A year on from the Cabin Crew Wings 2 Day Course!

Long time no talk!

In case you don’t remember, my name is Laura Lee, and I wrote an article giving my insight into the British Airways assessment day just over a year ago.

Its been an amazing and hectic year, but now I’m back to tell you how I’ve been getting on since the CCW course and BA assessment day; including training, my first flight as crew and more!

The wait of a lifetime

The wait for beginning my pre-employment training after I found out I got the job with BA felt like it lasted a lifetime.

During this time, I was busy collecting references from jobs I have had the past 5 years, as well as obtaining my US visa from the embassy in London and doing pre course learning!

Training

Training is a time I will remember forever. You’re put through 6 weeks of 5/6 days a week learning the emergency drills, about the aircrafts you will fly on and their specific details and of course customer service training (and doing exams and practical’s on top of this!).

The days were long but revising every evening made them even longer! There were several times when I thought I was not going to make it through, but thanks to the amazing people on my training course we all got through it together.

After what felt like a lifetime of staying in hotels, shouting drills, laughing and crying we made it to ‘wings day’ on the 6th June 2019 (which again feels like a lifetime ago now!). This day was ultra-special to me as I was so proud of everybody and myself for completing the training.

First flight

Your first flight as cabin crew is called a ‘familiarisation’ flight (otherwise known as a FAM flight or a supernumery flight).

On this flight you are just an extra crew member along side the required amount of crew needed to operate the flight. This is to help you see what goes on and put all of your training into practice.

My first flight was a ‘there and back’ to Faro in Portugal. I remember being ever so nervous and I felt like everything was a whirlwind when I got on the aircraft.

When we landed in Faro one of the flight crew asked if I would like to do the walk around (the pilots pre departure checks of the aircraft). Of course, I said yes as it was an opportunity to get off of the plane and into a little bit of sun. It was also very interesting!

Before I knew it, we were back home and I was thinking about the next day, my first flight as an operational crew member…

Long haul

My first long haul trip was to Barbados, a small island in the Caribbean. I was understandably nervous as this Boeing 777 was considerably larger than the Airbus A320 I was on a few days prior to this!

Nevertheless, I had an amazing crew to make me feel at ease and made sure I felt welcomed. Barbados will now always hold a special place in my heart!

Perks of the job

I have been lucky enough to visit 9 countries in my first 6 months of flying – Barbados, Orlando, New York, Las Vegas, Jersey, Bermuda, Mauritius, Peru and Costa Rica.

For me, these are definitely the best perks of being cabin crew. Who can say no to getting paid to seeing the world?!

 
There have also been some really pretty short haul destinations (which you don’t get to see so much of, only the view from the airport but how incredible is the rock of Gibraltar?!).

Now that I’m over 6 months into flying, I feel like I have really started to find my feet and everything feels more familiar every time I fly.

When you start out as crew and you are 2/3 months in and everything still feels so new, don’t panic as this is a completely normal feeling. Every day is different, there is different positions on the aircraft to get used to and different services to try and get your head around.
 

I feel so, so lucky to do the job that I do and I am forever grateful for the team at Cabin Crew Wings for helping me gain confidence in myself which I feel enabled me to be the best I could at my interview.

If you ever have any doubts about whether to either complete the 2 day course or apply for the job, just go for it!

At the end of the day, you have nothing to lose and you could, like me, soon be jetting off around the world for a living!