The BA long haul purser assessment: what it involved, what I nearly failed on, and the year of preparation before it
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#1 Purser since last year, and the purser assessment at BA is the step that a lot of good crew stall at, so here is what it was, what I prepared, and the thing I nearly got wrong.
The application
A written application with competency examples: leading a team, handling a complaint, a safety situation, a time you gave feedback. Reviewed by the base management with your record beside it. The record is the thing: attendance, lates, complaints, commendations. Five years of clean flying was, I think, most of the reason I got to the assessment.
The assessment day
A role play: a crew member on your flight is underperforming and a passenger has complained about them, and you have to have the conversation with the crew member. Assessed on how you gave the feedback, whether you listened, whether you were fair and clear.
A scenario interview: a medical, a disruptive passenger and a service failure, all described, and you talk through what you would do, in order, with the crew and the captain. Assessed on structure and on knowing what the purser's job is versus the crew's.
A competency interview, the usual, at a higher level: tell me about a time you led when you were not in charge.
A written exercise, short, on prioritising a list of things that had gone wrong on a flight.
What I nearly failed on
The role play. I was kind and I was clear and I forgot to ask the crew member why. The assessor said afterwards that I had given feedback well and had not listened at all, and that a purser who does not ask why will never find out that the crew member's father is in hospital. That was the note. I passed on the other three and the role play was a borderline. I have asked why on every conversation since.
The year of preparation
Not a course. A year of flying like a purser without the grade: doing the brief when asked, volunteering for the paperwork, handling the passenger issues before the purser had to, and asking the good pursers how they decided things. By the time I sat the assessment I had been practising the job for a year and the scenario interview was, mostly, describing what I had already done.
The course after
Two weeks, then a line check with a trainer on a real long haul. The course teaches the systems. The assessment tested the person. In that order, at BA.
For the crew thinking about it: fly like a purser for a year first, keep the record clean, and in the role play, ask why.
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#2 Virgin purser, fourteen years, and the 'ask why' note is the one every purser assessment in the world is looking for and the one most candidates miss. Feedback without a question is a lecture. Gavin learned it in the room. Most learn it on the line, more expensively.
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#3 Emirates purser, and our assessment has the same four parts in a different order and the same trap in the role play. Ask why. It is the whole job. The crew member's father is always in hospital.
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#4 Three years, thinking about it for year five, and 'fly like a purser for a year without the grade' is the advice I can act on today. Doing the brief when asked. Volunteering for the paperwork. Understood.
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#6 easyJet cabin manager, and our assessment has the same role play and I have watched candidates be kind, clear and deaf. The 'why' is the difference between a manager and a supervisor. Good post.
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#7 Virgin, nine years, purser assessment next spring, and I have just realised I have been flying like a purser for two years without calling it that. Gavin's post has named it. Application going in.
