Airline jobs?

[Dragonmount 5]

I'm thinking of looking for an airline job, but I don't know what kind of jobs there are. I kind of want to work with people but not as a flight attendant. (I also cannot fly due to eyesight) I only have a vague notion of the kinds of jobs that airlines have.

[z06z33 763]

What issue do you have with your eyes?

[mwilk 1,106]

You want to work with people, you could be a Customer Service Agent. They're the folks who work the ticket counter and the gates. When people think of airline jobs, they immediately think of pilots and flight attendants. There are many more jobs that make the airline go. I don't know what country you live in but most airlines in the US have online applications. Be prepared. Understand that as a new hire, you may start out working part time. You will most likely be working the night shift with days off in the middle of the week. The airline industry is very cyclical. Right now the airlines are doing very well because fuel prices are low. If something changes that and costs increase they usually react to that by cutting staffing. Last one in is the first one out. I spent 36 years with a major US airline and retired in January. I enjoyed my airline career very much but I can also say that the airline industry is not what it used to be.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

My sister-in-law started out as a customer service agent, then worked her way up to fuel and loading calculations, then manager in KSFO, CYYZ AND KORD, then territory manager for the Caribbean and now she is in health and safety for the entire corporation.

 

She says customer service agent was the best because you don't travel for your job and can be home for dinner. You can double up on your shifts when it is busy in lieu of time off, you still get all the same travel perks as you can fly standby for free but pay the admin fees and taxes and hotel discounts. So she would work like crazy and build up time off so she can travel. She used to finish her shift and look at the departure board and pick any flight at random, spend her time off doing that getting around the world before making it back for her first shift when she gets back. Then work like crazy again building up more time off. She got to see a lot of the world doing that.

 

Sometimes with Fight Attendants or Pilots they won't feel like traveling when they get time off because they want to get away from the planes and spend time at home, but the ones working on the ground are more likely wanting to travel in their down time because they don't work on the planes and want to get away for a while.

[Dragonmount 5]

What issue do you have with your eyes?

As in blind as a bat without  my glasses. I can barely get a drivers license. CSA sounds pretty cool, I am in school for an AAS in managment at the moment if that helps. I also wouldn't mind a job where part of the requirements were to travel to x y z place for some reason or other.  I'm conversant in French (though not quite fluent, and hope to certify for interpreter one day).  I have no real attachments that I'd need to worry about things like being home anytime soon.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

  I'm conversant in French (though not quite fluent, and hope to certify for interpreter one day). 

 

Air Canada and Westjet are always struggling to find bilingual staff. Canadian Regulations do require service in both French and English and that includes CSA staff in Canada and abroad. That can be a challenge in the USA airports or Australia or Asia to find people that can also speak French. Bilingual staff also earn a higher pay. 

[Dragonmount 5]

Air Canada and Westjet are always struggling to find bilingual staff. Canadian Regulations do require service in both French and English and that includes CSA staff in Canada and abroad. That can be a challenge in the USA airports or Australia or Asia to find people that can also speak French. Bilingual staff also earn a higher pay. 

How fluent must I be for a job with the companies do you know? I can hold a decent conversation but I don't know that I'd know everything related to airline operations that I'd need.