Meet Dustin, a flight attendant with Alaska Airlines. Learn more about what inspired him to pursue a career in travel!
What inspired you to become a flight attendant?
Growing up in Wyoming, I always wanted to travel and see the world. I caught the travel bug young. When I was in 6th grade we took a class trip to Vancouver, Canada from Wyoming and at age 16 I travelled to the Philippines for 2 weeks. After that I travelled through Europe and the Middle East. I figured getting paid at the same time as a flight attendant would be an added bonus! I have been a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines for exactly one year.
What has been your favorite travel memory?
My best travel memory from a layover is my first time to Hawaii. I flew from San Jose to Maui. En route I discovered that I had friends from Seattle visiting Maui at the same time. They had a rental car so we went snorkeling and exploring and ate so much good food! It was a great 24 hour introduction to the islands!
Where are you looking forward to traveling once it’s safe to do so?
I have a list of cities in the US that I am anxious to visit for the first time including Philadelphia and Raleigh. But I’m also anxious to use my flight benefits to visit some new international destinations for vacation. Top of the list is Greece, Italy and Fiji. I have been to both Greece and northern Italy before but I would love to go back to Greece with friends to explore it with them (I went by myself last time). Rome is definitely on my bucket list as there is so much to see and experience there. There used to be a poster about Fiji hanging in the airport where I worked briefly as a CSA and it made me start daydreaming about traveling there.
Any advice you have for future flight attendants?
My greatest advice for a future flight attendant is to remain flexible. It takes time to build seniority so you may not get the exact schedule you want or even be based in the city you want — but that’s okay, just be patient. It’s a difficult road of training to become a flight attendant but the flexibility of the job, the amazing coworkers and the travel all make it worth it!
