Lola, Travel and Tourism Level 2

Lola dreams of taking her career to the skies as a member of an airline’s cabin crew, just like she did during her work experience with British Airways.

Lola was one of the six people nationwide who won a place on British Airways’ cabin crew work experience programme which took place from 10-14 February 2020.

“I came to Reading College to study a Travel and Tourism Level 2 Diploma because I’d like to get into the Tourism industry for my career,” Lola said.

“I enjoy studying all of the different units that we learn about because they’re really interesting.

“We’ve learnt about attractions both worldwide, European and in the UK, and we also do assignments. For example, recently, we had an assignment where we acted as different types of holiday reps and learnt about all of the responsibilities that we needed to have and the difference that they made to the overall holiday experience.

“I’ve made some good friends at college. The teachers are very supportive, and they understand a lot. They motivate us as a class. At college you’re treated more like an adult than you are in school.

“Having a uniform to wear at college is really good because the uniform is really important in the tourism industry and us having to wear a uniform helps to prepare us for that.

“I’ve become more confident since starting college.”

This increased confidence inspired Lola to apply for a work experience placement with British Airways after finding out about it in a lesson. After going through a rigorous selection process, Lola found out that she had won a place on the work experience programme.

As part of the work experience, Lola and the rest of the participants learnt about the recruitment process and practised interview techniques. They also visited British Airways’ training academy and spent some time in Heathrow Terminal 5 where they went to a crew report centre, shadowed a flight brief and visited their global operations room.

Lola said: “During my work experience at British Airways, I looked at the recruitment process for Cabin Crew including the height and reach assessment and top tips for interview techniques.

“I went to the Global Learning Academy where they do their training where we were able to go in mock-up cabins and shadowed ‘club-world’ training and also learnt about cabin safety and the equipment used onboard aircraft.

“Towards the end of the week I spent the day in Terminal 5 where we went to the Crew Report Centre and sat in on a flight brief.

“Finally, I was lucky enough to attend a cabin crew ‘wings ceremony’ marking the end of their training.

“The experience was amazing, and it has really helped and motivated me in terms of my career, I would definitely recommend this work experience to anyone wanting to go into the aviation industry.”