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by chocolatesouffle » Thu, 06 Mar 2014 3:53 pm
Hi girls, I have many friends in the airline industry and one of them is working in JAL and this is what I heard from her;
Just to make things simple, JAL is like any other full carrier airline like SQ. If you actually did your research, JAL had 40 over international destinations. However, foreign base crews like the Singaporeans only fly certain routes like JFK, CDG and KUL. It's decided by the company (both Singapore & Japan). There also seem to be shuffling of routes amongst the foreign base too. And changing of seasonal schedules gets the foreign base new flight patterns too.
If you'd like to compare, I have a SQ friend too, she tend to fly Aussie routes. Sometimes others like DEL, HKG.. SQ definitely seem more attractive for the work (guys do galley), salary (one of the world'a highest paid flight attendants, plus profit bonus sharing) and great destinations (because it's home-based).
For JAL Japanese crews, what I heard from my friend is that they only fly on routes that they are assigned to and there will be shuffling of routes amongst their "groups". Also, if they are not trained on say 767 or 787, they won't be flying to Singapore unless 777 comes Singapore. So they DONT fly everywhere.
For my friend, her flight pattern is usually 7-8 days away from home. She will go Japan then to JFK or other counties, back to Japan then back home. If you look at it. It's actually two "flight patterns" but a lot of days away from home. Ultimately JAL is Japan base. From sg you can only go to NRT or HND. Then from NRT/HND to other countries.
Every airline as their pros and cons I guess. If MONEY is your main concern, just keep on trying SQ, period. If not, there are other great airlines too. Like emirates, silk air, scoot...
As for to know company benefits, I think you could try asking the company during the interview if you dare. For this is confidential information that my friend didn't even disclose much.
All in all, I suggest you to have a very prepared mind to work with the Japanese as there might be cultural differences. Every industry has it's own shit to deal with. Mean people nice people. You'll understand it when you're in the working industry. If it's hard to get SQ, how about trying other airlines and jumping over after? As for my friend, she enjoys her work and has good schedules. Nothing comes free. You have to work hard for it.
And to answer the skin check, it's not as strict as SQ. Of course, it'll be pleasant to have healthy skin and not face full of battle scars that cannot be concealed. Imagine you're a passenger of any airline, won't you like your attendant to be pretty? Tattoo wise, not anywhere visible I guess.
Lastly, regarding salary, I'm a graduate from local UNI. My classmate can't even find a job. My salary is even lower than JAL's take home pay. And I get stuck in office 9-5/ 5 days a week with a contract. My friend gets to travel, look pretty, gets more money than me. I'd love her job too.
Good luck to those having the interview and congrats to those who got it!