Cabin crew — Chloe Hollingsworth

Chloe's love for hospitality and her skills and experience in customer service helped her get a cabin crew job with British Airways

How did you get your cabin crew job?

My journey into becoming cabin crew first began when I visited the careers opportunities section of the British Airways website. There I completed several online assessments and submitted my CV. I was successful and was then invited to an online assessment centre. While I had no aviation experience prior to working as cabin crew, I did have years of experience working in hospitality and a strong passion for working within the industry.

How relevant is your degree to working for an airline?

My degree in international hospitality business management really enhances the skills I use as cabin crew. For example, the transferable skills I gained from studying at degree level, such as problem solving and communication, are key to the role and to dealing any challenges that arise.

What are your main work activities?

Every flight is different, so the only things that stay consistently the same are the safety and emergency aspects of flying and the service delivery standards that we regularly practice onboard.

What do you enjoy most about your cabin crew job?

There are so many aspects that I love, but my favourite part is the variety of the flights and the people I work with. For example, one day I may be operating on an Airbus A319 out to Edinburgh and spending the evening there with a small crew, the next operating on a much bigger aircraft, such as the Airbus A380 with 22 other crew members to Los Angeles. There will be always new people to meet and learn from onboard and the unforgettable stories we get to hear and sometimes play a part in, with both our passengers and crew, make it a career like no other.

What are most challenging parts of your role?

Early training covers all aspects of safety emergency procedures, aviation medical and our aircraft licenses, which we retain yearly through an intense examination process.

The challenge is to then have the confidence to implement each one of these skills within the working environment. Because, due to the nature of the job, a problem could arise at any given time. This could be a medical situation, smoke in the cabin, an aircraft fault, or something as simple as trying to locate an appropriate meal choice for a passenger with dietary requirements.

Any words of advice for someone wanting to work as cabin crew?

Always be passionate in what you do and really invest this into your work, as any experience you gain throughout your career might be transferable and useful.

If there's anything you want to do in life, particularly cabin crew, absolutely go for it and don't give up at the first set of hurdles. Give it 110% effort, do all the reading you can, advance your skills, and really push yourself to make your professional profile shine prior to the employment process.

Find out more

• Read all about being air cabin crew.
• Take a look at airline graduate schemes.