Case studies: Air cabin crew: John

John will shortly graduate with a degree in airline and airport management. He currently works as air cabin crew during his holidays and hopes to get a permanent job in the near future.

I work seasonally at the moment for a chartered airline on fixed-term, seven-month contracts. I plan to apply for a permanent contract this summer. This will be my second year with the airline.

My role involves checking the aircraft's emergency equipment before the passengers board and ensuring passengers' safety at all times. Helping passengers is a major part of the role and includes helping them stow luggage away, calming them down if nervous and serving hot drinks and meals and selling duty-free goods. I also have to keep up with the constant revision of safety updates, safety equipment and emergency drill updates.

I was attracted to the job as I saw it as a 'foot in the door' to other jobs in the industry, such as crew planning, crew control, human resources and crew training. I applied online and was then invited to an assessment day with around 40 other participants. We completed group exercises and were tested on product knowledge, maths and English. At the end of the assessment, we did a 2:1 interview. Candidates were eliminated at various stages throughout the day until five were left and, fortunately, I was one of the lucky ones.

Advantages of the role include the opportunity to travel, and it can be really fun taking people on holiday. Compared to working for a scheduled airline, all of our passengers are going on holiday and are not travelling for business, and are therefore much more relaxed and generally very pleasant to work with. There are also quite a few perks including discounts on package holidays and competitive pay.

There are a few downsides; the hours are what put a lot of people off. My shifts usually last at least 12 hours and can start as early as 3.30am or as late as 11pm or even midnight. Most flights are 'there and back' meaning you could fly as far away as Egypt and back in a day. Also it's hard to secure a permanent contract. Most charter airlines operate seasonal recruitment as their winter flying programme is very quiet compared with the busy summer programme. Most permanent crew have been with the airline for a long time and have worked exceptionally hard to gain their permanent contracts.

I'd say that being a cabin crew member is a very fun and exciting job to get into and it leads to many other career paths within an airline. It's hard at first as the training is very intense and requires a lot of effort. Promotions within the job are based on your performance and not what degree you have. However, for other roles within the airline, such as crew planning or airline management positions, an aviation management degree would almost certainly work to your advantage.