I’ve had some email conversations back and forth with a reader who has been extended an offer of a training class with one of the commuter carriers.  It’s not really her first choice airline, and she’s wondering what to do.  Those emails resulted in today’s Flight Attendant Friday question.

Q.  If I get an offer from one airline, but I really am hoping to go to work for another, what should I do?

A.  Ask this question of enough Flight Attendants, and you’re sure to get whatever answer you’re looking for.

Given today’s current events, economic situation, and state of the airline industry, my recommendation is to look before you leap.  If being a Flight Attendant is what you really want to do, I’d say take the best of the offers that come your way.  I’m guessing that right now, you’re not going to get too many offers, so it may be a matter of taking the ONLY offer that comes your way.

Getting hired by a commuter carrier, and later applying at a major carrier, is not necessarily a bad thing.

First, you’ll have a proven track record in the business – and that means you’d better had a great record of attendance and performance – and hiring someone who knows how to do the job is easier than taking a chance on someone who may be a questionable fit.

You learn the job, and can experience the benefits of the industry.  Commuter carriers often offer domiciles that may be closer to your home, and that means a few less upheavals in your life as you enter the business.  You’ll learn how to commute (if that’s what you decide to do), how to make schedules work for you, and a lot of tricks of the trade when it comes to scheduling.  Getting all this experience under your belt may be easier at a commuter.

It you really want to fly – the sooner you start, the better.  Why put off doing something you love while you wait for the perfect opportunity – especially when that perfect opportunity might be a long ways off.  Not many airlines are hiring right now, so waiting for a better offer may mean waiting a long time.

Finally, you may never get an offer from your first choice carrier.  Competition for Flight Attendant jobs is very, very tough.  There are often hundreds of applicants for every available opening.  Don’t spend you life waiting for what might not be when you can be enjoying what you want now.

There are a few downsides to leaving one airline for another.  Many are routine job changing issues, meaning you learn one system and set of rules and you then have to learn another.  You’ll adapt.  And bringing some experience with you means that you will have some advantage in learning many things that can be difficult for a new hire to grasp — things like scheduling, trading trips, using job flexibility to work for you.  Systems may be different, but you’ll find they have more in common that not.

The big downside to changing airlines, is that you once again start at the bottom of the seniority list.  And seniority is everything!  Seniority determines your schedule, vacation (how much and when you can take it), days off, rate of pay, position worked on the plane, and many other benefits.  Starting over after a year or two is probably not a big deal.  But, you many people have found themselves so comfortable at a commuter that they’ve decided to stay put.

Do you have a question about what it’s like to be a Flight Attendant?  Please email your question to me, and I’ll cover it in a future Flight Attendant Friday.

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