What are cabin crew jobs? How to become an air hostess in India? Learn all about cabin crew jobs for freshers and how to get an air hostess job in India.
Despite the fact that the travel industry was severely impacted by the pandemic, with international flights affected the most, many young women in India are still interested in an air hostess job.
The reason for this is not a mystery as an airline career has always been thought of as a glamourous job for women since the time of early commercial flights when they were called airline stewardesses.
According to CNBC, if you’re in the leisure, hospitality or another service industry, you’ll likely have a much easier time finding a job as there are too many job applicants for remote work opportunities.
However, while a cabin crew job seems attractive and exciting, it’s not all fun and glamour. You will need a lot of effort, dedication, hard work, and professionalism to succeed in your aviation career.
You can join the Glow & Lovely Career community and get free online career guidance from career coaches and professionals to help you find career opportunities.
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What is cabin crew?
The term ‘cabin crew’ is used to refer to the airline staff in charge of managing the area from the aeroplane’s cockpit door to the rear kitchen area.
While the gender-neutral term is flight attendants, male flight attendants are called hosts and female cabin crew members are known as hostesses. The main air hostess work designated to the airline cabin crew is carrying out the pilot and co-pilot’s instructions in the area outside the cockpit.
A cabin crew member job description includes greeting passengers as they board the aircraft, directing them to their seats and ensuring hand luggage is securely stowed. Flight attendants must also ensure that passengers are aware of safety procedures and demonstrate how to use emergency equipment.
Is an air hostess job safe?
Movies like Neerja, which told the story of the courageous air hostess, Neerja Bhanot, who sacrificed her life while protecting the lives of 359 passengers on the Pan Am flight 73 in 1986, have shown us that being a flight attendant is not without its share of danger and heroism.
Before you start working as a flight attendant, you’ll be given proper training in first aid, and in handing and rescuing passengers during an air disaster or a fire, but you’ll always be expected to put their lives before yours.
Air hostess jobs are also one of the high-risk jobs as far as pandemics are concerned since aviation workers and cabin crew travel across borders and are very likely to be the first ones exposed to new outbreaks while coming in contact with passengers.
However, vaccines are now essential for air travel and the fabulous benefits and perks of airline jobs do make up for these risks. So if you want to be a flight attendant, this is probably the best time to start looking for aviation job opportunities.
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Is an air hostess job good for women in India?
Many women seem to think so. The ability to fly across the world and visit exotic places is often seen as an escape by young Indian women brought up in a traditional setting. You also get to wear stylish uniforms and meet interesting and influential people on the job.
As an Indian air hostess, you are part of the cabin crew that gets to fly free to new cities, countries or exotic locations, and enjoys complimentary stay and benefits given to a cabin crew member anywhere in the world.
The opportunity to get paid to travel across different time and cultural zones as an airline hostess and meet new and interesting people along the way is definitely exciting for a young woman looking to expand her horizons.
Some perks of an air hostess job include free travel and hotel stay, free food (yes, it’s airline food, but the cabin crew gets the same food given to First Class passengers), and flexible work timings.
In addition, you’re entitled to get airline crew discounts at hotels, restaurants, car rentals and shops all over the world. In fact, cabin crew jobs will let you explore the world on a budget in ways that most people would never be able to afford.
As an air hostess, you’ll earn an excellent salary that will help you upgrade your lifestyle, become financially independent, build your confidence and self-esteem. Travelling to new places will expand your mind and make you more resilient, resourceful, flexible, and open to new cultures and experiences.
Another advantage of cabin crew jobs is that you don’t have to be highly educated to get an air hostess job, as the minimum qualification required is a 12th standard certificate in any stream from a recognized board and a valid Indian passport.
However, if you want to get a graduate degree before opting for flight attendant careers, you should choose to do a Bachelor’s degree or Diploma in Hotel Management, Travel & Tourism, Hospitality Management or any related subject.
Flight attendant careers are perfect for unmarried Indian women from 18 to 26 years of age who are eager to see the world and meet new people. Many Indian women who would like to avoid traditional arranged marriages hope to meet their future partners on the job.
However, women who work as Indian air hostesses do not recommend aviation careers to those who intend to get married and have kids soon, especially if travelling and leaving your family for days at a time is not the life that you would choose for your kids.
A cabin crew job can also take a toll on your health because of working across time zones, jet lag, lack of sleep and rest, eating unhealthy food on the move, and not being able to take time off on weekends or to spend time with loved ones. Dealing with rude, obnoxious passengers can also affect your mental well-being.
What are the duties of a flight attendant or air hostess job?
Despite the seeming glamour and perks, the duties of a flight attendant or an air hostess job come with a lot of hard, physical labour, like serving meals, ensuring the comfort and safety of the passengers, and cleaning up after messy kids and sick people.
Besides being physically fit, good-looking, presentable, and meeting the height and weight requirements, it helps to have a pleasing personality with a caring attitude and the stamina to work long hours.
Having English language proficiency with perfect spoken English skills, proper diction and an accent that can be understood clearly is an essential job skill for a flight attendant or any cabin crew member.
Since you’re responsible for communicating clearly with passengers from many different states and countries, being proficient in local Indian languages or foreign languages is also an advantage.
What is the cabin crew salary in India?
So how much does an air hostess get paid in India? Based on salaries submitted anonymously to Glassdoor by cabin crew members, the average air hostess salary in India is ₹35,854 per month, but it can vary widely.
For example, an Indigo air hostess gets an average of ₹37,730, and while domestic flight attendant salaries in India can go up to ₹41,922 per month, an international flight attendant can earn ₹70,000 or more.
As far as starting salaries in India go, especially for undergraduate jobs, this puts the salary of an air hostess in India at the top of the pile.
How to become an air hostess in India
Are you convinced that you want to apply for cabin crew jobs? Then read on to learn how to become an air hostess in India.
The good thing about choosing to be an air hostess as a career option is that you can start a career in aviation after 12th, and don’t have to spend a fortune on aviation courses after 12th or air hostess courses to get a flight attendant job.
The recruiting airline will provide all the air hostess training you need in their cabin crew training institute, once you pass the personal interview stage and are selected for the air hostess job.
However, you can do an aviation and hospitality management course, such as a BSc in airlines tourism and hospitality management, if you want to get a degree.
Air hostess training topics
Some of the airline courses and subjects you will study during this air hostess training include:
- Aviation knowledge
- Good personal grooming
- Communication skills
- Interpersonal skills
- Swimming skills
- First aid skills
- CRS training
- Hospitality services
- Foreign languages
- In-flight services
- Aviation rules and regulations
What air hostess qualifications do I need?
What cabin crew qualifications do you need to become a cabin crew member? Can you become an air hostess without training? Here is a list of flight attendant qualifications required for becoming a flight attendant.
Basic air hostess qualifications
For domestic Indian airlines, the basic air hostess qualifications are a 12th standard certificate and an Indian passport.
You must be mentally and physically fit and pass a complete medical test as mandated by the airline. You must not wear spectacles (lenses are permitted) and must not have any visible tattoos, marks, or scars on your body.
International air hostess jobs may have different cabin crew recruitment criteria. So which are the best international airlines for cabin crew jobs? According to YouTuber Sugandha Sharma, Middle-Eastern airlines only hire Indian air hostesses over 21 years of age.
So if you found a cabin crew job after 12th with a domestic airline, you would have to work as an air hostess for a few years before you would be able to apply for Qatar Airways cabin crew jobs, Etihad cabin crew jobs, or Emirates air hostess jobs.
Indian air hostesses can apply for British Airways cabin crew and Air Canada cabin crew jobs after 12th class, but Singapore Airlines careers require a graduate degree.
Good interpersonal skills
Airlines look for candidates who love to travel, have a warm pleasing personality, a beautiful smile, are easily approachable, and have excellent communication skills.
You can find free online courses in India to help you develop interpersonal skills in the Glow & Lovely Career Community. Here are some topics that are covered in these free courses:
- Basics of Communication
- Effective Conversation
- Social Etiquette Course
In the free Social Etiquette Course, you’ll learn how to improve your interpersonal relationship skills to maintain and respect personal space, practise good personal hygiene, and demonstrate proper etiquette and table manners in social settings after work.
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Learn perfectly spoken English
During your cabin crew recruitment interview, you will be judged on your appearance, personality, and English communication skills.
If your English is not up to scratch, you can learn perfectly spoken English for cabin crew members and other important communication skills with these free online courses with certificates in the Glow & Lovely Career Community.
The free English for Tourism & Hospitality course will help you learn and use travel industry-related vocabulary when applying for aviation jobs.
Well-written resume & professional photo
When you apply for air hostess jobs, always send a well-written resume with a cover letter and a professional photo wearing formal dress with your cabin crew job application. You can create a professional-looking resume with the free resume builder in the Glow & Lovely Career Community.
Create a good first impression
The airline recruiters will monitor everything about you once you step into the room – from your dress to your body language, the way you walk, smile, and present yourself.
Make sure you are well-groomed. Put on your makeup and a light perfume before you get dressed so it doesn’t accidentally stain your clothes. For your cabin crew interview, you should wear clothes that flatter your figure but are not revealing.
For your dress, choose Western wear and go with a branded, elegant formal shirt with well-fitting innerwear and a matching skirt with stockings (which are part of an air hostess’ dress code). If you need to boost your body confidence, you can wear shapewear to tuck in your belly fat, love handles, and thighs.
The flight attendant dress code often includes a dark business jacket, so you can wear one if you want. As flight attendants are only allowed to wear a small and discreet pair of earrings, it’s best to avoid wearing any more jewellery than that.
Wear formal shoes with comfortable heels that are not sharp or thin and complete your cabin crew job interview look with an elegant handbag.
These free courses in the Glow & Lovely Career Community will help you put your best foot forward every step of the way during the recruitment process. Here are some of the topics they cover:
- Self-Presentation Skills
- Creating a Good First Impression
- How to Impress in an Interview
- Common Interview Questions
The cabin crew recruitment process is extremely competitive and only a few candidates are chosen out of thousands, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t make it through the first time.
To apply for air hostess jobs online, check the career section of the airline’s website for alerts on new cabin crew recruitments. Don’t forget to also check online job websites for ads and announcements by airlines hiring flight attendants.
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Is an air hostess job permanent?
Well, this is another disadvantage of air hostess jobs, because no matter how much you improve your flight attendant skills as a cabin crew member, you won’t advance much in air hostess or flight attendant careers.
However, after getting a few years of experience as an air hostess with a domestic airline, you can apply for cabin crew jobs with international airlines or try for another airport job vacancy such as ground crew jobs and administrative jobs with airlines.
Earlier you could apply for air hostess government jobs in airlines like Air India cabin crew or Indian Airlines air hostess jobs. However, with the privatization of Air India, there will no longer be airlines government jobs available.
Other career opportunities in aviation include becoming a trainer or grooming instructor in air hostess training schools. Many former air hostesses have gone on to find acting jobs in Bollywood.
There are even former air hostesses who started their own image consulting, grooming, and etiquette businesses and have gone on to train Indian beauty contestants.
Former airline staff and air hostesses can also consider other hospitality-related jobs, such as front office manager jobs or guest services manager jobs with hotels. If you prefer work-from-home jobs related to airlines, you can consider remote customer service representative jobs.
The point is that the end of your airline career doesn’t have to mean the end of your career altogether. You can always learn new skills online and plan a career transition in your 30s.
Did you find this air hostess information useful in your quest to learn all about cabin crew careers? Here’s wishing you success in your career as an Indian air hostess.
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