Galley Gossip: A question about Southwest Airlines, AirTran Airways, and other airlines who may be hiring flight attendants

Dear Heather,

I was hired with Southwest Airlines earlier in the year, but I was informed today that Southwest will no longer be having any training classes in 2009. Now I’m going to try for AirTran Airways. I had an interview and told them I successfully interviewed with Southwest Airlines last August however they aren’t having any training in 2009 and I’m ready to move forward with my flight attendant career. I hope it doesn’t hurt me that I told them that. What do you think?

Leesa

Dear Leesa

Southwest is an amazing airline. People absolutely love them, passengers and crew alike. I mean what’s not to love about an airline that treats their employees like family, an airline that knows how to have fun, and more importantly, an airline that can lay claim to employing the rapping flight attendant (whom I’ll be interviewing soon!) Many years ago I wanted to work for Southwest Airlines, and always thought that I would work for Southwest, and even got a letter inviting me to interview for them, but then the airline I currently work for hired me first. Obviously I’m a huge fan of Southwest, even when I wind up in group C. The fact that you got hired to be apart of their family says a lot about you!

I’m sure you’re extremely disappointed about the training class being cancelled. I know I would be. So I logged onto twitter.com (click here to follow me on twitter) and sent a quick tweet to Southwest Airlines. I asked them if you’d be called back when classes resume or if you’d have to go through the interview process again. Five seconds later Southwest responded, “Yes, unfortunately she will have to go back through the interview process again.”

Honestly, I’m sure you’ll have no problem impressing them twice. That said, I also think that moving forward and interviewing with AirTran Airways was a great idea! Don’t worry about telling AirTran about Southwest, I’m sure that’ll only make them want you more knowing that an airline with an amazing reputation already showed interest in you.

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Before I started working for a major US carrier, I worked for a discount airline called Sunjet International Airlines for about three months. It was a lot of fun and gave me a taste of what flying was all about. The great thing about working for a smaller airline is you’ll be able to really get to know your coworkers, which in the long run will make all the difference in the world. Because at an airline, regardless of the kind of trips you get stuck working, if the crew is good the trip will be good. And you’ll be more than just an employee number. Who knows, by the time Southwest calls you back to flight attendant training you may not even want to leave AirTran. Stranger things have happened!

Speaking of strange things happening, did you know that there’s been talk in the past about AirTran and Southwest merging? For real! Can you imagine? But then if you were already a flight attendant you’d know not to listen to airline rumors.

I’m glad you haven’t given up on your dream of becoming a flight attendant, even in this tough economy. I do recommend the job to anyone who is interested and can actually land an interview. It is a wonderful job to have when times are good, but right now unfortunately many airlines are furloughing flight attendants in order to survive.

If you get another interview with AirTran, Leesa, make sure to check out this AirTran Interview Forum for the latest information of what to expect at your interview. If something happens and for whatever reason you don’t end up working for AirTran, make sure to check out flight attendant career.com There you’ll find a list of other airlines who may be hiring.

Good luck and keep in touch!

Heather Poole

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Photos courtesy of (Southwest) Allysdad, (flight attendants) AirTran Airways website

Galley Gossip: What is RIGHT with the airlines? (There’s got to be something!)

When I was growing up, my parents taught me that traveling by airplane was a luxury, not a right, and it was a luxury I would not experience until I was 16 years old when I flew to Los Angeles, California with a high school friend (and her mother) on American Airlines for an exciting weekend getaway. I’ll never forget that flight. Then, at 17, I flew to Santa Clara, California, to visit a boyfriend in college on Southwest Airlines. I’ll never forget that flight, either. I couldn’t even believe I was on it. Back then just being on the flight itself was an exciting experience, never mind the drinks and the food and the service, which I don’t even remember. But I’m sure a can of coke and a bag of peanuts were involved.

What I remember most about those two flights was the awe of flying, of looking out the window at the tiny houses below as we climbed up, up, up, until the incredible view became obstructed by something even more magnificent, billowing clouds.

A few years ago I actually met a flight attendant whose very first trip by airplane was to airline headquarters for an interview for the airline he works for now. That flight took place at age of 21. Today, things have changed drastically in the aviation business, and not for the better, if you ask a passenger. Yet the flights are all full, and with more and more children traveling these days. That, alone, makes me wonder, has travel really gotten so bad? Or are our expectations skewed?

“I never got to travel,” said my mother, a flight attendant, who started working for a major US carrier in 1997, three afters I had my wings pinned to my blue lapel. “My first flight was with your father to Hawaii, when I was 21, because your father got stationed there in the navy. I got to go home to Texas once – in three years. And because your father spent most of his time at sea, I spent many holidays alone. That’s just the way it was. We couldn’t afford to travel.”

Now that I’m a flight attendant and have the opportunity to fly for free (in coach), I usually take along my two-year son, who has traveled once a month, at least, since he was born. I always get a kick out of watching him leaning against the window, tapping on the glass, as we fly in and out of the clouds, causing him to exclaim at the top of his lungs, “WOW!” I wonder if he’ll grow up to appreciate the privilege of travel? I do hope that one day he realizes just how lucky he is. How lucky we all are to be able to get from point A to point B for just a few hundred dollars.

As someone who works for a major US carrier, someone who has to deal with the me me me first attitude of the flying public, passengers who expect something for nothing when fuel prices keep rising and ticket prices remain fairly low, I have to say, there’s something wrong with THAT. There’s something wrong when you can purchase a one way ticket from New York to Las Vegas for lower than a cab ride from New York’s JFK international airport to Manhattan. NOT WHEN everyone and their mother (as well as the kids) are traveling on my flight.

Not that I mind that everyone and their mother (along with the kids) are aboard my flight, just the opposite, in fact. Especially when airlines are struggling to stay afloat, when airlines like Alitalia are on the verge of going out of business. However, it’s not easy for me to listen to all the complaining about air travel, particularly about customer service. Seriously, I have hard time believing that flying is all that bad, no matter how much the airline charges per bag, how long the security lines, how small the seats, or how much it costs to purchase a sandwich, or how old the flight attendant. And why does the age of a flight attendant even matter? (This is the 2000’s, is it not?)

After reading letters from readers who responded to the question, What’s wrong with American Airlines? on the Dallas Morning News website, I am forced to pose the question, what is RIGHT with the airlines? I mean whatever happened to the glass is half full mentality? It seems like these days all people want to do is complain, complain about everything, particularly when it comes to bashing airlines and flight attendants. Come on now, there has to be SOMETHING good about air travel, right?