Although airlines often emphasize they want 'team players' for cabin crew, on major airlines you don't meet the rest of your team until you gather an hour before the flight at the pre flight briefing. It would be far too difficult to roster staff as a team, rather than individuals.
Normally, cabin crew has eight days off a month. Usually you receive your duty roster (timetable) a month in advance, but some airlines supply weekly or even daily rosters. In your roster, you may be allocated 'stand by' duties: waiting at home or at the airport to cover in case a colleague is unable to fly.
Tip!
Many airlines send out crew rosters by e mail. If you don't have e mail facilities, now is probably the time to think about investing in a computer. However, before you buy a 'cheap' one abroad, make sure that you will be able to get technical support at home. Jonathan from IBM says make sure your modem can be upgraded to V.92 standard, and your Internet service provider can support this. Think pads can do this and are easily portable. If you have an older machine don't surf when waiting for a call you don't want to miss the chance of a sudden overnight to an exotic destination because your roistering team can't get through!
If your roster comes by phone, you need an answering machine. Make sure it is one that can take a long message (most cut out after 30 seconds). The BT Response 310 can take up to 13 minutes of message and has remote access.
Although you are paid a meal allowance when away, you have other expenses. Some US and other airlines make staff pay for their uniform. You will find you will be spending an enormous amount of money looking after your skin (men as well as women!) and even things like tights and socks can be more expensive.
DVT
Flying long distances can cause problems such as jet lag and tiredness. Recently DVT (deep vein thrombosis) has been highlighted as a problem for flyers, but cabin crew may not suffer this for two reasons: they are active the whole time, and many female staff wears support hose (tights worn by pregnant women). Wolford make 'Long Distance' tights that may help prevent DVT, and are more glamorous than support tights. For men, Scholl make support stockings.
Commission
Once you start flying, you make extra on commission from on board sales, which are crucial to some airline operations. 'Why do you think charter crews flog everything so hard?' sniffed a purser. When tour operators' holiday sales are down, sometimes the only profit they make from clients is from on board sales.
Airlines spend fortunes on glossy in flight magazines to sell products. A charter airline like Air tours will have a winter and a summer magazine, the winter one aimed at higher spending clientele, summer at families. So the airline, the tour operator and the crew are all concerned with on board sales.
Tip!
One purser with record sales says 'Always wear an aftershave or perfume that is sold on board. Provided you like it, it is so much easier to sell!'
Promoting La Prairie
So training given by companies that supply products for on board sales is very important. You might wonder why crew are often seen in front of the silver and blue La Prairie displays in duty free displays, until you learn that this Swiss company takes training very seriously, and commission on its products is worth having. Also, constant flying causes havoc with cabin crew's skin (men and women), so cabin crew themselves are good customers. Twelve per cent of La Prairie's sales are to men, and having studied the product the crew know that the creams are expensive because the ingredients make them effective.
When La Prairie decided to launch its Caviar Collection in Swissair's First Class cabin it found that clients were eating the products rather than using them on their skin. Perhaps this was because they contain extract of caviar Joan Collins swears that eating caviar keeps her looking young! So the company organized product training for cabin crew and sales soared to crew as well as passengers. Caviar contains zinc and iodine, which help repair skin and counteract the effects of stress and jet lag.
Although using a top quality product gives anyone a feeling of luxury, there is a serious side to skincare. A product such as cellular moisturizer not only prevents skin drying out in cabin air (and eventually cracking) but it also protects against sunburn. Even on the dullest day cabin crew are advised to use a moisturizer with a minimum SPF 15 factor against sun and pollution. For working in hot sunny climates, or at high altitudes, the higher the SPF the better there is a Soleil Suisse face cream and a body cream that are both SPF 50. And if you wonder how air hostesses manage to keep make up immaculate for 12 hours, Heather, my favorite stewardess, says she uses Skin Caviar Firming Complex on top of her moisturizer. She doesn't need to renew make up, even after 12 hour stretches. And I call Retexturing Booster my 'miracle worker', using it when I have had too many long haul flights.
On their course Heather says they all gave a gasp when at the end of a fascinating lecture, the consultant showed them a jar of Skin Caviar Luxe Cream, and said it cost £200. Everyone said that they would never, ever pay that amount but some people must as La Prairie says it constantly sells out of stock!
Tip!
'I like selling, I know the products and always show them and make an effort, especially in first class one passenger can easily spend £1,000 or more at a time.'
Every year the major suppliers put on an exhibition purely for BA cabin crew in its Compass center. During the exhibition suppliers show off new products and crew vote on which ones they think should be stocked on board as potential top sellers. Things like alarm clocks are always popular, and often win this section.
Looking after yourself
There is one aid that costs next to nothing water. Crew is advised to drink at least 2 liters a day to counteract the effects of air in cabins. It takes fuel to provide fresh air changes in the cabin, fuel costs money, so if an airline can get away with fewer air changes per hour, it will.
Certain products go the rounds of staff as their manufacturers have made extensive studies into 'air travel stress' and what it does to skin. Rather than spend money on packaging, these companies employ huge teams of chemists and researchers, and really bother about problems encountered by cabin crew. Some names to look out for are Decleor, Guerlain, Prescriptives, Helena Rubinstein, and of course Clarins and La Prairie.
Sore lips are a big problem, and you will need those expensive 'lip treatments' rather than cream sticks. All the above companies make colorless treatment 'lipsticks'. To counteract dryness you see crew constantly 'spritzing' their faces with Liz Earle's Instant Boost Skin Tonic or Decleor Arome Floral. They also use Decleor Systeme Corps to counteract body skin dryness. Beware of the sun: the wonderful tan on your hostess's face is probably Guerlain's Terracotta foundation and powder. And Clarins are responsible for those super tanned bodies with their Exfoliator and Self Tan.
Want to see if a product works for you? Try the tester's test: ask for a sample and use it on one side of your face for two weeks. Use your usual cream on the other. This is the only test that really works because no two skins are the same.
Is this the job for you?
Can you physically stand being on your feet for up to 18 hours a day? Rise above the nauseous smell of sick? Keep cool, calm and professional when faced with football louts, angry business people or screaming babies? Yes? Then you are on the way towards making a good crew member.
