British Airways Crew Letter : Uniform, Pros, Cons and Crew Opinion

I recently, purchased a cravat from eBay for my uniform collection and the lovely crew member who was selling it also wrote me a lovely letter. This is her experience at the UK's national flag carrier British Airways... Enjoy!
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Meet Sam, she has been working for the UK national flag carrier airline - British Airways - but soon she will be 'hanging up her wings for a while' as she takes a break from flying... Here is what she had to say about working as cabin crew in a short-haul and long-haul flying environment.
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Within her note, I was happy to hear that British Airways is the company to join if you want to gain amazing life experience. However, whilst it is and can be extremely difficult on the body, it is also 'one of the best things [she] has ever done' and has opened many opportunities to her. Since starting flying, Sam has been to every continent except Antarctica - of course - and she has had some amazing experiences, such as getting to do/ see: the Great Wall of China, Hollywood, skydive in Sydney and San Diego, drive a mustang in LA, sit on palm trees in Singapore, play volley ball in Miami, visit temples in Bangkok and so much more.

Whilst travel is a major benefit of the job, she says that she has met so many amazing people from different cultures and backgrounds from around the world. The role also allows you to serve some celebrities when trained in First Class!

Sam commuted two plus hours to the airport and back after a flight which could end up being four hours in traffic, and this can be tiring on your body if you have just landed off a 12 hour overnight flight. She also says that a large reason for commuting being a nightmare is that petrol was costing her a lot of  money... Not ideal for many trips to a large airport hub nearly every week!

Many crew prefer flying on long-haul flights as they are longer and you get time to explore the destination after you land. Sam enjoyed long-haul more than short-haul as it allowed her to: have a break during the flight - something which may not/ is non existant on a quick short-haul flight, spend time after the flight having rest in a new country/ it is your time in many countries, crew can build relationships with passengers and learn more about them on a longer flight, enable crew to work on nicer and more spacious aircraft that can allow crew offer a higher class of service, after trips crew legally get 2 to 3 days off due to EASA and CAA regulations but on a short-haul sector crew could work multiple sectors a day and then work another 5-7 days of short-haul before a break, passengers interact with crew onboard and you get to learn more about them and the flights are less chaotic.

Sam says that over the years, she has been very lucky to not have encountered any major SEP or AvMed situations but has had to deal with a suspect heart attack on board. (It is more and more likely for aviation medicine incidents to occur due to the introduction of ultra-long-haul flights).

Another brilliant thing that truly places cabin crew highly is that they truly put passengers at the centre of everything they do. For example, Sam - during her time at the company - cradled a baby to sleep for a mother who was so exhausted and has sat on the galley floor for four hours with a young girl who recently lost her mother to unexpected death and has given items of clothes to passengers who have been sick on theirs. This behaviour is not only a brilliant representation of the kind of person BA employs - kind, honest and genuine - but makes her an outstanding employee for anyone.

Sam applied to three airlines before securing employment with BA. She attended assessment days at TUI, Thomas Cook and BA, but was offered employment with Thomas Cook and BA. Her top tips for gaining employment/ standing out at assessment days is to: be yourself, be confident and smile. As competition grows every year for cabin crew positions, people are more and more desperate to try and blend into the cabin crew 'ideal' or aesthetic to fit a specific brand; but it is important to remember that crew should have their own personality that they can add to the brand and service they deliver.

Thank you so much to Sam for her lovely letter that I found very insightful. It has given me such a invaluable view from a crew member and has once again confirmed my dreams of being crew! It has also given me more insight into the industry form the front line's perspective... Thank you so much for reading my blog!

Happy travels!