll meet people from all around the world. Different nationalities, credence, ethnicities and ways of life. But when it comes to social life it will diminish from the one that you´ll be used to. First of all you´ll be tired to go out and hang out with your friends. If you have the energy to hang out with them (that most likely they will be Crew, even if you live and work in the same country that you were raised) you´ll be chilled with them. You may start having lot´s of acquaintances worldwide but less time for true friendships and yes you may go clubbing and whatsoever, but your social life will change. For some is for good and for others it´s not. Another fact is love life. As you´ll be living in a roster it becomes very difficult to build up a relationship. This happens because your life will work in another sort of routine that tends to clash against the basic rules of relationship. It is true that each couple construct their own rules and ways to be, but it takes a lot of patience, time and will to let that happen. That´s is why Crew tends to date people from the same Industry.

So if you want to work as Crew take your time to find out what is it really about. Take your time to ask questions to current staff of the airline and search for what happens behind the scene.

This job is tough and it requires a lot of energy (mentally and physical) and not all are built for it. Many want it as a dream and live in a fantasy about what the job is about. But once reality checks' in the fantasy crumbles and in some cases they are far away from home to seek shelter. If you want to work in the industry that is perfect but be real about it and search and understand what does it mean to be the product that you are going to become.

(I don´t own the above picture)