How long did YOUR training last?

Pilots, you don't count... that one obviously takes a few years in multiple forms (school, smaller planes, maybe some military in there for good measure).

For everyone else, how much did you have to train for your job? I'm trying to get a position at SkyWest, but on an old thread here someone was saying that SkyWest in JAC (I think it was) would require 5 weeks of training? That's gotta be a typo, right? Or maybe for a weird position? Especially on a part-time $8.50/hr position, as a cross-utilized (ramp and customer service) agent, I'd imagine it'd be quicker than that. I'm a full-time student, but I think I could miss classes for a week if I talk with my professors in advance (I almost never miss classes, so I'd miss an expected number of classes for most people but all at once).

I figured I'd see what you guys think, and it might even be an interesting conversation, especially with different positions (FA, anyone?)

Personally, when I was a QSA at NW, I had a week of training. For those that aren't familiar with that position, QSAs (quality service assistants) escort unaccompanied minors making a connection as well as adults that can't read signs when they enter airports (read: all of them, besides the elites). For the most part, there was getting used to the MSP airport and its layout, basic rules for customers (usually, we'd refer them to CSAs anyway) and our rules, along with basic procedures for Unaccompanied Minors. There was also getting our badges (airport security and airline ID) and the training involved in that and standard airline tests we had to take (which included such questions as whether or not it was appropriate to lift a wheelchair-bound passenger by the buttocks to get them in their seat, even though we had that duty outsourced to an entirely different company.

By the way, I should have a pretty big update on my getting a job on Monday evening http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...IR#>/smile.gif

It wouldn't necessarily surprise me if it were 5 weeks.

I had no formal training in my role at CX (except for DG - 5days and load control - 10 days where I had to attend courses in HKG) - using the computer system for reservations etc was all taught on the job by trial, error and advise. This is all well and good as my customers are on the phone, and I have 5 other people here to help me out. At an airport (especially a small one) you don't have that luxury. If I make a mistake in cargo reservations, my GHA might notice it or worse comes to worse something is left off the plane. In an airport role you could stuff up their connection, compute fares incorrectly, mis enter information etc that would have worse consequences. My friend works for VS at MAN and she told me the other day US Airways sent someone there who was meant to go to Manchester NH... she had checked in with passport as ID so seemingly didn't realise until her flight was "taking a little longer than normal". That being said, I have no margin for error when completing load control, but as I mentioned that was a 10 day course with a 100% needed to pass.

Another point is i'm not sure about Skywest, but most airline computer systems aren't exactly state of the art. I still use a green screen UNISYS system at work that is text based, and requires me to memorise a lot of keystrokes and commands. That took weeks and pages of my own notes to remember. You seem a pretty switched on guy, but without GUI systems it can take a very long time to be trained!

Good luck... let us know how it goes

For the F/A position, I had 4 weeks in DAL.

In the 4 weeks, about 1 hour of the training was on serving drinks and snacks....

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vulindlela @ Jan 22 2010, 11:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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For the F/A position, I had 4 weeks in DAL.

In the 4 weeks, about 1 hour of the training was on serving drinks and snacks....[/b]

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You were an FA at WN any now in MX at 9E? That&#39;s a bit of a sea change!

Keep in mind my training was over a decade ago but the information is current. . . . Our full time training for reservations is 3 weeks classroom with another 3 weeks of OJT. This is to learn general sales. After 2-3 months on the job you are taken off of the phones again for another 2 weeks of training on changes then another 1 week of OJT for that portion. You are then monitored weekly and on probation for 6 months to make sure you are not making major mistakes and are always answering that call with a smile in your voice http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...#>/biggrin.gif

And, yes, this is for a job that starts about $11/hr and we had people lining up when we were still hiring. On the up side, they get paid during training now - something I didn&#39;t get. We got paid a lump sum before taxes of $500 for the entire training period and then only if you passed everything! http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...DIR#>/ohmy.gif

Donna just out of curiosity, how much time did you spend on fare codes, buckets and camouflaging codes? http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...#>/biggrin.gif http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...#>/biggrin.gif

Well, that answers that http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e..._DIR#>/dry.gif

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

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Dear Brian

Thank you for applying for the Cross Utilized Agent position with SkyWest Airlines. This position is part-time only and may require you to work split shifts. You will be required to complete three weeks of full-time training, starting February 8, 2010 in Denver Colorado.[/b]

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So does that mean you are giving up??

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nick @ Jan 21 2010, 09:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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You were an FA at WN any now in MX at 9E? That&#39;s a bit of a sea change![/b]

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I was never a big fan of WN but I had a layoff on August 27, 2001.
I wanted to stay in the industry and was offered a job for B6 at OAK on September 7, 2001. That offer went away 4 days later...
After a few months of unemployment, WN was the only carrier hring so I went for it.
It&#39;s not a bad place and I did enjoy my time there but I am in the industry for the flight benefits only.
In 4 years at WN, I flew International 4 times. In 4 years at 9E, I have flown International 30+ times.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vulindlela @ Jan 24 2010, 11:28 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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It&#39;s not a bad place and I did enjoy my time there but I am in the industry for the flight benefits only.
In 4 years at WN, I flew International 4 times. In 4 years at 9E, I have flown International 30+ times.[/b]

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That&#39;s awesome! I love to see people making use of their flight benefits. I worked with people that took one r/t to MSP in the same time period I flew almost 350K miles. Alot of positions in this industy don&#39;t pay what they should, so you&#39;ve got to use those flight bennys.

As far as the FA thing. I really would not enjoy being an FA, but I considered it just as a way to get my foot in the door at the airline I wanted to work for. I decided against it, and I really lucked out as I&#39;m now doing the job I want for the airline I want. But I would have done in-flight if that was the only way in the door.

And for training: I&#39;ve been employed 2 months and am currently training.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ColoAvs19 @ Jan 24 2010, 02:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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That&#39;s awesome! I love to see people making use of their flight benefits. I worked with people that took one r/t to MSP in the same time period I flew almost 350K miles. Alot of positions in this industy don&#39;t pay what they should, so you&#39;ve got to use those flight bennys.

As far as the FA thing. I really would not enjoy being an FA, but I considered it just as a way to get my foot in the door at the airline I wanted to work for. I decided against it, and I really lucked out as I&#39;m now doing the job I want for the airline I want. But I would have done in-flight if that was the only way in the door.

And for training: I&#39;ve been employed 2 months and am currently training.[/b]

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I know!
I am amazed at how many people have only traveled to a training class or a weekend in Vegas. The money is just not worth that.

The FA job was the easiest I ever had, except for the commuting...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nick @ Jan 24 2010, 12:09 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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So does that mean you are giving up??[/b]

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I&#39;m going to see if there&#39;s any way I can train and start when the semester is over, but I don&#39;t have too much hope for that. I really have no idea how frequent the training sessions go in Denver, and they very well could choose to fill up all positions right away.

I may be grasping at straws here, but it does help that I have a good resume for the position (especially in a city like this, there are plenty of people who probably haven&#39;t been on a plane before, much less work at an airport) and I&#39;d be available in time for the start of the theoretically-slightly-busier summer travel season. Oh, and they seem to be trying to find more applicants, too.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Migflanker @ Jan 23 2010, 01:29 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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Donna just out of curiosity, how much time did you spend on fare codes, buckets and camouflaging codes? http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...#>/biggrin.gif http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...#>/biggrin.gif[/b]

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You know, I don&#39;t even remember. I just remember that it got to the point where I actually dreamt about the airport codes. Pretty sure I had those dreams for months afterwards. http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...IR#>/laugh.gif

These days it&#39;s a lot easier to train on the pricing issues since we don&#39;t have those excursion fares with their Fri/Sat nite stays, min/max stays, day of the week restrictions, etc. Fares are all one way and tickets are electronic. Heck the new agents were never even trained on those partially used tickets issued in Canadian funds. http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...DIR#>/ohmy.gif Even our award tickets are one way!

Do you work for Alaska Airlines? I was thinking of using them to fly to NRT next time I go that way, stop in Anchorage for a while before I head that way. How many flights a day you go to NRT and how full are they usually?

Well, I got back from a job open house specifically for that position today. Feels like I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I have to go the wrong way on a moving walkway to get there http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...R#>/tongue.gif

Was told that they can&#39;t do much for me right now if I can&#39;t attend the training session in February (understandable) but they&#39;ll probably have a high turnover rate at first when they get set up, so I&#39;m going to keep my eyes open... as always. Hopefully there will be something this summer.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (29Palms @ Jan 25 2010, 05:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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Do you work for Alaska Airlines? I was thinking of using them to fly to NRT next time I go that way, stop in Anchorage for a while before I head that way. How many flights a day you go to NRT and how full are they usually?[/b]

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I do work for Alaska. I wish we flew to NRT but we are a North American carrier only. Fly into SEA, though, and there are many flight options up to ANC.

Well, good luck Spongebue! Let us know what happens.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vulindlela @ Jan 24 2010, 10:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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It&#39;s not a bad place and I did enjoy my time there but I am in the industry for the flight benefits only.[/b]

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Interesting... most people I know who have worked there just loved the place. You&#39;re the first i&#39;ve met who said it was an OK place and that you didn&#39;t really care for it! Each to their own I guess. I loved my time there just to experience such a successfull airline and explore the USA. I can see how if you had a desire to experience the rest of the world or travel in comfort it isn&#39;t necessarily the place for you. Although I think it pays better than most airlines?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vulindlela @ Jan 25 2010, 08:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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I know!
I am amazed at how many people have only traveled to a training class or a weekend in Vegas. The money is just not worth that.[/b]

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I work with people like that now.

Some don&#39;t know that after X years they can get a certain allocation of F tickets, some never use their benefits at all... because changing planes in Hong Kong for the annual trip to Phuket is unthinkable so they would rather pay $1000 (?!). I was surprised to realise how many people in my (small) office know nothing of their benefits, how a ZED works etc etc and just buy confirmed tix all the time. No way, not for me

Nick. Some people would rather not deal with the stress of going non-rev, especially on OAL where they come in at a lower category and are afraid to get stuck somewhere. With a confirmed ticket, they can enjoy their vacation stress free and not worry about the flight home. So I can see that. If you&#39;re flying your own airline where you can check the loads yourself, you have a much better piece of mind and can determine if flying that day is good for you or not. But on OAL, its a bit riskier especially if TIME is a factor. But I&#39;m like you Nick. I like to roll the dice and so far, I&#39;ts been a great ride.

WN does pay well in the long haul but not to start out.
Like I said, I am in for the flight benefits only. I would practically work for free, just give me the flights...

As for buying confirmed tickets, it has it&#39;s stress too, just not as bad I guess.
When we went to Paris a few years ago, the CDG-DTW flight cancelled. So much for a confirmed ticket. We were all equally stuck, only difference was they all got a paid hotel from the airline.
If we had wanted, we could have purchased AF ZED tickets and got out that same day while everyone else was stuck.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (vulindlela @ Jan 31 2010, 07:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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WN does pay well in the long haul but not to start out.
Like I said, I am in for the flight benefits only. I would practically work for free, just give me the flights...

As for buying confirmed tickets, it has it&#39;s stress too, just not as bad I guess.
When we went to Paris a few years ago, the CDG-DTW flight cancelled. So much for a confirmed ticket. We were all equally stuck, only difference was they all got a paid hotel from the airline.
If we had wanted, we could have purchased AF ZED tickets and got out that same day while everyone else was stuck.[/b]

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True, i did a day in the field in inflight and let me say I was shocked at the amount the most senior FAs earned and were worth in stock.

True, I love the flexibility of ZEDs... even if I see a confirmed ticket for less or a little more, i&#39;m loathe to buy it as I know it will afford me zero flexibility in terms of changing dates, times or refunds