Fair warning

Okay, so if you're checking out this review you are more than likely conducting a background check on The Airline Academy because you are considering a career in the airline industry.  And if you are like me, what little bit of information you have found consists of very little amount of substance regarding the school which is sometimes rebutted with suspicious over-the-top praises for the school.  Since I foolishly didn't take heed to any red flags that can be found on the net regarding The Airline Academy, I figured a detailed account of my own personal experience would be helpful for those who are sitting on the fence.

In the fall of 2011 I attended The Airline Academy's "resident training" after completing my distant learning lessons.  And in the case you are entirely unfamiliar with The Airline Academy, it's a for-profit school that trains others for a career in the airline industry.  During my attendance at The Airline Academy there were several business and academic practices that would be best described as unethical.

From the top, students are required to complete online lessons in preparation for their resident training.  Once distant learning lessons are completed students will have to make arrangements to attend the schools resident training.  The resident training consists of hands-on training in industry standardized computer operating systems e.g. SABRE.  The training is located at The Daytona Beach International Airport. 

Prior to attending The Airline Academy's resident training in Florida students receive information packets that instruct them on the codes of conduct, and an overview of the resident training which entails the preparations students can expect from the academic curriculum to the housing during their stay.  Students are informed of the responsibilities that are required from them for a successful completion of the program within the aforementioned information packet.  Moreover, students are initially informed that the school can provide housing at the Sun & Surf Motel at the students' discretion prior to their arrival.  However, the name of the establishment itself implies that students will be staying at a motel which would include services as such.  This is very misleading because once students arrive they are manipulated to maintain the housecleaning despite the fact that students are told that the housing is a motel.




Continuing on, once students arrive at Daytona Beach they will meet the "house parents" Don and Terri.  Don and Terri are a married couple that live on the premises and oversee the safety, security, and comfort of the students. During my stay, I witnessed Don and Terri displaying a style of management that was primarily authoritative with little or no regard to accountability or safety of which I'll recount an example I personally observed.

Within the first few days of my stay a fellow classmate was sick and was in need of medical attention. The ailing student requested a ride to the hospital from Don and Terri to receive urgent care . Don rejected the student's request and recommended that she could take the city bus to get to the hospital. Neither Don nor Terri offered to accompany this student to the hospital which in my opinion is utterly unacceptable.  This example is just a scratch off the surface as I can recall several other instances in which both Don and Terri were out right offensive and injurious to others.

Anyhow, once a student arrives at the student housing, a security deposit of $50 is collected at check in.  Students are informed of this procedure prior to their arrival.  What the school doesn't tell you is how filthy the rooms are, once you check in.  My room it was so filthy it was appalling.  I found several dead roaches and ants on the floor and on the sills of the windows. Furthermore, the carpeting and tile in all of the rooms that I had witnessed were so deplorable that I didn't even want to walk on the floor barefoot. The carpeting was severely stained and dirty and the tile in the bathrooms had mold.  As if that wasn't enough, during my entire stay everyone in my group was incessantly intimidated and everyone's deposit as well as their diplomas was employed to manipulate us even after graduating.

In the information packets students are only instructed to keep their rooms clean during their stay at the motel and that the rooms will be subject to inspection.  However, a series of additional responsibilities are surprisingly bestowed upon the students at the housing which were never specified or explained in any depth or detail prior to their arrival.  To add insult to injury once students do arrive at the housing they are subjected to unanticipated military style inspections on a regular basis.  Student are unfairly graded on the quality of their living area, courtesy, dress and appearance.  Such measures are used as a means to exploit students.  A little FYI, students that don't stay at the housing are exempt from most of these rigorous conditions.  However, due to mere logistics, if a student finds the housing conditions unacceptable upon their arrival they would find themselves in an unforgiving position.  Before students are given sufficient time to learn about all of the undisclosed policies, procedures and conditions of the housing, they are obligated to sign all necessary paper work in order to check into the housing therefore, binding students to a contract.  Because these practices are carried out unannounced prior to the arrival of the students, such conditions casts a different light on the student housing in contrast to the expectations that are mentioned in the information packets.

During my stay I had a room that leaked that was caused by a rain storm.  The water profusely leaked from the top of a window sill directly onto an electrical outlet which was located on the floor soaking the carpet. Obviously this was a severe safety hazard.  Anyhow, when I requested to change rooms and mentioned the safety hazard to Don and Terri they both immediately turned the situation around to make it sound like it was my fault and insisted that I move out on my own accord.  Don gratuitously reminded me that moving out meant forfeiting the entire amount I spent on the housing with no hope of recovering a prorated amount.  Needless to say moving out was out of the question under such consequences.  In order to proceed forward my roommate and I were required to tidy up the room to a cleaner state than it was from when we first moved in.  Before relocating into our new room I photographed the cleanliness and condition of the alternate room for documentation. Once again there were dead insects found on the floor, in the closet area and on all of the window sills. The dining table was completely covered with dust. Food smudges were found on the refrigerator door. The reason why I mention these conditions is because such infractions were amongst the list of violations for which one would risk losing a portion of his/her cleaning deposit required at check in. 

Since my roommate and I occupied two rooms during our tenure we also had to clean two rooms to the specifications of cleaning list. Our prior experience made us privy to the cleaning list that nobody else in our group had exposure to but everyone was supposedly under contract to abide by.  Personally, I found it to be very duplicitous that the cleaning list isn't issued out until the very last day for a final cleaning.  According to the details of the cleaning list, every student's deposit is at jeopardy.  As a matter of fact if one's room doesn't pass inspection after two attempts they lose their deposit entirely.  Fortunately, no one from my group didn't lose their deposit, which was possibly due to the fair warning my roommate and I had given to everyone else.

Nevertheless, several other safety infractions were later discovered once my roommate and I settled into our new room. Structurally the front door was a fire hazard in and of itself. The doorknob barely had any space from the door frame which resulted in scraping your knuckles with every use from the inside. The first night I slept in this room I was plagued with inhaling the smell of pesticide from my pillow cases all night. The following morning I suffered from an upset stomach and headache. Moreover, I couldn't find myself to eat anything without making my matter worse. Two days later my roommate and I discovered that the new room also leaked from the wall just beneath the window sill despite the fact the weather was clear this time. My roommate and I decided to tolerate the situation since we had to go through such an ordeal to move from one room to another in order to avoiding any further confrontations with the house parents. However, the safety infractions didn't end there. Many of us couldn't help but notice how after each and every time it rained, water would collect on the walkways. Water puddles up on the walkways making them very slippery to walk on even when walking with rubber-soled shoes on.  In general, the overall housing establishment is very old and structurally dilapidated in a very severe way.




 In reference to The Airline Academy's academic curriculum in the classrooms, a large portion of the material that the school uses to teach it's students is severely flawed.  There is an over abundance of grammatical errors that can be found on worksheets, quizzes/examinations and overhead presentations.  Furthermore, the quality of legibility regarding some of the aforementioned material is so bad instructors constantly find themselves making compromises and or corrections.

As for interviews.  The school reserves one day of every term for interviews with a handful of invited airline recruiters.  Everyone from my group had the understanding that each and everyone of us would have an opportunity for an interview as long as an individual was not on probation for any reason.  Most of the staff from the school vigorously prepped and prodded all of us on interviewing skills, conduct, dress and appearance.  Many airline companies have an age restriction up to 21 and a little more than half of my cohorts were under that age.  On the day of our interviews, all of the airline recruiters that were present had an age restriction due to their company's policies so most of the students from my group didn't get a chance for an interview.  The school dubiously mislead everyone from my group with the premise that everyone would have an opportunity for an interview.   However, to give credit where credit is due, The Airline Academy does make good on it's commitment by providing job placement assistance for it's graduates.  Unfortunately, some of the school's methods are very questionable.

Once students have completed their academic curriculum and interviews they leave Daytona Beach and relocate to Orlando for a three day training course at Jet Blue in Orlando.  Students quickly learn how archaic and out of sync The Airline Academy's training actual is in relation to genuine airline companies.  Trainers from JetBlue are also very familiar with The Airline Academy's shortcomings whenever any student voiced their grievances about the school.  One trainer even remarked how "The Airline Academy is still in the TWA days".  Nevertheless, diplomas continue to be withheld and are used to manipulate students through the sustained use of the school's rigorous policies even after "graduating" until the JetBlue training is completed.

Lastly, one thing The Airline Academy fails to mention before you commit yourself to their program, is the fact that 70% of your pilots and airline attendants live very transient lifestyles.  Meaning, if you don't already live in Atlanta, Chicago, Washington D.C., Dallas/Ft. Worth, Las Vegas, or New York City be prepared to move and live a very nomadic life.  If you don't believe me just ask someone "what are things like for new hires?" the next time you travel. Furthermore, the recruiters for The Airline Academy are not very helpful because they are your stereotypical salesmen and will tell you anything you want to hear just to get you to sign on the dotted line.

In conclusion, while The Airline Academy definitely has an issue with full disclosure by not providing open transparency to it's students, they have an additional problem with their program's chronology.  The sequential permutation or moving the goal post as it may by withholding diplomas after graduation is immoral just as concealing vital information from students is as well.  Since my attendance at the school I have voiced my grievances to them.  The overall response I got from them was denial, lies, and a general dismissal of my claims.  Nevertheless, the school has informed me that they will make major improvements during the weeks they do not have students on the property (December 2011); but only time will tell.  Anyhow, as the saying goes "let the buyer beware".