Delta flight attendant international qualification: the Airbus A350 and A330 courses, the language of destination flying and how to get onto the long haul
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#1 Delta Atlanta, and the Delta threads are reserve, pay and bases, which is right for year one. Year two and three the question becomes: how do I get onto the international flying. Here is how the international qualification works at Delta and what actually gets you the long haul trips.
Qualification versus seniority
Two separate things. To work an international trip you need the aircraft qualification for the type (the A350, the A330, the 767 and the 777 when it flew) which comes through training courses, and you need the seniority to hold the trip in the bid, or the luck to be assigned it on reserve. New hires are qualified on the domestic types first and add the wide bodies over time as the base schedules the courses.
The courses
A few days per type, at the training centre in Atlanta, covering the doors and slides, the emergency equipment on the type, the galley and the service flow for the premium cabins (Delta One, Premium Select). The service part is substantial on the A350 because the Delta One suite service is a different operation from a domestic first class. There is an exam and a practical.
How you get scheduled for a course
The base schedules crew for wide body qualification as the operation needs them, roughly in seniority order, and you can express interest. At a base like Atlanta with a lot of international flying, most crew are wide body qualified within a year or two. At a domestic heavy base it takes longer.
Language of destination
Delta's LOD program pays a premium to crew who are qualified in a language and work the routes to that country (Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Hindi and more). There is a proficiency test. LOD crew get priority on those routes regardless of seniority in some cases, which is the one real way around the seniority list for international flying. If you have a language, test for it in month one.
Holding international on the bid
Once qualified, you bid for the trips and win them in seniority order. At Atlanta, a mid seniority crew member holds some Europe; a junior line holder gets the Latin America and Caribbean international, which counts as international for pay and is a good place to start. At JFK the Europe flying goes senior fast. Reserves get assigned whatever breaks, which is sometimes a Paris and sometimes a Des Moines.
The honest timeline
Year one: domestic, reserve, maybe a wide body course. Year two: the Caribbean and Latin America international, some Europe on reserve luck. Year three to five: Europe on the line at the right base. Asia and the ultra long haul: mid seniority and up. LOD changes all of this if you have the language.
Advice
Test for LOD if you can. Take the wide body courses when offered. Bid the Latin America international early; it pays international and it is the door. And do not transfer to a domestic heavy base for a line if your goal is long haul, because you will hold a line of Omaha.
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#2 Delta, New York, and the LOD point is the one thing I wish I had done in month one. I have Portuguese and I waited two years to test. Two years of São Paulo I could have held. Test in month one.
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#3 JFK reserve and the 'sometimes a Paris and sometimes a Des Moines' is exactly the reserve life. Both in the same week last month.
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#4 American, Chicago, and our system is similar in shape: the qualification is separate from the seniority to hold the trip, and the language premium is the way around. Same advice across the majors.
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#5 @miaonreserve the LOD test is the single most valuable thing a new hire with a language can do. It pays and it bypasses the list. Nothing else does both.
