Hello fellow Steemians!
In my previous post, I shared about the dark sides of being a cabin crew. So today I thought of lighting up the mood from all the negativity and share with you all the perks we benefit from being a cabin crew! After all the drama on board I think we all deserve a little treat ;) So here goes;
Why is a flight attendant career so desirable? Isn’t it low pay and long hours away from home? It definitely takes a special person who can handle the job, one who enjoys flying, is independent and can handle many different, unique situations.
There are great benefits to become a flight attendant. One of the biggest reasons that people become or dream about becoming flight attendants are the flight benefits. From being able to enjoy flexible hours to meeting interesting people, here a few other benefits that will surely convince you to become a cabin crew!
Travel perks
Your job offers you the opportunity to fly to places across the country and around the world. It offers a great way for you to scratch some places of your bucket list. You’ve probably heard flight attendants complaining that non-reving or “stand by” travel isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It is not true. The flight attendant lifestyle is a flexible one, which allows you to travel anytime you want. And, it’s not just for themselves. Their parents, spouse or partner, children and sometimes friends also have their benefits. You can get your holidays for a cheap price as most airlines offer to their workers discounted or free tickets, and in many places you can get great deals just because you are a cabin crew. We also get great deals at hotels, shops and clubs! P/S: there's always a downside to this but since this post is about the perks I will not highlight it :)
Flexible Work Schedules
The great thing about the aviation industry is that it’s highly regulated. The crews at every aircraft abide by a set of minimum and maximum hours monthly. We all know that transporting people is a crucial job that requires utmost safety so it only follows that the crew isn’t overworked to the point of fatigue.
According to the Association of Flight Attendants , flight attendants can work anywhere from 65 hours to 95 hours a month. Despite the fact that the hours for pre and post-flight preparations aren’t included in a flight attendant’s pay, your total hours worked per month would be far from the 160 hours entailed by typical office jobs. Nonetheless, You will still have a lot of free time (however you will often need to stay at home as you will be on standby, but it's still good if you are studying).
Health Insurance and Retirement Plans
Most major airline carriers provide comprehensive health care coverage for flight attendants employed in a full-time capacity. This typically includes vision and dental insurance, and may also include coverage for qualified dependents. Most major airlines also offer a retirement savings plan for flight attendants, such as a 401(k) or a profit-sharing program.
Meet new people
If you are a socialite, being a flight attendant is the perfect job for you. Not only will you have the chance to meet the thousands of people on your flights,you can meet locals in various destinations around the globe. There aren’t too many jobs out there that provide the opportunity to meet a good deal of interesting people. From VIPs to athletes and celebrities as well as normal, cool people, there’s something fascinating that you can learn from almost everyone you meet during flights. Although not everyone you’ll meet will be good, but the ones who do will keep you believing in the inherent kindness of humanity. You get to experience different cultures, and even pick up many words from different languages.
You have instant family
That means more than 90,000 family members world wide! And with social media we’re even closer. If you belong to a some flight attendant group on Facebook you might see flight attendants pull together and raise money for injured or sick flight attendant or to be a witness of an unbelievable amount of support with family issues and work issues. You may even seen flight attendants pull together to rescue animals by raising money for vet costs and helping get them to new homes across the country.
Avoiding politics at the working area
Unlike working in the office/ ground jobs. As a cabin crew, You don't work with the same people/cabin crew/pilots every day. So if you dislike someone you can always avoid them sometimes for months or years! Misunderstandings happen and sometimes they just don't resolve. When you don't click you just don't! The great thing is, in any case we get rostered with a person we dislike, fret not! we get to do this thing called a "mutual swap". We look for someone else who is willing to fly to that particular destination and just swap! Easy peasy!
Broaden horizons!
One of the greatest advantage of being a cabin crew is, that you get to see new places. It is a bit like a free short holiday. And they even pay you for that! Now not many jobs can beat that. Yeah, Yeah we only get like 24hours stay sometimes but I won't complain. Who get's a chance to eat breakfast in Japan, Lunch in Singapore and Dinner in Australia in a day? I know I can. Besides that, no matter how tired we are, some crews like me still pushes our selfs to go out and do a little bit of sight seeing. Have a stroll around town then get our sleep. We still get to experience the local culture and see so many new things that not many have the chance to!
Lastly,
We save a lot especially when the airlines you work for provides you with accommodation, transportation and attire! You do not have to worry about what you are going to wear for work, you will have a uniform! Luggages, handbags and shoes are also provided. Some airlines even pay for your accommodation and transportation, so you can spend your salary on whatever you want (clothes, clothes, makeup, clothes). In some airlines, they even get paid allowances during layovers, that bag of cash they received could be spent! If there's extra you can even keep it! This really helps us save a lot! But then again, I would like to stress that not all airlines cover all of these benefits. So do your research before joining any airline!
Thanks for reading and see you soon!