Job Description of a Stewardess

At first glance, the job description of a stewardess seems idyllic. Most girls, especially if they have been on an airliner before, have dreamed about becoming a stewardess at one stage in their life, and who wouldn’t? Traveling the world for a living doesn’t even sound like a job. But flying across the globe is not the only thing they have to do. Stewardesses actually have quite a bit of responsibility.

What are the main duties of a stewardess?

You can only imagine how terrible a flight would be without the friendly assistance of the air hostesses. The job description of a stewardess requires them to ensure that the passengers have a pleasant flight. To ensure this, they need to do the following:

• Behind the scenes and during the flight, they need to maintain the interior cabin. This means that there is a fair amount of cleaning that they have to do.
• During the flight, they need to attend to any seat issues, restock the bathroom supplies and ensure an overall neat environment.
• Before the flight, they need to assist the passengers while they board the plane by showing them to their seats. They also need to assist the elderly and disabled passengers in boarding the plane safely.
• Preparing the passengers for the flight is a crucial part of their job description. They need to ensure that the passengers are aware of emergency protocols and that they are seated and strapped in before take-off.
• During the flight, they need to ensure that the passengers are constantly served with food and beverages.
• To an extent, when troubling situations arise, they need to keep the passengers calm and ensure that no-one goes into a panic.

What are the key skills of a stewardess?

The job description of a stewardess revolves around people, and as such, they are required to have excellent communication skills. When things are going well, their main role is to serve the passengers. However, when things don’t go as smooth as they should, they need to become a bit more authoritative and take charge of a situation to ensure peace on the plane.

Depending on whether you fly locally or internationally, speaking a second language is a great advantage. The hours are long, and a good work ethic is required if you are to make it as a stewardess. The hours are also highly flexible, and stewardesses are often required to work at odd hours in the evenings.

Apart from the skills, being a flight attendant requires a certain height and weight. Planes are not the most spacious vehicles around, and you need be able to navigate some tight spaces. Due to the physical constrains of a plane, stewardesses are usually slim.

What qualifications should a stewardess have?

Each airline is unique and very little formal training is required. However, when you get accepted, you will go on an airline specific training course which typically lasts between 4 and 5 weeks. During this time, you will acquire the skills necessary to fulfill the job description for a stewardess. Your core training will revolve around safety procedures and equipment, first aid, aviation security, and procedures as well as customer service and food preparation.

What salary are we looking at?

The job description of a stewardess is relatively intense, and they are remunerated for their services in kind. The typical salary of flight attendants sits at a median of $72 897. Not bad for a traveling job. The best part about the salary is that you don’t need to spend all that much of it.
When you travel abroad, you generally receive a food and accommodation allowance which is not included in your salary. Generally, this means that your traveling expenses are kept to a minimum.

In terms of promotion, there is quite a bit of scope. Initially, new stewardesses are on reserve status, which means that they only fill in when hands are short. They don’t really have a say as to when they would like to fly. After a year or so, they get promoted to senior attendants, and if they perform well enough, they could get promoted to management. With each promotion also comes a salary increase.

If you think you have what it takes to fulfill the job description of a stewardess, you are in for some long, yet extremely satisfying hours.