A candidate on FB recently shared her entire Emirates cabin crew recruitment journey, from the open day all the way to the Golden Call. Her experience was from Feb 2026, so I thought I would share it with you guys as well. It could be really useful for anyone who wants to get a better idea of what the current Emirates recruitment events and process are like :-)
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I attended my first Emirates cabin crew open day and I wanted to share my full experience because reading other candidates stories honestly helped me so much during my 2.5 month wait.
Maybe my experience can help someone else understand the process a little better, especially if you are currently waiting and wondering what is happening behind the scenes.
The first part of this post is about the open day itself and the second part is my application timeline from the day of the open day until the golden call. I waited until I had a final answer before posting because I wanted to share the experience from beginning to end.
A little about me
I am a 23 year old woman. I have an MBA and several years of customer service experience, including luxury retail, office work, hospitality and working with children.
I attended an Emirates open day in Europe in Feb 2026.
I prepared for around 3 weeks before the open day. Most of my preparation was mental: working on my confidence, attitude, communication skills and English.
There were around 80ish candidates that day and everyone respected the dress code.
We had two amazing recruiters. We were first welcomed into a dedicated area of the hotel where snacks and drinks were available before we entered the main room, where rows of chairs were already prepared.
The day started with the usual presentation about Dubai, Emirates and what to expect as future cabin crew.
Then came the first activity.
Introduction + celebrity question
We were divided into groups of 5, basically according to where we were sitting.
We had to stand up and quickly introduce ourselves by saying our:
Name
Age
Years of customer service experience
Industry we had worked in
Then the recruiters asked:
If you were sitting next to your favorite celebrity on a flight and wanted to ask for a picture, who would it be and why?
After each activity, we had to leave the room while the recruiters discussed the candidates.
After the first round, around half of the candidates were eliminated.
Personally, I felt that grooming played a huge role. It wasn't necessarily about looking perfect, but about showing attention to detail. Too much makeup, too little grooming or small details that were overlooked could make a difference.
I also noticed that some candidates who talked too much or tried very hard to explain their entire CV were eliminated.
My impression was that Emirates wanted to see your personality and your vibe, rather than hear a long speech about everything you had ever done.
After that, we were measured to confirm that we were above 160 cm.
They were VERY strict about this.
A girl I met there told me it was her second attempt. During her 1st open day, she had made it all the way to the group discussion stage. However, during her 2nd attempt, she was eliminated immediately after the height measurement because they were not satisfied with her height being exactly 160 cm that day :-(
So yes, if you are close to the minimum requirement, make sure you know exactly what Emirates requires.
The second exercise was the group discussion.
Again, the groups were random and depended on where we were seated. There were 8 people in our group.
Our scenario was:
As cabin crew, if there was only one Polaroid left onboard, which passenger would you give it to?
We were given different passenger profiles, such as a businessman, a mother, frequent flyers, a couple and others.
We had around 15 minutes to discuss the situation while the recruiters carefully observed us.
After the discussion, we had to stand in front of everyone and individually explain which passenger we had chosen and, most importantly, why.
Then came another break.
And another elimination round.
I stayed.
At this point, there were only 12 candidates left.
That was the moment I started thinking:
Maybe I actually have a chance😐
What surprised me was how many people with excellent English, amazing communication skills and even previous cabin crew experience had already been eliminated.
I stopped asking myself:
Why me?
Instead, I told myself:
Whatever happens, happens..I cant control this.
Then came the English test.
Honestly? I had zero confidence going into this part.
There were around 31 questions covering grammar, spelling, conjugation and reading comprehension. It wasn't impossible, but because I was doubting myself so much, I finished the test without feeling confident about many of my answers.
Then the recruiter told me:
I had passed.
I genuinely had stars in my eyes ✨
That was one of my proudest moments of the entire process because I realized that the preparation I had done with my English had actually paid off. At that point, only eight candidates remained.
Next, we had professional pictures taken with a photographer. The recruiter even helped us with our makeup and outfits to make sure everyone's grooming looked perfect. She was honestly so kind and caring throughout the process.
Then came the part I had been nervous about the most: The Final Interview.
Some candidates had their interviews with the recruiters physically present, while others, including me, had an online interview with someone from Dubai. Mine lasted around 17 minutes.
I was SO nervous.
Not necessarily because the questions were difficult, but because I was terrified of ruining everything after making it so far.
I had a lovely woman interviewing me. We first went through my CV and work experience.
She asked about my weight, whether I would be comfortable serving alcohol and I said yes and whether I had ever done modelling because I had mentioned participating in a beauty pageant.
Then she asked me four main questions:
1. Tell me about a time when you delivered excellent customer service.
2. Tell me about a conflict with a customer or colleague.
3. What is the thing you are most proud of in your life?
4. She asked me to list all of my previous job titles in chronological order, including the company names and contract durations.
For the last question, I honestly felt that she might have been checking whether the information on my CV was genuine.
Thankfully, everything was accurate.
Before ending the interview, I asked when I could expect an answer.
She told me within 6 weeks and explained that if I didn't hear anything after that, it would probably mean rejection.
To be honest, I wasn't completely satisfied with my final interview performance.
I was incredibly proud of reaching that stage, but I didn't want to give myself false hope. I had stuttered on some answers and felt extremely nervous.
Before the interview ended, she also emailed me asking me to upload some additional documents, including my passport.
And then began the waiting game...
23 February: Under Review + uploaded documents
24 February: Interview Completed
Honestly, I was devastated when I saw this status because I had read so many things online about it :-(
I thought it was basically over.
But it wasn't.
10 April: Under Review
This was my first miracle :-)
Look how long I stayed on Interview Completed
12 April: Current date updated
28 April: Interview Completed again
30 April: Rejection email at 8:00 AM + 3 missed calls from Dubai at 11:00 AM + status changed back to Under Review
WTF?????????????????????????????????????????
I genuinely had no idea what was happening.
1 May: 2 missed calls from Dubai + current date updated + Under Review
4 May: Received a call requesting photos
I was asked to send 4 full body pictures:
2 wearing a blazer
2 without a blazer
5 May: Uploaded the requested photos
6 May: Current date updated + Under Review
11 May: Under Process 🙏
12 May: GOLDEN CALL ✨🥹
30 Oct : DOJ
After 2.5 months of waiting, it finally happened.
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