Charles Rawlins wanted to work for an airline as a member of the cabin crew since the days he flew back and forth between Bermuda and Canada while he was at boarding school.

Today, the young Bermudian is attached to one of the British Airways fleets, and travels all over the world looking after passengers and ensuring their safety.

With three years of experience to his name, Mr Rawlins is now one of the more senior members of most cabin crews he flies with.

He is ‘premium trained’, which means he is able to work in the first-class section of the plane. “First-class passengers who fly regularly know the standards,” Mr Rawlins said. Consistency and attention to detail are the hallmarks of the first-class experience, he explained. The British Airways crest should always face the customer, for example.

However, Mr Rawlins said, all passengers should be treated like first class passengers.

One of the few Bermudians in the profession, he was visiting the Island this weekend for the Cup Match holiday.

He said: “I’ve always been interesting in travelling and flying. When I was at school, or would go away on an aeroplane with the family on holiday I would think: ‘This is what I want to do’.”

Before joining British Airways, Mr Rawlins was a member of the crew of the Zenith cruise ship during its last Bermuda run as the guest relations officer. “Then I came back here, and have been with British Airways ever since.”

That was August 18, 2007, at first as a member of the Bermuda ground crew team that checks in passengers and sees them onto the plane. Encouraged by Marianne Wilcox, the British Airways Bermuda airport manager, four years later in October 2011 he was recruited by British Airways, and started the airline’s six-week training course for the job of cabin crew member.

“It was intense and hard — challenging,” he said. “There was a point system. You got points for doing the slightest thing wrong.

“I only got one point,” he said, not without pride.

He was assigned to the British Airways ‘mixed fleet’, which includes both long and short haul flights from Heathrow, and additional flights from Gatwick, and began his flying career. “My first flight was to Pisa in Italy, and back. My first long-haul was to Rio de Janeiro — and [recently] I was there for the World Cup, for the last two games!” he said. It remains his favourite destination.

“Last year, I was at the Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore.”

While the job provides wonderful opportunities, and the chance to visit countries all over the globe, the down time in these destinations is not holiday time.

“Crew are strictly managed and monitored,” he explained. “We are on a very strict regime. In eight to 12 hours you will be working — you are not on vacation.

“You have to be prepared for the next flight — you can’t go crazy. If you do, there are serious consequences. And the crew knows that.”

Additionally, it is important to be respectful of the country they are in, and of the culture.

“In some countries we have to stay with the crew when we are walking from the hotel to the bus — if a crew member get mugged and robbed because they didn’t, it’s their fault. But it’s great to see how different people live — it makes me appreciate where I come from.

“Nigeria, for example — I go there quite a bit and that has been a big eye-opener.” He said fresh water is lacking and the electricity goes off with regularity.

From the perspective of looking after passengers, some flights are more challenging than others — but the Bermuda-Gatwick flight is an easy one, as passengers have a reputation for politeness.

Today, Mr Rawlins lives in London, about half an hour away from Heathrow airport, where he is based.

“Every day at work is like the first day at a new job,” he said, adding for him, this is the best part. “We very rarely fly with the same crew,” he explained. “There are 2,500 crew altogether in the fleet.”

Additionally, the scenery as seen from the air is stunning. “Flying north over Greenland is beautiful,” he said. “You don’t realise what’s there.” Mr Rawlins tries to visit the flight deck to see some of those views. “It is one of the perks,” he said. “The sunset, as you approach a coast, for example, is so beautiful.”

The cabin crew’s job begins before they get on the aircraft. The entire crew — the cabin crew together with the flight crew — will look at the flight plan, and at anything that is special about the flight. “We may talk about safety related issues, as that will keep us fresh — like smoking on board, for example.” Surprisingly, he said, there have been incidences of it.

“Then we go onto the aircraft where we do a security check, making sure all the equipment is in the right place.

“Safety is number one. If everything isn’t in order, we don’t board,” he said.

Once under way, the main challenge is sick passengers, a frequent occurrence. “And calming passengers is another one of our roles.”

“Nurse, server, house keeper — we’re pretty much everything for the next ten to 12 hours,” he said.

Additionally, security issues are important and in this post-9/11 world, the cabin crew keep their eyes open for any suspicious behaviour.

More usually, he has had to deal with passengers who have had too much to drink, or have become rowdy — or smoking in the lavatory.

Mr Rawlins recounted that passengers were especially celebratory on their way to Rio de Janeiro for the World Cup. Though surprisingly, flights to Las Vegas are quiet.

“Passengers are aware of our policies about drinking — zero tolerance for being drunk on an aircraft. Everyone is calm and enjoys the peace of the ride. They often sleep for the whole flight.”

Despite some very long flights, Mr Rawlins said that uniform standards are high, and cabin crew are expected to look at the end of the flight as they did at the beginning.

British Airways Bermuda airport manager Marianne Wilcox explained, for example, the cabin manager will decide whether jackets are off or on, depending on the climate. “Everyone’s blazers are on, or off,” she said “And they must be carried over the arm.

“It is a one-team approach, which is really good.”

Mr Rawlins mainly flies aboard the large 777s, 747s, and the Airbus 3019s, 1320s, and 1321s.

When he returns to the United Kingdom, his first post-holiday flight is across the North Sea — to Oslo, Norway.