Monday, December 15, 2008

Flight attendant- Passenger Care Responsibilities

Flight attendants or cabin crew or stewards, air hosts/hostesses, or stewardesses are members of an aircrew employed by airlines to ensure the safety and comfort of the passengers aboard commercial flights as well as on select business jet aircraft.

The main and always primary duty of a flight attendant is for safety but they do also provide a caregiving and customer service role on board commercial flights. Customer service duties include the preparation and serving or selling of onboard food and beverage. Flight attendants also offer comfort items including blankets, pillows, hot towel service, handing out headsets, magazines, newspapers, amenity kits, games and on certain airlines hand out pyjamas and set up and make the lie flat beds. They also distribute customs forms on international flights and assist passengers with their proper completion prior to landing.

The Cabin Service Director (CSD), Cabin Service Manager (CSM). The title associating with this crew member differs from airline to airline. These crew are mainly found on larger aircraft types and are in charge of the running of the cabin. They report when the cabin is secure for takeoff and landing, deliver on-board announcements, and any broken or missing emergency equipment items to the pilots after the preflight check. They generally operate the doors during routine flights as well as hold the manifest and account for all money and required paperwork and reports for each flight. 2-4 Senior Crew Members may also be on board the larger aircraft types.
Cabin Service Directors are flight attendants that have been promoted through the ranks flight attendant -> senior crew member -> purser -> Cabin Service Director. To reach this position the crew member must have had a mandatory amount of service years within the airline or airlines prior to changing airline. Further training is mandatory, and Cabin Service Directors typically earn a higher salary than flight attendants because of the added responsibility.

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