Ever wondered what a typical working day for a Jet2 stewardess looks like? We can typically take you from the moment you receive your roster through to the end of a long flight. Short haul lifestyle may not always appear as glamorous as long haul but we still think it’s a very rewarding career.
My earliest shift would be starting around 5 am (checking in time). When I arrive at our crew room, I check-in through the computer and prepare the paper work for pre-flight briefing. Before starting our briefing. All crew declare how much personal money they have and count the money we take for our bar and tax/duty free services. If someone has (a) personal product(s) which are selling on board, it should be declared as well.
Pre-flight briefings, we have four different sections. Flight introduction, SEP and First Aid questions, Service and Sales, Additional information.
We are asked 2 SEP related questions and 1 first aid related question. Some questions are easy and some are not. So, I always make sure to keep up with any new info on the manual.
We operate B-737-800 with 2 flight crews (pilots) and 4 cabin crew. Before welcoming the passengers, we check all our safety equipment such as life jackets, seat belts, first aid kits, oxygen, etc. Then move on to prepare setting up our sales computers, checking caterings, etc. I make sure I welcome passengers with a warm smile and offer support whenever needed throughout the flight. We have 1 member standing at the front door and 1 at the rear door. Rest of us would help all passengers who need help putting up their luggage into overhead lockers, finding their allocated seat, giving baby’s seatbelts /life jackets to passengers travelling with babies, etc. Because of the destination we fly, most of our passengers are holiday makers. They are all looking forward to having a great time and it starts from our flight. So, I make sure to keep smiling and giving a friendly support whenever they need, because their holiday is special.
After all passengers on board, we are about to leave and it’s our show time (safety demo!) Safety is the priority for our flight, so we make sure that everyone listen to / look at our safety demo. I would ask you to remove your headphone and stop listening to the music, just for a while.
After take-off, we start our first bar service, selling hot/cold drinks, snacks, and light meals. Then scratch cards, tax free another bar service if we have time. We also contact the flight crew every 20 mins to make sure everything is OK and ask if they need anything. Keep checking the cabin and toilet every 10 mins as well. I know it sounds very busy and indeed, it’s very busy! However, we still make time to have coffee/tea /meals for ourselves between those duties which is miracle! To minimize our spending time on duty, we work very closely to help each other to complete all duties smoothly. It doesn’t mean that we don’t work properly. We still work hard to make sure all passengers have a safe and comfortable flight. Then, 20 mins before landing, we start closing our galley, making sure everything is in place and we are safe to land.
When we arrive at our destination we bid our passengers farewell and start checking the cabin . At first, we scan our entire cabin in case any passengers have left any belongings behind. Then, we check equipment, tidy up the cabin for next passengers. It’s the busiest time for us, because we normally have less than hour between flights.
The duties for inbound is the same as outbound. It keeps me busy and I never get bored. Then we are finally coming back to the airport where we started our day. After all passengers disembarked, our flight duty is nearly ending, but the aircraft is normally flying to another 2 sectors after that and we’ll get to see other flight/cabin crews coming on board. They are on their late shifts. They help us tidying up the cabin and we help their equipment check. (Yes, team work is the KEY!!)
We finally heading to customs and our crew room. We count all the money intake. Complete the paper work, then check-out through the computer. When I check out, I also check our next shift in case there are some last minute changes.
That’s a typical day of my early shift.
Although, I may see drunken passengers time to time (because they are already pretty much in a holiday mood when they get on board), I have never encountered any problematic passengers (touch wood!). All my colleagues are very friendly and approachable. I have met great people who are now my friends. I am very lucky!!”
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