A cabin crew’s day doesn’t finish with the flight.
The cabin crew career is a varied one and no two days are the same. Your last flight of the day could have been a multi-sector four-flight day and returning to base, or you could be landing at some exotic long-haul destination.
Goodbyes and security
Once the crew have said their goodbyes to the passengers, it’s time to security check their assigned area and make sure that there are no items left behind or any damage to the aircraft interior such as broken seats or inflight entertainment. Any of these items should be reported to the senior cabin crew member so that they can document them on the inflight report/incident report/cabin defect report as required and if necessary to the captain to arrange maintenance.
Paperwork and cleaning
One cabin crew member in each galley usually prepares the bar paperwork for restocking the bar cart and customs forms and makes sure that the bar is securely sealed. The same procedure applies to one crew member who has taken on the inflight retail for the flight. Depending on the airline, the cabin crew may clean the aircraft or at least will have collected any remaining headsets, blankets and cushions in the cabin and bagged them up ready for the cleaners. The caterers will come to the aircraft and remove the meal carts and atlas boxes to be cleaned and refilled for another flight.
Back at base
The senior crew member will finish off any remaining paperwork (as will the flight crew) and then they can all leave together on the crew bus, that takes them back to base. Once back at base, it’s time to drop off any inflight retail monies and paperwork. If the airline has a charity ambassador for the flight, then they will also drop any monies collected onboard the flight. Some airlines also have projects where you can drop items in a box for supported charities, so cabin crew typically will take the small hotel toiletries from their stays and leave them at the designated point.
Down-route
Of course, if you are down-route and night-stopping, the same aircraft duties would apply, although the bar carts would normally be sealed and paperwork done before landing due to customs regulations. Then, take the crew bus to the airport, go through security and have ID checked, collect luggage and then onto another crew bus to the hotel.
Private jet
For private jet cabin crew, it’s a lot more work and often there is just the one crew member, depending on aircraft type and the number of passengers onboard. The catering has to be removed and sometimes dishes and linens cleaned, and the flight crew will often have their meals after the flight. Then the aircraft has to be completely cleaned top to bottom, so it is ready for the next passengers, and who knows when that flight might be?
There will be stock lists to check and a catering order to do, if the next flight is known. Passenger profiles and voyage reports need to be completed. There may also be other tasks to complete before leaving the aircraft, dependent on destination, for example, in winter in Moscow, the coffee machine and all beverages must be offloaded to the FBO (fixed base operator) or your hotel, as they can explode at low temperatures on the aircraft. Then, finally, it’s off to the hotel.
Source: Simple Flying
