Understanding the Flight Attendant Requirements
Before you devote time, money, and hard work to training for work as a flight attendant, you should understand the flight attendant requirements that you must meet in order to successfully perform the job. Knowing the flight attendant requirements can help you decide whether pursuing the career is worth the effort, as it’s a highly competitive job field and even if you are hired, part of the flight attendant requirements is often working one to five years as a reserve flight attendant who only gets to work on-call.
The primary tenant behind all flight attendant requirements is customer service. Flight attendants must put aside their own distress and pain--both of which are actually quite common during the job due to cranky passengers and turbulent, pressurized cabins--and please the customer. The other central point of flight attendant requirements is an emphasis on safety, again for the passengers, but for the flight employees as well.
Flight attendant requirements mandate that you complete flight attendant training at a university or college or through an airline’s own program. During this program, you’ll learn the details of the flight attendant requirements, such as instructing passengers on safety, evacuating passengers in the event of an emergency landing, serving passengers, firefighting, and guidelines put in place by the FAA, the TSA, and the individual airline. After the three- to six-week training program, flight attendant requirements also mandate that you complete flight attendant certification by the FAA.
Flight attendant requirements extend into your appearance as well. You must be clean-cut. This typically means that men must keep their hair short and be clean-shaven and women must keep their hair neat. Flight attendant requirements may also include having no visible tattoos or unusual body piercing. Flight attendant requirements also include a basic level of sight (20/30 or better with or without corrective lenses) and a general polite and calm demeanor.
Other flight attendant requirements you may encounter including passing a background check, demonstrating successful employment history, and legal citizenship.