D o you want to be a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines? If so, “this could be your chance as Delta is accepting applications over the next few days for the position of Flight Attendant”, wrote The Weekly Flyer in this article posted at the Points, Miles & Martinis weblog. “The interviews will start in September to fill 8-week paid training classes in Atlanta starting in January 2015.”
…but you better know what you are getting yourself into. Sure, the obvious love for travel certainly is important — and I am sure you would not be visiting BoardingArea if you did not enjoy traveling.
However, it is not just about working long hours, nights, weekends and holidays, commuting, and being junior — nor is it just about how your home life will be difficult and your personal life will suffer. You must enjoy interacting with people as a representative of Delta Air Lines — and you must do just about anything for the job.
That last statement is certainly true. Delta Air Lines offers a course known as Road Warrior Training, which cost $300.00 for the day depending on content, if I recall correctly — and I have been through variations of that training several times. In fact — whenever I travel — I always alert the members of the flight crew that I am what is known as an “able-bodied traveler” who can assist them in the unlikely event of an emergency situation.
The part of the job you see flight attendants perform is a mere fraction of what they do and what they need to know. There is a reason why being trained as a flight attendant takes eight weeks — and that reason is that you better know what you are doing when performing the duties as an official flight attendant.
In addition to greeting customers, placing announcements aboard the aircraft, ensuring that bags are stowed properly, and serving food and beverages in the proper manner — it is not as easy as you might think — you must also know what to do in the unlikely event of an emergency.
Here are photographs from a Road Warrior Training session, which gives attendees a mere microcosm of the training through which a flight attendant must endure: