Cabin Crew.

jamie124

Hello There,
So I have been considering this type of job for quite a while now , I am in my final year in Secondary School and I would love to go on to be an air steward (I'm A Male) - Currently 17 , Will be 18 in March.

Positives:
I like dealing with the public and making them happy.
I enjoy working as part of a team.
I like to believe that I am a nice person.... (Not that this really matters)

Negatives:
I can't swim!!.
I do NOT have any customer service experience.

I would love to work for Aer Lingus I have heard great reports about them rather than Ryanair as I heard the staff aren't treated great but only a rumour I heard.

While training to be Cabin Crew , Are you required to swim with NOTHING to hold on to e.g.- Flotation Device/Lifejacket etc.. , The reason I want to know this is because I can't swim AND in a real life situation of an emergency landing on water for example, I am sure you are going to put your lifejacket on anyways! - Am I wrong? So If they expect you to swim on your own and tread water - what's the point??

Thank you all in advance

athtrasna

jamie124 wrote: »

Hello There,
So I have been considering this type of job for quite a while now , I am in my final year in Secondary School and I would love to go on to be an air steward (I'm A Male) - Currently 17 , Will be 18 in March.

Positives:
I like dealing with the public and making them happy.
I enjoy working as part of a team.
I like to believe that I am a nice person.... (Not that this really matters)

Negatives:
I can't swim!!.
I do NOT have any customer service experience.

I would love to work for Aer Lingus I have heard great reports about them rather than Ryanair as I heard the staff aren't treated great but only a rumour I heard.

While training to be Cabin Crew , Are you required to swim with NOTHING to hold on to e.g.- Flotation Device/Lifejacket etc.. , The reason I want to know this is because I can't swim AND in a real life situation of an emergency landing on water for example, I am sure you are going to put your lifejacket on anyways! - Am I wrong? So If they expect you to swim on your own and tread water - what's the point??

Thank you all in advance

Learn to swim? It's a requirement for the job. If you want the job, meet the requirements?

jamie124

athtrasna wrote: »

Learn to swim? It's a requirement for the job. If you want the job, meet the requirements?

Yes I will learn how to swim , Is it hard?
Thanks for the reply.

martinsvi

jamie124 wrote: »

Yes I will learn how to swim , Is it hard?
Thanks for the reply.

no it's not, especially if you're young and fit. Most people figure out swimming on their own or with a little help of their siblings/parents. If you get proper lessons, I'm sure you can learn to swim over a couple of lessons

smurfjed

Why on earth do you have to know how to swim?

martinsvi

smurfjed wrote: »

Why on earth do you have to know how to swim?

how else are you going to appreciate the layovers at beach destinations?

hytrogen

smurfjed wrote: »

Why on earth do you have to know how to swim?

For when you fly over the big blue wet thing below en-route to Cardiff

smurfjed

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/peoplesdaily/article-3377192/The-runway-skies-1-000-Chinese-high-school-graduates-strike-pose-bikini-chance-trainee-flight-attendants.html

Now I understand the reasons for this type of interview process......

smurfjed

For when you fly over the big blue wet thing below en-route to Cardiff

Thats the reason for having at least TWO engines..... ETOPS, engines turn or passengers swim!

jamie124

smurfjed wrote: »

Why on earth do you have to know how to swim?

Well I know Aer Lingus and Ryanair require you to swim and tread water in case of emergencies e.g. - water landing...
A bit silly I think myself but anyways that's the requirements...

martinsvi

we know from Mr Sully that water ditching can happen and is survivable. ETOPS has nothing to do with it. It would be a shame for all the pilots' hard work getting that plane down into water in one piece only to have your crew drown before they can help pax or get the rafts out. The requirement is to swim for 25 meters, be able to put your life vest on, help someone else and get in the raft. It doesn't require you to be able to get to the shore from 2 miles out or anything, it's a perfectly reasonable requirement

smurfjed

Mr Sully landed in a river!

martinsvi

smurfjed wrote: »

Mr Sully landed in a river!

so? Have you seen the news? Half of Ireland is one huge river

smurfjed

We get to do wet ditching every two years, but unfortunately the pilots are not allowed train with the cabin crew (religious restriction) Getting into a wide body aircraft slide once its in the water is extremely hard, I would really hate to have to try it in tidal conditions, I seriously doubt if half the passengers on an average flight would be able to get into it.

Do most airlines do cockpit/cabin mixed training?

EMS??

eatmyshorts

smurfjed wrote: »

We get to do wet ditching every two years, but unfortunately the pilots are not allowed train with the cabin crew (religious restriction) Getting into a wide body aircraft slide once its in the water is extremely hard, I would really hate to have to try it in tidal conditions, I seriously doubt if half the passengers on an average flight would be able to get into it.

Do most airlines do cockpit/cabin mixed training?

EMS??

Yes, we do it mixed every year.
We only have to actually get into the pool on initial training though. After that, it's only into the raft/slide.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

jamie124 wrote: »

Well I know Aer Lingus and Ryanair require you to swim and tread water in case of emergencies e.g. - water landing...
A bit silly I think myself but anyways that's the requirements...

What would be really silly is surviving an emergency landing on water and then dying because you can't swim...

smurfjed

In case the aircraft has to come down on water.

And what do you expect them to do after that?

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

smurfjed wrote: »

And what do you expect them to do after that?

Swim? What kind of a question is that?

smurfjed

Have you ever tried getting into a slide raft in tidal conditions?

If the goal is to have the FA's capable of helping people, then they should be trained as life guards and not just demonstrate the ability to swim 25 meters!

Tenger

jamie124 wrote: »

Well I know Aer Lingus and Ryanair require you to swim and tread water in case of emergencies e.g. - water landing...
A bit silly I think myself but anyways that's the requirements...

martinsvi wrote: »

........The requirement is to swim for 25 meters, be able to put your life vest on, help someone else and get in the raft. It doesn't require you to be able to get to the shore from 2 miles out or anything, it's a perfectly reasonable requirement

smurfjed wrote: »

Have you ever tried getting into a slide raft in tidal conditions?

If the goal is to have the FA's capable of helping people, then they should be trained as life guards and not just demonstrate the ability to swim 25 meters!

I would be in agreement with that sentiment. I feel that raft training in the water should be biannual (if not yearly) And 25 meters seems a little arbitary.

However, regardless of our personal opinions, this is a requirement for the role, thus every applicant must show that they can meet the requirements.
We had this same query a few months back from a poster who seemed unhappy with the requirement.

(personally I want to be a successful tech start up CEO.....just can't code or invent app's!!)

Strumms

smurfjed wrote: »

And what do you expect them to do after that?

What if an aircraft overshot a runway on landing and went off the airport and into water.. say a river or whatever. In any situation like that or the Hudson or any sort of ditching is it not better that they are trained to swim and therefore be able to assist even if that would be one person or twenty or more... if it increases the chances by any percent at all it's worth it.

drdeadlift

I did a stint as a flight attendant with air atlanta.Before the training i knew i couldnt swim very well.But at the time i had a friend who had the keys to a swimming pool in Dublin,he was an instructer.In one night i learned how to swim answell as drag a person along with me....moral of the story,,its very possible to learn somthing you cant do in a short amount of time..

martinsvi

I think airlines asking their potential candidates to demonstrate they can swim is far more sensible requirement than some of the mathematical reasoning aptitude tests used by certain airlines for their pilot recruitment. I can see how swimming can become handy... being able to calculate 3214355 * 45345 withing 60 second window? Not so much

drdeadlift

martinsvi wrote: »

I think airlines asking their potential candidates to demonstrate they can swim is far more sensible requirement than some of the mathematical reasoning aptitude tests used by certain airlines for their pilot recruitment. I can see how swimming can become handy... being able to calculate 3214355 * 45345 withing 60 second window? Not so much

They want minds that can compute stuff fast,leaves much more time everything alse.You cant blame them for looking for the best-

Tenger

drdeadlift wrote: »

They want minds that can compute stuff fast,leaves much more time everything alse.You cant blame them for looking for the best-

Especially when they have 1000's of applicants for a couple of dozen spots. Some system of winnowing the numbers has to be applied.

martinsvi

I wasn't debunking the idea of mathematical reasoning, I was just highliting that there are much tougher and less practical tests in the industry than swim test

doolox

Look up the Gimli glider to find out why.

martinsvi

doolox wrote: »

Look up the Gimli glider to find out why.

ok I feel like I need to make myself clear because I feel like everyone here starts to think that what I'm saying is - maths are not needed. That's not what I'm saying. There's no doubt maths are important and being able to do mental arithmetics is pretty much a skill used on daily basis.

What I was talking about is mathematical reasoning tests used by some airlines which go beyond most people's capability (unlike swimming). Look them up! I get that airlines want best from the best, I have no issue with that. But the type of problems they want you to solve are not practical as in pilots don't do complex equations on daily basis or in crisis management

_davidsmith_

Cabin crews primary purpose are to be responsible for passenger safety, not just to look pretty and give you tea and sambos (even though if the pilots and engineers are doing their jobs correctly there will be no need for them to exercise their main duties)

They are first aid, disruptive passenger, smoke filled cabin, evacuation and ditching(aircraft on water) trained.

They need to swim because if godforbid the aircraft ditches the people telling you where to go need to not be drowning.

Ex cabin crew current engineer btw.

janes1234

Ewa sonnet

Adeline07

I'm looking to chat with a cabin crew staff of Aer Lingus. Can anyone assist to get in contact with someone?

Thanks