CABIN CREW STORIES: “Trust me, the cabin crew job is one of the best jobs in the world!”
By TSANIA SALIM BAWAZIER, Former Qatar Airways Cabin Crew
My life in Bogor, Indonesia, changed once I stepped into the aviation field for a little longer than 10 great years. I used to be Cabin Crew for about 8 years and then I continued working as a Briefing Officer, office position, for 2 years before resigning.
I used to work in the Customer Service department for one prestigious car company in Jakarta and actually I never wanted to become a cabin crew, as this field was never my choice of career. As a young woman at that time, I really dreamt about travelling abroad, but being a tiny girl with a 154 cm height (whilst minimum requirement for cabin crew was 158 cm), I knew that no aviation company would hire me. But one day, one of my closest friends, flying for our national airline, showed me the advertisement about Qatar Airways having an interview in Jakarta for the first time. So he decided to apply for both of us, since he really wanted to join and I did agree with the application just to be a moral support for him.
I realize that God gave me this opportunity, as I was called for an interview and my friend was left out. I attended the interview out of curiosity and when I arrived at the interview venue, I noticed that a lot of participants were wearing their cabin crew uniform, as most of them were already cabin crew and some even came before or after their duties for that day. They were all tall, taller than me for sure! I was so relaxed just because I knew there was NO WAY they were going to choose me as one of their employees.
The interview was easy and I even told the recruiter (who was the manager of Cabin Crew Department at that time) that I was looking forward for the good news with my cheeky smile. Luckily, one month later someone called me on my landline, informing me that I got accepted!!! Out of 500 applicants, Qatar Airways chose 21 of us to join them in the following two weeks. Actually we were the first Indonesian crew working for them.
Working as a cabin crew was like a dream for me. I knew that I could not be able to work with the same people for a long time, because I love to see different faces every day, so this job really suited me! It changed a lot of things in my life, as the way I see things now is not the same as before. It opened my eyes regarding my personal life, made me wiser and more mature. At the beginning, of course, it was not easy at all to adjust to the Arabic culture, food and people from the Middle East. Being an Asian girl, I used to have a relaxed and easy going way of life back home.
But in Qatar things were different in 2002, when there was nothing much around the country. I believe it was difficult even for the local people to get used with foreigner girls walking around their city uncovered. So, we all needed a lot of adjustment and understanding towards the culture in order to stay over there. However, that foreign country for me soon became a new home. I found the true meaning of friendship there and I realized that while flying, we always had to separate personal life and work, in order to survive the tricky working environment. Somehow you always had to know how to watch your back, because you couldn’t trust all of your colleagues. Some of the crew had a very childish mentality that sometimes would give you headaches, if you were not careful with your behavior/acting in front of them. But I do have nice memories too, with so many other crew members! I remember that being the shortest QR crew, I had the advantage of always getting help from my colleagues when I had to close the overhead bins.
My flight schedules were the best thing, meaning that I got the opportunity to see a lot of cities around the world. I managed to see places that I never heard of in my life and Qatar Airways offered me the opportunity to experience a luxurious life style. During our layovers in different destinations, we always got nice, comfortable rooms in 4 star hotels. Back then we used to have 8 days of layover in Bangkok or a flight with 3 days off in Paris. The atmosphere the crew was setting before the flight was mostly the same with the one during our stay in these destinations. Sometimes, because of the long period of time we hung around together, we even became friends for life. Of course, bad things also happened. I remember that while I was still an F1 (working as First Class Cabin crew) after landing, our CSD (Cabin Service Director) asked me to open the curtain dividing the premium cabin from the economy one. All of a sudden, right in front of me there was one Qatari guy shouting at me very loudly that he was going to report me. He was so angry and cursing at me just because he had to sit in the Economy Class, as First Class was full.
Some other time, while being a galley operator for the first time in the same First Class, I was just not feeling well. My supervisor took it as being a lazy girl, thinking that I was pretending to be sick. So again I was told that a report would be written about my performance. On top of that I had to deal with one of the rudest crew who pretended to help me on my galley duties whenever the supervisor was around. But what she was actually doing it was just bossing me around, telling me at one point to move faster or else she would burn my face with the hot casserole that we were handling. Sometimes you meet these kind of crew who would just try to make other cabin crew cry and feel bad.
At the base, in Doha, our cabin crew accommodation was even in a sharing 2 bedroom or 3 bedroom apartments. During our days off, we could enjoy our time in Doha, as we never got bored walking around from morning till evening. My friends and I had a really great time over there and trust me, cabin crew job is one of the best jobs in the world. You can enjoy every day of your life and you will never experience the same thing twice in your career, as the cabin crew life is never a boring job. After 8 years of flying, while being already a cabin crew supervisor, I decided that I had enough, wanted to get married and start a family. I requested the management an office job, so this is how I got to work in the Briefing Office department for another 2 years. However, once I got pregnant, I decided that this is the good time to take a break and deliver the baby in my home town. I resigned from Qatar Airways in 2012 and became a full time mom of a cute boy, currently expecting another baby boy.
So based on my personal experience, I really want to tell you that if you ever want to be a cabin crew just go for it, don’t hesitate even if you think you don’t have a chance. Just try your luck, send your CV to any airline that you feel like joining and go to all the Open Day interviews. Your life will just take off to higher grounds!