Customer Service/Flight Attendant....PLEASE HELP! Especially if you have or work for SW

I need some honest answers...I a f2f interview coming up with SW this week for a CSA position...A flight attendant friend of mine referred me as a FA recently and was apparently told that I would be called soon. Now then he went on to say that if i went through with the customer service interview, I would have no chance of being hired on as a FA. Because they will think me interviewing for CSA means I want to do that for life as oppose to flight attendant which I would much rather do. Is this true? Any advice? I really want to be a FA for SW, but I also want to get in with the company somehow....

Unfortunately something smells afoul with the whole thing. Once upon a time, Southwest employees used to be able to pull strings and arrange interviews for people, but it's really not the case anymore. It's also highly suspect that a FA would be able to do that for you because even when FA positions are made even available for INTERNAL applicants (Southwest employees) it's a pretty big to do. I'm nearly certain that no Southwest flight attendant is going to be able to have enough pull to arrange for an interview for an off the street applicant. It doesn't happen. Above all else, I'm a Southwest employee myself and I happen to know there is currently no hiring going on for inflight.

Additionally, the thing about applying for customer service first being a bad idea is completely false. You're ALWAYS in a better position as an incumbent Southwest employee.. Every job opening at Southwest is first made available to employees for internal transfer before it ever sees the light of day as an external opening.

How well do you know this person who claims to be a Southwest flight attendant? Because if this information was indeed conveyed to you from someone claiming to be a Southwest FA, I would have some major concerns about their credibility.. Be advised that there are quite a few imposters out there and even a handful on this very forum.

John-

Thanks for the response!

I only know him from when we worked together for a brief time a few years ago at a pizza place....Let me explain what happened, About a week ago, he contacted me saying SW was hiring internally (friends and family) for F/A. He said to send him my resume and he'd send it in for me! So I did. Yesterday, he contacts me saying that he just received and email back saying that my resume was excepted and that they would be contacting me for an interview. I then told him awesome, i also have a f2f for CSA this week. He told me DO NOT GO, once I go to interview for CSA, they will see that as I want to be doing that the rest of my life, then when I interview/apply for F/A, they will not except me cause they will think I wanna be doing CSA. It doesn't make sense to me...He then told me that I would not be able to do inflight for probably at least 15 years and I'd be stuck doing CSA. It's all really fishy to me

Yeah the entire thing is fishy because there would be no reason why Southwest would be using him as some sort of liaison between them and a potential hiree. They would be contacting you directly if a resume was received and an interview was scheduled. It's also odd that he'd all of the sudden tell you not to go and for a completely ridiculous reason. So basically what we have here is you being told by a "guy" that he's getting you hired at Southwest and that he had an interview set up for you, but at the last minute he tells you that you should not show up to the interview... :) All the while have you had any contact from anyone at Southwest?

I call shenanigans on that one..

Also, "internal" hiring only means existing employees. Not friends and family. Those would be external.

Am I correct in assuming you're female? I think I might have an idea what's happening, and maybe you do too by now ;)

I am not female I am a gay male and the person in question w SW is a gay male as well...

I am gonna go to the interview for CSA Monday!

Alright, and actually I see now that I didn't read your last post correctly. Sorry about that. Absolutely go interview for CSA. I can assure you that by being onboard at Southwest you will have first crack at ANY Southwest job openings before the general public does. When you're hired you'll be able to log into our own employees only website and view open positions that are only able to be applied to by employees. Every opening goes through that first. I believe that you're required to work in the position you're hired into for 6 months before eligible for a transfer.

John in Chicago, Illinois said: Alright, and actually I see now that I didn't read your last post correctly. Sorry about that. Absolutely go interview for CSA. I can assure you that by being onboard at Southwest you will have first crack at ANY Southwest job openings before the general public does. When you're hired you'll be able to log into our own employees only website and view open positions that are only able to be applied to by employees. Every opening goes through that first. I believe that you're required to work in the position you're hired into for 6 months before eligible for a transfer.

Thanks so much John! That seriously put my mind at ease. I have no clue what this guy was talking about! I hope I pass the f2f as working for SW is my dream. The position is for part time, what are the chances of doing this job and attending school 1-2 nights per week?

You most certainly can go from CSA to FA after one full year. That's the only restriction. I was internal and LOVED inflight. I hope to go back someday. It is a great company. Very good to their employees. Just don't trust the co-workers too much. Just sayin.

I work in CS & S and know of 7people in our dept that just transferred to inflight about 6 months ago when they were hiring, so they do hire within from customer service positions. I am also trying to get inflight and have contacts with F/A supervisors and schedulers who have confirmed there in no hiring going on for inflight. Hope that helps

a friend that i have just got hired .......she applied on dec or jan i forgot...(she ws a airtran employee and she became a flight att... she is in training right now =)

Just applied for Flight Attendant Supervisor @ LAS

Im a former SWA Flight Attendant and being younger, i made the dumb choice of quitting. I have now been trying to get back onboard but hadnt seen anything posted. I had a bookmark on the "career" link and i check it several times a day EVERYDAY @ anytime. SWA tends to just post at random hours and for not long periods of time due to the high amount of applications they receive.
I wish everyone good luck!!!

(Wish me luck tooo)

-Me

I used to work for southworst.... Horrible experience but I'm a sucker for punishment because I was there 7 years. They say there a family! Yeah right, complete with backstabbing and all. I've seen f/as spit in people's drinks, take all the liquor money, load up foodbags with beers, say they were gonna get even with customers and then acciddently spill a drink on them all to often. I've seen them go through each others purses and steal cash, and write down customers credit cards, swa hires a lot of slick thieves! I've seen them drinking on the last flight of the night as well. And the attitudes are ridiculous from the senior f/as big deal you've been flying 20 or 30 years. Work for a real airline I.e. major and your NOTHING SPECIAL as senior to them is 45 to 50 years.
Best decision to leave and start at a real airline. Yes they have there senior attitudes but NOT all the rest thank God.

Oh really Stew? You CHOSE to leave Southwest for a REAL airline huh? After 7 years no less? I would have a very difficult time believing that. Your claims of thievery and poor behavior are almost as difficult to believe as well. But I would love to hear all about how you left being 75% of the way from the top of the payscale at the top paying airline to start at the bottom of another lower paying airline. By choice... And with your next reply could you please just tell us what year you started, how many digits were in your employee number, as well as the first number? It would reveal nothing about your identity, but it would allow us to know if you ever really were employed at Southwest.. Thanks!

SWA737FA in Downey, California said: Just applied for Flight Attendant Supervisor @ LAS

Im a former SWA Flight Attendant and being younger, i made the dumb choice of quitting. I have now been trying to get back onboard but hadnt seen anything posted. I had a bookmark on the "career" link and i check it several times a day EVERYDAY @ anytime. SWA tends to just post at random hours and for not long periods of time due to the high amount of applications they receive.
I wish everyone good luck!!!

(Wish me luck tooo)

-Me

I too would like to be a flight attendant for Southwest. My husband works for Southwest in Boston. We live in Providence. If anyone has any information as to when some positions will be posted, could you please let me know? I know that they are currently interviewing internal candidates only for flight attendant positions at the Boston base. If they don't get enough internal candidates, it will be opened up to external candidates.

Martha Moreno in Providence, Rhode Island said: I too would like to be a flight attendant for Southwest. My husband works for Southwest in Boston. We live in Providence. If anyone has any information as to when some positions will be posted, could you please let me know? I know that they are currently interviewing internal candidates only for flight attendant positions at the Boston base. If they don't get enough internal candidates, it will be opened up to external candidates.

Thank you for that information. I have been waiting on SWA to hire FA's again. I hope they open it up externally. *fingers crossed* I've been wanting to work for Delta, SWA, or United. I just applied for Delta, interview with United in Jan as well as SkyWest. Praying for SWA to open up.

SWA has not hired FA outside the company in several years. They like to see applicants put in at least a year in a customer service job before applying for FA. It is a highly competitive field when they do open it internally.
They will get over 1000 applications and hire only a few at a time. Best way to get in is by taking a job with reservations and being prepared to wait.