Additional information is now available in an update to this story
Breeze Airways is ready to hire its in-flight crew. With a newly disclosed marketing tagline of “The World’s Nicest Airline,” the company announced roles for pilots and flight attendants interesting in helping deliver on the company’s mission, “To make the world of travel simple, affordable, and convenient. Improving our guests travel experience using technology, ingenuity and kindness.”
While the pilot listing is relatively normal the flight attendant option is anything but. Potentially “Seriously Nice” cabin crew must enroll as a full-time student in online classes at Utah Valley University (UVU) as part of this round of hiring.
Those accepted into the program will receive tuition reimbursement up to $6,000 per year for most UVU programs as well as corporate housing at a location the airline determines, presumably the hub cities. They will also receive free transportation to and from the airport for work and a free trip home each month, along with a monthly salary.
But to qualify they must maintain 30 hours per year of course work at UVU with a 3.0 GPA. The degree program must be completed in 4 years and they must complete their flight attendant training before tuition reimbursement begins, though they must be enrolled as a full-time student before that training starts. This presents some risk to the candidate, as they must front the initial school costs until they make it through the training course.
It also raises some questions about how many hours per month the carrier plans to schedule the crew given the schooling obligations and minimum GPA requirement. Candidates must also be at least 20 years old with a high school diploma
Breeze is not the only US airline to have an educational program associated with its employees. JetBlue launched a program where it is helping crew get their online degree while continuing to work at the company. But this is the only program in the US where being enrolled is a precondition for consideration at the job. And the “dorm” life experience provided by the carrier, while common in some parts of the world, is also unique in North America to Breeze.
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I feel like it is a great way to attract the younger Flight attendant candidates, However anyone that has ever been a flight attendant before knows the scheduling of these persons will be a nightmare…and I work fulltime and can’t take a full load of classes. 9-12 credit hours which is about 3 classes max. Thats gonna be very difficult and maitain a 3.0 GPA Training is difficult and then u begin flying and online classes…Those ppl are going to be so distracted and stressed out.
This program will never work i know ppl try to do just that it’s impossible for someone to be a new fa and try to get a degree with 3.0. I think will change very fast plus I think is ilegal because he is discriminated agist ppl with degree even more them.one we will see this changing fastttttttttttttttttt watch.
It’s bonkers. The people who dreamed this up have obviously never worked as a flight attendant. Working the job full time sucks the life out of you, and I can’t imagine being a full time student at the same time without phoning everything in. I say this as a flight attendant who graduated from college the day initial training began, and that brings me to a very important point: expecting people, particularly the target demographic who has never worked in the industry before, to maintain a full course load DURING INITIAL TRAINING is insane. It’s all day long, 6 days/week. The executive team has not thought this through.
I think, that the Airline it’s just looking for a younger flight attendant and closing the doors at the older ones.
Which would probably not be legal in the US. Nor ethical in most scenarios.