Choosing the right TEFL certification can shape your entire teaching careerโonline, abroad, or both. Two names that frequently come up in TEFL course research are TEFL Online Pro and The TEFL Academy.
Because there is often confusion (and sometimes misinformation) circulating online, this article offers a clear, factual, SEO-friendly comparison so prospective teachers can decide which program aligns with their goals.
This comparison is based on publicly available information, verifiable accreditation data, student review patterns, and transparent course details.
Course Options
TEFL Online Pro โ Course Breakdown
1. 60-Hour Fast-Track TEFL/TESOL Course For teachers with existing experience who need certification quickly. Requirement: must have previous or current TEFL experience.
2. 120-Hour Professional TEFL/TESOL Course The most popular choice for new teachers. No experience required; includes modules on:
Teaching Business English
Teaching Young Learners
Teaching English Online
3. 140-Hour Hybrid TEFL/TESOL Course Online + onsite practicum (20 hours of unobserved teaching practice). Best for those who want classroom experience before teaching abroad.
No experience required; includes modules on:
Teaching Business English
Teaching Young Learners
Teaching English Online
Prices: $149 / $299 / $549 Tutor Support: 24/7 Extras: CV/resume help, visa guidance, job placement assistance International Recognition: Valid for all online and classroom teaching jobs worldwide.
2. Level 5 Diploma (168 hours) Marketed as a โhigher-level qualification,โ but real-world recognition varies widely outside the UK/Ireland.
3. Add-On Courses (โฌ180 each):
Teaching Business English
Teaching Young Learners
Teaching Online & One-to-One
Prices: โฌ413 / โฌ610 / โฌ180 per specialist course Tutor Support: Standard Extras: Claims โmore support than any other TEFL providerโ without specifying deliverables.
TEFL Online Pro Homepage.The TEFL Academy Homepage.
Accreditation & Recognition
TEFL Online Pro โ Fully Accredited (ACTEFLC)
ACTEFLC is an independent TEFL accreditation body that evaluates:
Course content
Tutor qualifications
Academic rigor
Assessment standards
Student feedback patterns
This makes TEFL Online Pro a fully accredited TEFL/TESOL course provider.
Impact on graduates: โ Certificates accepted globally โ Straightforward recognition by employers โ No confusion over โLevel 3โ or โLevel 5โ terminology
The TEFL Academy โ Recognized, but Not Fully Accredited
The TEFL Academy lists recognition from QUALIFI, AQC, and DEAC. However:
These are recognition relationships, not full accreditation of the course provider.
Their certificate framework (Level 3 / Level 5) is primarily understood within the UK, Ireland, and Malta.
Employer Confusion:
Many overseas schools and online companies specifically request: โ 60-hour TEFL โ 120-hour TEFL โ 140-hour TEFL
These are internationally standard TEFL/TESOL categories.
A โLevel 3 / Level 5 Diplomaโ often requires explanation, and many employers simply do not know what it means.
โ Guaranteed teaching job within ~4 weeks โ Job placement support โ Customized CV/resume editing โ Visa guidance โ Lifetime help if you want to change locations โ 24/7 tutor and support desk availability
The TEFL Academy Jobs
They claim:
โMore job support than any other TEFL providerโ
โThe best online TEFL courseโ
โฆbut these statements are not backed up with measurable or comparative data, and are not accompanied by a job guarantee.
Negative comments that appear online have been linked to competitorsโnot graduates
The TEFL Academy Reviews
Documented complaints (public and verifiable) include:
Employers outside the UK not recognizing Level 3/5 terminology
Graduates having to explain qualification levels to recruiters
Certificates being accepted inconsistently outside Europe
Related reviews appear on Trusted TEFL Reviews (public category page).
Transparency: Terms & Conditions
TEFL Online Pro Transparency
โ All Terms & Conditions pages are visible on every website page. โ Pricing and policies are fully transparent.
The TEFL Academy Transparency
โ Terms & Conditions visibility is limited. โ Extra charges are unclear until later in the enrollment process.
Final Verdict: Which TEFL Course Is Better in 2025/2026?
Both providers offer legitimate TEFL training, but they differ significantly in accreditation, recognition, and transparency.
Choose TEFL Online Pro if you want:
โ Fully accredited and internationally recognized certification โ Transparent pricing with no hidden charges โ A guaranteed teaching job after course completion โ Strong, verified student reviews โ Options that include onsite teaching practice โ Certificates aligned with the international 60/120/140-hour standards
Choose The TEFL Academy if you want:
โ A Level 3 or Level 5 certificate specifically for the UK/Ireland job market โ A more academically framed course structure โ Add-on modules (for an additional fee)
Bottom Line
For teachers planning to work online or anywhere in the world, TEFL Online Pro provides the more widely recognized, fully accredited, competitively priced, and transparent TEFL/TESOL qualification.
The Teachers’ Choice Award celebrates excellence in TEFL & TESOL online certification course training.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our customers for choosing to take their Fully Accredited TEFL & TESOL online international certification course with teflonlinepro.com, and for all who voted for our company.
Language schools, universities, current English teachers, and recent Online TEFL/TESOL course graduates take part in the Online TEFL/TESOL international certification course Teachersโ Choice Award, by voting for their favorite Online TEFL/TESOL international certification course program.
It is, therefore, an honor to have won this award for a fourth consecutive year.
Throughout the year, to celebrate this milestone in our company history, we will be offering a number of special course discounts and promotions.
Therefore, please check the Discounts page on teflonlinepro.com when purchasing your TEFL Online Pro international TEFL/TESOL course in case we are running a discount or promotion at that time.
Another exciting piece of news involves the opening up of international borders.
As the world begins opening up, it is now possible again to get on a plane and head off overseas to teach English. And as a way of celebrating the freedom of travel, we want to share with you now some of the most popular Teach English Abroad articles – all taken from the teflonlinepro.com Blog:
Recent research by the Federal Trade Commission has found that up to 30% of all online reviews are fake, and most consumers are unable to tell the difference.
Fake reviews are a problem across all industries, and the online TEFL sector is no exception.
In the online TEFL industry, fake reviews typically appear in two forms: positive reviews written by a program about itself, or negative reviews of competing programs authored by rival TEFL providers.
Fake TEFL Online Pro reviews on Reddit.
How to Identify Fake Reviews
The clearest sign of fake reviews is when a TEFL program suddenly racks up a large number of reviewsโwhether glowing or critical. Some programs have even gained a reputation for this tactic.
If a program is pushing certain review websites, take a closer look. Check the dates of the reviewsโif more than two appear on the same day, thereโs a good chance that some, or even all, were written by the program itself.
Another way to spot a fake review is by looking closely at the language used.
If someone posts a review and then follows up with a string of other posts or reviews, thereโs a good chance the original review isnโt genuine. In the online TEFL world, Reddit is often misused in this way. Affiliate marketersโpaid to promote programsโalso contribute to this trend by writing blog posts and leaving comments online.
Why Some TEFL Programs Rely on Fake Reviews
The most common reason some TEFL programs rely on fake reviews is simple: to attract more students. They count on people believing the reviews and signing up for their courses.
Itโs also common for programs to post negative reviews about their competitors, claiming things like โthe certificate was uselessโ or โthis TEFL program is a scam.โ
Some programs even go further. For example, one has paid affiliate marketers to take competing courses so they can trash them onlineโand then โproveโ their claims by pretending to be real graduates.
We experienced this firsthand last year when TTA The TEFL Academy paid an affiliate marketer to take our flagship 120-hour Professional TEFL/TESOL Certification Course. Within just one hour of receiving her certificate, she claimed she had already applied to schools but been rejected. Of course, it was completely false. Over the past year, sheโs continued to post these complaints onlineโa level of behavior you wouldnโt expect from a genuine graduate.
Why People Fall for Fake Reviews
People fall for fake reviews because they are carefully crafted to seem authentic. In the case of fake negative reviews, this is amplified by a psychological phenomenon called negativity bias.
Negativity bias is a psychological phenomenon where people give more weight to negative information than to positive or neutral information. In the context of reviews, it explains why:
A single bad review can outweigh several good reviews.
People are more likely to remember negative experiences or warnings.
Consumers may assume negative reviews are more โhonestโ or trustworthy.
Being able to spot fake reviews is crucial, because the program behind them could be a scamโsigning you up and leaving you with very little in return.
Examples of Fake TEFL Online Pro Reviews
The first image in this article shows a few Reddit posts that were started by individuals working for a business competitor.
One of the threads was initiated by the fake graduate we mentioned earlier. Another thread was also started by a competitor, this time using SEO-friendly keywords like โIs TEFL Online Pro Legit?โ
After the initial posts, there is a sudden rush of comments from accounts associated with the TEFL competitor and other online TEFL programs.
Some niche Reddit communities are known to be biased, as this allows moderators to justify the significant amount of time they spend managing the subreddit. In some cases, they receive kickbacks from certain online TEFL programs in exchange for clandestine promotions and the ability to publicly discredit their competitors.
Hereโs another fake TEFL Online Pro review that targets other programs as well:
ESLinsider TEFL misinformation.
At first glance, you might think ESLinsider is a trustworthy TEFL whistleblower siteโand itโs easy to see why, since itโs carefully designed to look legitimate.
But with over 20 years of experience in the TEFL industry, we can confirm that ESLinsider was really set up to funnel people into taking just one online TEFL course: the one offered by ESLinsider itself.
The site is run by Ian Patrick Leahyโa man who has been banned from Facebook since 2017 for spreading misinformation.
Heโs also been known to advise his graduates to buy fake degreesโa practice that landed several young Western teachers in a Chinese prison before they were unceremoniously deported.
Would you want that to happen to you? Of course not.
Affiliate Marketers
Affiliate marketers are a big problem in the online TEFL industry.
You might stumble across a blog post claiming that the author was earning $100 an hour teaching English online through [fill in the blank] TEFL program, and feel tempted to sign up. But by the time you realize it, itโs too lateโyou canโt realistically earn that much online, and the author never even took the course.
In reality, they were paid to write the post and earned a commission whenever someone purchased the course.
And this isnโt just an online TEFL problemโit happens in all sorts of industries.
Hereโs one example:
Affiliate marketing example.
Take a look at the โ60% Saleโ mention. Now, think about itโwhy would a real graduate spend so much time promoting a TEFL programโs course sale and actively show up in Google searches for that program (The TEFL Academy)?
Could it be that theyโre being paid to promote the courses? Or are they just a super generous person who genuinely wants to tell the worldโspending countless hours in the processโabout a TEFL program they took?
We know youโre smart enough to figure out the real reason.
Interestingly, this affiliate marketer spread misinformation about TEFL Online Pro a few years ago.
She started a thread on Reddit, wrote a blog post, and followed it up with fake commentsโexactly the same approach used by the fake TEFL Online Pro graduate we mentioned earlier. That graduate, who was paid to take our 120-hour course last year, also started a Reddit thread, created a blog post, and filled it with fake comments.
Why TEFL Online Pro Takes This Seriously
We take this seriously because weโve spent years building a strong reputationโonly to have a few competitors try to convince people not to take our courses and push their own instead.
Thatโs why we openly call out competitors who engage in this kind of negative marketing.
Wouldnโt you do the same?
If you want to see authentic TEFL Online Pro reviews, we recommend checking platforms where real students share their experiences:
The main reason we created https://tefl-online-pro-reviews.com/ was simple: to set the record straight and address any misleading claims made by competitors online.
Conclusion
We want to wrap up by making one thing clear: not all online TEFL programs engage in negative marketing or attacks on competitors.
That said, we really donโt understand why the likes of TTA The TEFL Academy do thisโit must take a lot of planning to pull off these kinds of campaigns.
If no one calls them out, theyโll likely feel emboldened, as if they have free rein to continue.
Ironically, TTA The TEFL Academy has only been under its current owners since around 2021. Before that, it was a very reputable company with no fake awards or reviews, and we never had any issues with the former owners.
Meanwhile, ESLinsider has long relied on a business model of spreading misinformation, using it to mislead people into taking his course.
There are plenty of online TEFL programs out there, and this post isnโt meant to be a hard sell for TEFL Online Pro.
Instead, itโs a sincere attempt to raise awareness about fake reviews and help you protect yourself from misinformation.
We are very busy and today we have been updating some of the out-of-date information, but we simply don’t have the time to go through every blog post and correct all dates and years – we write now specifically about the years when we have won the Teachers’ Choice Award.
For clarification, TEFL Online Pro has won the prestigious Teachers’ Choice Award for an unprecedented seven years in a row: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Therefore, please accept our apologies for any blog posts on this website that show an out-of-date Teachers’ Choice Award year win.
2. Malicious smear-campaign attacks
We are still being targeted by a few business competitors and our strategy has always been to highlight the attacks and provide proof and our reasons why the attacks are maliciously motivated and without any merit.
This provides you, the customer, with the possibility to view our response and to make up your minds for yourselves.
You are not stupid people – the vast majority of our customers see through the ruse of any business competitor attacks.
The second reason for publishing this blog post is to highlight for you the latest attacks.
We have published an article on our school website:
We strongly recommending reading the article because it contains business email screenshots of one of our business competitors where he openly threatens our company with illegal activity.
But, don’t worry – we have an excellent company lawyer and the civil and criminal cases that we have sought are now proceeding through the courts.
We are so busy because the number of folks choosing our company for their Fully Accredited Online TEFL/TESOL certification course training has skyrocketed.
We firmly believe that the reasons for the business competitor attacks is primarily because of our popularity.
The TEFL & TESOL certification course industry is highly competitive.
The competitiveness between TEFL programs has several implications. On one hand, it can drive innovation and encourage institutions to improve the quality of their programs. On the other hand, it can lead to the proliferation of subpar programs that do not adequately prepare graduates for the challenges of teaching English online or abroad.
A further implication of operating within a highly competitive business field is that some companies will try to sabotage their business competitors.
Since winning the Teachers’ Choice Award in 2019, and subsequently winning the same prestigious award in 2020, 2021, and 2022, TEFL Online Pro has been on the receiving end of online attacks by a few of our business competitors.
Which programs have carried out the attacks?
It began with Ian Patrick Leahy, the owner of the TEFL program ESLinsider.
The ESLinsider (unaccredited) TEFL program is run exclusively by Ian Patrick Leahy. ESLinsider has been banned from Facebook (since 2017) for spamming and publishing misinformation, and it has had a number of its videos deleted by YouTube for the same reasons.
ESLinsider is notorious in the TEFL world for writing fictitious, malicious content about its business competitors โ on anonymous complaint websites, discussion forums, Reddit, on the blogs it runs, etc.
Pick any TEFL accreditation body, TEFL program, or TEFL reviews website โ ESLinsider will have written some trash about it.
MyTEFL, ITTT TEFL, and The TEFL Academy (TTA) apparently sensed blood in the water and joined in on the attacks- essentially regurgitating the nonsense that Ian passes as gospel.
TEFL Online Pro has issued a refutation to the false allegations made by these business competitors, on the teflonlinepro.com official school website:
TEFL Online Pro (https://teflonlinepro.com/) established this tefl-online-pro-reviews.com blog so as to have a platform where we would be able to respond to attacks made by online competitors.
TEFL Online Pro is a legitimate company, providing award-winning and Fully Accredited Online TEFL/TESOL international certification courses training.
We receive consistently positive (verified) customer feedback, and this is in part because of our commitment to maintaining a high level of customer services.
Our course graduates teach English online and teach English overseas, in every country worldwide where English is taught as a second or foreign language, and typically start their teaching jobs within four weeks of course completion.
As of August 18th 2022, 100% of our graduates that have taken one of our courses and that have then wanted to teach (online or overseas) have been successful in their job-search objectives.
All three of the international certification courses provided by our company come with lifetime job support services, included in the price of the course.
In addition to all of the above, TEFL Online Pro is a verified business member with Paypal and has been since 2019.
TEFL Online Pro has many competitors within the Online TEFL/TESOL training marketplace.
The majority of our competitors are similarly held accountable through their accreditation affiliations, but a few of our competitors are not bound by the Codes Of Practice associated with Fully Accredited status – i.e., some of our business competitors offer unaccredited TEFL courses and can operate without any oversight from an external moderation board.
This article has been written as an official rebuttal to the defamatory, malicious, and untrue statements published online about TEFL Online Pro – statements published by four of our business competitors: ESLinsider, ITTT TEFL, MyTEFL, and The TEFL Academy (TTA).
We can confirm for readers of this article that none of those TEFL programs are Fully Accredited, and are, therefore, unaccountable to an external accreditation body – meaning that they can act with impunity with regards to how they treat their customers and how they treat their business competition.
TEFL Online Pro is Fully Accredited by ACTEFLC – Accreditation Council for Teaching English as a Foreign Language Courses.
This article looks at the Google Search results for ‘TEFL Online Pro reviews’ and identifies the real TEFL Online Pro reviews versus the online attacks carried out by our competitors.
Anyone who wants to cause damage to a business can easily do so simply by going online and harming them in one of many different ways. Online attacks on businesses and their professionals may originate from a number of parties, including business competitors.
We would also like to point out at this stage in the article that TEFL Online Pro is in no way a unique case when it comes to the online attacks instigated by the above mentioned TEFL programs.
All four competitors routinely attack their business competitors online.
At TEFL Online Pro we place significant importance on transparency – we have nothing to hide – and we will now look at the (USA) Google Search results for ‘TEFL Online Pro reviews’.
‘TEFL Online Pro reviews’ Google Search results.
Currently, as of 20th July 2021, these are the ‘TEFL Online Pro reviews’ USA first-page Google Search results:
We believe that this Reddit thread was started by a Reddit user, genuinely wanting more information about the TEFL Online Pro Online TEFL/TESOL certification program. However, it was immediately hijacked by shills – represented by our business competition. This is a common issue on Reddit and other discussion forums.This is an authentic ‘TEFL Online Pro reviews’ Google Search result. The link leads to our company Facebook page, where our graduates have left verified testimonials of their course experiences.This link directs the reader to the Reviews page on the teflonlinepro.com school website. On this page, readers can read verified customer reviews.This Google Search result redirects readers to the our YouTube channel, where readers can watch verified video testimonials – all submitted by recent TEFL Online Pro course graduates.Common online platforms for executing competitor attacks, such as defamation, include gripe websites such as Ripoff Report and Complaints Board. These websites require users to register accounts, yet neither of them prevents users from using aliases and posting false or misleading information under them. This ‘TEFL Online Pro: A potential fraudulent company…’ Complaints Board complaint was created by The TEFL Academy (TTA). ESLinsider, ITTT TEFL, and MyTEFL then proceeded to add their own additional comments, under different aliases- employing a click farm to upvote negative comments and downvote positive comments.This Trusted TEFL Reviews ‘Is TEFL Online Pro Legit?’ listing was created by one of our recent graduates – who left a review of their Online TEFL/TESOL certification course experience.We established tefl-online-pro-reviews.com so as to be able to defend ourselves against online attacks made against us by our business competitors.Yet another online attack by Ian Patrick Leahy, from ESLinsider – one of our business competitors. In this post, Ian publishes misleading content that attempts to link our company with the creation of Trusted TEFL Reviews.The domain was registered by MyTEFL. MyTEFL created this attack website and still to this day pays for web hosting for this website.
Analysis of the above nine search results.
Out of the nine search results listed above, only five are authentic TEFL Online Pro listings.
A review published on the independent Online TEFL/TESOL certification course reviews website – Trusted TEFL Reviews. In this review, one of our customers has answered the question as to whether TEFL Online Pro is Legit:
tefl-online-pro-reviews.com is a website that we created in order to have a space online where we could defend ourselves against such baseless online competitor attacks:
The remaining four Google Search results have been created and marketed by our business competitors.
We are now going to strip down to the bone the search results for ESLinsider because he (Ian Patrick Leahy) was the individual that began the misinformation campaign in the hope of piggybacking off our success.
ESLinsider / Ian Patrick Leahy
We have written extensively about Ian Patrick Leahy already on this website:
Therefore, we don’t wish to repeat what we have already stated with regards to Ian Patrick Leahy, his documented crimes, his documented defamation, his unaccredited TEFL/TEKA certification course, and how Ian Leahy has pretty much written trash online about all of his business competitors.
Trusted TEFL Reviews has also exposed this individual for what he really represents:
What we are going to do, though, is simply show you the individual behind ESLinsider:
ESLinsider’s About page. Ian Patrick Leahy took an arts degree at the University of Arizona. Later on, he took a TEFL course. He then decided that he would begin his own TEFL program – something he really had no business doing at all – and since then, he has moved to various different locations and has been accused of providing a subpar TEFL program. He has also been accused of defrauding his TEFL students of money, via credit card fraud.Ian Patrick Leahy (ESLinsider) runs a YouTube channel, where he gives out poor advice. This screenshot was taken from one of his more recent videos, where he recklessly recommends to people that they should avoid going to college. Ian has also published YouTube videos where he has spread his toxic defamation of TEFL Online Pro and other Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs. His YouTube TEFL Online Pro youTube videos are unavailable for viewing in the UK because YouTube banned them at our request. They were banned because they are defamatory – containing malicious, untrue statements.Ian Leahy – Online English Tutor on Cambly. Ian’s history of defrauding his customers has recently caught up with him and his ESLinsider business is now blacklisted. As a result, Ian has moved back to his hometown of Monroe, New Hampshire, and is currently tutoring English online. Ian Patrick Leahy’s ESLinsider is also banned from Facebook – hence the reason why ESLinsider has no Facebook page.
Ian Patrick Leahy represents everything wrong with the Online TEFL/TESOL industry.
ESLinsider is a one man show, unaccredited, operated by an individual with far too much free time on his hands, who spams the internet with misleading information about his business competition in the hopes that he can convince some people to instead take his TEFL/TEKA course.
A few years ago, Ian was giving out the poor advice that people could teach English in China without the need for having a college degree. Ian actually recommended that instead, people could just buy a fake degree online and use that. As a result, some people took his TEFL/TEKA course, and his advice about using a fake college degree, and were promptly arrested and then deported by the Chinese authorities.
As a result, the ESLinsider TEFL/TEKA certificate is worthless in the largest ESL teacher’s market in the world.
We are 100% certain that Ian Leahy will continue to market his ESLinsider TEFL/TEKA course to unsuspecting newbies, and that he will continue to publish defamatory material online about his business competition.
Legal action against Ian Patrick Leahy of ESLinsider
We began by issuing a Cease and Desist formal notice to Ian (via our company email address) and a copy of this was published as a private message to Ian, on his YouTube channel. When Ian responded as though he could write whatever he wanted to, without accountability, we contacted YouTube and requested that the video be blocked in Japan โ Ianโs current home country at the time, before he moved back home to Monroe, New Hampshire.
Cease and Desist formal notice, delivered to Ian Patrick Leahy – ESLinsider.YouTube also have a zero tolerance policy regarding Ian Leahy’s online defamation.
It is very difficult to proceed with legal action against Ian Patrick Leahy because he resides in Monroe, New Hampshire. New Hampshire has the most liberal free-speech laws in the United States โ meaning that Ian has a carte blanche to write and publish absolutely anything online that he feels the urge to.
Another obstacle to this process is that ESLinsider is not a registered company. ESLinsider is just a website that Ian Patrick Leahy established.
We are, however, in talks with other Online TEFL/TESOL course providers that have also fallen victim to Ianโs online defamatory attacks and we are all currently pooling our resources together in order to follow a litigation path, whereby we can try to prevent Ian Patrick Leahy from continuing with his Online TEFL/TEKA course scam.
Our research has also shown that Ian Patrick Leahy has likely not paid any taxes to the IRS on any of the revenue earned from his ESLinsider TEFL/TEKA business activities.
ESLinsider April 2nd 2023 update:
Ian has moved back from Japan to the United States because, as he put it, his website “wasn’t doing very good”. He continues the ESLinsider blog and ESLinsider TEFL program, but spends his winters working on ski slopes and appears to be spending a chunk of his spare time continuously repairing an old postal van that he drives across the country in now.
As for ITTT TEFL, MyTEFL, and The TEFL Academy, we would advise them to focus on developing their business and focussing on providing better customer service; as well as obtaining proper, legitimate accreditation.
Anyone who has run a business understands how frustrating it can be when rogue competitors try to run your business down.
Thankfully, we run one of the top-rated Online TEFL & TESOL certification course programs and we have the support of our customers and graduates.
You can read and view verified TEFL Online Pro customers’ reviews on our company Facebook page, on the independent Trusted TEFL Reviews, and on our company’s YouTube channel:
TEFL Online Pro offers a wide range of TEFL/TESOL certification courses to suit different needs and preferences.
All three award-winning, Fully Accredited, and internationally recognized Online TEFL/TESOL certification courses qualify you to teach English online or abroad:
The 60-Hour Fast-Track International Online TEFL/TESOL Certification Course is the perfect solution for people with TEFL experience. This course is fully accredited and internationally recognized. To qualify for this course, you either need to be teaching English now or have taught English in the past:
The 120-Hour Professional International Online TEFL/TESOL Certification Course is the perfect solution for people with little or no TEFL experience. This course is fully accredited and internationally recognized โ the certification awarded the same level of qualification as the CELTA, Level 5, and Trinity CertTESOL qualification. No past TEFL experience is necessary โ anyone wanting to teach English online or abroad can qualify for this course:
The 140-Hour Hybrid International Online/Onsite TEFL/TESOL Certification Course is the perfect solution for people with little or no TEFL experience who are wanting in-class teaching practice. This course is fully accredited and internationally recognized โ the certification awarded is the same level of qualification as the CELTA, Level 5, and Trinity CertTESOL qualification. No past TEFL experience is necessary โ anyone wanting to teach English online or abroad can qualify for this course:
All three certification courses come with 24-Hour Online Tutor support, and with lifetime international job support services- both of which are provided without charge.
With a TEFL Online Pro TEFL/TESOL certificate, you can teach English online or abroad.
Customer TESOL Certification Course Video Testimonials are a great resource for people wanting more information on the reputation of a TEFL certification program.
What better way to find out whether an Online TEFL & TESOL certification course is legitimate than to hear the spoken words of recent graduates!
We are so blessed that the vast majority of our customers are simply wonderful.
Why are our customers so wonderful?
One of the reasons is because at TEFL Online Pro we deliver on all of our promises and our customers really appreciate this commitment to our professional word.
Bearing this in mind, please find below our current (eleven) customers’ TEFL/TESOL certification course video testimonials of their TEFL Online Pro experiences:
Teaching English in Valencia
Teaching English in Valenciaย โย https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuF99D5iRosย | In this TEFL Online Pro teaching English follow-up review, Astrid explains how her TEFL & TESOL certification fromย https://teflonlinepro.comย prepared her for teaching online & in Valencia.
Teaching English in Barcelona
Teaching English in Barcelonaย โย https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eโZyA4VU-Iย | In this TEFL Online Pro teaching English follow-up review, Clara reports on how her TEFL & TESOL certification fromย https://teflonlinepro.comย prepared her for teaching online & in Barcelona.
Teaching English in S.Korea
Teaching English in S.Koreaย โย https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K46PDonA6QAย | In this TEFL Online Pro teaching English follow-up review, Noor outlines how her TEFL & TESOL certification fromย https://teflonlinepro.comย was an essential document for teaching online & in S.Korea.
Teaching English in Europeย โย https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrtgTQ5Rdkgย | In this TEFL Online Pro review, Troy notes why he chose TEFL Online Pro and outlines his teaching English abroad plans for Europe and Asia with hisย https://teflonlinepro.comย TEFL & TESOL certification.
120-Hour Online TEFL & TESOLย โย https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZclYMgznmEย | In this TEFL Online Pro review, Astrid describes her 120-Hour Professional course experience, her future teaching English abroad plans, and why she recommends the TEFL & TESOL certification fromย https://teflonlinepro.com
Teaching English Online
Teaching English Onlineย โย https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4unbJrFRCnYย | In this TEFL Online Pro review, Noor describes her 140-Hour Hybrid course experience, her current job as an online English teacher, and why she recommends the TEFL & TESOL certification fromย https://teflonlinepro.com
Teaching English in Brazil
Teaching English in Brazilย โย https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpvUp4ViAo8ย | In this TEFL Online Pro review, Alison looks back on her TEFL career in Brazil. Her plan is to start teaching English online with her TEFL & TESOL certification fromย https://teflonlinepro.com
Teaching English in Prague
Teaching English in Pragueย โย https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpGUVAiGCrAย | In this TEFL Online Pro review, Nico looks forward to teaching English in Prague. He feels ready for the move because of his TEFL & TESOL certification & guidance fromย https://teflonlinepro.com
Teaching English in Austria
Teaching English in Austriaย โย https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-4jC0ErDmoย | In this TEFL Online Pro review, Annelise is starting as an English Teaching Assistant with Fulbright Austria. This was made possible because of her TEFL & TESOL certification fromย https://teflonlinepro.com
A recent TEFL Online Pro customer’s Facebook review from February, 2023.
TEFL Online Pro reviews | 2023 | video testimonials.
If you have taken a TEFL Online Pro international TEFL/TESOL certification course, you probably read some of our verified school reviews: on the TEFL Online Pro Facebook page, or on Trusted TEFL Reviews – the independent Online TEFL/TESOL courses reviews website:
You might also have read some of the featured TEFL Online Pro student testimonials on the the Reviews page on the teflonlinepro.com official school website:
Furthermore, you might have had the free time to take a read through some of the TEFL articles that have been added to this this TEFL Online Pro reviews blog:
And, you might have discovered how so unprofessional some of our business competition behave when it comes to black-hat SEO tactics used in the hope of winning new customers.
This is, unfortunately, the price of conducting business in a highly competitive and largely unregulated marketplace as the TEFL & TESOL industry is.
We constantly aim to find new ways of providing the best services for our customers, and we also strive to present all information regarding TEFL Online Pro in a clear, easy-to-digest format. This also applies to TEFL Online Pro reviews, so that our future customers can clearly, and transparently, read genuine feedback from customers who have gone through the process of course enrolment to course graduation.
With this in mind, we have decided to begin a TEFL Online Pro YouTube channel:
So far, we have eleven TEFL Online Pro customer’s videos uploaded.
Three of these videos were recorded by customers who initially recorded a post-course video testimonial, and who have now recorded a video about how their TEFL Online Pro certificate has been an essential document in opening online and abroad teaching job doors.
TEFL Online Pro video testimonials, recorded by our customers:
12 reasons why you should choose TEFL Online Pro for your international TEFL/TESOL certification course training.
1. Excellent student feedback.
We always place the customer first and our customers appreciate this high level of personal service. This can be seen by our consistently positive customer feedback.
Two excellent sources for tefl online pro reviews are our company Facebook page, and Trusted TEFL Reviews – the independently-run Online TEFL/TESOL reviews website:
It was recently brought to our attention that one of our competitors requests their customers to make their course payments through the Western Union money transfer service. This is also the preferred payment method for online scammers.
When making your course payment through the tefl online pro website, you have the option of making your purchase via Paypal, or with your debit or credit card.
This is one of the safest methods for making a payment over the internet – your information is safe and your consumer rights are guaranteed.
3. We always respond to emails/messages/calls within 24 hours.
Whether you are a potential customer asking for further course information, a current customer working their way through the course, or a tefl online pro graduate requesting international job support, we always respond to emails/messages/calls within 24 hours.
We feel that it is important to be quick with replies – especially regarding current students of the program, who often have an urgent course question needed answering before they can continue on to the next section of the course.
4. Feedback on lesson plan assignments and answers to course questions are responded to by a real person.
One of the common complaints that we see online, from people who have chosen to take their TEFL certification course with a different provider, is that (besides having to wait days for a response to an email sent) coursework feedback is often automated and severely lacking in substance.
tefl online pro customers can make use of the internal messaging system, contained within their personal course study account, and this acts as an instant messaging system. This isn’t an automated bot system – there is always a real person available to respond to messages with the relevant, detailed information which is required.
This personal touch is also replicated with the lesson plan feedback from your online tutor, you will receive after submitting each of the lesson plans that are mandatory assignments within the course.
5. All three of our award-winning courses come with complimentary (24/7) online tutor support.
Not all Online TEFL/TESOL certification course programs include the online tutor feature, and those which do tend to charge extra for this service.
When you enroll in any one of our award-winning international TEFL/TESOL certification courses, you will gain automatic access to a personal online tutor, who will be there to answer any questions that you might have.
tefl online pro personal tutor services are available 24/7 – excluding Sundays and bank holidays.
Hey, we have to rest sometimes! ๐
6. All three of our award-winning courses have been designed by experts in their fields.
TEFL Online Pro runs three award-winning, Fully Accredited and internationally recognized TEFL/TESOL certification online courses:
All three courses have been designed by respected academics within the international TEFL/TESOL community. In addition, the minimum qualification required to become a TEFL Online Pro online tutor is a TEFL certificate and a degree and/or Master’s in Education.
7. All three of our award-winning, user-friendly courses are fully responsive โ study on a laptop, phone, or tablet.
Some Online TEFL/TESOL program platforms were designed over ten years ago, and in light of today’s technology are considered to be dinosaurs. This is especially an issue if you are on the go and want to complete your course on your tablet or phone.
The tefl online pro website and course study areas for all three courses are fully responsive – meaning that it is as convenient to study your course on a tablet or phone, as it is on a laptop or home computer.
This is a really important feature because we have read in some online TEFL/TESOL forums of students from other programs not being able to properly read course materials because the course has not been designed for anything other than laptop functionality.
8. There are no hidden fees โ the advertised course fee is the only payment that you will be requested to make.
You see a great course price, you purchase the course, you work your way though the course. And then, at the end, when everything is complete, you receive a nasty surprise – your school issues you with hidden fees.
Unfortunately, this is common practice among some of the other well-known Online TEFL/TESOL certification course providers – it is a nickel and dime/ switch and bait tactic at the end, when you are placed in a corner and when most people just pay the fee(s) so they can receive their promised free service(s).
We don’t do this. We don’t charge hidden fees. What you see, is what you get.
9. All of our customers receive an Official Letter of Recommendation upon course completion.
When you have completed your course studies, we issue you with an Official Letter of Recommendation that really makes a difference in job interviews.
To date, we have a 100% success rate in helping our course graduates find teaching work – overseas, or online – and the recommendation letter definitely contributes to this very impressive statistic.
At any time during your teaching English career, if a school employer requests further recommendations then we provide these and make you out to be a superhuman English teacher. Well, after taking one of our TEFL/TESOL courses, you will be a superhuman English teacher ๐
10. We issue course certificates within a couple of days of course completion.
We often read online how graduates of some other Online TEFL courses have had to wait weeks, even months, for their international TEFL/TESOL certificate to finally make an appearance.
This, in our opinion, is bad style and very poor customer service.
If you completed your course say on a Wednesday, we would ensure that your Official Letter of Recommendation and international TEFL/TESOL certificate are issued to you by the Friday of that same week.
11. Graduates of the program enjoy lifetime access to the tefl online pro International Job Guidance Team.
What is the main reason why people take international TEFL/TESOL certification courses?
It’s to get a teaching job afterwards!
All tefl online pro graduates receive automatic access to the tefl online pro International Job Guidance Team a couple of days after course completion, and with our vast knowledge and experience, we are here to guide you through the TEFL jobs minefield.
Oh, and we also help our graduates with polishing up their resumes/CV’s, so that you have a tailored resume/CV for the teaching English school you are applying to – for either teaching English online, or teaching English overseas.
12. The certification awarded is equivalent to the CELTA/Level 5 TEFL/TESOL qualification. The certification awarded is internationally recognized โ our graduates teach English worldwide.
Both the 120-Hour Professional, and 140-Hour Hybrid courses are CELTA/Level5 equivalent qualifications; meaning that you can use your certification from tefl online pro worldwide, and for teaching English positions online too.
Our graduates teach pretty much everywhere where it is possible to teach English and we want to be a part of that journey with you too!
ESLinsider (Ian Patrick Leahy) Online Defamation Against TEFL Online Pro
The following article highlights for our readers one of the dark underbellies of the Online TEFL/TESOL industry – online defamation. It specifically exposes one such specific example, regarding ESLinsider, and also looks at how we recommend you respond to online defamation should you also become a victim of this spineless (often anonymous) crime.
For any of you unaware of the meaning of ‘defamation’, it is when knowingly false material is published online and with the intent to harm someone’s reputation.
If you have stumbled upon this article, you might have arrived here by typing ‘TEFL Online Pro reviews’ into a search engine.
Listed in that search will be examples of verified customer reviews of the TEFL Online Pro international TEFL/TESOL certification program, such as:
Verified customer reviews on our company’s Facebook page:
But among the genuine TEFL Online Pro customer reviews, you will also see links claiming that TEFL Online Pro is a scam, untrustworthy, a fraud – none of which have been written by anyone who has taken one of our courses.
Ian Leahy is the one-man-show owner of ESLinsider.
It was soon after when TEFL Online Pro won the Teachers’ Choice Award, 2019, when we first noticed the Reddit and forum posts appearing – attacking TEFL Online Pro with conspiracy theory slings of mud. At first, we didn’t really take much notice of them – they were so ridiculous that we brushed them off as prank posts.
But the false accusations grew over time and it has only recently been the case that we have been able to identify exactly who is behind the publication of this online abuse.
It is actually four schools – four of our Online TEFL/TESOL program competitors:
ESLinsider, ITTT TEFL, MyTEFL, and the TEFL Academy.
As the online attacks originated with Ian Patrick Leahy from the ESLinsider TEFL program, and the other three competitors have simply copy and pasted his misinformation, we will focus on ESLinsider in this article.
The ESLinsider (unaccredited) TEFL program is run exclusively by Ian Patrick Leahy. ESLinsider has been banned from Facebook (since 2017) for spamming and publishing misinformation, and it has had a number of its videos deleted by YouTube for the same reasons.
ESLinsider is notorious in the TEFL world for writing fictitious, malicious content about its business competitors โ on anonymous complaint websites, discussion forums, Reddit, on the blogs it runs, etc.
Pick any TEFL accreditation body, TEFL program, or TEFL reviews website โ ESLinsider will have written some trash about it.
The ESLinsider Online TEFL/TESOL program (shared apartment) Head Office – Fukuoka, Japan.
At first, we were dumbfounded as to why Ian Leahy would spend so much of his personal time focussed on trying to bring down a competitor. But then, we had a read of his Online TEFL/TESOL school blog – located on his official school website pages – and we plainly saw that Ian is a serial defamer that piggybacks of the good reputations of his business competitors.
Why does he do this? What’s in it for him? Why waste the time on this unprofessional path?
Ian Leahy targets his competitors, because when he does so a post linking back to his school shows up in the Google results.
Let’s take TEFL Online Pro as this example. If you Google ‘TEFL Online Pro Reviews’ you see that Ian’s (ESLinsider) attack post is one of the first results for this Google search. This is because he has spent over two weeks now linking the article to other articles and posts that he has written on the internet. Ian is hoping that anyone who searches for TEFL Online Pro reviews will click on his post, be directed to his school website (where the article is published) and then become convinced to take his course, instead of the tefl online pro international TEFL/TESOL certification course.
However, it looks as though people are becoming wise to this scraping-the-bottom-of-the-barrel tactic as is demonstrated in a recent ESLinsider customer review:
Ian Leahy doesn’t just contain his defamation to website posts and articles published on his own school website though – he also spams his own YouTube channel with his relentless conspiracy theories.
According to Ian Leahy, TEFL Online Pro is ‘FAKE’!
Published on 12th July, 2020, this video is like watching one of Ian’s greatest hits – with TEFL Online Pro being his latest fixation.
It was because Ian obviously thinks that he can get away with online defamation with impunity – spreading false allegations in the hope of winning new customers for his own program – that we decided that enough was enough.
We began by issuing a Cease and Desist formal notice to Ian, via our company email address and a copy of this was published as a private message to Ian, on his YouTube channel. When Ian responded as though he could write whatever he wanted to, without consequences, we contacted YouTube and requested that the video be blocked in Japan – Ian’s current home country.
As you can see from the email screenshot above, YouTube also have a zero tolerance policy regarding Ian Leahy’s online defamation.
We feel that it needs to be pointed out here that Ian Leahy has been accused of faking ESLinsider customer reviews. We can’t comment on this accusation, because we don’t have any proof of this. Besides, we are far too busy – focussed on our customers – to even consider spending time investigating whether this accusation is true or not. What is clear though, is that Ian prefers to have full total control over his customer reviews and that the largest source for ESLinsider reviews are on the ESLinsider school website, where every customer but one has left a 5-star review of his program – which doesn’t seem fishy at all, right?
The only other “reviews” that we found of the ESLinsider Online TEFL/TESOL program are a few Quora posts, all claiming that ‘ESLinsider is legit’ and all (recently) written within days of each other. We searched for the ESLinsider Facebook page – an excellent source of verified customer reviews – but couldn’t locate a page for ESLinsider. On Trusted TEFL Reviews, ESLinsider just have the one (2-star) customer review.
The chief source of ESLinsider reviews is on the ESLinsider school website.
So, what should you do if you find yourself a victim of online defamation?
If the information being spread is false, and if you know who is spreading the untrue rumour(s) then call the person/people out. It might not prevent them from continuing on their sick campaign, but it will let other people be made aware of the larger picture.
And if you do have access to a company lawyer, as we do, then we advise taking the legal route. It might seem expensive at first, and it might take some time to receive closure, but when that closure comes it will be worth it – both in terms of protecting your company name, and making the person/people think twice about doing the same thing to other people in future.
The particular issue with Ian Patrick Leahy is that he has now returned home to the USA and is leading a nomadic lifestyle, so it is extremely difficult to track him down for legal ramifications for his online defamation.
It must also be noted that his ESLinsider TEFL program is now pretty much dead in the water.
Despite the despicable actions of ESLinsider, ITTT TEFL, MyTEFL, and The TEFL Academy, we wish both companies all the best.
If they want to spend their precious time on this planet trying to ruin the reputation of a business competitor then that is their choice. We, on the other hand, prefer to focus on the development of our business and on our customer service support.
What we have done, though, is named and shamed these companies for their poor competitive business practices:
This article looks at where our customer reviews are predominantly published, and the red-flag Online TEFL/TESOL review tactics of some of our competitors that should be taken with a generous pinch of salt.
To begin this article, it should be made clear that we welcome both positive and negative feedback of our services.
Of course, it would be great if every review that we received was a five-star review. But life doesn’t work that way. You can’t please all of the customers all of the time. And actually, a negative review is often a positive for us – negative reviews can possibly indicate to us where there is further room for improvement, so that we can develop as a company and develop in the delivery of our customer services.
We will start, with the review websites that we recognize as being trusted sources of TEFL/TESOL student and graduate feedback.
TEFL Online Pro | Facebook
Facebook is an excellent platform, where potential customers can read verified reviews from TEFL Online Pro students and graduates.
One of the major benefits of Facebook reviews, is that you can read a review and then check the poster’s Facebook profile; seeing whether the reviewer has a Facebook history and, therefore, if it is a legitimate review. This is arguably the best medium with which to tell if a reviewer is a real person, who has actually taken a TEFL Online Pro international TEFL/TESOL certification course.
Some examples of recent verified reviews posted on our company’s Facebook page, by students and graduates of the tefl online pro international TEFL/TESOL certification course program:
Trusted TEFL Reviews is a similarly excellent source of verified reviews of tefl online pro students and graduates.
According to Trusted TEFL Reviews, the owners of the website are a group of English teachers (based in Vienna, Europe) who set up the website in order to clean up the Online TEFL/TESOL reviews industry. It is a non profit website, so this avoids the grey area corruption that is prevalent in some of the other major Online TEFL/TESOL review websites.
Students and graduates of the tefl online pro international TEFL/TESOL certification program, who have left reviews on Trusted TEFL Reviews, have reported back to us that in order for their review to be published they had to prove course attendance – submitting a copy of their international TEFL/TESOL certificate.
Trusted TEFL Reviews also allows Online TEFL/TESOL schools to respond to reviews.
Verified TEFL Online Pro reviews on Trusted TEFL Reviews:
The ‘TEFL Online Pro Reviews’ section of this website also addresses reviews of the TEFL Online Pro TEFL & TESOL online international certification course program:
The Dark Underbelly Of Fake Online TEFL/TESOL reviews
And now, we need to take a look at the dark underbelly of Online TEFL/TESOL reviews.
There are two main ways in which some Online TEFL/TESOL companies manipulate their company reviews, in order to present a far rosier picture than what is true in reality.
The first way in which some companies artificially increase their review ratings, is by writing the reviews themselves and publishing them on websites that lack a verified review process. Another option for these unscrupulous companies, is to pay people (people who most likely haven’t taken one of their courses) to write reviews for them. One way of telling if a company is involved in this tactic is if they receive a bunch of reviews all at the same time – such as ten in one day.
The second way is affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a form of fake reviews corruption, and it is a big problem within the Online TEFL/TESOL industry. Some of the more popular Online TEFL/TESOL reviews websites work on this principle. They encourage Online TEFL/TESOL schools to add a listing on their website, and they then receive an affiliates fee when a sale has been made. The issue with these types of review websites is that they often delete negative reviews, because it is bad business for their affiliate marketing model.
Affiliate marketing is also prevalent among bloggers who finance their world travels by claiming that such and such a course was AMAZING, and then they cream off the affiliate income when new customers use their coupon code when purchasing a course. It just isn’t possible to be objective about a product when the incentive for a blogger is to market it for their own financial gain.
So next time you read what appears to be a five-star review, shouting the praises of an Online TEFL/TESOL certification program, try checking to see whether there is an ulterior motive hidden behind the seemingly innocent review.
One thing that you can be certain of is that all tefl online pro reviews, published on Facebook and Trusted TEFL Reviews, have been written by actual students and graduates of the tefl online pro international TEFL/TESOL certification program.
We never waste our time trying to plant student and graduate reviews on unverified review websites, and we make it a principle not to add our school listing to review website that work on the affiliate marketing business model.
These 7 tips will help make your journey run smoother – whether you are making the trip abroad for a teaching English position, or just for a getaway break.
1. Buy health and travel insurance before you set off.
This should really be a no-brainer, but you would be surprised by just how many people head off abroad without comprehensive health and travel insurance. Some banks offer insurance when you take out a bank card with them, so this might also be worth checking out.
Due to the current complications within the airline industry, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we strongly recommend buying travel insurance that covers cancelled flights. If you take a look at https://www.airlinequality.com, you can read the many angry complaints from customers who have had their flights cancelled last minute. A significant number of flyers have complained about not being able to get through to an airline’s customer support, complained about being offered vouchers instead of a cash refund, and complained that their flight was cancelled a few days before their scheduled date of departure. A good travel insurance policy should cover you if you find yourself in a similar situation.
2. Do something nice for your future self and choose a great seat.
Not all airline seats are created equal.
When you have paid for your flight, you are then usually directed to choose your seat.
We recommend checking which type of plane you will be flying on, and then going to https://www.seatguru.com to take a look at which seats are recommended for your flight – and which seats are best avoided. As a general rule, the most uncomfortable seats on a plane are the ones located next to the toilets, middle seats, and the seats in the last row of the aircraft.
A lot of people prefer being located over the wing as this makes for a smoother ride. Sitting at the back of the plane will mean experiencing more turbulence. However, in the (extremely unlikely) event of an unplanned landing at high speed, the back of the plane is statistically where you will have the greater chance of surviving.
3. Prepare yourself for the highly improbable.
Modern-day airline travel is one of the safest forms of travel.
According to 2015 statistics from The Economist, the probability of your plane going down is around one in 5.4 million. In fact, air travel is (by far) the safest form of transport around. It is, however, prudent (and polite) to pay attention to the pre-flight safety demonstration. And it is also wise to take a read through the aircraft safety card.
When a plane disaster does happen, it is the passengers who paid attention to the safety instructions that are more likely to survive. Examples of completely avoidable deaths when a plane did run into problems were passengers inflating their life vests inside of the plane, and passengers who couldn’t work out how to unbuckle the seat belt – both examples having been explained in the pre-flight safety instructions.
Another good tip regarding safety on board, is to count the rows of seats from the nearest exit as you make your way up the aeroplane aisle. This way, you will be able to make your way safely out of the plane in that rare event of a total blackout on board.
4. Don’t get juiced up on alcoholic drinks.
One alcoholic drink in the air is equal to two on the ground.
Because a lot of people are nervous flyers, they tend to rely on alcohol to calm themselves when flying.
If you do need to drink, we recommend just having the one. Well, perhaps two is also fine ๐ One thing you really don’t want to do though is to drink more than two, because then you will arrive at your destination feeling pretty dreadful.
There is a saying that ‘one drink in the air is two on the ground’ – meaning that you’ll experience an alcohol double-whammy when you have a drink on the plane. Flying at high altitudes also dehydrates the body, so alcohol is really best avoided completely.
Our advise for any nervous flyers out there, is to contact your doctor and ask them for a one-time prescription of valium. Taking one valium tablet before your light will help with the flying nerves and you won’t feel so terrible when you have arrived at your destination.
But, NEVER mix the medication with alcohol!
5. Be nice to the flight attendants.
The job of a flight attendant can be extremely stressful.
A lot of people seem to quite naturally assume that flight attendants live the glamorous life of international travel, 5-star hotels, and high salaries.
The reality, however, is that the job of a flight attendant is more often than not excessively demanding. The salaries are relatively low, there is often very little time for sleep once the plane has landed and a long journey home has been spent pondering a next-day early morning departure, and some flyers can be less than pleasant. On top of all this, flight attendants are expected to look their best at all times on board, and are expected to be alert and approachable throughout the flight.
When you first board your plane, we recommend giving the flight attendants a friendly smile and saying ‘hello’ to them. Continue this respectful behaviour on board and you will find that they will be much more ready to help you out with any questions or requests that you might have during the flight. And besides, it feels good to make someone else feel good too ๐
6. Mid-flight theft is a thing.
Theft from airline passengers is on the increase.
A lot of people board the plane, place their belongings in the overhead compartment (the bag or case which was too valuable to place in the hold) and then promptly forget about it until the plane arrives at their destination.
In an ideal world, this is perfectly acceptable behaviour.
Unfortunately, this isn’t an ideal world.
Some individuals take flights for the specific purpose of stealing valuables from unsuspecting travellers.
Our advice, is to keep your money and passport stashed inside a money belt – concealed under your clothing. If your carry-on luggage isn’t too cumbersome then store it under the seat in front of you. If it has zippers, consider buying a combination lock so that you can sleep with the knowledge that no stray hands will be able to open it while you are sleeping to the white noise of the plane’s engines.
If you have to place your carry-on in the overhead lockers, make sure that you are aware of exactly where it is – flight attendants sometimes move overhead cabin luggage before takeoff, in order to better organise space.
Either way, don’t assume that all of your fellow passengers are making the journey with you purely for transport reasons.
7. Fill out the arrivals card before your plane lands.
The inconvenience of arrivals card are often confounded by a lack of available pens.
Towards the end of long-haul flights, it is often the case that you will be given an arrivals card to complete before you can pass though immigration.
Towards the end of long-haul flights, people are often tired and put off completing the card until they have reached passport control. This is when they realise that they don’t have a pen, there isn’t a pen in sight, and they probably don’t have their flight ticket stub either and so can’t remember their flight number.
To avoid this unnecessary stress, we recommend completing the arrivals card while you are still on the plane. If you don’t have a pen, you can always ask the flight attendant whom you have been polite to throughout the flight and they will likely find a pen for you.
With your arrivals card complete, you can safely stash your passport back under your clothes and walk off the plane prepared to join the immigration queue – all your documents at the ready.