Speak like Crew
Attestation – Certificate of competency. Required to be able to operate as crew. Can be obtained prior to or after an offer of employment.
Brewers – The system which makes tea and coffee. You also keep your tea/coffee pots secured in there during the flight when they are not being used.
Briefing – Before flights you take part in a meeting with your crew for the day in which you discuss safety matters and important information relating to your sectors.
Clear – The point at which your flying duty for the day has finished.
Crew Purch (Crew Purchase) – Miniature bottles of alcohol that crew can sometimes buy onboard to drink in their hotel room during socializing.
CRM – Crew Resource Management, an important aspect of interpersonal communication in order to reduce human factor risks. Developing a professional relationship between flight crew and cabin crew.
Deadheading – See ‘positioning’
Dirty Double – A day with 4 sectors (see below), often long and tiring.
Down-route – Time spent in a destination during a work trip.
Eurotour – The name given to often a 3 or 4-day working block in which you will spend each night in a different European or domestic city. This is a way to have crew and the aircraft in place for the first/last flights out of that particular destination.
FTL – Flight Time Limitations, an extensive document which details how long you can work for and how much rest you require based on multiple factors such as time difference and what time of day/night.
Galley FM – A name for where you might have picked up gossip. You would say you heard it on Galley FM. Also known as crewmours!
Ground-staff – Airline employees who work on the ground, such as dispatchers and check-in agents.
Layover – A night spent ‘down-route’. A trip in which you disembark the aircraft and spent time in a hotel at the destination.
Online – Line flying. You may sometimes be asked “When did you come online?” meaning when did you start flying for this airline.
Positioning – Also known as ‘deadheading’. This is when an airline requires their crew to operate on one sector, so send them out or bring them home as a passenger on one of the flights. Sometimes an amazing opportunity to be paid to fly in a nice cabin and experience the service for yourself!
PRM – Passengers with Reduced Mobility, passengers who require extra assistance as they are differently-abled.
Recurrent – See the section in ‘Your Journey’ for more details. A yearly set of exams in order to qualify you to operate as crew.
Report – This is the time you would officially start your duties. You ‘report’ for a flight a certain amount of time before a departure time (e.g 1hr 15 mins for short-haul or 1hr 30 for long haul). This time is used for briefing, security checks, and boarding.
Secure – Ensuring an aircraft is ready for take-off or landing. This will involve checking the passengers, cabin, toilets, and galleys to ensure they meet the required safety standard. An example of this is ensuring the passengers have their seatbelts on.
Sector – One flight in often multiple flights in a day/trip. For example, a flight from London to Manchester and back again would have two sectors.
Special Meal – A meal booked by a passenger who has specific dietary requirements such as vegetarian or vegan. Also includes requirements due to religion.
Supernumerary – This is the first flight you will undertake as operating crew. You will need to show some basic competencies, and most likely sit in the flight deck for take-off or landing.
