Want to be a flight attendant? You’re better off applying to Harvard – there’s a better chance you’ll get in.
Delta Airlines recently announced more than 1,000 flight attendant openings. And they’ve got a lot of work to do to sift through potential new employees; more than 125,000 people applied. Delta noted in its News Hub release that the hiring process would be incredibly competitive. The company only hires 1 percent of applicants – and that’s a lower acceptance rate than an Ivy League school; Harvard’s acceptance rate in 2016 was 5.1 percent.
“Earning and wearing the wings of Delta is something our flight attendants are proud of and passionate about, as they should be,” Allison Ausband, Delta’s Senior Vice President – In-Flight Service, said in the News Hub release. “After making it through the highly competitive and exhaustive selection process, they put all their previous experience and skills to the test during our flight attendant initial training. There’s no doubt we hire the best of the best because the caliber of people wanting to work for our great airline is top-notch. They see that what makes Delta different is our people and the unique culture we share together, and they want to be part of that winning team.”
Former and current flight attendants can speak to how true that is, noting that the job is incredibly demanding and requires a significant amount of skill.
“We’re not just waitresses in the sky,” Shawn Kathleen, a former flight attendant and police officer that runs the Passenger Shaming Instagram account, told Moneyish. “We’re not just there to pour your soda. Our first priority is to keep you safe and that’s what those weeks of training are for: learning self-defense and how to take care of violent passengers and how to do CPR if someone’s heart stops. Being a flight attendant was 100 percent harder than being a cop. And they have to hire people who can handle it.”
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