Cabin crew MyDay – To Zürich and back

I arrive at Helsinki Airport at 3:15 p.m., 20 minutes before my shift begins. The departure hall is filled with joyful chatter in various languages, as well as the sun rays flooding through the gorgeous wooden roof – there is definitely excitement in the air.

I weave through the people and their bags towards the personnel's security check and soon I’m already through to the other side. I’ve already checked my departure gate for today’s flight at home, but I still go to the MyFlight app to double-check whether the information is still correct – in this job, change is constant.

This time, there haven’t been any changes to my departure gate, so I head to gate 25. On my way, I pass by excited travellers leaving for a holiday, stressed-out parents with small children, busy business people, and happy couples smiling at each other. At the gate, I meet my team members for the day: Mari, Kirsti, Sampo and Josua. As we will be taking off with an Airbus A319, our crew consists of three cabin crew members and two pilots.

As always, we introduce ourselves and shake hands. It’s not unusual that you haven’t flown together before, or it has simply just been so long that you’ve forgotten your colleague’s name. Helsinki base has about 1,600 Finnair cabin crew members, and on top of that, we have colleagues based in some other countries. This is just one example of how the work of a cabin crew differs from many other jobs as you ensure the safety and comfort of our customers with a new team every time.

We check in for duty via our MyFlight app and head to the aircraft together. Today, we will first bring customers to Zürich, and then back to Helsinki.

Preparations in the aircraft

We quickly say hello to the previous crew who has just arrived from Rovaniemi, Finland. Before any other preparations in the aircraft, we always begin our day with a flight briefing with the cabin crew, led by the purser or a senior cabin crew member. We go over the basics of the flight: each cabin crew member’s “position”, meaning where each one of us will be sitting for takeoff and landing and what are the main responsibilities, whose task is doing the safety demonstration, who will be checking the cabin for departure, and so on. The briefing also always covers a safety topic, and we go over the flight’s service procedure and the number of passengers, as well as customers with special needs. This needs to be done within 7 minutes.

For the briefing, we use our SkyGuest application. From there, we can check the number of customers, Finnair Plus or oneworld tier members, passengers with special needs (for example, unaccompanied minors, parents with infants, customers travelling with their pets, customers with reduced mobility, and so on), pre-order meals, purchased seats and information about flight connections.

Our captain Sampo tells us the flight time for the Helsinki–Zürich flight, which will be 2 hours and 25 minutes today – 25 minutes shorter than planned. Sampo also informs us that there will be thunderstorms in Zürich, so we might have some turbulence during the last 45 minutes of the flight. We will take that into account in our service and have the galleys ready on time. Moreover, Sampo says that the European airspace is crowded at the moment, so it would be good to take off according to our schedule.

Today, my position as the youngest cabin crew member is in the front, sitting next to our purser Mari. My tasks include checking the loading of the front galley to see whether we have the right number of meals and whether everything is on board and in order. I write names on our crew meals, which we all have been able to choose from today’s menu, and place dry ice in the bar trolleys to keep the drinks cold. It is also my responsibility to bring water bottles and a trash bag to the flight deck and check with the pilots when they prefer to eat during the day.

The “position” of the cabin crew defines each cabin crew member’s tasks and main responsibilities and helps us to ensure that we won’t forget anything. Some positions’ flight preparation tasks also include checking the safety equipment and making sure we have the right amount on board. This is done after the briefing every time the shift begins or every time the position or the aircraft changes during the day.

Once the cleaners have worked their magic in the cabin, our purser Mari announces: “Cabin crew, boarding starts!”

Boarding starts

I stand and greet passengers at row 10, as my position’s duties on the Airbus A319 include doing the so-called exit briefing to passengers seated on exit rows. A family with two young, blonde boys boards the aircraft first. The older boy is jumping around smiling excitedly, while the younger one has fallen asleep in his mother’s arms. I say hello to everyone in Finnish or English – sometimes, I greet customers in both languages.

Once the six people sitting by the emergency exits have boarded the plane, I brief them about sitting on the exit row. I make sure we have a common language, instruct them on how to open the emergency exit in the unlikely event of an evacuation, and tell them to stow away any carry-on baggage for takeoff and landing. I give them a warm welcome once more and move to the back of the plane, out of the way of the other passengers boarding.

Today, our flight is almost fully booked, so we have to arrange the carry-on baggage on the overhead lockers to make everything fit. We also have three babies on board, which means we have to bring them their own little life vest and seat belt and show them the safest position for the baby to travel. One of the families is travelling with a little one for the very first time, so I answer their questions and help them attach the baby’s seat belt to the mother’s seat belt.

When all the people and their belongings have found their way to their correct places and the aircraft door has been closed, we are ready for pushback.

Things to take care of before takeoff

While we are ready to go in the cabin, the loading of the plane is not yet finished, so we’re not able to take off according to our schedule. Since we lost our “slot,” our allocated departure time, we will have to wait a bit longer because of the congested European airspace – even though the loading is now done and everything is otherwise ready.

Finally, when the plane’s engines start and the aircraft begins to move, our purser announces: “Cabin crew, take your door positions.” This is a sign to the cabin crew members to be ready at their own door or door pair. Before takeoff, the doors are always “armed” which means that we’ve activated the emergency slides.

When this is done, it’s time for the safety demonstration. In my position, I show the emergency equipment and exits in the first row, so I take the blue equipment bag with me. I show the safety card, seat belt, oxygen mask and life vest and point out the exits of the aircraft. I’m happy to notice that many people are paying attention, while some are more focused on their phones.

After the safety demo, I hand Mari the blue bag and go check that the cabin is ready for takeoff. I make sure everyone has their seat belts fastened, window blinds open, armrests down, and seat backs up. I smile at the little kids excited for the trip ahead and sympathise with the parents of a crying baby. After Kirsti and I have checked the cabin, we take our seats and our purser pushes the “Cabin OK” button, which signals the flight crew that the cabin is now ready for takeoff.

The aircraft curves onto the runway, accelerates, and the tires lift off the ground. We are airborne, heading towards our destination Zürich.

When the seat belt sign goes off

The seatbelt sign switching off indicates to the cabin crew that we can now begin the next phase of the flight – the inflight service. I change my jacket for an apron and my high heels for more comfortable shoes I wear during the flight. At the same time, Mari starts the service announcement.

We start the in-flight service preparations. There are 16 customers travelling in Business Class today, so I help Mari by handing out hot towels to them so that they can wipe their hands before the meal service. We have already warmed up the meals, so Mari prepares the Business Class aperitive trolley.

Mari goes on to serve the Business Class passengers their desired drinks while I prepare my Economy Class sales trolley in the front galley. Since there are only three cabin crew in this aircraft type, Mari takes care of Business Class, and with Kirsti, I am responsible for serving the 117 people seated in Economy.

On top of the trolley, I place four cans of blueberry juice – the favourite of Finnair customers. Additionally, I place some water, coffee, hot water, napkins, cups, ice, lemon and some sales products on display. In Economy Class, we serve complimentary blueberry juice and water, while there are also plenty of other drinks and snacks available to purchase.

Kirsti and I head to the aisle. We serve plenty of juice and water, and offer our Finnair Plus Platinum customers their complimentary drinks. Today it seems that our customers are in a happy holiday mood, and we sell lots of drinks and snacks. We run out of chips, but luckily there are salted cashew nuts, salami and chocolate that I can offer instead. A young, Finnish boy orders blueberry juice joyfully and tells me that they are headed to a 10-day summer holiday.

Once the service is done, Kirsti starts collecting the trash in the cabin and I continue to help out with the Business Class dessert service. The front galley fills with the lovely scent of cinnamon buns as we open the oven where Mari has heated the Business Class buns.

Landing preparations and a quick turnaround

Our flight time is two and a half hours, so we won’t have time for a second round of service. However, customers are welcome to get more to drink and eat from the rear galley. We quickly grab something to eat before starting the landing preparations. The turbulence at the end of the flight luckily comes a little later than predicted and we get to check the cabin for landing before our captain Sampo announces: “Cabin crew, landing in 10 minutes.”

When we have landed in Zürich and reached our gate, we “disarm” the aircraft doors, which means that we disconnect the emergency slides. The local gate agent knocks the front door, and Mari opens the door. Customers leave for their new adventures, whether it’s a connecting flight, a train journey, a business trip, a holiday in Zürich or going home. We thank them and wish them a nice rest of the evening.

Eight cleaners enter the plane through the back door and effectively clean the cabin to be ready to receive new travellers shortly. Our scheduled departure time is in 25 minutes. We get ready for the new passengers to arrive and to do everything all over again.

We reach Helsinki Airport at 11:48 p.m., just before midnight, accompanied by a stunning sunset.

Finnair cabin crew members have about 110 work hours on their rosters each month. These can include domestic or European turnarounds, overnight stays in Finland or our European destinations, or long-haul flights when one spends at least two nights away from home. In addition, there can be standby shifts on the roster, meaning that the cabin crew needs to be prepared to come to work if needed. You can read more about working as Finnair cabin crew on the Finnair career pages.