A Day in the Life of a Flight Attendant

"A Day in the Life of a Flight Attendant", when I remember my amazing experience as Cabin Crew or Cabin Director i have a big smile on my face, now it has been three years ago that I left my beautiful Job and still I remember all the details tattooed on my heart and soul, I have been flying for more than 13 years and still remember my first flight to MADRAS Code WY MAA now its name is CHENNAI a morning flight to DELHI Code WY DEL, these tiny details I remember them.

Now let’s talk about behind the scenes routine of a Cabin Crew or some of people prefer to call a Flight Attendant.

To start, there is a morning, evening or a night flight, most of the crew prefer the evening flight, they have time to sleep and rest, for me I like a Night Flight.

I will explain some details which are routines for the crew and some others I prefer not to share which are private information about my previous company that I still respect even if I'm not on board with them.

On Ground:

First Part: Showering, get ready with full uniform makeup on, for, boys I feel sorry for them cause they have to shave every day!

Second Part: Going to the office for briefing, we sign in, check emails and, messages, review the latest updates, and check the schedule, who is the crew you are flying with? your cockpit crew as well, where is your briefing room? And give your documents to be checked by the briefing officers.

Third part: Coming to your briefing, the Cabin director checks once again your documents: passport, visa, license card, …., and asks each crew 3 questions sometimes more to make sure they are aware of the latest updates, safety, security, and services onboard in this sector. Later captain will join to give flight details and meet the crew flying with.

Fourth part: Leaving for the airport, going through security, and signing the GD ( general declaration) by airport police.

Fifth part: Reaching the aircraft, security checks the aircraft, checking the equipment, the cleaning, the catering, our grooming then, waiting for boarding, for CD checking documents, and final load with the ground staff and START BOARDING.

During Boarding:

I think everyone knows in this part the boarding, BUT what you don't know is that every minute is very important for us, the total time from boarding till departure is between 45 min to 60 min , there is a boarding time, a preflight service time, demonstraon video time, security time, going to our station for take-off time, every minute is considered, to not make a delay, because if it happened:

- Passengers will get angry, especially on the connected flight.

- The captain will have to refuel the aircraft, more costly for the company.

- if more than 2 minutes delay the Captain and CD must write a clarification report for the Company.

- If we have to reopen the door another report has to be done. (reopening door )

- Now we talk about the delay reasons: if anything regarding passengers in general Director is in trouble and will be called by his manager for an explanation, if it's regarding Safety and Security reasons, the passengers may be offloaded, and because all the airlines agree that the most important is The safety and Security of the passengers, the crew, and the airline no one will be blamed at all.

I remember, I was supposed to have a nice short flight which was DUBAI, intra golf sector just 45 minutes the flight time, but we were almost on the ground maybe one hour plus, just cause one passenger offloaded himself, and the ground staff had to offload all the luggage to find his suitcase and load them again, it was a full flight so just imagine the scene exactly catastrophic.

During the cruise:

The flight is the time for the passengers to relax and enjoy the service, whether it's a short flight or a long flight, but still we need to be aware all the times, things may happen, and all the crew must be conscious of it, for example that we have to notice any irregular things, passengers a little bit intoxicated ( drunk ), misbehavior, and passengers with cigarettes in the lavatories which are more comments.

I remember clearly when I was a junior crew maybe just six months flying, working in economy class everything was normal we were doing the service some were in the cabin and others in the galley of the cabin, suddenly without any expectations, the aircraft dropped down into the air for a few seconds, it was an air pocket which is a certain kind of turbulence, I was terrified like most people, everything was flying in the air, upside down, that time i was in the galley I hurt my head badly in the ceiling I felt like a butterfly in the air then suddenly a huge shock crushed me.

It was unexpected at that time, but in most of the cases that I mentioned above, we can expect them by being aware.

Top of descent:

It is the time to clean the cabin and secure it, and the time that most passengers want to go to the lavatories, you see the queue, you may noticed this. At this time the Captain is just waiting for CD the Message: CABIN SECURED. The rest is not important for him cause if there is any emergency, will be landing, so if fire or medical emergency the crew will fight it even landing “They are trained how to stand and secure themselves at the same time” If passengers are standing and the captain announces Crew at Station No one must Stand for any reason.

After landing:

After disembarkation of the passengers it is the time for a security check of the cabin, any left behind things, the crew gets ready full in uniform going to the office for sign-off and debriefing.

The Cabin Director must write and submit the report of the flight, and that's all.