Any wannabes out there?

You probably know that many airlines here in the US are struggling. "The friendly skies" of my airline decided this summer that it was overstaffed and needed to have some people go "buh-bye." They managed to offer 1926 Flight Attendants a voluntary furlough and an additional 165 Flight Attendants (including me) are partner flying (job sharing.)

In addition to the 1252 already furloughed, American Airlines just laid off another 921 Flight Attendants. (Well, 244 of them are out for the months of October and November, and will return to flying to be Santa's elves for December. It will be interesting to see what January brings for them.)


Earlier this summer, US Airways sought to furlough 400 Flight Attendants. The country has been hearing this sort of news plenty in the last 8 years--and these numbers are daunting!

I know in July, when I was staring at the computer to see whether or not I had a job anymore, the waiting was terrible. The uncertainty, the not knowing, the unfathomable future without this job that I love or the benefits I adore...(yeah, it's that cool of a job!)

On the second day at training at my mainline job, we were given the news that there would be no more classes hired after us for the time being. This was blamed on the price of fuel at the time. There were people who were on their way to the Training Center--one girl had already quit her job and had her car being shipped to Chicago when she received the call not to come to class. And being in the last class that was hired--if anyone is going to be involuntarily furloughed, it will be me. I am about #10 from the bottom of the seniority list here at my airline.

Okay, after reading that...are there still any Flight Attendant wannabes out there? While many airlines are laying off Flight Attendants, there are still some that are hiring.

The scuttlebutt over on FlightAttendants.org (a pay site--and worth every penny if you are a wannabe) is that Hawaiian Airlines will be hiring. It's a small airline with big plans of expansion--for now the word is they are looking for 30 more Flight Attendants.

Qantas is accepting "interest."

Regional carriers that are hiring: Trans States, Air Wisconsin, and Skywest.

Kiki Ward, who for a long time has put together a great interview guide specific to each airline has a list of the airlines hiring--and there aren't that many...

Two of my favorite bloggers have recently posted important information for any wannabes (and we all were one before we were hired!)

Ben, aka Airboy, is a 23 year old Flight Attendant from Paris, who flies for Emirates (EK). Looks like EK is hiring. Check out Airboy's website--it is chock full of fun stuff and great information. He has a great section on joining Emirates Air Crew with a lot of FAQ's and other useful information for wannabes or even wannaknows!


And, Heather Poole, who flies for an American mainline carrier and writes Galley Gossip for Gadling, and also has a personal website, gives all the wannabes great advice when it comes to Flight Attendant Training Schools.








If you're a wannabe, you'll definitely want to follow Heather and Airboy and subscribe to FAs.org. And, hurry up and get hired, please! We all want to have you onboard with us! And, I want some seniority!