Cabin manager at easyJet Manchester after five years: what the job is, how you get it, and the honest pay difference

Five years at easyJet Manchester, cabin manager for the last two, and I get asked by every new joiner within a month how to get the CM job. So, properly, once.

What the cabin manager does

You are the senior crew member on the flight. Legally responsible for the cabin, the paperwork, the safety brief to your crew, the liaison with the captain, the decision on a passenger who might not fly, the medical if one happens, the complaint if one is made. You also do the service: on an A320 with four crew you are working the trolley like everyone else, you are just also the one people look at when something goes wrong.

A normal day: sign on, get the crew together, brief (safety questions, the plan for the day, anything unusual), fly four sectors, complete the paperwork, sign off. A bad day: a passenger collapses on sector two, a delay on sector three means the crew go out of hours, and you are the one on the phone to crewing at 22:00 working out who is going home and who is night stopping.

How you get it

At easyJet you apply when the base advertises CM positions, which happens a few times a year depending on need. Minimum time as crew varies, roughly 12 to 18 months in practice. The selection: an application with competency examples, then an assessment with a role play (a difficult crew situation, not a passenger one), a scenario based interview, and a check of your record. Attendance and lates matter enormously. Then a CM course, about a week, and a line check with a trainer on a real flight.

What actually gets people selected: being the crew member the CMs already trust. The one who knows the paperwork, who notices the passenger in 14C looking unwell, who does the brief properly when asked. Base managers ask CMs who they would recommend. Be recommendable.

The pay difference, honestly

The CM basic is higher, the sector pay is higher per sector, and there is a CM allowance. In practice it is about 20 to 25 percent more than a senior crew member on the same roster in the same month. Nice, not life changing. Nobody does it for the money alone, and the ones who do find the responsibility expensive.

The bit nobody says

You lose some of the fun. The crew are your crew, not your mates, on the aircraft. You cannot join the moaning about crewing because you are the one who has to call crewing. The first six months are lonely in a way I did not expect. Then you find the other CMs and it is fine.

Would I recommend it

If you like being the person people look at when it goes wrong, yes. If you would rather do a good job and go home without carrying the flight around with you, stay as senior crew, it is a completely respectable choice and some of the best crew I fly with have made it deliberately.

Questions welcome, especially the awkward ones.