Is a career as an air hostess for you?

Bangalore: Though it may seem like a glamourous job from the outside but this career is a lot of hard work. This is a highly demanding job which requires a lot of patience and involves odd duty hours. To be more specific behind this career lies a strong conviction, commitment and hard work for learning the technical aspects of aircraft operation and skills to tackle difficult situations. The money is quite good with pilots getting a salary, which can be in the range of Rs5 lacs per month for pilots.
Air hostess can command anywhere between Rs30,000 in domestic to Rs1, 20,000 in international airlines. The job has a number ofperks, such as15% to 20%discount in duty free shops by showing your ID card. You can also avail 50% or 90% discount during your yearly vacation, when travelling by your own airline.Of course, these perks and privileges may differ from airline to airline. During your travels, the airlines pays for your stay and food.
Starting off as an air hostess, you may have to take progressive examinations for promotions and attend the refresher courses to keep abreast of the latest technology. There is every chance that you can then be promoted to the post of senior flight attendant and then head attendant. Your career as an air hostess would last for about eight to ten years, after which you could move on to the ground duties including the job of a ground hostess, check hostess, etc., or diversify into any one of the other departments in the airline industry. With privatisation and foreign collaboration increasing every day, the future is bright for an air hostess. Most airline offices are looking to increasing their fleet and there is a demand for air hostesses.
28/06/12 Anju Bhatia/Daily News & Analysis