About Flight Attendant School
As you might have guessed, flight attendant schools help train and prepare their students for a career as a flight attendant. This includes teaching airline and aviation specific topics like airport codes, airline safety, FAA certification information, and other necessary job specific skills.
In addition, they often cover more general skills that will be needed as a flight attendant like customer service, geography, and interacting with passengers.
Flight attendant schools offer different programs that can be as short as a few days and as long as 16 weeks. The depth of the topics covered can vary and like most things, putting in more time means you’ll be able to learn more.
Although flight attendant school is not required, it can be very useful to someone looking to join the industry for the first time who might not already have many of these skills.
How Much does Flight Attendant School Cost?
The average cost of flight attendant school programs in 2019 is $3,500 to $5,000.Flight attendant schools can cost as little as a $1,000 and as much as $25,000 depending on how long they are and what is covered. Some will even require you to pay room and board since you’ll be living near by as you train.
If you are serious about attending a flight attendant school, it’s strongly recommended that you contact at least a couple different schools to ask questions. You should be asking for key information that includes:
- Cost of tuition and other fees
- Topics covered by the program
- How long the training lasts
- If job placement assistance is offered
- If they offer financing
Is Flight Attendant School Required?
No, flight attendant school is not a requirement to become a flight attendant. For some people, however, flight attendant school might still be a good idea and worth the time, money, and effort. It helps prepare you for being a flight attendant not only with skills to do the job but will assist in actually finding a job.
Things like know where to apply, what to include on your resume, and what will be asked during the interview are very important. Working with professionals that have spent years assisting others with these topics can be very valuable if you are just starting out.
Other Requirements to be a Flight Attendant
In addition to educational and training requirements, there are a few other requirements to keep in mind when it comes to becoming a flight attendant. Here is a short list along with more information on each.
- Height: Some airlines have requirements related to your height. This is to ensure all flight attendants are both tall enough to assist passengers with overhead compartments and to make sure they don’t have issues spending long periods of time in the aircraft.
- Background Check: In order to become a flight attendant you will need to pass a bacground check as you would with many jobs in the aviation industry.
- Medical Screening: Airlines want to try and prevent having flight attendants having medical issues during flights, so there will be a medical screening as part of the hiring process.
- Certification: As mentioned earlier in this article, flight attendants also must be certified through the FAA. This is something the airline you work for will assist and coordinate you doing.
Listing of Flight Attendant Schools
Here is a short list of some of the flight schools currently accepting students (as of the writing of this article). Make sure to do your due diligence and look for more in your area that meet your requirements before making a decision to attend.
The Airline Academy – Link to Website – Call at 1-800-798-0202
International Air & Hospitality Academy – Link to Website – Call at 1-800-868-1816
The Travel Academy – Link to Website – Call at 952-854-7161
Pan Am International Flight Academy – Link to Website – Call at 305-874-6000
For a more complete list of flight attendant schools, make sure to check out our directory.
Other Helpful Articles
If you’re considering becoming a flight attendant and want to know more about the career and see if it might be a good fit for you, take a look at a few of the other articles we have here on EverdayAviation.
This includes our article on the benefits of being a flight attendant, how much flight attendants are paid, and a more in depth plan to become a flight attendant.
Best of luck on your new career as a flight attendant!