Flight attendant interview intel — hiring windows, bases, pay and reserve reality, training, culture, and the interview process. Know the airline inside and out before you walk in.
Republic Airways is the Indianapolis-headquartered regional giant that became publicly traded Republic Airways Holdings (NASDAQ: RJET) after its merger with Mesa Air Group closed November 25, 2025. It flies an all-Embraer E170/E175 fleet of 314 aircraft and is the only large US regional flying for all three majors — American Eagle, Delta Connection, and United Express. Roughly 3,000 flight attendants (combined with Mesa) support 1,300+ daily departures.
For applicants, Republic is a rolling door: a standing Flight Attendant posting is live on careers.rjet.com (as of August 2026) plus a recurring open-house circuit, and aggregate time-to-hire runs about 23 days. No flash windows, no once-a-year lottery.
Honest framing: this is a realistic first flight attendant job. Starting pay is "above $27/hour" per the careers page — first-year gross lands in the low $30,000s territory rather than Delta's roughly $45,000–60,000. But Republic's new joint contract materially changed that math: as of July 2026, Republic FAs have contractual boarding pay at the mainline-style 50% formula — one of the first regionals to get it — worth up to about 16% more compensation on average. Add a contractual guarantee of 11 days off per month, a fully paid 19-day training program, and nonrev travel across three majors' networks, and the value proposition is stronger than the bare hourly rate suggests.
Two things candidates get wrong constantly. First: there is no FA flow program to American, Delta, or United. Flying for all three majors is relevant for nonrev breadth and base-dependent service standards — not for any pathway claim. (Flow-through programs in the AA regional family are pilot programs; they do not exist for flight attendants anywhere.) Second: LIFT Academy is a pilot pipeline — zero FA relevance.
Baseline requirements per posting-derived consensus (August 2026 — verify the live posting): at least 20 years old by the date of the first interview (a year younger than SkyWest or mainline — genuinely useful for young candidates), high school diploma or GED plus at least two years of customer service experience, US work authorization, ability to travel unrestricted within the network (US, Canada, Caribbean, Mexico), and English fluency. Passport-specific verbatim wasn't captured in our source pass — check the posting.
Sources listed at the end of each profile. Data compiled from airline careers pages, union publications, industry press, and candidate-reported interview intel — wave-dependent facts carry as-of dates.
5 of the 79 Republic-specific questions in the Cleared for Cabin bank, with the key point recruiters listen for. Full coached answers live in the app.
1. You're doing your predeparture cabin check on an E175 and notice a passenger in row 7 gripping the armrests, breathing fast, avoiding eye contact. What do you do?
Key point: Kneel to eye level, introduce yourself, normalize the fear, brief them on what they'll hear, and tell the other FA so someone keeps an eye on them after takeoff.
2. Tell me about a time you had to work closely with someone whose personality or style was very different from yours.
Key point: STAR-tight story with a specific coworker and a specific adjustment; close by tying it to the two-FA E175 reality where you and one other person are the whole cabin crew.
3. What is the sterile flight deck rule and how does it change what you can do as a flight attendant?
Key point: Sterile below 10,000 feet limits nonessential cockpit contact, but any real safety or security issue still gets an immediate call — pilots want the interruption if it matters.
4. What aircraft will you be working on at Republic?
Key point: All-Embraer E170/E175 fleet (~314 aircraft), dual-class with First on every plane, single-fleet qualification simplifies training.
5. Walk me through Republic's flight attendant hiring process from application to your first day of training.
Key point: Application → ODVi → phone interview (final gate) → conditional offer with background/drug → 19-day paid Indianapolis training, though CJO holders are currently training-waitlisted; ~23-day average timeline.
HireVue-format drills on the real 30-second-prep, 2-minute-answer clock, with AI coaching.