When people think of cabin crew, they usually picture glamorous layovers and a constant holiday but there’s so much more to the role than most people realise, this is where you will find out the reality of being crew vs what you might have heard about the job...

Myth - Cabin crew fly to a destination then immediately turn around to fly home

Truth - whilst this can be true if you are short haul based for me as long haul cabin crew we most certainly did not just turn around and fly home. When we land in JFK (for example) we will get off the aircraft just like all the passengers and then travel to the hotel for either a one night or two night trip, depending on your roster. You would be surprised how many passengers have asked me this question when they are disembarking the aircraft and I couldn't help but laugh a little bit. ' you really think I just worked a 7+ hour flight to then turn around and do it all again without a break' hahah that is funny.

Myth - Cabin crew fly for free with their staff travel benefits

Truth - This is definitely a myth that is very common and I have been asked so many times how this works. The flights are not free but you pay for are the taxes of that flight. So for example to fly from LHR to LAX you would pay about £250 for a return flight. Now yes that is 'cheap' considering these flights start at roughly '£600' for a basic economy ticket, however it is not free and in my experience of staff travel with Virgin and British Airways it works the same way with both airlines.

Myth - Staff travel is a guaranteed benefit of the job

Truth - Staff travel is amazing - when it works. I have experienced it first hand; staff travel working out perfectly and me getting to my destination sitting in an upper class seat loving my life. But I have also experienced not getting on a flight because it was over sold and no seats available and I was stuck at the airport until the next day to try and get on the next flight home. In my opinion staff travel is of course a great benefit of the job however when it goes wrong it can be such a headache and I remember when I was a kid travelling on my mums staff travel and all I wanted to do was be a 'normal passenger' and go through the airport like everyone else. It can be so stressful and its one of the times you really hope someone doesn't make their flight because you know that you will be getting their seat on that flight home.

Myth - cabin crew are glamourous servers in the sky

Truth - nothing can be further from the truth with this one. The 5 weeks of training can be intense and we learn a lot more than just service. In fact in my experience the service element of training was only 3 days long. The other 4 weeks were all safety and security training. Passengers don't realise how much cabin crew can pick up on by talking to customers and also just observing the cabin environment. For example if your cabin crew keep a look for how much alcohol is being consumed by certain passengers and if they are starting to get drunk we will just stop serving it all together or we have tricks to reduce the alcohol content of your drink. At the end of the day its actually illegal to be drunk on an aircraft!

Myth - 'your just cabin crew, what can you do'

Truth - Well yes we are 'just' cabin crew, however there is a lot we can do that passengers know nothing about. All aircrafts (at least Virgin Atlantic) have a restraint kit on board that we are taught how to use should we need to and we learn how to correctly restrain people and use handcuffs to protect ourselves, other passengers around them and also the actual person themselves. We can also request for passengers to be listed to not fly with the airline again if their behaviour is unruly or gets too out of hand. Bottom line is respect your cabin crew becuase there is a lot they can do that you don't know about!

Myth - Cabin crew always fly the same routes

Truth - For me as long haul crew this was not the case at all. We would be rostered lots of different trips. Yes of course we had the same trips within the month but for the most part I was always going to different places. Although I did become a regular to New York, Purely because I loved going there.

Myth - Delays only effect the passengers and crew don't get annoyed with delays

Truth - This is far from true. Delays are as annoying for passengers as they are for the crew. If we are leaving a destination (MIA for example), the crew want to get home, we all have places to be, whether its getting on the bus you have prebooked to get home or you have kids at home, whatever it is we all want to go home and so delays are just as inconveniente for us as for the passengers, and very often passengers forget this. Of course we understand you may have connecting flights that you might miss, but at the end of the day we are all doing our best to get back in time. The pilots will try to make up some of the time in the air to reduce the delays as best they can but ultimately there isn't much we can do, especially if the delays was due to weather or maintenence.

 These are just some of the myths and truths I could think of, if you have anymore that you have heard let me know so I can add them in 🙂