What does in flight experience mean?

  • Jul 16, 2024
What does in flight experience mean?

What do they mean by Inflight experience?

A few areas where research has been focused on are outlined below Inflight experience: This is the real-life experience that the cabin crew members and pilots undergo while on board a commercial aircraft. It refers to all activities that a company undertakes in managing a plane during the time passengers are on board; and this includes all the serving, safety and service control, and contingencies arising from abnormal operations or incidents.

Inflight experience is crucial because it is a core component of brand delivery and a key area that airlines can use to differentiate themselves.

Airline companies, passengers, and aviation organizations consider inflight experience for cabin crew members and pilots essential. Here's why it matters:

Safety: Trained cabin crews and pilots understand how to conduct themselves and manage the passengers when it comes to the occurrence of irregular operations such as extreme turbulence, inflight medical emergencies, fires, crash landings, and other related complications. It makes them ready to respond tactfully during nasty moments in their course of work.

Customer Service: Cabin crew are those employees most likely to have direct communication with the passengers traveling on the flight. They can offer better, more direct customer relations since they have had more time to prepare themselves to deal with the needs of the passengers during the flight after having done it on similar flights before. They know how to ensure customers are comfortable and also how to add value to the time people spend aboard an aircraft.

Efficiency: default processes and practices are usually executed more efficiently given that experienced pilots and cabin crew have already implemented them in previous flights. This cuts down time and results in efficient control of airport ground activities and flight services.

Routine knowledge: Ideas that have been previously encountered in flight are more easily anticipated by a crew member as passenger needs and possible operational problems that may occur during a flight. Experience is a state whereby one can easily predict various issues that are bound to occur and have a solution prepared for every one of them.

Other essential qualities include Maturity and Discretion; this is because inflight work involves dealing with disturbances such as aggressive passengers, possible conflicts within the crew, or delicate issues involving interpersonal relationships between individuals. Working flights enables cabin crew and pilots to develop these qualities since the positions demand such broad experience.

The second question is how do airlines assess or evaluate inflight Experience?

In the process of staff recruitment and selection of cabin crew members and pilots besides other qualities, the airlines consider their flight experience. The components they assess include:

  • Total Operational Flight Hours For pilots, airlines consider how many flight times they perform flying operations on different aircraft. Flying commercial flights means more hours helping in their piloting and being more prepared to captain flights. Cabin crew may also record or prepare flight hours Work may also be recorded in shift log books.
  • Aircraft Types Operated: This is important because Airlines prefer experienced pilots and members of the cabin crews who have worked on the actual models of the Aircraft in their fleet. This provides for fast and easy training since there is already some prior knowledge about the layout of an aircraft, equipment, or procedures.
  • Flights Worked: Applicants then state the number of actual working flights throughout their flight experience, which measures the extent of their inflight experience. The implication is that more flight means more occasions and people encountered.
  • Previous Positions Served: In this criterion, the airlines consider the positions served in the previous flight to determine who served in capacities such as the lead flight attendant or first officer. Additional responsibilities are directly proportional to the extent of inflight experience.
  • Customer Feedback and Reviews Airline employers consider the customer satisfaction scores, feedback, and the supervisor's and coworkers' rating of the applicants before airline job performance in the flights. This exposes their performance in managing customers and coordinating their crews on board the train services.
  • Safety and Regulatory Records: Applicants' records undergo scrutiny from the Airlines to ensure that they do not have any reported safety incidents that would be perceived while on the flight. They ensure that the pilot and the cabin crew adhere to all the set regulations by the aviation authorities.

What Part of InFlight Experience is Needed for Airlines?

Rules for inflight experiences depend on the airline the rank and the crew position that the candidate is applying for.

Many cabin crew positions do not necessitate prior work experience on commercial aircraft; however, there are some exceptions. This is done to ensure that employees are well trained to handle the job especially when it comes to flying passengers. However, those applicants who have previous experience working as cabin crew get some privileges at the start.

For pilot positions other than the first officer rookie positions, the airlines expect applicants to have at least thousands of flight hours as a commercial pilot to go with hundreds of flights worked previously. Captains and senior first officers have generally had airline inflight experience, although the number of years might vary.

Inflight experience is therefore an important aspect of this type of experience since it can help one in getting close to the experience in question without having to be on the plane itself.

Gradually, the prospective pilots start with general aviation flights and then move to become pilots in commercial flights. They accumulate flying hours and fly more aircraft until get a job offer from an airline as first officer and then captain in the future. Candidates interested in cabin crew positions usually initially work with airlines as flight attendants and then transition to major airlines. It also can suggest such opportunities as volunteer customer service, and safety training programs and be considered as a competitive advantage.

Finally, airlines themselves are the most reliable sources of information regarding the inflight experience as they invest time and resources into training programs and mentorship for their employees. Time on the line to work for an airline as a cabin crew or pilot hones the full array of skill and service delivery acumen that is required from highly trained inflight professionals. Essentially, the longer that the carrier operates flights with an airline, the more experienced they are.

In summary, the following aspects can be considered the main findings concerning the inflight experience:

Within the airline industry, inflight experience refers to the collective skills, abilities, and competencies pilots and cabin crew develop by working on commercial flights: 

  • Closely related to the inflight experience, enhanced experiences directly benefit the improvement of passenger safety, the quality of services, operational effectiveness, and means to address issues.
  • It involves factors such as the flight hours the applicant has flown, the specific aircraft he or she has flown, the number of flights worked in the past, the positions previously held, performance history, and records with regulators.
  • General flying is achieved first, followed by various commercial copilot experiences, all before pilots get their first inflight experience.
  • It is very possible that cabin crew members can move from being employed with a regional airline and then move up to a major airline.
  • Finally, it would appear that the airlines themselves are best placed to give cabin crews and pilots the most meaningful inflight experience by equipping them with new-hire training experience and mentored flight experience.

The number and standards of flights that its pilots and stewards provide are a measure of an airline's capacity and the quality of services that it offers. As one gains more exposure and experience in the operations, more skill and gut feelings in handling all the occurrences that may be expected 35,000 feet up in the aircraft carrying hundreds of passengers.

Call us at +1 833-902-2090 to secure the best deals on flight tickets today. Don't miss out on unbeatable prices for your next adventure!