Why start as a flight attendant 🤷🏼‍♂️?

As many of you know, aviation is my passion, my obsession, my piece de resistance. I would like to say my path has been straight and narrow and that all of my decisions have been expeditious. But, then you wouldn’t get to know the real me. I am a person that needs to experience something before I can speak to it. I need to be able to wrap my head around variables before I can truly excel at something. If I was going to seriously get into aviation, I wanted to make sure I could handle the lifestyle.

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” – Art Turock

Being a flight attendant, was a foundational step in my aviation career. There were three critical lessons I had to learn about myself before I could be the best aviator possible.

1. Can I handle the schedule?
2. Am I resilient enough to face adversity?
3. What healthy releases do I have?

At the time, I didn’t know these were the answers I was looking for, but each proved to be common themes that boiled to the top at each defining moment.

Handling the Schedule

I will preface this, no one goes into aviation because they hear the scheduling is amazing. People were lured by tales of 36 hour layovers in Rome and last minute trips to Paris, but the reality is a short notice 3-3 with a 30 hour in Tulsa.

The primary difference between air people and ground people is the type of tree they resemble. Ground people often resemble an Oak Tree, deeply rooted in routine, big networks, and some flexibility. Air people more closely resemble a palm tree, flexible, strong, and resilient.

As a flight attendant, being open and flexible made the job so much more rewarding. Having expectations and wanting a “normal” schedule will ruin the job for you. If you always see it as “scheduling is out to get me,” your time will be miserable. I saw a call from scheduling as an opportunity to see places I never would have taken myself.

The biggest variable in scheduling was sleep and energy management. Scheduling can call you at any hour of the day if you are on reserve, which can drive you crazy until you learn to embrace whatever schedule you get yourself on, and learn how to use the airlines tools to preference schedules to the best of your ability. It pays big dividends to know AM/PM preferences, when trips typically call out, and how to self manage your schedule to best be rested for your adventures.

Resiliency to face Adversity

If there is one thing aircrew must be, it is resilient. There are so many things out of your control that you’re held responsible for. Most of the confrontations that you’ll face will require you to rely on patience, understanding, and compassion.

1. Patience: one specific situation comes to mind when I think of this every time. I was working from Dallas to Los Angeles, and we were delayed initially due to weather and then a quick maintenance fix. A family in the exit row decided to let me know I was personally ruining their family vacation to Australia because of the delays. I apologized to the best of my ability, and we were on our way, when we landed only 30 minutes late because our pilots took a few shortcuts, I smiled through my teeth and wished them the best on their family vacation to Australia.
2. Understanding: a big lesson here, that took a while for me to get, is that passengers were frustrated with the situation, not you. If you can still be exactly who you are while people are distressed and lashing out, you build a certain strength in your step. If you know it’s not something you are doing, and you can provide a smile and service, you have the ability to turn someones day around.
3. Compassion: many people misuse this word. Some people think it means being a doormat and letting another person get away with anything because they’re experiencing something. By definition it is recognizing the suffering of someone else, and doing something to fix it. As flight crew there is little we can do to circumvent weather, or maintenance, but we can provide an ear to talk to and a stiff drink to make the best of a crappy situation. We also usually have a knack for travel, so sharing what you would do in this situation often times helps passengers out.

Have Healthy Releases

Lastly, to deal with all of the madness of what I’ve described above, you have to have healthy ways to relieve stress. For myself, I have several things I enjoy doing. While being aircrew is definitely an extroverts job, I am a big ole introvert. I love grabbing my guitar or sitting down at the piano “to forget about life for awhile,” as Billy Joel puts it. Additionally, I have a love hate relationship with running and the gym, but more often than not, the endorphins are worth the hate. I’ll save you the long winded examples for now, but stay tuned for healthy release techniques and funny stories!

When it’s something you are passionate about, and it’s something you love, like aviation for me, even the longest worst days are better than the best days at a job you hate. Now that I am beyond my flight attendant days, and am on the other side of the door, I am thankful for the time I invested, making sure I could handle the lifestyle, and building healthy habits to combat stress and fatigue. So if you are thinking about doing something big, find out if there is a way to get your toes wet, build a framework for when you do go big, you’ll ensure your success, because the little things will no longer trip you up.

A good starting point is to ask yourself, can you handle the schedule? And not just thinking about the hours at work, but the time you’ll have to invest to master your craft. Second, ask yourself do I have the reliance to handle adversity? It’s ok if you don’t yet, just be a palm tree! Flexible in the wind but don’t break. Lastly, ask yourself do I have at least one healthy release I can always rely on. In tough times it’s important to know you have that pressure relief valve.

Every moment is an opportunity to learn something, to grow, and to start believing you can do anything. I highly encourage you to start being your biggest fan! Stop cutting yourself down, and focus on building yourself up. Have the audacity to do it for, you!