by Jennifer Simer

Created on: September 18, 2009

Stressful, exciting, scary, valuable, trying, anxious, proud...these are some of the words that come to mind when I think about a Flight Attendant Training Program. I should know, I have survived it twice. I first became a flight attendant when I was just 23 for a regional airline and then switched gears and went to work for a major airline 4 years later. Even though it has been nearly 2 years since my last training program, the harrowing experience is still fresh in my mind and it is not something soon forgot. The second time around I felt like I was an old pro at it because I had been through it before and most of the other fresh faced, wide eyed flight attendant trainees had no idea what to expect. I was prolific with my advice and help to the other trainees when I could see that they were about to lose their minds. I knew that this five and a half week curriculum was merely a means to an end. I was a flight attendant and always would be.

First of all, let me congratulate you on being chosen to attend flight attendant training. It's not an easy task in making it through the interview process, and many people whom you interviewed with were not invited to the program. You should be very proud. Although each airline offers different styles of service, different company rules and standards, the training programs are all very similar. It is a rigorous military-style approach in that the instructors immerse you everything airline, where you eat sleep and breath nothing but FAR's (federal aviation regulations), service, emergencies, evacuations, etc. and put the fear of God into you in order to tear you down and bring you back up as a team. Sounds like fun, right? It actually is a wonderful experience where you get the opportunity to meet amazing people from all over the world, learn a wide array of skills, and make a lifetime of memories in a very short period of time. Being a flight attendant, I naturally want to help any of you new trainees out there who are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime.

The first thing you need to know is that you will be sharing a hotel room with another trainee of the same sex that the company pairs you with. This person will be a complete stranger and you will be sleeping in a bed next to theirs, sharing the lav, studying with, eating with, and living with for the next 5 weeks. You may not get along, or you may become best friends. Although one of my very best friends is my roommate from my first training program years

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