Emirates runs two kinds of cabin crew recruitment event, and which one is open to you depends on where you live rather than on how good your application is.

Open days are walk-in. Emirates invites candidates to "walk into any of our Open Days", and asks only that you review the role requirements in advance and arrive on time. Invitation-only events require an online application first, and you attend only if Emirates invites you.

The split is geographic. The open days run most densely across Europe, with the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Poland and Italy carrying several each, and they extend to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, the United States and Macao. The invitation-only events are mostly outside Europe: South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Dubai itself, along with Turkey, Belarus and Ukraine. A small number of countries carry both, in different cities.

Emirates publishes the whole calendar on its cabin crew careers page, and it changes constantly, so the only reliable answer for your city is the one on that page today. If your city is not on it, Emirates says to apply online and it will tell you when it is visiting nearby. It also says that if you cannot attend in your own country, you are welcome to attend any open day on the list, anywhere in the world.

What Emirates asks for

Eight things, published on the cabin crew careers page:

  • At least 21 years old
  • At least 160cm tall and able to reach 212cm
  • At least one year of hospitality or customer service experience
  • A minimum of high school, Grade 12, education
  • Fluent written and spoken English, with other languages an advantage
  • A natural team player "with a personality that shines"
  • No visible tattoos while in Emirates cabin crew uniform
  • Able to meet the UAE's employment visa requirements

Three of those read differently on the job posting, and all three are worth reading twice.

On reach, the careers page says only that you must be able to reach 212cm. The posting says you must "reach 212 cm while standing on tiptoes, to enable you to reach emergency equipment on all aircraft types". For anyone near the limit that is the difference between applying and not bothering, and it appears only on the posting.

On tattoos, the posting closes a door the careers page leaves open: "No visible tattoos while you're in Emirates cabin crew uniform (without covering them with bandages or cosmetics)." Covering one up is not an option.

On experience, the posting asks for "more than a year's experience in hospitality/customer service", where the careers page says at least one year. Someone with exactly twelve months meets one wording and not the other.

The age requirement runs the other way: 21 appears on the careers page, and the posting gives no age at all.

Applying

For open days, Emirates does not say whether you should apply online first. It invites you to walk in, and the open-day list carries an Apply button just as the invitation-only list does.

Invitation-only events do need the online application, with one exception that matters if you live in the wrong place. Several are run, in Emirates' words, "in collaboration with our appointed agency", and for those the page tells candidates to reach out to the agency rather than apply online. Emirates names the agency in each case, so if your city is one of them, read the entry rather than assuming the online form is the route. Emirates does not say whether these agencies charge candidates. A genuine airline recruitment event is free to attend, and The Skylane's open-days calendar lists an agency-run event only when the agency's own page says candidates are not charged.

For the online application itself, Emirates asks you to have two documents ready before you click Apply: a recent CV in English and a recent photo.

What you take to the day is a different list. Emirates' recruitment day guidance asks for a valid ID for entry, plus digital copies on your phone of an up-to-date CV in English, an education certificate copy and a passport copy in PDF.

That sits awkwardly beside the recruitment FAQ, which says that if you do not have a passport yet you can bring a photo ID such as a driving licence or national ID, and that the passport is requested only if you are selected. Both statements are on the same careers page. The safe reading is the demanding one: if you have a passport, take the copy.

Emirates says that "at the moment, we're not offering online assessment days". The words "at the moment" leave that open, and the line does not mean there is no online testing: the recruitment day guidance says you will "take an online test at the venue".

Emirates also publishes dress code guidance for recruitment events, with separate advice for women and men. Read it before you go.

What happens after an offer

This is the part Emirates publishes in most detail, and two facts in it are the ones most likely to change somebody's mind.

Probation runs for six months, and leave comes after it. Emirates states that all employees are on probation for the first six months of service and are "therefore, eligible for leave after the probation period". It adds that you could be rostered to your home country, "based on operational requirements".

Crew accommodation is not optional. You have to live in it unless you are married and your spouse lives in the UAE, or you have immediate family already living there, or you buy property. Flatmates are assigned rather than chosen, always of the same gender. The apartment is furnished and free, utilities included, with your own bedroom and a shared kitchen and living area, and in some three-bedroom apartments two people may share a second bathroom. Visitors are not allowed past 01:00 unless they are Emirates crew, and two family members may stay twice a year for up to 30 days each visit. Once probation is complete you may request a move to another apartment, which Emirates qualifies as "pending availability".

Emirates sets out the rest of the sequence step by step.

Before joining, you complete a self-declaration medical form. A visit to the dentist is required for the dental form, and a visit to your doctor if more information is needed. Emirates states that "any costs incurred as part of your medical requirements will be borne by you". Further medicals follow once you join, for the residence visa and for the UAE's aviation regulator, the GCAA. Emirates handles the work permit and visa processing on your behalf.

Training is seven and a half weeks in Dubai across seven stages, with published durations of three days of induction, 13 on safety and emergency procedures, five on group medical training, two on security, two on hospitality, one on the uniform and 14 on service. That is 40 scheduled training days inside the seven and a half week programme.

You are given your roster on the day you graduate. Your first flights are flown as supernumerary, which means you are observed and given feedback to identify any further training needed before your first operational flight. After that the roster is monthly, with approximately eight days off a month in Dubai. You will not be assigned to a specific region, and Emirates says you will fly different routes each month. Its network runs to over 120 destinations.

The money

The posting leads with the words "Tax free salary", which is the comparison anyone weighing this against a job at home needs to start from.

Pay has three parts: a fixed basic salary of AED 4,980 a month, flying pay of AED 69.60 an hour based on an average of 80 to 100 hours a month, and an overseas meal allowance credited the following month. Emirates gives an approximate average total of AED 11,244 a month for Grade II, which is Economy Class. The careers page converts that to USD 3,061, and the posting to about USD 3,100, EUR 2,600 or GBP 2,280.

The careers page sets out the benefits in detail: free furnished accommodation including water and electricity, transport to work and to the training college, 30 calendar days of leave a year with one free annual ticket to your country of origin, life and personal accident insurance on a 24-hour worldwide basis, medical and dental cover at designated Emirates clinics, and a non-contributory end of service lump sum assessed on the salary scale when your contract completes.

Three further benefits appear only on the job posting: profit share, deeply discounted flights for friends and family, and relocation support.

Where it goes from there

Five grades: Economy Class, Business Class, First Class, Cabin Supervisor and Purser. Emirates says promotions are "based on assessment of performance" and publishes no minimum time in each grade. Its career FAQ does say that high-performing crew "have been able to attain the position of Flight Purser within five years".

A note on sourcing

The requirements, the recruitment events, the recruitment day guidance, the training stages, the pay, the benefits, the career grades and the recruitment, onboarding and career FAQs come from the Emirates Group Careers cabin crew page. The reach method, the tattoo and experience wording, the application documents, the tax free salary line, the posting's currency conversions and the three posting-only benefits come from Emirates' Cabin Crew Opportunities job posting. Both were read on 25 September 2026.

Emirates changes its recruitment calendar continually. The countries named above were on it when this was researched, and the current list is always on the cabin crew careers page.

Emirates' Apply button opens an application flow that requires an account, so nothing here comes from inside it. Where Emirates does not publish something, this piece says so. Nothing here comes from candidate accounts, coaching sites or recruitment agencies.

Confirm event details on Emirates' careers site before you travel.