Becoming a flight attendant: 'The biggest culture shock of my life'

From sunbaking on a tropical beach one day to exploring the streets of a new city the next, if you follow any flight attendant on social media you’ll likely to get the impression that they are living the life of luxury.

With free flights, free accommodation and snazzy uniforms, it’s easy to see why many people are drawn to this high-flying lifestyle of not knowing where they’ll find themselves next.

For Hannah in the US, becoming a flight attendant had always been ‘the dream job’ but little did she know it would become one of the most physically and emotionally challenging things she would ever do.

“‘Flight attendant life’ is often seen as very glamorous but a lot of the time it’s just the opposite,” she tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

“It was probably the biggest culture shock of my life.”

Gone were the days of healthy routines, living at home and having a decent paycheck, as Hannah claims all new recruits are trained to become, “flexible ‘palm trees’, always going with the flow”.

“Physically, being in an aeroplane all the time is taxing on your body. I found myself needing to sleep more but not having the time to… I had to get used to constantly being on the go” Hannah says.

Not only that, but the work schedules for first-time flight attendants are “all over the place” and the idea of having ‘usual routes’ just doesn’t exist.

In reality, crew members will be expected to be ‘on call’ for days at a time completing one to four flights a day with very little notice.

“I wait for a phone call to tell me where I will be going. Once we get that call we have as little as two hours to get to the airport!” Hannah admits.

“A lot of times we don’t even get off the plane between flights,” she added.

And can you imagine trying to deal with difficult customers all the while being exhausted and not knowing when you’re next break will be? Honestly, we have to take our hats off to them.

As for the perks, yes it is true that flight attendants are granted free flights but according to Hannah, it’s not as simple as ‘flying for free’ whenever they see please.

“We fly standby, which means we only get on a flight if there are empty seats. Most planes nowadays do not have empty seats! So once again, we have to get used to being flexible, planning ahead for the unknown, and being open to plan B or C,” she explained.

She also added that while it is possible, it’s pretty rare that they will be granted accommodation in luxury resorts or hotels. Instead, Hannah often finds herself staying at airport hotels.

However, as chaotic as her life has become, Hannah admits that she can’t complain about her job, as at the end of the day, “The pros outweigh these hard parts” and as she climbs the ranks the “job only gets better in time.”

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