Preventing Miscommunication between Airline Passengers and Cabin Crew

This article was contributed to English for Cabin Crew http://aviationenglishasia.blogspot.com by Angel

In this post I'm going to give some examples of how we can communicate with passengers who might not be able to understand English, and also explain some airline vocabulary in simple alternative words.

Cabin crew's purpose is to ensure that each of their passengers receive VIP treatment, like a being in a flying five-star hotel hotel AND more importantly, ensure their safety while they are enjoying the flight. This is why before you can even step foot into an aircraft's cabin, you have to undergo rigorous training. During your training, you learn how to fight a fire (like firemen), treat ailments ranging from a simple nose-bleed to delivering a baby (like medical practitioners), serve entrées and remember what wine compliments which food. Training manuals become like your bible, you live and breathe airline terms such as, “ARM YOUR DOOR”, “SECURE THE CABIN”, “SILENT REVIEW”, and other airline terms that might seem strange and confuse non-airline people. This is why when we are talking to our passengers, we should be careful not to use these kind of "internal" words.

First of all, passengers do not need to know and understand everything about our job. Our passengers will come from different parts of the world, and part of our duty as cabin crew is to be “culturally aware”. We have to be sensitive about what we say or do, because different nationalities behave and have traditions or practices that are different from others. What's important is that they can understand how they can be safe while they are on board our flight. How do we do it?

The universal language used around the world is ENGLISH therefore we need to know how to communicate well and choose which words to use when dealing with different nationalities. By making our language simple and using words they can easily understand or using body language to communicate what we mean, even if a passenger doesn't speak or understand English at all.

Here is some airline lingo/jargon we often use followed by alternative ways of speaking and expressing yourself so passengers can understand what you mean:


“Please FASTEN your seat belt” - the meaning is clear, but to some who don't understand this, you can gesture how to do it, or by doing it for them after asking them for permission to do so.

To a passenger who won't stay seated even if the seat belt sign is on: “Passengers keep your seats”, may sound strange to some, so you can instead say, “Please remain seated until the fasten seat belt sign comes off”. Or if they don't understand English you can gesture your hands up and down as if to say, please sit down.

If a passenger asks, why do I have to turn off my mobile phone/electronic gadgets before take off and landing, don't tell them “Because it's an aviation regulation, or airline policy” because they won't understand and most likely they will ignore this. Instead tell them that electronic gadgets have to be switched off because it can interfere with the aircraft's electronic system, we have to keep them off, it's for your safety and the safety of your fellow passengers. Giving them a reason is more likely to ensure co-operation.

“SEAT BELTS FASTENED, SEAT BACKS UPRIGHT,  TRAY TABLES STOWED, FOOTREST STOWED”- Trust me, this is one of the most confusing phrases passengers hear on every flight. To passengers who don't know what this means, just say “seat belt on (while gesturing with your hand as if connecting the two ends of the belt together), seats back in position (or just assist them, because a lot of them forget how to do it after a 9-hour flight), Tray tables up (try to gesture with your hands or better yet, do it for them), and foot rests up (then point towards their feet and make a gesture to imply what you mean).

“OVERHEAD STOWAGE”- simply means the storage compartment above your head.

“ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL/DEPARTURE- simply means the time we are going to leave and what time we are going to reach our destination.

“EMERGENCY EXITS”- this is very important because it can be a case of life or death when there's an emergency on board your flight. Just tell them, in case of an emergency and we have to leave the plane (on life or death situations such as a big fire or smoke in the cabin) you have to leave through those doors and then point to that direction).

“PLEASE CLEAR THE AISLES/BULKHEAD OF ANY DEBRIS”- this simply means we have to remove any items such as trash, cups, candy wrappers, etc., off the floor of the cabin. The bulkhead is the physical partition that divides the classes of the aircraft (economy, business, first). Just tell passengers to politely pick up anything left on the floor and politely explain that this is to avoid anyone slipping on anything on the floor.

These are just some of the airline terms you are bound to learn while training to be cabin crew and hopefully the alternative ways of expressing them to your future passengers will prove helpful and will give you ideas how to communicate with those who can't understand English.

For more English learning advice for cabin crew please subscribe to our blog and visit http://www.aviationenglish.asia/english-for-flight-attendants/in-flight-english.html.

What are the basic requirements for a cabin crew career?

One of the first questions that you need to ask yourself when considering a cabin crew career is whether you meet the airlines basic requirements. These differ between airlines so we recommend that you check with the airline to make sure you fulfil their basic criteria before applying. Aviation English Asia students have access to the career centre which contains updated information about requirements.

Language proficiency

Regardless of where you are in the world, airlines look for candidates with strong language skills. Fluency in a major world language such as French, Spanish, German or Italian is a major advantage. Asian languages such as Chinese (Putonghua and Cantonese), Japanese and Korean are becoming increasingly important following shifts in the world economy.

But really there is one language that is ESSENTIAL if you want a career as a flight attendant. Airline recruitment departments are very concerned with your ability to speak English - being able to pass an English exam is not enough. You need to be able to communicate in English effectively and be prepared to deal with a lot of non-routine situations.

In Asia, English proficiency is the biggest hurdle for most candidates. Recruiters don't expect you to be completely fluent in English but they expect you to be able to able to express yourself with a high degree of fluency and most importantly confidence. Fluency in English cannot be obtained overnight - it requires sustained effort. For recommended courses to help you achieve that English fluency see aviationenglishasia.com.

In some Western countries, a lot of flights are domestic only so those airlines will not require you to speak a second language. These airlines might have a second language preference for some international destinations. On these routes, a designated Language of Destination/Origin (LOD/O - pronounced "low-doe") flight attendant is assigned to the flight. These routes are usually awarded to senior flight attendants, and it is very competitive even for qualified applicants.

Residence in a country that the airline serves

Every airline requires you to be a resident of their country of origin or be able to obtain a permit/visa to work in that country. It is also important to have the right to travel to and from the countries the airline serves.

Some countries have a National Identity Card and it goes without saying a passport! If you don't have a passport at the moment it would be a good idea to apply for one as soon as possible as it will speed up the application process. This can take several months.

Willing to relocate if necessary

A lot of airlines have a clause in the contract requiring that you be willing to relocate if necessary. You can read more about this in a future post.

Appearance

Airlines used to have a reputation for hiring only the most beautiful flight attendants. Beauty isn't the requirement it once was but airlines are still prefer hiring people who have a neat and attractive appearance. Cabin crew have continuous direct contact with the public. Most airlines will say that they don't require beauty but in reality they will at least require that their flight attendants are well groomed, neat and presentable. Some airlines have specific requirements to help create an appealing brand identity.

Typically, airlines do not allow visible tattoos, piercings, long hair on men, wild hairstyles, unusual makeup or very "bling" jewelry, poorly manicured hands, etc. Each airline is are different so be sure that your lifestyle is compatible with the airlines corporate image. If you are a goth or rocker, you might want to avoid wearing studded chokers and white makeup during your interview. Some airlines do not even permit facial hair on men! During your induction training, you will be given specific grooming regulations which must be strictly adhered to.

Physical health and Background check

If you don't quite meet the airlines minimum requirements you might be considering cheating on the application form. It is best not to, as the application will be invalid. Airlines will check your height, weight, body composition, criminal convictions and past drug use. Airlines are very security conscious and will investigate every part of the applicants background.

Every airline will require you to have a medical examination. During this exam, an airline is able to confirm any discrepancies on your application about your height, whether you have a drug or alcohol problem, or whether your past medical history shows anything adverse that would disqualify you from getting the job. Since you are given a urine test during this health check, it is very important that you tell the doctors of any medications you are taking.

Hello world

Hi, I'm the director of Aviation English Asia. In this post, I'm going to introduce you to the way in which we are going to use blogging platforms and social networking sites.

We will be updating our blogs when we feel we have something beneficial to share with you. We don't want to make empty posts that waste your attention. However, we welcome our teachers and students to make posts and contribute to our blogs independently. We really want to help our learning community thrive. So, if you would like to contribute please email me and I will send you a login code. This applies to pilots and ATCOs, cabin crew, trainers, flight schools and airlines. We are interested in your progress.

We particularly want to keep you updated about the world of Aviation English and its development as a distinct form of ESL. This could be in the form of news from regulatory bodies and advances in teaching. As Aviation English teachers, we learn a lot from our students - our students are the real Subject Matter Experts - teachers just have the advantage of being able to communicate our thoughts in English.

We care about the development of our students, so we like to hear about progress in your careers. This is applies to both the ICAO Aviation English and the In-flight English students. To this end we are displaying links to job adverts on our sites. If you are successful in your career as a result of training at Aviation English Asia, please let us know. We all want to hear about your successes.

Some students are aware that we also have a Wordpress blog and presence on a few other social networking sites. The content is different in that the Blogger.com blog is focused on Flight Attendants whereas the Wordpress.com blog is focused on ICAO Aviation English for pilots and ATCOs, though readers are free to post comments on any of the sites that they choose. We chose to do this because we operate Asia wide and some platforms are more popular is some countries.

Blogs and social networking sites are important as they allow transparency in our organisation. We like to hear what you think, and also what you think we could do better. Every criticism is a gift so that we know what we can do better next time. You can give feedback on particular parts of the course, onsite sessions, instructors and any great ideas for the future that you may have.

So, here's what you can do. If you want to contribute send me an email at mje@aviationenglish.asia.