“He just completely turned on me on the flight home. I saw a completely different side.”

“Oh there’s a few of those around lately I’ve found!”

Workplaces often necessitate the need to bite your tongue, hold your breath and work together like happy little children. Cabin crew are known for their people and interpersonal skills, and being able to get along with everyone, including a diverse range of cultural backgrounds is essential for success in the job. 

As crew, our relationships and our reputation with our colleagues are all we have. Working with so many different people, being away from home, and all working in close contact and proximity means you need to form bonds quickly. But with so many different personalities, opinions, and some of them quite strong ones, it’s inevitable that clashes occur. Most of the time it’s not an issue, but now and then people flip. Turn. Snap. Whatever you want to call it, when it happens it’s not pretty.

Quite often I work with people that may not be my cup of tea – and its almost always completely no issue, but there was this one time where I completely lost my shit, and regretted it pretty much immediately after. Let this be a lesson in what NOT to do. 

“Look after yourself honey, I know you’re young and keen but flying is not like other jobs. There really is a limit to how many hours you can do before it takes its toll”

One of the best about being a flight attendant is working with such a diverse group of fellow crew members of all different ages. Being a relatively new crew member (at least in the scheme of things) where there are several senior cabin crew that have flown for at least 30 years, there are many valuable lessons I’ve learned from the flights that have flown before me. While some may dismiss ‘seniors’ this is unfortunate. Just like an experienced captain, in the event of an emergency, they are often the ones you’d want operating your flight.

They’ve also seen so many situations on board before and have learned the hard way – and the best way – how to confront all that the job throws at us. Here’s some of the best pearls of wisdoms I’ve learned from those that were flying when I was still learning to walk and talk. 

“She was late to the briefing and all the other positions had been chosen. You should have seen her face when all that was left was business galley. It was gold”

Premium Economy, Business Class, Doors 5, Galley, Upper Deck – there’s at least one flight attendant to man every door on a plane. The door that the flight attendant’s sits next to also dictates where they will work on the aircraft. This work position also will include any responsibilities unique to that position (e.g. assisting with front door boarding) and what class they will work in. i.e. Business class, first class, premium economy and economy.