current flight attendant considering becoming a nurse

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Hi everyone!

I am a Canadian flight attendant working at a major airline who is considering a career shift towards becoming a nurse.

I'm a junior flight attendant. In this profession, seniority determines everything. I know in nursing seniority is a big deal too, but that's not the only reason I want to leave.

We do a lot of unpaid hours, like on a daily basis. We don't get paid for delays, you can report to work for 8 hours and get paid like for like 4, because we only paid for time in the air. Many of us, myself included, are on a reserve schedule. Meaning we are on-call for 17-18 days a month. We are to be prepared to be called to work any minute. Junior flight attendants make roughly min wage while making it impossible to do anything else on the side. Pay and hours get better with seniority, but you have to pay for that with years of your life.

This job was sold to me as a 'safety professional' job. Which is the essence of the job. You are there to carry out safety duties and ensure everyone has a safe flight. But after those duties are done, all I find myself doing is serving food, serving drinks, serving people and dealing with their ***. We are consistently away from home. I have not kept in touch with friends, and have not been able to make any friends because you almost never work with the same people again, as there are so many of us. Also, screw sleep.. You can get called in the middle of the night for a 5 am flight, or get called at 8 pm to do a red-eye ..

It's not bad, but I feel like I am meant for so much more. I wanted a fulfilling career where I can help people. I don't want to spend the rest of my life serving drinks in an airplane. I feel like nursing offers a good work-life balance and the opportunity to change lives.

Does anyone know someone who quit flying and is happy as a nurse currently? any insight is appreciated!

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I would suggest volunteering in a hospital to just be in the environment and interact with patients to see if you like it. Although you won't be able to do nursing stuff, you will be able to talk to patients and nurses. This might give you a general idea if you would like working in such an environment. You might even discover a different profession in the hospital that might interest you as well.

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9 minutes ago, Khow89 said:

I would suggest volunteering in a hospital to just be in the environment and interact with patients to see if you like it. Although you won't be able to do nursing stuff, you will be able to talk to patients and nurses. This might give you a general idea if you would like working in such an environment. You might even discover a different profession in the hospital that might interest you as well. 

thanks a lot for the tip! I used to volunteer in a little office that supports NICU families and I always admired nurses and what they do.

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I used to be a flight attendant and now nursing. There are many similar aspects to both, like caring for people (but much more intimately as a nurse-like wiping butts?). You still have to deal with **** from time to time. And the hours can go into (and throughout) the night just the same (but usually even longer than most flights). But you get to go back home everyday and you can make wonderful friends regardless of the different shifts we all have. I LOVE nursing! I feel it’s very fulfilling to be able to make a difference in people’s lives too. But being a flight attendant also had its perks. Being able to change cities and meet different people all the time. Also, you seldom have the same inflight manager or colleagues twice, so if you don’t really click, you just have to make it through the flight and then sayonara. Same with any not so nice customers, they can’t follow you on your next shift they way they can when you’re a nurse. But I have to say I have no regrets. Love nursing?

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On 10/2/2019 at 11:50 PM, Tracy CX said:

I used to be a flight attendant and now nursing. There are many similar aspects to both, like caring for people (but much more intimately as a nurse-like wiping butts?). You still have to deal with **** from time to time. And the hours can go into (and throughout) the night just the same (but usually even longer than most flights). But you get to go back home everyday and you can make wonderful friends regardless of the different shifts we all have. I LOVE nursing! I feel it’s very fulfilling to be able to make a difference in people’s lives too. But being a flight attendant also had its perks. Being able to change cities and meet different people all the time. Also, you seldom have the same inflight manager or colleagues twice, so if you don’t really click, you just have to make it through the flight and then sayonara. Same with any not so nice customers, they can’t follow you on your next shift they way they can when you’re a nurse. But I have to say I have no regrets. Love nursing? 

than you sooo much for your reply!

I'm glad to hear from someone who has been on both sides. I'm also glad you love nursing and don't regret your decision. Making career changes is never easy, and one always risks losing things that they may have taken for granted. But good on you for making the transition and making it work for you

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Specializes in Surgical/Trauma/Neuroscience/Cardiac ICU.

As a nurse, I thought of becoming a flight attendant. After nursing, you could venture into flight nursing, travel nursing, & what not. I would like to try that out in the future.

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 @silk I know this post is from about a year ago...but did you ever make the transition? I’m also a flight attendant, but about to start nursing school!

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