Above and Beyond
July 2008,
by Bob Curley, Business Traveller
They may not be superheros--or even fly the
plane--but flight attendants have diverse skills
and training worthy of awe
The lot of the flight attendant is one of
perpetual underappreciation, with an image
forged in the miniskirted golden age of jet
travel and dubiously buffed by the "buh-bye"
superficiality of mid-1990s "Saturday Night
Live" skits. Even in the 21st century, when
even the most casual observer will recognize
that the job has evolved well beyond its
original parameters, all too many travelers still view flight attendants primarily as in-flight nannies or
airborne bartenders.
But ponder this thought for a moment the next time you are adjusting your seatback to its fully locked
and upright position: How many jobs can you think of where the responsibilities include everything
from knowing how to pour a fine Claret to karate-chopping a potential terrorist? "I think the public
would be surprised by the intensity of training [flight attendants] go through, and the amount of
information they need to know," says Catherine Baird, senior vice president for cabin-crew training at
Emirates.
Customer service and safety have been a part of the flight attendant's
job ever since they were called "stewards" and "stewardesses" and
patrolled the aisles of German Zeppelins and Ford Trimotors. As
flying became more sophisticated, so did the job responsibilities of the
cabin crew, with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks adding a
deadly new dimension to the need for security training, in particular.
Today, while training varies somewhat from airline to airline and
nation to nation, flight attendants typically undergo six or seven weeks
of classroom, practical and real-world instruction before getting their
wings. (There are exceptions, however. In France, it's a governmentlicensed position that requires a year of schooling prior to applying for
a job, while Singapore Airlines' training program lasts five months.)
Regulatory agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration and its
international counterparts usually dictate the scope of safety training, and airlines flying within and to
the U.S. also receive marching orders from the Department of Homeland Security when it comes to
security instruction.
Many airlines go above and beyond the government-mandated training requirements for safety and
security, and really cut their own path when it comes to customer-service training. Every airline
includes a service component in its initial training, but many also have advanced training for cabin
attendants promoted to work in the business- or first-class cabins.
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Safety Training
Many frequent flyers reduce the standard in-flight safety lecture delivered by flight attendants to
background noise, but there's far more behind the routine pantomime about properly affixing a falling
oxygen mask and inflating your life vest in the event of a water landing. Emirates, for example, has
full-motion simulators at its 236,000-square-foot training center in Dubai to replicate the passenger
cabin of its Airbus and Boeing aircraft (including a new, two-story A380 simulator). Here, flight
attendants are trained to deal with situations like decompression, turbulence, loss of an aircraft engine,
rapid descent and onboard fires. "When you look at the simulator from outside, it's really rocking and
rolling," says Baird.
Like a cockpit simulator, the cabin simulators also replicate various outside
environments, from a night sky to fire during emergency evacuation drills.
At most airlines, role-playing is a critical part of training, with prospective
flight attendants playing the parts of disabled passengers, mothers with
children and other passengers. The ability to swim is part of the job
requirements for cabin crew, and airlines use pools to train flight attendants
on how to evacuate an aircraft during a water landing and how to inflate
and board emergency life rafts.
Flight attendants also are trained to size up passengers as they board each
flight. "When you get on the aircraft, you have a flight attendant there
greeting you, but they also are looking at you to determine what kind of
person you are, whether you are an able-bodied person who could help in
an emergency," says Trevor Slade, manager of service training for Etihad Airways. Slade began his
career in the airline industry as a cabin-crew member for Monarch Airlines, then moved to British
Airways, where he became an instructor in 1987.
U.S. carriers like American Airlines are required by law to train cabin crew to accommodate
passengers with disabilities, but international carriers also conduct this type of training; Asiana
Airlines, for example, teaches its flight attendants how to accommodate vision-impaired passengers, as
well as other individuals with disabilities.
An impressive amount of health-related training also is delivered, from basic first aid to CPR, the
Heimlich maneuver, how to administer anti-seizure drugs to epileptics and the use of onboard
defibrillators. "If someone collapses in the aisle, it's not the same as if you were on the ground," notes
Emirates' Baird. "There are other passengers around, and you have to perform CPR in the confines of
an aircraft."
Flight attendants are taught how to assist someone giving birth, and what to do if a passenger dies
onboard. Emirates flight attendants are trained to use the Tempus satellite-communication system to
talk to a ground-based physician in the event of a medical emergency, and to recognize the symptoms
of stress and how to calm nervous passengers—with anti-anxiety medication, if necessary.
Some airlines also teach flight attendants about the basics of aeronautics, including the normal sights
and sounds of flaps, landing gear, and other aircraft components—knowledge that comes in handy not
only when dealing with fear of flying, but also in identifying when something actually goes wrong
with the aircraft. "That happens over time and comes with experience," says Slade.
Security
Flight attendants have always had primary responsibility for maintaining security in the aircraft cabin,
but the terrorist hijackings of the 1970s and 1980s, and especially the September 11, 2001 attacks in
the U.S., have lent a deadly seriousness to this aspect of flight-attendant training.
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Flight attendants need to know how to deal with a wide range of situations that can lead to dangerous
or violent situations onboard aircraft, stemming from alcohol abuse, anger over flight delays, domestic
disputes or other causes. Security training is especially valuable to long-haul carriers. "On a 14-hour
flight, there's a lot more time for things to happen," notes Baird.
"In security training, we work on advanced restraint techniques to manage disruptive people," Baird
explains. "It's not martial arts, per se, but we use some of the principles."
"Since 9/11, there's been a lot of change on the security side, a
lot more hands-on training than lecture," adds Marie
Whitworth, manager of curriculum development for flightattendant training at American Airlines.
While airlines are loathe to provide details about security
training—even other employees are barred from observing this
portion of flight-attendant instruction at American's Dallas
training facility, for instance, behavioral analysis is a key
component, said Whitworth. "There's a lot more awareness of the passenger coming onboard, looking
for unusual behavior and how to react," she says. Fast reactions by flight attendants, for example,
helped thwart "shoe bomber" Richard Reid's attempt to blow up an American Airlines flight from
Paris to Miami in December 2001.
Customer Service
If you want to learn about Air France's latest quarterly earnings or the best
way to navigate the airline's hub at Charles de Gaulle International
Airport in Paris, just ask a flight attendant in the premium cabin. Air
France's advanced training includes a three-day general overview of the
airline and its operations, including everything from marketing and the
economics of the airline industry to maintenance, airport information and
details on Air France's participation in the SkyTeam alliance.
"When you are on a 12-hour flight in first class, customers don't only
want to talk about food and beverage," says Catherine Betsch, flight
attendant vice president at Air France. "It is very important that our flight
attendants have a very wide knowledge of the company."
That's just one example of the varying approaches that airlines take in customer-service training for
flight attendants. For most airlines, customer service begins with selecting the right types of people to
become cabin crew. Emirates, for example, accepts only 4,000 of the 74,000 applicants—the top five
percent—to become flight attendants, while Air France subjects jobseekers to a rigorous psychological
review.
Ideal candidates include those who are comfortable working with others, at night and away from
home, notes Betsch. "Before, when it was not so common to take the plane, flight attendants were like
models," she adds. "Now, because we need more friendly relationships with the customers, we're not
looking for models, but for people who are friendly, open and generous."
As part of its Brilliant Basics, Magic Touches program, Virgin Atlantic gives cabin crew two weeks of
customer-service training, including diversity, cultural and religious understanding. That's typical of
international carriers, which not only deal with passengers from many cultures, but also employ
multicultural cabin staff.
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Emirates, for example, spends a good deal of time focusing on Arab culture and Islamic customs and
mores, including taking trainees to a mosque and teaching them how to serve the traditional Arabic
meal of coffee and dates. Flight attendants are taught how to serve veiled Muslim women ("Talk to the
male they are with first," advises Baird), and to recognize and respect different cultural traditions.
For example, says Etihad's Slade, "'Please' and 'Thank you' are accepted in the West, but in a lot of
cultures, it doesn't necessarily exist. It doesn't mean the passenger is being rude. What may be
acceptable to you may not be for someone else."
In Asia, symbolic acts of deference are common and expected. "Flight attendants are
taught to kneel to address passengers at their level, not look down on them," says Joel
Chusid, general manager of North America at Hainan Airlines. "At the beginning of a
flight, our flight attendants are introduced to passengers and bow as a sign of respect."
Being on the receiving end of a bow remains a bit discomfiting for most Americans,
however, so Hainan is providing special training to its flight attendants as the Chinese
airline prepares to enter the U.S. market. "We've just completed cross-cultural training
by an American company where cultural differences and etiquette were explored,"
says Chusid. "This got down to even such details as [at] what temperatures
Americans expect their food and beverages, and how they like to be addressed."
Airlines that hire staff from around the world—Emirates has 117 nationalities on the
payroll—garner special benefits from the practice in training. "You don't have to rely
on a PowerPoint presentation when you have someone sitting next to you from
Korea who can talk to you about their culture," notes Emirates' Baird.
Some flight attendants come from cultures that better lend themselves to a service enviroment. Japan's
All Nippon Airways (ANA) uses the slogan Anshin, Attaka, Akaruku Genki—Warm, Reliable and
Friendly—as the basis for its flight-attendant training program. "The culture of Japan relies so heavily
on respect and hospitality, so these ideals have been established in our cabin attendants since well
before they put on the uniform," notes airline spokesperson Damion R. Martin.
"In Asia, service is a profession that is studied and practiced,"
agrees James Boyd, a spokesperson for Singapore Airlines. "In
the West, it's something you do until you do what you really want
to do."
Lufthansa, on the other hand, puts a special emphasis on
"emotionalization"—creating a customer-centered focus among
cabin crew whose cultural background typically favors efficiency
over warmth, says Anne-Marie Duwe, head of cabin-service training for Lufthansa.
Korean Air runs a special Smile Academy to help
flight attendants overcome some of their own cultural
limitations. "Flight attendants learn direct eye-contact
and how to extend a broad smile, characteristics not
found in Korean culture," says Penny Pfaelzer, an
airline spokesperson. "While our attendants are always
sensitive and respectful by nature, they learn during
their training how to become more welcoming and
attentive."
Asiana Airlines takes a similar approach in its service
training. The airline "emphasizes that flight attendants
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should be able to read foreign customers' minds through eye-contact," says Chayoun Lee, a
spokesperson for Asiana. "Eye- contact is the basis of communication; many thoughts can be
expressed by the eye."
Asiana and ANA also enhance their service by working together,
swapping some flight attendants on codeshared flights to ensure that
passengers can communicate with cabin crew in their own language,
notes AN A's Martin.
Customer-service training for cabin crew ranges from the mundane—
American educates flight attendants in basic sales techniques and may
soon begin selling duty-free type products during domestic flights—to
the esoteric, such as wine appreciation. Virgin Atlantic, for example, is
the only airline accredited to deliver the Wine & Spirit Education Trust's
Foundation Certificate in Wines.
"Cabin crew have the chance to come in and complete this day-long, nationally recognized
qualification," says Laura Kilroy, a spokesperson for Virgin Atlantic. "The day starts with a thorough
introduction to the world of wines, and we look at factors that influence flavor and taste; in the
afternoon, we taste six different wines from around the world, and spend some time looking at food
and wine matching." Cabin crew have to pass an exam to receive their certificate.
Airlines based in Muslim countries also include wine appreciation and alcohol service in their foodand-beverage training, although this sometimes includes special challenges. "We have a lot of crew
who don't know what a gin and tonic is," points out Emirates' Baird, who has implemented an elearning course that utilizes the knowledge of another company in the Emirates Group: a wine
distributor.
Emirates' training facility includes a full flight kitchen where cabin crew can learn the art of preparing
and serving food and drinks, including the art of silver service and plating food. An equally important
art—how to maneuver the food and beverage cart—is practiced in cabin mockups.
"It's important to get speed of service as well as politeness," stresses
Etihad's Slade. "You're not doing dining on demand for 300 people,
but you still can make certain that you're treating people as
individuals."
Asiana's remarkable training facilities in Seoul also include a
number of specialized facilities for service and safety training,
including a wine room, makeup room and a Walking Room.
"Our flight attendants practice walking in the Walking Room, which
looks like a ballet studio," says Lee. "This will allow them to walk
more safely and elegantly in the aisle."
Drawing upon the airline's customer information database, Asiana
flight attendants receive a pre-flight briefing about VIPs boarding
each flight, including all first-class passengers. In addition to basics
like food and drink preferences, "Flight attendants already have information on what our passengers'
habits are, such as not being disturbed after a meal and when to be woken up before landing and
whether they want coffee right after they sleep," said Steve Koo, Asiana's senior manager of marketing
and alliances for the Americas.
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When encountering first-time customers, Asiana cabin crew are trained to gently probe for preference
information, including how VIP travelers prefer to be addressed. "Once we store the information, they
will be recognized and be called as they wish," said Koo.
Business-class and first-class passengers are the primary beneficiaries of airlines' advanced service
training. Emirates and Etihad, for example, take their hospitality training cues from hotels, not other
airlines: Etihad even recruits hotel food-and-beverage staff as cabin crew.
"We try to ensure that service is very
much about the in dividual: Businessclass passengers should feel like they
are in a private club; first-class
passengers should feel like they are in a
private aircraft," says Slade. "We teach
our cabin crew to get all of the
passenger's information at one take, so
they don't have to keep going back . . .
We want them to get what they want
when they want it, not to be bothered,
but still feel the cabin crew is
responsive to their needs."
Unlike most U.S. airlines—where promotions to international flights and premium cabins are based on
seniority under union rules—airlines like Emirates and Etihad use a merit-based system to select flight
attendants to receive advanced training to serve their most valuable customers.
"There are a lot of cultures where being a member of the cabin crew is still seen as a very prestigious
job, so we can employ people who look at flying as special," said Slade. "Etihad doesn't have 50 years
of history and doesn't have people who have been working here 30 years and don't enjoy the job.
Legacy airlines have people who have been working there for a long time, but not necessarily for the
right reasons."
"When I served as cabin crew, there wasn't as much emphasis on guests," adds Slade. "There was a
focus on customer service, but not at the level you see now. That's where airlines can make a
difference; the differentiation is the quality of the cabin crew and service on the aircraft."
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