Courtesy of Emirates
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Serena Willams, a 31-year-old flight attendant. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
On my first flight, I remember feeling nervous as I looked down at all those passengers staring at me doing the safety demo. I had to tell myself: “I can do this.”
When I fastened my seatbelt and secured the cabin, I was struck by the sense of responsibility that if I didn’t do my job properly people could get hurt. Once the flight was over, I absolutely loved it.
After leaving school, I trained in beauty therapy. I felt it was a skill you could take anywhere.
But as soon as I’d finished, I applied to work for easyJet and went straight into flying. I knew someone who had been cabin crew, and I’d always see them travelling. I wanted to explore the world.
I applied to work as cabin crew with easyJet based out of London Gatwick around 2013. After two years, I wanted to experience the real deal of cabin crew, with longer layovers, so I applied to work for British Airways, where I stayed for five years. I worked for an independent private jet company before joining Emirates and relocating to Dubai in 2022.
There’s so much more to cabin crew than serving food and drinks.
We’re responsible for the security search of the aircraft, the safety equipment checks. There are often medical situations on board, and we have to know what to do.
Beauty therapist to flight attendant
As with other jobs, you submit your CV online, but airline companies have different requirements before you’re invited for an interview. With easyJet, there were maths and English tests and customer service-based scenario questions. There’s a height test to make sure you’re tall enough to reach the overhead lockers, and you must be able to swim.
Once I got the role, I completed training, which included treading water, going down the slide, and pulling yourself up into the slide raft from the water.
At first, the hours were a massive adjustment. In beauty, you tend to work a typical 9-to-5. Whereas at easyJet, I was setting an alarm for 2 or 3 a.m. Your schedule can vary so much as a flight attendant.
On average, I get about 10 days off a month, and we also have rest days before a flight.
My background in beauty has come in handy. At Emirates, it’s a requirement to wear basic makeup, along with the signature red lips — that’s part of the uniform.
Moving to Dubai for work
I moved to Dubai in 2022. At first, I lived in accommodation provided by Emirates, which also sponsors our work permits and visas. Now, I live in my own apartment, which I can afford thanks to Emirates’ live-out allowance.
There are lots of perks, including a tax-free salary, transport to work, and a platinum card which gives us free access to beach clubs and discounts at shops and restaurants here: it might be 25% off the bill, free entry to a nice hotel, or 10% off in a clothes store.
I’d been to Dubai on holiday and enjoyed it, but since I’ve moved, I’ve found that it is my No. 1 city: it’s 24/7, there are always things to do and places to explore, and there’s a big expat community. It’s the perfect base for me.
It can be tough being away from home, but on the flip side, my family is spread out, so I feel like it’s enabled me to stay connected to them.
We’re allocated routes on our rota, but we can bid for specific flights or swap among crew as long as it fits the allocated times. I’ll switch to UK flights to see my mum, or Sweden in the summer to catch up with my brother. The Australia flight to Sydney allows me to see friends and cousins over there.
Meeting new people is my favorite part of the job
For me, though, the best part of the job is meeting different people from all over the world.
I’ve visited more than 50 countries, and I still haven’t flown to all the destinations that we fly to. It opens your mind and your horizons.
You never know who you’re flying with — every day I go to work, I meet new people, do new things. You learn how to speak to all types of people and to be patient. I treat my passengers as if they were my mum or my friend.
Years ago, I had a situation where a woman was projectile vomiting and unexpectedly had a fit. She came round, but all her clothes were in the hold. My mum had given me a tracksuit for Christmas, which was in my overnight bag, so I gave her my clothes. Later, she wrote in to thank me. These kinds of experiences, when you help or connect with someone, stand out to me.
Initially, I thought I’d do this for a year, but here I am 12 years later, still flying. It still has that novelty because every day is different.
Sometimes, when I look out of the window and we’re flying over the mountains, I think, “This really is amazing.”
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