Hello, and welcome back to Gracie Meets…! Even if you’ve never flown on an airplane, you most likely know about the people that walk around in the aisle, handing out little cups of soda and packages of peanuts, but do you really know how difficult the job is? Take a listen to this new episode with Mr. Cezarin Bolar and Mr. Jonathan Stewart to learn about how hard being a flight attendant really is! Remember that tomorrow, you can post any questions you have on my Instagram!
Show Music: 2019 07 25 cello pizz 01 and 250109 rhodes 02 by Morusque used under Creative Commons License CC BY. No alterations were made to the original composition.
Cover Art: Kyleigh Kinsey. Instagram: @ato._.noodle
Gracie Solomon 00:11
Hello, and welcome back to Gracie Meets… Many people dream of traveling the world but most people don’t. Because traveling the world nowadays costs so much. But imagine getting to travel the world while getting paid. I’ve invited Mr. Cezarin Bolar and Mr. Jonathan Stewart to be on the show to inform us on what being a flight attendant is really like. Go ahead and tell the listeners a little bit about yourselves.
Cezarin Bolar 00:35
Okay, well, I’ll start off once again, my name is Cezarin Bolar. I’m originally from Purvis, Mississippi, class of 1994. I currently live here in Atlanta, Georgia, for the past five years. I’ve been a flight attendant for six years. And I’m currently now working at the Mercedes Benz stadium.
Jonathan Stewart 00:56
And I’m Jonathan Stewart. I’m originally from New York in Atlanta now five years. I work for United Airlines as a flight attendant, and been here for five years as well.
Gracie Solomon 01:08
Did you always know that you guys wanted to be flight attendants? Or was there something else you had your eyes set on?
Jonathan Stewart 01:14
For me? No, I was in the music industry for some years. And then when the market went bad, it was just something that I got into, someone just said, Hey, we’re hiring, you want to give it a try? I did. And once you start doing it is something that gets in the blood that you don’t want to do anything else because you get to travel. I mean, it’s not always glamorous, but it’s just you’re not stuck in office building, and you’re not stuck behind a desk. It’s like you get to see places you wouldn’t have seen on your own. So it’s something that sticks with you.
Cezarin Bolar 01:45
And for me, it’s not something that I’ve always wanted to do. My background is actually in health and fitness. I’ve been working in a gym setting for years before become a flight attendant, and just like Jonathan said, it is the opportunity that I had. I mean, I was always afraid of flying. Always. And I kind of thought about doing it at one time. And I finally got the opportunity to do it. And like Jonathan said, actually we had the same opportunity, we started with the same airline. That’s how we started flying. And like he said before, once it’s in your blood, it’s in your blood. And I saw things I never thought I’d see, and we traveled the world and I’m grateful for that.
Gracie Solomon 02:23
On the basis of traveling the world, what were some of your favorite places that you’ve traveled to like your top three, for both of you?
Cezarin Bolar 02:33
Okay, well, for me, my top three would be from Croatia, Dubai, and China.
Gracie Solomon 02:37
That’s cool.
Jonathan Stewart 02:39
Yeah, mine I would say, Germany, number one, London, and believe it or not, California. I like it a lot.
Gracie Solomon 02:49
I have some experience with Germany’s. It’s very nice.
Jonathan Stewart & Cezarin Bolar 02:52
Oh, yeah. What part?
Gracie Solomon 02:53
We lived. Where was it? I was young. We were around Frankfurt, I know that.
Jonathan Stewart 03:02
Okay, I’ve been to Frankfurt, I’ve been to Munich. Oh, yeah, and I like Turkey.
Gracie Solomon 03:08
Yeah, I know that there was a school that you had to like go to, to be flight attendants. So how was that, like what was your experience with that?
Jonathan Stewart 03:17
Well is actually not a school that you go to. There is a school that some people go to, but it’s just like a prep school. It’s like giving you the tools to become a flight attendant, but to go to school is not. Once you’re finished, you’re not a qualified flight attendant. What it is you go to training for that particular airline, go to the interview process, of course. And once you get selected to go to training, you will go train with that particular airline, with their instructors, learning the basic of flight attendance and the rules and regulations and safety with that airline and it takes up to about, well, just to demonstrate, FAA regulations, it takes up to about two within one airline, it takes three weeks, up until six months. It all depends upon the airline.
Cezarin Bolar 04:15
Training is airline specific.
Gracie Solomon 04:16
Oh, okay, what part of being a flight attendant do you think is the most challenging?
Jonathan Stewart 04:20
Um, well, okay. So one of the most challenging things for me is, it’s not your typical nine to five. So it can be well here on a, when you first start some airlines you’re on call reserve status. So 24 hours a day, you’re on reserve to go, they can call you at any given time. So you have to be ready at all times. Like have a bag packed and have it with you. It’s hard to spend family time because you don’t know like holidays. You know, you’re normally off you’re staying with your family. More than likely you’re going to working on those. You might get somebody else’s country. And it’s hard to say oh, you having a get together on Saturday, oh yeah, I’ll be there. You may not be there. So for the first few years of starting, it’s, your life is unpredictable as far as planning things. Because you really don’t know. But it has its rewards. It can be a little difficult in the beginning.
Cezarin Bolar 05:14
Now for me, with my airline is a little different than Jonathan, because I wasn’t on reserve. I was with a private charter airline, whereas, I literally didn’t have a life. I was basically on call 24/7. And we work off contracts, whereas he worked off scheduled flights, meaning we can have a client over in Japan, and meaning I was there for that, for that client in that contract for the length of the time. So that’s why I was gone away from home at least two to three months at a time. So it was a little different for me compared to him.
Gracie Solomon 05:48
Yeah, that reminds me of the interview that I did for Episode Five. I’m pretty sure it was it was a sports reporter with Julia Morales from the Astros. How whenever she would travel, she could never really make plans because she would always be traveling back and forth.
Jonathan Stewart & Cezarin Bolar 06:08
Right. Exactly, yeah same thing.
Jonathan Stewart 06:09
Yeah. I mean, you get used to it. But yeah.
Gracie Solomon 06:15
Well, why do you think this career isn’t a mainstream or normal choice that teens would know or think about?
Cezarin Bolar 06:22
It’s mainstream, but it’s not mainstream going by what you said, because it’s not one of those careers that’s out there as a sports announcer or anything else. It’s like, some people see it, of course when you fly, but some people don’t know about how to get into it. Unless you know, someone who is actually a flight attendant, because I have a lot of friends who actually, “How do you even get into become a flight attendant?” most people just don’t know. They just have no idea. Like how to get into it and I’ll let Jonathan take over a little bit as well.
Jonathan Stewart 06:55
Well, I say the reason I think it’s not mainstream is because for the average customer on the airplane flying, they think that we’re there just to give them something to drink, give them something to eat, and pick up the trash and we’re gone. But, and I thought that before I started doing it so but now that I started doing it, the training you get behind it. I mean, you are an ambulance in the air. You’re a firefighter in the air.
Cezarin Bolar 07:20
A counselor in the air.
Jonathan Stewart 07:21
You know, you’re a medical advisor in the air. I mean, think about it, if there was a fire on the airplane, there’s no fire truck, you’re putting it out. If someone is having a baby or a medical emergency, you’re, you’re working it so it’s the type of thing I think it’s just out there so much. Now yet, some people are afraid to fly. Yeah, people feel like, you know, you have some people who are afraid to fly. And it’s just for me, I think one of the biggest things going back to it in the beginning. It’s just your life is unpredictable, as far as far as like what you can do and when you can do it. So I think a lot of times, people rather just go to work and be able to come home every day, because you’re not gonna, I mean you’re not going to come home every day. For me, I can be gone up to six days at a time.
Gracie Solomon 08:08
Well, why do you think or what is the most unique part of your job? Like, what makes it not normal?
Jonathan Stewart 08:18
Woo, okay, for me, one of the most unique parts of my job that makes it not normal is you can get on an airplane headed to Hawaii and you’re thinking you’re just working a regular trip, believe it or not, you can see major celebrities getting on sitting right there talking to you. You’re like, “Oh, I didn’t think I was gonna come to work and meet this person today”. I mean, in the connections you can make, as far as even if you’re a reserve flight attendant where you’re going to work and you’re at the airport waiting. You don’t know where you’re going all of a sudden, hey, you want to they’re calling you up saying hey, we need you to go to this gate to go Japan. You’re like, oh wait, huh? You’re like wait where? Yeah, you’re in Japan for like three or four days or you’re going to Australia, you’re going to South Africa. I mean you’re literally getting up, going to work in the morning going “Oh, I’m going to go to work and sit in the airport reserved and be back in a few hours”. Now you’re going to South Africa, you’re like okay that’s different.
Cezarin Bolar 09:10
Well, it’s unique because it’s just it’s so many opportunities and for me in my standpoint what makes it unique for me is like, me personally, I know where I’m going to straight off the bat, but at the same time, it still can change. Like you’re literally packing your suitcase for any type of weather. Because you really never know you may think you’re going to a warm destination, you may end up going to a cold destination. So you literally pack your suitcase for whatever.
Jonathan Stewart 09:39
Yeah, you pack all four seasons in one bag.
Cezarin Bolar 09:41
And it’s a different experience every flight, you never do the same thing, other than serving. You’re never going to do the same thing on another flight. It’s always something different. And it’s always rewarding for me because meeting someone, for example, well, you could be going to, you could come on my flight and have a crappy day, and it’s up to our job to be like, to turn it around. You know, we have angry passengers all the time. We get it, but it’s our job to make sure you’re okay. Is there anything that we can do to turn your day around and make you have a very pleasurable flight no matter what you’re going through. And it’s up to our job, we might be going through something as well, but it’s not for us to show that. You’ve got to leave it outside the airplane, leave it at home.
Gracie Solomon 10:25
Well, you guys definitely opened my eyes to how much flight attending is crazy.
Jonathan Stewart 10:33
Well, it’s a lot. Well, honestly speaking, I work people who come into the airline industry thinking they can do it, and they leave because like, it’s not what I expected. It can be, someday it can be stressful other days are just easy-peasy, fine, done. You do have days where you’re like “Why’d I come to work today?” I could’ve just stayed home, just called out sick. Ha, ha, ha.
Cezarin Bolar 10:54
I mean, we make it look glamorous walking through the airport, you know, because you always got to be together. Must be put together. But as flight attendants, we hurt too. We’re individuals. Between time, we’ve got to be strong for you guys as the customer, because we’re 30,000 feet in the air or more. And if anything happens, we got to be on point at any given time.
Jonathan Stewart 11:15
I will say this; flight attendant training, and I don’t mean to say it wrong, but you’re trained for the worst case scenario. Granted, we hope none of that ever happens while you’re on a plane. But the training itself, it can get a little stressful because you’re training for the worst case scenario. So when you can go to work and not use any of your training, it’s a good day. It’s a good day for everybody. Ha, ha, ha, ha.
Gracie Solomon 11:37
Well, thank you so much for letting me interview you guys. It was so much fun.
Jonathan Stewart & Cezarin Bolar 11:43
You’re welcome. You’re welcome.
Gracie Solomon 11:45
All in all, flight attendants are more than just walking vending machines. They’re firefighters, stand-in doctors, a comforter, and most importantly, a person. They go through so much training to be the closest thing to a superhero as possible. No normal person can be trained in multiple kinds of first aid and come to the rescue 31,000 feet in the air. But then again, show me a normal teenager. Thanks for listening.
Gracie Solomon 12:19
Thanks for tuning in. If you like Gracie Meets… subscribe so you can listen every time a new episode is dropped and follow Gracie Meets… on Instagram at Gracie dot Meets (@gracie.meets). Tune in next Saturday for a delightful interview with a sports counselor.
Gracie Solomon 12:33
Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that tomorrow August 2, on my Instagram, there will be a post where you can ask any unanswered questions that you may have. Or you can share your thoughts on the episode. I can’t wait to have some great discussions with you guys.