Flight Attendant / Cabin Crew
🧳Keeps passengers safe and comfortable: safety briefings, meals, handling conflicts and illness, evacuation in an emergency.
Prospects & pay
What the work is like
💼 Job market
🇺🇸 $61.7k a year on average · +8.8% jobs by 2035 · 18,500 openings a year
Flight attendants — US: Census ACS 2020–24 (full-time), BLS projections 2025–35
🇬🇧 £27.7k median a year · 11,000 jobs
Air travel assistants — UK: ONS ASHE 2025 (full-time)
🤖 AI & automation
Online check-in and digital service reduce routine, but cabin crew are required by safety rules, so the job will stay.
Who it suits
Interests: ✈️ Transport, flying, sea, 🤝 Helping and caring, 🍳 Cooking and hospitality, 🌍 Languages and cultures, 🛡️ Protecting, rescuing, serving.
Key strengths: understanding people, foreign languages, strength and stamina.
Where to study
- Course Airline cabin crew training (4–8 weeks) for the EASA Cabin Crew Attestation or FAA certificate
- Vocational Optional travel, tourism or aviation college course
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): Languages.
🧗 Usually 18+ (often 21 in the US), meet height and health requirements, speak languages and have the right to work. The airline trains you for 4–8 weeks for EASA or FAA certification.
Universities
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- University of Surrey Guildford · €27.4k/yr
International Hospitality Management £23,800 (2027/28); IELTS 6.5 (writing 6.0, others 5.5); foundation at Surrey ISC - Oxford Brookes University Oxford · €20.2k/yr
International Hospitality and Tourism Management £17,600 (2026/27), £18,500 (2027/28); recognised foundation - University of West London London
BA Hospitality Management (London Geller College); Attestat + foundation; IELTS usually 6.0 *
🇺🇸 United States
- Cornell University (Nolan School of Hotel Administration) Ithaca, NY · €64.3k/yr
admission to Cornell (Nolan School); SAT/ACT required; IELTS 7.5 / TOEFL 5.0 (5.5 rec.) / DET 130; need-aware for internationals - The Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park, NY · €34.4k/yr
TOEFL 4 (new) / 80 / IELTS 6.0; lower: conditional acceptance with English; $19.8k per semester - University of Nevada, Las Vegas Las Vegas · €25.7k/yr
non-resident charge $20.2k + $313 per credit; TOEFL/IELTS/DET for non-native speakers
🇩🇪 Germany
- Munich University of Applied Sciences Munich · free
No non-EU tuition (so far); German C1 (DSH-2/TestDaF 4x4); Russian certificate: Studienkolleg (FH course) or a year at university * - Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences Heilbronn · €3k/yr
Non-EU: €1,500 a semester (Baden-Württemberg); Hotel and Restaurant Management B.A., 7 semesters; German C1 * - Hochschule Bremen (HSB) Bremen · free
No tuition; German C1 for German-taught programmes; international programmes (tourism) partly in English *
🇳🇱 Netherlands
- Hotelschool The Hague The Hague · €18.3k/yr
English-taught HBO: certificate equals HAVO + selection; €18,297 a year (Sept 2027) + Skotel housing ≈ €8,600 in year 1 - Breda University of Applied Sciences Breda · €13.3k/yr
English-taught HBO: certificate equals HAVO, IELTS ≈ 6.0; non-EU rate €13,300 (taken from another programme's page) * - NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences Leeuwarden · €10.3k/yr
HBO: certificate equals HAVO, direct entry; Hospitality Management in English, IELTS ≈ 6.0; non-EU pay the full year upfront
🇫🇷 France
- Institut Lyfe (formerly Institut Paul Bocuse) Écully
Private school: bachelors (some in English), file + interview; fee not verified * - Ferrandi Paris Paris
Bachelor: Parcoursup (French) or English international track (Paris); file + interview, €150 fee * - Vatel Paris · €13.1k–13.4k/yr
Paris campus is French-only: French/English tests + interview; €12,600–12,900 + €450; English in Bordeaux/Nîmes
🇮🇹 Italy
- ALMA – International School of Italian Cuisine Colorno
Private culinary school (courses, not a bachelor's); international courses with English support * - University of Gastronomic Sciences Pollenzo · €15.5k/yr
Food Sciences and Cultures: year 1 in English, years 2–3 in Italian; fee €15,500 (2026/27), selection by documents - University of Bologna (Tourism, Rimini campus) Rimini · €1.2k/yr
12 school years; B2 in the language of study; TOLC-E or SAT *
🇪🇸 Spain
- Basque Culinary Center San Sebastián
Private centre (Mondragon): own selection; international English track * - CETT – University of Barcelona Barcelona
Private UB centre: own selection, UNEDasiss * - Les Roches Marbella Marbella
Private school taught in English: documents, English level, interview *
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- University College Prague Prague
Private: fees for both Czech and English (Hospitality Management); 2026/27 price not found * - College of Polytechnics Jihlava Jihlava · free
Free in Czech: Czech ≈B2 + entrance exams, certificate nostrification *
Things to know
🌙 Night shifts and on-call🧳 Frequent work trips🩺 Strict medical checks🎖️ Uniforms, ranks, strict hierarchy
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