Ernest Osei-Look is a young Modern African Model Runway Coach, Catwalk Trainer, and Moderator with international experience in hospitality, particularly in the travel industry. He was born and raised in West Africa Ghana but currently residing in Frankfurt, Germany with his fiancé.
Ernest is currently a train attendant at the DB E.C.O. Group. Prior to that, he was a crew member at Moxy Hotel and a cabin crew member at Ryanair.
ernest osei-look’s interview
Tell us so tell us about yourself.
I am an easy-going, energetic person and I just live life the way I see fit not to cause harm to anybody. I am also passionate about the customer service industry and currently working as a train attendant at Deutsche Bahn.
Why did you change from working as a flight attendant to a train attendant?
So, there are so many factors. The first factor was due to the low income earned. Although I was passionate about serving people and working as a flight attendant, the salary was not enough. Also, living in a city like Berlin, and going through a separation from my ex-husband made life expensive. When you are married in Europe, you pay for part of everything like rent, food, and so on. But when you go into a separation, you pay for everything all by yourself which I wasn’t prepared for. If your salary is not good and you enjoy what you are doing, you feel fulfilled and you can smile. I enjoyed my colleagues were amazing, but with the company that I worked for, the environment was very toxic. So, I looked at my life and my age and I decided to quit because there wasn’t any growth both financially and career-wise. I got to a point where I saw my uniform hanging and I couldn’t wear it anymore and so I resigned, and I left the flight industry.
After quitting my job, I went job hunting and I got a job in a hotel. I was working at the hotel’s front desk, and it was one of the hotels for the Meriton Group, and I realized that I wasn’t happy also working in the hotel industry. So, I came across an opening in the German train system. And they were looking for people that experience as flight attendants, restaurants, and hotels. I decided to apply for the job although I was scared and skeptical about it because it’s Deutsche Bahn, a German government train system. I applied when I was in Berlin for the job, but they didn’t pick me. They told me there is no vacancy. I moved from Berlin to Frankfurt, and later did-I-know that there is going to be an opening in the Frankfurt branch. I applied for the role, and I got in. That was how I ended up working as a train attendant.
So how would you describe travel by land and travel by air in Europe right now? What’s happening in the travel industry right now, especially in Europe?
I would say travel by land is much easier than air. We are experiencing a lot of problems with the airlines at the moment. The air tickets are very expensive because of the Ukraine war and the summer season. Also, there is a shortage of workers because people were laid off during Covid. Being a flight attendant requires training. There’s so much security and safety and first aid stuff that you need to learn. And when you are in there and you’ve been laid off, you do not want to go back there anymore. So, a lot of people, when they were laid off, they look for different jobs. Life must move on. I guess most have found jobs in different areas and did not want to go back to the airline industry hence the demand for service in the air business is high at the moment. Also, the 18 and 19 years old who were interested in flying has changed to become TikTok stars.
What advice do you have for anyone that is looking to travel around Europe?
I would advise them to use the train because it is less expensive and convenient. Sometimes the trains are not on time, but it is still advantageous because you might fly for one hour, but you are not going to use one hour in between the check-in and immigration. It might even be longer. So, when you compare that to taking the train for 3 to 4 hours, you will still get to your destination by paying less money and avoiding all the immigration hustles. It is currently not fun flying at all. I would only advise that you use the plane if you are traveling across the continent.
Wow, thank you so much for your time, Ernest. It was wonderful having you.
Socials:
