Originally Posted by
ma930407
Interesting observations on recent flight:
(1) On a JL31 77W flight from HND to BKK, there was a very proactive male flight attendant in economy cabin. Although he was not the cabin attendant in charged of the economy cabin (another crew in beige and white jacket took charge of the economy cabin), he was the crew making all the announcements for economy cabin and greeting passengers at the door during boarding / disembarkation. I think he might be quite senior.
(2) On a JL51 789 flight from HND to SYD, the cabin attendant in beige and white jacket in economy was obviously much more senior than the chief cabin attendant. Chatted with her and she has worked with JAL for 40 years. Perhaps it was intentional that she worked in the economy cabin to train the new crews, otherwise it did not make sense why she was not the chief cabin attendant.
As
CPH-Flyer said, usually FAs on the back makes announcements at JAL. At the beginning of the flight, I see the chief FA (white jacket) at the front does welcome announcement. At JAL, before the flight, FAs can request which position they would like to work on the flight. That can be based on a personal preference, would like to work together with another FA who happened to be a friend, etc. The request is usually awarded in the order of seniority (no. of years as an FA.). But the end the chief FA has a desertion, such as if a flight has few new FAs right out of the training and chief FA wants to match with experienced FA rather than newbies working together.
At JAL, an FA does not become a chief FA automatically as gain experience. FAs have to apply for the training for a chief FA, and FAs need a recommendation from FA group chief to be accepted to chief FA training. Some FAs never apply for chief FA training, does not want added responsibility, etc. Then some FAs could not get a recommendation from a group chief. Also, number of FAs accepted into chief FA training is based on the demand, how many new chief FA JAL needs. FA can get a recommendation and apply to chief FA training, but still don't get accepted to chief FA training.
There are JAL chief FAs who are foreign based, does not have to be Tokyo based to become chief FA at JAL. In 2022 two foreign based FAs became chief FA at JAL, a male London based FA and a female Taipei based FA became chief FA.