Notes from the WATS Cabin Crew Training Stream

Staff shortages, vaccinations, new training technologies, and unruly passengers were all part of the discussion at the WATS 2021 Cabin Crew Training stream. Amanda Towner took extensive notes.

Dan Duren, Learning Consultant, Southwest Airlines, led Open Mic Tuesday in which cabin crew industry spoke out on the biggest challenges their organizations have been facing as a result of Covid-19. Organizations have had to implement new technologies, new systems to communicate, new learning management systems, as well as keep everyone up to date on those changes as they occur. One airline confessed that while they have had various system changes through 2020, they plan three more this year.

The majority of SkyWest’s training has switched to virtual, and they believe that this practice will continue post-pandemic. (The airline said their success rate has increased due to virtual training.) Other airlines keep to a 50% virtual training set up and 50% live and in-person.

Delegates from Kenya explained they have only a few schools for cabin crew training, and classes are full. Current travel restrictions limit their ability to fly elsewhere to receive training.

All airlines are now having to make up for last year’s shortage of graduating flight attendants. Frontier graduated 64 flight attendants but now needs 800 graduates for 2021. SkyWest graduated over one-hundred flight attendants in 2020 but still needs 1500 this year.

Organizations have also begun to implement incentives – money, sick time, a prize, etc. – to get cabin crew to vaccinate. At Delta Air Lines, it is now a requirement for all new hires across all departments, not just for cabin crew.

Cabin crew morale is down as the theme seems to be: “It’s all about the pilots now.” In addition to worries about job safety and security, crews have experienced more deaths during flights than ever before and are dealing with more hostile passengers.

Organizations have lost half of their staff during the pandemic due to either early retirements, budget cuts, restructuring departments, or a refusal to come back for fear of the virus. Returning crews at first felt normal upon stepping back to work but are now mentally exhausted from everything that has happened.

Some organizations are testing weekly, and it can be costly. Organizations have had their budgets reduced to as much as 50% to pay for the expense of Covid testing and its new precautions – including cleaning agents, PPE, air filters, etc. There is also the added stress of last-minute schedule changes and multiple Covid tests so that results do not expire while on a business/flight trip.

Good News Emerges

There have been a few good things that have emerged from the pandemic. Cabin crew are creating deeper bonds with one another and are so much closer for having gone through this experience together. As one airline put it, “They are looking out for each other.”

With crew changes and department restructuring, the group expressed that their organizations have more of a thoughtful way of working together and are more humble and collaborative in their problem solving.

Craig Kennedy, Program Coordinator and Trainer and Eric Lipp, Founder, Open Doors Organization, discussed the importance of disability training. Open Doors, a non-profit organization that makes goods and services more accessible to people with disabilities, was asked to go to Newcastle, UK to provide disability training for the Accessibility Team of British Airways.

The Accessibility Team was set up in September 2019 with 20 agents to “raise the bar” for disabled customers as well as help British Airways gain a deeper understanding of how it can adapt its services to create higher levels of care and comfort across every journey. The airline wanted to become the airline of choice for customers with both hidden and visible disabilities, change the perception of disability amongst employees, and give skills and knowledge to be able to confidently and consistently engage with their customers.

The team answered over 4,000 emails and over 9,000 calls related to traveling with disabilities, with top customer queries about seating arrangements, traveling with a service animal, and accessibility – how they can help them or their family member travel.

Since implementing the team, British Airways has created new training for crew and seen a significant increase in customer satisfaction from travelers who require additional assistance.

Kennedy stressed that one of the most important things we can teach our cabin crew is to “treat people as people” and focus on a person-first language. For example, a child with autism, not an autistic child.

Thomas Kaminski, Manager College of Inflight, JetBlue Airways, presented a comparative analysis of door drills. The airline conducted a study to see how its door drill training compared to other operators to see if there were differences in training performance among its peers. They noticed that a “pass” rating at one airline doesn’t necessarily mean a pass at another. They studied various interventions and the results showed that retraining had the greatest impact on performance, additional training significantly impacted the results, and watching videos prior to the training gave a greater impact.

Doug Harward, Founder & CEO, Training Industry Inc., said North America has spent less on training than the rest of the world since 2019: 7% more on eLearning, 13% more on virtual instructor-led training, and 18% less on instructor-led training. There has been a pressure to reduce travel for training.

Harward shared four strategic trends: changing the nature of work, soft skills are core to business success, training’s role in changing management, and building an equitable workplace. An overwhelming 94% of business leaders expect employees to learn new skills on the job.

Some of the top skills projected for 2025 include technology design and programming; resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility; reasoning, problem-solving and ideation.

“Dear Cabin Crew”

Jonathan Jasper, Manager, Cabin Safety, IATA; Matthew Whipp, Manager Cabin Safety, British Airways; and Anabel Brough, Safety Manager – (Cabin) Group Safety, Emirates, described how IATA led a risk assessment, looking at what could be done to mitigate safety problems. The association then created a “Dear Cabin Crew” newsletter to help advise cabin crew on the state of the industry while also backing up what airlines were telling their own staff. The newsletters reminded crew of the risks to be aware of, but also reassured them of the safety of their job – they are in a safer environment than most because of their precautions in their work environment. IATA then released courses on “Leveraging Professional Skills” and “Flying During a Pandemic.”

IATA is now reviewing their risk assessment process with feedback from airlines, including issues of reduced instructor resources and expertise, training overload, effectiveness of training, impact of change on the management process, deadlines/timelines for returning back to pre-Covid conditions, and the physical distancing requirements for training.

Emirates communicated some of the challenges they have encountered: the rapidly changing environment, introduction of new SOPs and equipment, changing regulatory requirements, and distractions both on and off the job including positive Covid tests and furloughs. Emirates moved to virtual learning as much as possible. They had to allow for new protocols for training to continue if onsite – providing sanitization stations, signs and postage for protocols and reminders to wash hands and social distance, and dedicated waiting areas to use simulators. They also reduced capacity to 12 people maximum in training rooms.

British Airlines put together e-learning packages for their crews with as much remote learning as possible. While their training facility did close for a few months, they were able to host some cabin crew at global learning facilities when restrictions lifted and when individuals were able to travel. To help bring familiarity and confidence in operating to returning crew, BA increased their briefings by 15 minutes to discuss Covid measures and updates.

They also implemented recurring Safety Matters Publications, which included procedures, manual updates, training procedures, etc. These were accessible through QR codes placed in strategic areas for crews. A Safety Matters Live online event was also introduced with time for questions and opportunities to connect with crews and find out how they are feeling.

Integrating Virtual Reality

Birdy Raghoonundun Gunputh, Product Manager Safety Training, Lufthansa Aviation Training, and Martin Egerth, Process Manager Beyond Aviation/Senior HF Expert LH Group, Lufthansa Aviation Training Switzerland, found that virtual computer-based training is best used to explain aircraft systems because it is more interactive.

A maximum of 30 VR minutes is all that they would recommend, as longer times can be uncomfortable for the user. Lufthansa also suggest using VR for supplemental training, not the entirety of the training.

When designing for the future, said Raghoonundun Gunputh, it is key to look at the holistic approach. For example, evacuation protocols can be done in a cabin simulator, but supplemental training could be used in VR to have the user practice crowd control with automated people during the evacuation, which is not possible in the simulator.

For augmented reality, restrictions in place in Germany prevented its use at Lufthansa. However, they found that AR was not a preferred method of training regardless. If a user moved a lot while using AR glasses, it could prevent the overlay view and distract the user. Instead, the training organization opted VR because its views are more stable and controlled.

SWA Transformation

Renee Medina-Eggleston, Senior Instructor, Flight Attendant Training, Southwest Airlines University, addressed how SWA transformed inflight training while maintaining its core values and continuous improvement.

Southwest implemented electrostatic disinfectant spray, HEPA air filters, physical distancing measures, improved personal space by limiting the number of customers on flights, introduced employee PPE, sanitized for 6-7 hours – with added attention to seatbelts, lights, buttons, trays, and sanitizing spray – and cleaning between each flight.

When recurrent training resumed, modifications were agreed upon to continue training, including temperature checks, 6-foot distance, mask and gloves, stringent sanitization protocols and modifications. They reduced class sizes to eight but taught double the number of classes per day to get crews certified faster. Crews continued to demonstrate protected breathing equipment and handling of oxygen masks on mannequins. They used pool noodles for restraints, and while they did not give CPR breaths, they trained with a focus on putting masks together as well as proper techniques for training.

In 2021 classes grew from eight to 10 and classes began delivering CPR breaths but were given their own valve. Once breaths were given, CPR mannequin lungs were replaced immediately.

For requalification, flight attendants were assigned either levels 1, 2 or 3, depending on their amount of leave. They could travel to Dallas, Texas, for all levels, and the airline revamped with safety and cost in mind. Requalification is now a 3-4 hour Virtual Instructor Led Training (VILT) from home. Two instructors co-facilitate, making sure individuals are brought up to speed on all current procedures.

Initial inflight training didn’t halt operations when hiring stopped. Instead, preparations were made for when hiring would restart again. This training is now up and running this summer.

Frontier Protocols

Stefanie Coppedge, Manager, Inflight Training & Professional Development, Frontier Airlines, said, due to the pandemic, 75% of Frontier’s finances went toward Covid preparations – weekly testing, cleaning precautions and protocols, etc. Fortunately, since 2016, Frontier had already been using several distance platform integrations: Microsoft Teams for class visits, JotForm for uniform ordering, Schoox for surveys and learning material, and ProSafeT for the completion of safety documents. By using Schoox LMS and providing students with a training tablet, they have reduced paper usage by more than 70%, which lowered training costs per student.

All testing and examinations are now completed online using the training tablet, which has eliminated printing costs, increased retention rates by over 18%, and reduced grading time.

Frontier was able to innovate with its own self-sustaining training center in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Training takes place over the course of four weeks and equipment at the facility includes a cabin trainer, slide jumps, rafts, and sparring bobs.

Frontier was able to provide all meals in house, which saved on costs and eliminated complications of issuing checks and having students travel to deposit them, as well as the difficulty of traveling for food in an unfamiliar area.

Students were also assigned a roommate at the facility, which actually increased bonds among flight attendants as they now had study buddies and felt responsible for the other to help pass training.

In addition, the airline reduced its wait time for reapplications to three months, so students who were unable to complete the program could reapply quicker. Students have three attempts to test. They also have a train-to-proficiency mentality, meaning they focus on why something is important to help students pass their retake. Students have 60 questions but only 30 minutes to complete the test to make sure they know the material they are being tested on.

For its one-day Recurrent Ground School, testing is completed online through its LMS before arrival on-site. Additional resources are also available through the LMS.

With these new solutions, Frontier has seen examination dismissals of students reduced to 18%, increased student graduation rates, reduced cost of training per student, and increased time for more hands-on training.

Mental Fitness Concerns

Karen Moore, Principal Occupational Psychologist, Symbiotics, and Dan Duren addressed crew mental fitness issues. The Covid effects on cabin crew seem similar to others in the industry – pilots, airline traffic controllers, security, etc. But when comparing self-reported mental health to others, cabin crew was the worst-impacted group. Cabin crew felt that their airlines cared the least about their well-being, and had more suicidal thoughts than any other group, reporting it “nearly every day” and “more than half the days.”

Key reasons for stress include survival, love and belonging, freedom, autonomy, power and achievement, and fun and enjoyment.

Attendees shared how their organizations helped deal with stress. Some companies hosted gatherings to check in with employees, some gave access to stress-relieving apps and peer-to-peer programs. Others urged the need for keeping structure and a routine.

One delegate raised a sad truth: cabin crews are strong individuals in general, so normally they weren’t checked in on. Now, with all of the new stress of operating in a changed world, they feel they have not been supported. In the study, cabin crew reported more than any other group that their organization did not prioritize their mental health.

Another raised the issue that if someone does not recognize there is a problem, they will not self-report it.

To relieve stress, Moore suggests focusing on what is in our control, rather than our concerns. For example, creating strategies and planning rather than letting the stressor control our emotions and make us feel paralyzed.

The top tips for mental wellbeing include: avoiding negativity, physically exercising, eating and drinking well, using a support network, evaluating a coping strategy, lowering expectations, and practicing Niksen – meditation and mindfulness practices.