A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Flight Attendant Training

So you want to be a flight attendant? It’s much more work than just maintaining a clean cabin with happy passengers — you also need to be trained in some medical procedures, hair and makeup, table settings, and emergency protocols. Here, Emirates shares what the process is for training to work for them.

Being a flight attendant is more than just dealing with passengers and cleaning so you can travel to wonderful locations around the world. There’s a lot more to the job that you may not consider. Luckily, the team at Emirates gave Travel+Leisure a look into the airline’s training facility so any potential candidates can know exactly what to expect.

One Emirates hires a flight attendant, they’re required to move to Dubai. They’re put in shared accommodations with two or three other flight attendants, given a plane ticket once a year to visit family in their home, and allotted a certain amount of time family members can come visit (twice a year for 30 days max).

The duration of the safety and emergency procedures training is about 13 days. Flight attendants use life-size simulators to learn about decompression, water landings, ground landings, turbulence, and the safety protocols at every stage of a flight. They learn to put out in-cabin fires, in-bathroom fires and maintaining body heat in freezing water for a water landing. They also simulate using the slides and manually operating parts of the cabin if the power goes out.

Next is medical and security training, where they learn to resolve minor medical issues, assist in childbirth, conduct CPR, handle hijacking and sabotage, deal with unruly passengers and receive combat training.

The rest of training includes lessons on how to properly wear the uniform, wear approved makeup and preserve it, manage skin health, prepare healthy food choices, exercise on the go, properly handle food and beverage service, learn the dishware and how to use it, fold towels for Emirates’ shower spa, learn how to mix drinks and pair them with food choices, and run duty-free operations on the plane.

[Featured Image: Flickr]