Etihad training and the first six months: the course, the probation, the first business flight, and the moment I stopped being new
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#1 UK, Etihad, and the training threads on here are mostly Emirates and Qatar, so here is the Etihad version, from the course to the end of probation, because it is similar and it is not the same.
The course
Around seven weeks at the training academy in Abu Dhabi. The same blocks as everywhere: SEP by aircraft type (787 and A350 mainly, the A380 for those who get it later), first aid, security, dangerous goods, the pool, then service and grooming. Pass marks of 90 on the safety exams. Batches of 20 to 25 from everywhere.
The Etihad specific parts: a strong emphasis on the Arabic hospitality concept, which is a real module and not a slogan, and a service standard that is taught with the same seriousness as the doors. And the smaller batch culture: the instructors know the whole batch by name by day three, which I am told is not true at the bigger academies.
Probation
Six months. Stricter accommodation rules, a probation appraisal at three months and six, and a specific number of flights with a supervisor feedback form. The crew who fail probation, and a few do, fail on attendance and attitude, never on service. Turn up. Be pleasant. That is probation.
The first business flight
At Etihad, new crew work economy and get business exposure earlier than at the neighbours because the operation is smaller and needs flexible crew. My first business shift was at month four, on a 787 to London, as a support crew member, and the purser walked me through the service like a teacher, because that is the Etihad thing: someone has time to teach.
The moment I stopped being new
Month five, a Sydney, a medical in the cabin, and I was the crew member nearest, and I did the first minute correctly without thinking, and afterwards the purser said 'you are not new any more'. That was the moment. It was not a course or a date. It was a purser noticing.
For candidates comparing the three
The course is the same shape as the neighbours. The culture around it is smaller and warmer, and the exposure to the front cabins comes sooner. If the size of the operation is your worry about the Gulf, Etihad is the answer to it. If you want the biggest fleet and the most routes, it is not.
Questions welcome from anyone who has an Etihad course date.
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#2 Three years, and the 'someone has time to teach' line is the whole Etihad difference and Lily has put it better than I did. The purser walking a month four crew member through business is normal here. I have done it. I was walked through it.
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#3 Applying from Beirut, and the Arabic hospitality module being real and not a slogan is a relief, because I was worried it would be the slogan. Thank you.
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#4 Also Lebanon, also applying, and 'you are not new any more' from a purser in month five is the sentence I am going to be working towards. Saved.
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#6 Emirates training, and the batch culture point is interesting: our instructors know us but there are 26 of us and it took two weeks. A smaller academy sounds like a different experience. Not better. Different.
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#7 Canadian, Etihad, and I failed nothing in probation and I watched two people fail it on lates, exactly as Lily says. Turn up. It is not a metaphor.
