How often do you get to explore other countries, outside of the airport?
There are two types of flights: turnarounds (you stay in the aircraft and go back with new pax) and layovers (you spend time at the destination). So during layovers we have time to discover places and besides that we have many days off and holidays
I have a list for that haha will get back to you. Most annoying thing I’d say is passengers that are not following our instructions (i.e. people who refuse to fasten their seatbelts)
Depends on the airline. I’m based in the Middle-East so we get very well taken care of. We don’t get free flights but discounted tickets (very cheap tickets but you are on stand-by so you only fly if there are seats available).
Are you pressured into selling perfumes/cologne etc?
Both long- and short-flights. The shortest flight I have done was like 40 minutes and the longest direct flight was a bit over 16 hours. There are also multi-sector flights where you are on a trip for a few days.
No, we are not pressured into selling duty free products on board but we get a bit of commission to motivate us. Some other airlines do pressure their crew.
What's the craziest incident you had to deal with? What's the most disgusting incident? What's a secret that most passengers don't know?
1) Passengers trying to get cozy together (...), thinking that we don't know what is going on. Or passengers that started fighting each other. Besides that things like smoke detector alarm, medical incidents etc. The list doesn't end.
2) A passenger that didn't know how to use a toilet. He did a nr. 2 on top of a closed toilet. Yep, I love my job......
3) - Pilots sleep during the flight. - There are cameras everywhere on board to monitor the cabin. - Pilots are not aloud to eat shellfish and they never eat the same meal (risk of food poisoning). - Cabin Crew are trained to deal with many scenarios such as child birth on board.
Best and worst thing about the job? (Apart from the best thing being free flights :P)
Best thing is being able to travel, both during layovers and during holidays (with discount on tickets, hotels etc.)
The worst thing is that you have to deal with a realllllly irregular sleeping pattern and dealing with annoying passengers - with a smile even when you are really tired and don't feel like smiling at all.