Being a flight attendant is possibly one of the dream jobs that are out there. You literally get paid to travel. What you must do is take care of some people during the flight till you reach a destination and then move on to the next one. Most of you aspirants probably already know how to become a flight attendant. But do you know the education requirements of one? Broadly speaking, the education requirements aren’t that much. However, there are a lot of other criteria that a person needs to meet to become a flight attendant. Let’s check these out –
Education Requirements
The minimum education requirement that a flight attendant needs is a high school degree. This is one career where further education may not be of much help to get an edge over the others. A degree in hotel management or communication might be an exception to this rule. However, you may like to keep a degree in hand since being an air hostess or host doesn’t pay all that much. Thus, many people keep supplementary jobs to make up for this.
Age Requirements
Typically, all airlines hire people from the age group of 18-60 years. However, this is just a guideline. They will usually go for someone who is about 21. This would mean that they would be a bit more mature compared to an 18-year-old and can handle the pressures of the job well. They would also have earned a bachelor’s degree.
Communication Ability
Every aspiring flight attendant needs to have amazing communication skills. It helps to know more languages as you can then easily understand and service the passengers better. You will need to know how to speak, write, read and understand a language if you are going to list it as one of the languages you can use. The degree in hotel management or communications also in handy. Some airlines prefer if the candidate has some previous work experience in some front desk job like a receptionist or a concierge. Any job that keeps one in touch with the customer and teaches them how to handle various kinds of people will be a good experience for this career.
Physical Requirements
One of the most important things that the aviation service industry looks at is the physical appearance of a person. It is a common misconception that only pretty or handsome people get hired. Let us look at some of the physical requirements that are expected of future air hosts and hostesses.
- Grooming – As mentioned earlier, the looks of the person don’t matter as such. But appearance does. Every person should be able to groom himself or herself properly to look appealing to the passengers. Even though most of these things are usually taught in the crash course before you are hired, it helps to know these things. If you do not try to groom yourself, the customer won’t try to buy a ticket with your airlines next time.
- Height – Airlines generally hire people with a height of about 5 to 6 feet. There is some logical reason behind this. They want the cabin crew to be able to reach the overhead baggage compartments, without hitting their heads while doing so. Thus, depending on the airplane and the airlines, there might be a height restriction imposed.
- Weight – There is no restriction to weight as such. However, in the interest of looking appealing, they prefer it if you have a good BMI score. That means that your weight must be proportionate to your height.
- Medical – You must have a good eyesight or anything that can be corrected with lenses or glasses. This is an extremely important safety measure. You also must have all your five sense intact and functioning properly – sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste. You will need to be relatively fit in case anything unfortunate happens and you need to help with an evacuation. It goes without saying that you cannot have any diseases related to height, air sickness or pressure differences.
Legal requirements
All candidates need to be a citizen of the country they are trying to get their license in. They cannot be a convicted felon or have gotten a DUI ticket within the last 10 years. An FBI background check may be performed on you. You also need to have a valid passport and a social security number. You must also not be associated with any cases of drug abuse or distribution.
Being a flight attendant is one of the most taxing jobs out there. It becomes quite hard with all the relocating that comes with it. Thus, all this vetting is done to see if you are fit to be on board looking after others. Now that you know the education requirements, all you need to do is cross-check them with yourself and apply. Remember, the sky is the limit!