If you’re interested in beginning a career in the aviation industry, you may have heard two common terms, Cabin Crew vs  air Hostess.

But what do they mean, and are they two separate careers?

Not exactly. Both Cabin Crew vs Air Hostess refer to more or less the same broad aviation job role, but with different interpretations of the same role. Cabin crew are those who work in the cabin of a plane as a general term that is inclusive of men and women working within it whereas air hostess was a role traditionally only performed by women.

These terms can be misleading for students wanting to find out how to study aviation and its course or career opportunities.

So what should I know regarding Cabin Crew vs air hostess as well as being confused about the name of the position, responsibilities, eligibility and salary, will explain it all now.

Cabin Crew vs air hostess – The short answer

The best way to distinguish between these two terms:

Cabin crew are an individual who has been trained to safety in and to help passengers and provide services.

cabin crew vs air hostess was the original phrase which means traditionally women working within aircraft cabins as flight attendants.

In our modern aviation era, airlines generally use both terms of cabin crew vs air hostess  instead of Air hostess.

As airlines such as Emirates and Air India use the term cabin crew in terms of recruitment and cabin crew career opportunities; while its cabin crew vs air hostess jobs advertised recently show it hires both male and female candidates. (cabincrewcareers.airindia.com).

As a result of that, there is not a huge difference between cabin crew vs air hostess in terms of actual job and responsibility, but also the job title is different.

What is a Cabin Crew?

Cabin crew consists of individuals who are employed to work in the cabin in aircrafts. Their task isn’t merely about providing service nor greetings but it also includes significant safety duties and customer services to enhance customer experience and safety on board of a plane. As per The Directorate General of Civil Aviation( DGCA), The cabin crew duties relate to all aspects on board and are not included in flight crew responsibilities(dgca.gov.in).

While working, there are a number of responsibilities a cabin crew might have, however this varies depending on airlines.

Safety responsibility of cabin crew

Cabin crew would require to be well-trained on safety and passenger response to emergencies which is significant to a Cabin Crew. Cabin crews can provide assistance during a plane emergency or abnormal event where as to, emergency evacuations, during high turbulence, any other abnormal cases including medical emergency on board. The International Air Transport Association(IATA) guide tocabin safety; mention cabin crew’s responsibilities are categorized based on its three conditions like normal situations, abnormal situations and emergency situations. (iata.org)

Customer services duty of cabin crew

Cabin crew will assist passengers with various requirements in a plane, including greeting all passengers when they are first on board and help passengers with reasonable requests and on-board service like meal and refreshments for the long journey, providing customer services in all ways while maintaining safety guidelines provided by the airline..

What is an air hostess?

The term “air hostess” was traditionally used to refer to a female flight attendant. Modern, up to date aviation uses terms such as flight attendant for female or male flight attendants while in India airlines refer to female flight attendants as Cabin crew in recruitment and career information. So if you want to be: I want to be an air hostess then: I want to be cabin crew. The profession has not truly turned into a completely separate job career path solely due to the transition in its terminology.

Main differences of Cabin Crew vs air hostess

For simplified explanation of differentiating between the two:

Features	Cabin Crew	Air Hostess
Meaning	General designation of people working in aircraft cabin	Traditional description usually female cabin crew
Who can take the role	All genders	Traditionally female
Main duties	Safety tasks performed by all cabin crew and providing passengers assistance	similar responsibilities for female cabin crew
Terms used in modern airline	In the modern context	These terms are often used colloquially for female cabin crew.
Airline course and jobs available	available for both male & female employees and cabin crew positions are also generally given to males or females differently	if they fulfilled the specific requirement

In comparison, between Cabin Crew vs air hostess , there isn’t a real difference. Cabin Crew’s jobs are both professional yet safety-oriented tasks when performed by both men and women equally. They are essential to the airline because they are given equal responsibilities and jobs where passenger safety is of the top requirement throughout the plane journey.

Cabin crew only for women?.

Unfortunately, no. This is a misconception which has been perceived since many years. Both men and women can now take up this challenging job. Air India, presently declares that they are recruiting cabin crew, irrespective of gender, as long as they meet up with the criteria for the same.(cabincrewcareers.airindia.com) If boy students are not being trained properly for cabin crew jobs then the career path for them would look similar to a traditionally adopted, air steward or flight attendant, respectively.

What are the job qualifications?

Qualifications change depending on the Airlines you wish to take up your flight attendant job, it should not be a term like air hostess nor cabin crew which differ the criteria you need to own for this profession. It also varies with each airlines based on the qualifications required which usually includes;

-education requirements.
-age.
-height of the candidates.
-language.
-other specific requirements required for flight attendants by the chosen airlines and this typically depend on the kind of flight attendants chosen, that may be passenger flight attendants or cabin crews.

This can be illustrated by taking Air India as an example as well. They require their cabin crew vs air hostess to be as low as class 12, have an acceptable body mass index as well as be fit, language skills and physical requirements of a passenger flight attendant and thus candidates should find the requirement directly from the airline based on where they intend working.

Are Cabin Crew vs air hostess courses different for boys and girls?

Generally the basic cabin crew vs air hostess course has to be with relevance to its responsibility to be rather than for the respective sexes. There are few courses to learn:

• Basic aviation
• Cabin procedures
• Passenger handling
• Safety procedures
• Emergency procedures
• Communication
• Grooming
• Professional etiquette
• Interview preparation
• Teamwork

Airline specific training can be given after recruitment by the respective airlines. Professional cabin crew training also helps the aspirant understand about their desired profession and prepare for the airline interviews.

Which Is Better, Cabin Crew vs Air hostess?

Such a question might lead someone to think it would be two different fields, however there are no such two different streams. You do not need to choose between “Cabin Crew vs Air hostess” as if both are two different occupations and you don’t need to choose at all between them if you aspire to be someone who works on an aircraft. Depending on the carrier you work for your careers pathway may look something like:

• Cabin crew
• Senior Cabin crew
• Purser/Senior Supervisory Roles

Actually, cabin crew roles are categorized further by each airline’s internal career progression. Nevertheless what it means is basically a cabin crew. The only difference for each can be the title and rank and actual job description and progression varies from airline to airline so let’s stop this myth. Focus should be given to the ability rather than title.

What skill requirements do cabin crew have?

Whatever name the job title may be “Cabin Crew vs Air hostess” or “Flight attendant”; its professional skills generally require:

• Communication skills- Cabin Crew has to communicate with passengers from all over the world from different backgrounds in an appropriate manner.
• Team Work- Crew must co-operate with other members of the crew working. They must be able to follow procedures with their fellow members working.
• Confidence- You may need to handle strange, unusual situations. With a confident attitude you can overcome situations quite easily.
• Customer Service- You need to serve passengers with politeness in an organized fashion which will definitely boost passenger experiences.
• Problem Solving- Passengers may ask weird questions, to handle them efficiently and solve their problems gracefully cabin crew should possess problem solving skills in their character.
• Emotional Control- You will face nervous, tearful or demanding customers. Remain calm for you and the passengers to maintain stability.
• Safety Awareness- Cabin crew members are primarily tasked with passenger safety so this has to be a top priority.

Does ‘Air hostess’ Term Still Matter?

The term “air hostess” is still used for this profession by many in India. Students, parents, training institutes use this phrase; people search online using words like “Air hostess course,” “Air hostess course fee,” “Air hostess jobs,” “Air hostess eligibility,” and “How to become an air hostess.” Nevertheless, when applying for the jobs the actual phrase that would be searched for by all the employers concerned be anything like cabin crew and/or flight attendant.

This will help students know and research both the fields for their study and accordingly for career innovation as we search for things on google (or so)- you are actually supposed to use both for research.

For SEO and Career research the both terms are different for use, even though they pertain to the same role of air hostess vs cabin crew salary.

Is there a difference between a cabin crew or an air hostess?

The term “Air Hostess vs Cabin Crew” just has two different names associated and is just a role. It actually does not make a difference while the aspirant looks up for salaries.

So if you do a research over it, look at particular airline related Cabin Crew Salaries based on their particular position as listed over on the concerned airline career site.

Which Term should be used by a student?

As a student and individual aspires in a career, “cabin crew” is the right word to be used as we don’t want anything so informal than this one. “Cabin crew” can also lead to job opportunities both male and female candidates may apply while air hostess may generally relate to female crew. So it is highly recommended by the professionals to make use of “Cabin Crew” as you aim to build a career.

Instead of using “I want to be an air hostess”, you can mention “I want to build my career as a Cabin Crew”.

Thus even the language becomes official and formal. Still you need to understand terms related to “air hostess” as there are many students looking for jobs etc by the term which need to be researched by every student from each angle and not focus only to one side which of course you can for career.

How To Start a Cabin Crew Career In India?

For any students that want to start a career as a Cabin Crew one needs to be sure about the eligibility criteria required by different airlines from the target field. Thereafter candidates need to be trained according to the required skills:

• Complete education as per airlines requirements, though often 12th pass for girls is required. (Requirements might change as per the respective airline.)
• Improve spoken English and also improve your accent. (Communication)
• Professional Grooming, need for a smart and charming presentation.
• Build confidence. (Confidence)
• Learn about your assigned career profession. (Learn about Aviation)

The cabin crew course is professional that includes training modules on: communication, grooming, passenger handling, Interview preparation and a few other fields as and when a candidate gets placed into service for the airline of his/her choice.

Final Verdict, Cabin Crew vs air Hostess:

In order to make sure that every student gets relevant and accurate information for the desired career; we are clarifying about cabin crew vs air hostess difference; the Cabin Crew is the general term used for the profession and is the most correct way to put it. On the other hand, Air Hostess traditionally means a female cabin crew and is a less commonly used term.

 If you want a male flight attendant career option you cannot term it as “air hostess” as it refers to woman while “Cabin crew” is used for male, female, male, female in that very sequence while male employees were to be trained separately but there are no differences now; so you want to consider aviation job than definitely choose to build a Career as a Cabin Crew. Some of you may be thinking why I stressed so much. Let me reiterate: always choose the term appropriate to our modern job industry and which includes candidates belonging to both genders.

 All these qualities of course matter a lot in aviation careers no matter the other issues mentioned above, from cabin crew career to air hostess. You need not worry about the terms, you just need to become a good skilled and well trained cabin crew that is of most requirement. So you get ready to make use of every opportunity out there by becoming proficient to perform and serve as a cabin crew, which eventually leads to the best career outcome that one can ever make in the aviation sector.

Dreaming of soaring the skies? Start your Cabin crew career training with Zeal Wings today and gear up for an amazing journey!

Frequently Asked Questions:

1.Is a cabin crew the same as an air hostess?

Generally referring to the same wide career spectrum. It implies Cabin crew is a more precise term for all professionals who render their service for an aircraft from all regions of the world while Air Hostess is a term often used for female cabin crew members.

2.Can Boys Become Cabin Crew?

The concept of Cabin Crew being a girls’ job is a myth. Nowadays male participants who aspire to gain a job by its cabin crew may do it well.

3.Is an Air Hostess job only for Women?

Yes, traditionally used only as part of the career-term that used to portray women only but nowadays it’s no longer an Air Hostess for only women; instead all males who want to try a cabin crew career may find themselves suitable for it and serve at best.

4.Which word is more suitable for both male, female and all genders Cabin Crew vs Air hostess?

As aforementioned, the word “Cabin Crew” stands for a modern career which includes genders. However, use of the word “Air hostess” will continue on informal aspects but is not formal for recruitment and on professional profile to seek employment.

5.Salary Differences between Cabin crew vs Air hostess?

As discussed above, you will not have a separate pay only by this two different terms i.e air hostess & cabin crew. Their particular compensation depends greatly on a variety of the airline; your total experience; position as a Cabin crew in different airlines; your flights, and various allowances given by airlines on and off for particular flights/ routes so far as domestic & international flights are accounted for and this may vary depending upon how many days a person work for and what all working shifts do the candidate have, it’s something really dynamic for each airline so they get compensated accordingly.