Applying to Air France and Emirates from Marseille with luxury retail experience: the two processes side by side and the one application each rule
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#1 Marseille, 27, six years in luxury retail (a watch boutique on the Canebière, then a fashion house in the Terrasses du Port), and I have one application in with Air France and one with Emirates, because they are the two dreams and I decided not to spread myself across ten airlines. Here is the plan, the two processes side by side as I understand them, and the questions I still have for the crew.
Why one application each
The threads on here about applying to six airlines and hearing nothing convinced me: a tailored application beats a scattered one. Air France because it is the home carrier and the long haul from Paris is the dream I had at 15. Emirates because the Marseille to Dubai flight exists, the Gulf money is real, and the luxury retail background is exactly what the Gulf premium cabins hire for. Two applications, both done properly.
Air France
The PNC (personnel navigant commercial) recruitment through the Air France careers site, the CCA (the European cabin crew attestation) required or obtained through the airline's training, a B2 English minimum tested, a bac minimum with a bac plus two preferred, the reach, the swimming, the medical through the aeromedical centre. The process: online application, a video interview, a selection day in Paris with a group exercise in French, an English test and an interview, then the medical and a training course. The Air France crew on this forum say the process is slow, Paris based, and that the CCA held in advance is an advantage. I am doing the CCA at a Marseille training organisation this winter for that reason.
Emirates
The open day in Marseille or Lyon or Paris (they rotate), the standard structure the assessment threads describe, the 212 reach, the English, the group task, the final interview, and the golden call timeline. The luxury retail stories are the ones the Gulf recruiters want: the difficult client, the sale saved, the standard maintained at 7pm on a Saturday. I have twenty of them.
Side by side
Air France: home, the collective agreement (the SNPNC), Paris rent, the seniority system, the long haul in years, the French passenger. Emirates: Dubai, the tax free salary, the housing, the distance, the promotion in two to three years, the world's passengers. The Marseille to Dubai flight makes the Gulf a five hour commute home. The Marseille to Paris TGV makes Air France a three hour commute to the base, which is its own problem.
The questions
- Does the CCA held in advance actually help at Air France, or is it neutral because they train it anyway?
- For the Air France crew from the south: how do you handle the Paris base from Marseille? Commute, crash pad, move?
- For the Emirates crew from France: does the luxury retail background come up in the final interview, and is French useful on the aircraft beyond the Paris and Nice routes?
- If both come, close together: the Adam thread on Dublin has the answer, I think, which is decide now. I have not decided.
I will write up whichever process moves first. The Marseille applicants on the French groups are watching this one.
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#2 Air France, Orly, and the CCA in advance helps: it shortens the training and the recruiters see a candidate who committed. The Paris base from Marseille is a crash pad near Roissy for the first two years for most southern crew, then a move or a transfer to the Marseille base for the short haul. Both exist. The TGV at 5am is not a life.
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#3 Air France, CDG, and the southern crew crash pad culture is real and organised: the flats in Roissy en France and Goussainville are half crew. Ask in the crew group when you get the offer. The CCA question: yes, it helps, and it also means you can apply to the other French carriers with it.
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#4 Emirates, Italian, and the luxury retail background came up in every stage of my interview: the recruiters want the standard maintained under pressure and a fashion house teaches exactly that. French is used on the Paris, Nice, Lyon, Geneva, the African francophone routes and in the cabin generally. It is a real asset.
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#5 Lyon, hotel school, the same two dreams, and Claire has written my plan with more discipline. One application each, done properly. The CCA in advance is the thing I had not thought of and now will.
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#6 Air France, and the Marseille base for the short haul is the answer to question two in year three: the southern crew who want to stay south transfer there and fly the Mediterranean from home. The long haul is Paris and only Paris.
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#7 Emirates upper deck, and the twenty luxury retail stories are exactly what the final interview wants. The difficult client at 7pm on a Saturday is the business class passenger at hour ten. Tell them in those words.
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#8 Dublin, the two applications thread, and Claire is right that the answer is decide now. I made the Tuesday list. It helped. Make yours before either calls.
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#9 @amelieory the crash pad near Roissy for two years then the Marseille base for short haul is the answer to the question I was most afraid of. And @belladxb the retail stories in business class words: noted. The Tuesday list is tonight.