A commercial flight is never complete without flight attendants coming in to direct you to your seats, or serve you drinks, or perform the standard air safety precaution routine. Flight attendants have always been fixtures of the aviation industry, and pop culture has certainly afforded them with so much attention that TV shows, movies and songs are created with them in mind.

However, if you think that their job is simple and glamorous, you had better think again. Not everyone who applies for aviation training can actually meet the eligibility for cabin crew job descriptions. (When we say, aviation training, we actually mean for the cabin crews and not the pilots themselves.) And even for those who do pass cabin crew training, there is a stringent hierarchy for trained professionals. Many successful trainees do not really rise above the level of cabin crews for domestic puddle hops.

Depending on the hiring airline companies, many potential flight attendants have to go through very rigorous trainings for airplane safety measures, medical emergencies, and of course, passenger care - among many things. Flight attendant training does not end there. There are also additional trainings and certifications needed for those who wish to cater to a more select group of passengers like for those who patronize business jet flights or private planes.

There are a number of flight attendant training centers in the country. There are some that are privately owned, which means that potential cabin crews have generalized education. Flight attendant training centers that are commercially owned are those run by airline companies themselves. Often, non-city people train in private centers first before can meet the application eligibility for cabin crew job descriptions in commercial training centers. Training sessions usually go from 6 weeks to 6 months, depending on what kind of training is actually being given, the airline company giving it, and the collective skills of the group of trainees at that moment.

What are the qualifications for potential cabin crews?

The number one qualification for potential cabin crew is of course, completion for basic cabin training. These may include, but not limited to: CPR and other medical tools and procedures; crew resource management and security; desert, ice, jungle, sea survival skills; decompression emergencies; emergency passenger evacuation (using evacuations slides, lifesavers, life rafts, etc.); and passenger assistance. More specialized training involves food preparation like a certification in alcoholic beverage preparations and coffee preparations. In light of fairly recent happenings, some flight attendants are now trained in bomb-detection and other potentially hazardous looking objects that may be used to high-jack a plane.

The need for multi-lingual and articulate cabin crews is largely dependent on the airline company as well. For many, English and the local dialect are standard requirements. However, some airline companies do train their cabin crews to speak the language of whatever country their planes land in. Some of the more prominent languages being taught are: Cantonese, Filipino, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Height and weight requirements are mostly for aesthetic value. And still, this is dependent on what image the airline company is trying to promote.