Free United Airlines Flight Attendant Interview Study Guide Questions and Answers
- Tell me about your best day at work.
My best day at work was one night when it was pretty consistent at the bar, it was just me and this other bartender I get along great with. She took me under her wing and was showing me the ins and outs of easily communicating with guests in order to make them feel more welcome. She gave me tips on how to feel less awkward with small talk and positive body language to show the guests that I am engaged with what they are saying even if in the moment I am having difficulties concentrating. We laughed so much and she taught me a lot. It was an educational and entertaining experience that had a lasting impression on my customer service habits.
My best day at work was actually a couple weeks ago, we had a fun house and live music and everyone in the restaurant was happy and work felt like I was hanging out with my family whilst making good money!
My best work day was when all my students understood the course work and it was displayed in a 98 percent passing.
With enthusiasm I told them my story and why it was my best day. - Tell me about your worst day at work.
The worst day I had at work was on the day I found out my mom was diagnosed with a serious autoimmune disease. I found myself struggling to separate the way I was feeling in my personal life with how less than kind guests and coworkers were interacting with me. I let it affect me more than I should which unfortunately ended up with me needing to go home early that day. Despite this negative experience, I used it as a lesson and started finding ways to separate my personal feelings from my work life through self reflection, journaling, breathing techniques. I found space in my personal life to talk things through so when I got to work in the future, the personal issues held no place in my work space.
I spoke about why it was the worst day but also what I learned from it and what could have went better/what I could have done better. - How do you explain something technical and give an example?
The first thing I would do is to speak slowly I order for the person I’m speaking to grasp the idea. Another way is actually showing them by using body gestures such as the hand. Definitely use positive facial expression so the person feels comfortable with me and finally if all else fail point and use pen and paper to draw designs/ pictures. - Tell me about a time when you had to work together with people you did not know.
When two of our managers got fired, we had interim managers from other locations coming in and out to help while the position was being filled. It was difficult to build work relationships with so many people and following orders and directions from complete strangers proved challenging when we had our way at our location and they had theirs. However, despite a few hiccups with communication, it was a unique learning experience to see how different stores accomplished the same tasks in more efficient ways.
I was asked this question during the VI. My response was: I love working with new people, you can always learn from them. When I once had to work with a new crew I made sure I was friendly, open and observed the way everyone worked. I tried to be as helpful as possible and learn from them as well. Meeting new people is exciting for me, as I love people and am a true team player. We worked very well together and gave each other positive feedback to make the next trip even smoother. - Tell me about a time when you were blamed for something that was not your fault.
Every bartender has their own way of making drinks, but working for a corporate company means following strict recipes. As a brand new bartender, I was learning more from the other bartenders than the recipe book, and since they worked their for so long, I assumed the way they taught me the recipes were correct; however, about a month into my job, one of my managers pulled me to the side for an intense discussion about the way I prepared drinks. Instead of explaining that I was being taught wrong by the other bartenders, I owned up to it and adhered to the manager's lecture. I began to study the recipe book more and offered information to the other bartenders when I noticed the mistakes in their recipes as well.
I was new to the hospital and my preceptor showed me how to set up some equipment. about a week later. I did the set up as I was taught and it was wrong. - What is your weakness?
My biggest weakness is perfectionism. I tend to get pretty upset when I do not do things perfect the first time around. However, I believe that my perfectionism can also be a strength, as I will keep trying to fix a problem until it is solved.
I tend to overthink
I would say my weakness is when I love someone I put my whole heart and time into it. - Do you have any tattoos or piercings?
Just a tattoo on my arm
Yes, in my ear.
No
Yes
Just ear piercings. - Tell us about a difficult customer service experience? and how you handled it.
I was picking up a table to help out a server after I moved into bartending. I never served tables at this restaurant, so I felt a bit overwhelmed. I managed to make the drinks, bring out the food, and check on the table despite my lack of knowledge in the way servers run things at this location. I successfully cashed out one of the guests at the table, but the other guest was hovering around as if waiting for the opportunity to walk out on her bill. I noticed her writing furiously on a napkin, so I went over to ask her if everything was alright and if she was ready to pay when she exploded about all of the things that were wrong with my service and her food. I checked on the table several times while they ate, and there never seemed to be a problem, but when it came time to pay she refused due to her underwhelming experience. I told her I would send a manager over right away, and when he got there she proceeded to get very upset and say extremely inappropriate things. I informed my manager of my side of the story and followed his advice to remove myself from the situation while they discussed with the guest how to rectify the situation. She would not settle for anything but her entire meal compensated, and an apology from me. Despite my feelings about not being the one in the wrong, I set them aside and apologized to her for her negative experience with the dinner, and I told her that I hoped she would visit us again in the future despite the situation. At the end of the day, she still left extremely volatile and upset, but I know that I followed every step to the best of my ability and sought help when I ran out of options within my capabilities. I learned to not let one negative guest affect my interactions with the rest of my guests and that no matter how hard you might try, there might still be a time you cannot make someone happy.
The STAR method should be used in one to two minutes MAXIMUM! You don’t want your interviewer to loose interest. A good example you could bring up could be one that you’ve seen here at Starbucks. How I’ve had a co-worker who was a transgender women. Often times, she would accidentally mis interpret a situation and assume a customer had mis-gendered her. One time I was on the register role taking the customers order as regular and a customer orders a drink as normal. Once their order comes up and it’s ready, my co-worker who was on bar role that night starts making the customers drink. The customer requests my co-worker to make a last minute change to their drink and my co-worker mistakenly assumes the customer Mis-gendered her and this turns into an back and forth argument between the two. Me noticing this unfold rather quickly on register, I decide to intervene and offer both the customer and my co-worker if I can kindly make the customers drink for them. I also offer my co-worker the chance to switch roles with me for the rest of the night so she can clear her head. As a result both the customer left satisfied and my co-worker more relaxed from the situation.
Right now I am working as a caregiver with older people, most of which have dementia. One time I was picking up this woman to go to the store and i came to her back door because that was the closest to get to her house from where my car was parked. she did not handle that very well and called me a lot of rude names and told me i had a pea sized brain. i handled this situation very calmly and just said "I'm sorry you feel that way, are you ready to leave?" and that was that. - How do you plan to balance work and life?
Balancing work and life can be challenging, but I discovered that setting aside time while you are home to engage with loved ones is valuable so that when you are at work, your mind is not on what you're missing out on at home.
I work as much as I can. And when i have time, I will hang out with my friends. - Do you feel your recent jobs helped in preparing you for this position?
I have only ever worked in customer service, and being a flight attendant is all about how you engage with the customers while keeping them safe and comfortable. My recent jobs helped prepare me for this by throwing challenges my way that I have to think creatively to solve as well as the value of working as a team.
Yes, prior to this interview, I was a flight attendant for a regional airline and have dealt with the stresses and achievements you typically see in this industry. I also worked in the hospitality industry while living in Germany helping guests travelling from across the world. Lastly, my experience as a military spouse has given me the depth and perspective one would need interacting with other customs and cultures.
I do. My current job/recent job has been all about working with others. I have gained a lot of patience in challenging situations and learned to not get stressed out or overwhelmed in a stressful situation.
Yes because my current job requires me to interact with people. Read 133 Interview Experiences for United Airlines from other Flight Attendants!