There
is a mystique about the world of the flight
attendant that has prevailed since the dawn
of the first cabin attendants. This began in 1930, when Ellen
Church became the first “stewardess”,
for United Airlines, and women and men have been seeking this
position with diligence ever since. The mere mention of the
flight attendant job conjures up images of jetting away to an
exotic Caribbean Island or spending a week skiing in the majestic
Alps. Of course the job itself is not always glamorous, but
most people do not possess the mobility of the flight
attendant to see the world while they are still
young enough to enjoy it. What is it about a flight
attendant that makes little kids longingly stare
and adults charmed and envious? Could it be the lifestyle and
freedom to jet away to faraway places? The uniform? The star
quality of these chosen few?
Maybe
it is all these things, and more. I remember viewing a children’s
program at about age 6, seeing the
flight attendant standing in the doorway of
a large airplane, wearing a military-looking uniform, with shiny
wings on her jacket. How elegant and important she looked working
on the airplane! I decided right then and there that this was
what I wanted to be someday. To me, it wasn’t just a job
– it was a life!
Initially,
the first cabin attendants
were men who helped maintain the integrity of the airplanes
while swatting flies and lifting mailbags. Then in the 1930’s
female attendants were hired as stewardesses
or hostesses and
worked on piston engine or propeller aircraft, such as the Curtiss
Condor. Their duties included providing sandwiches
and thermoses of water and passing out gum and cotton to provide
comfort for passengers’ ears. These flight
attendants originally were registered nurses,
but this requirement was dropped in the 1940’s. The job
was now considered glamorous and even though many young women
wanted to become airline stewardesses,
only a few were chosen. In those days when stewardesses got
married, they were terminated.
By
the 1960’s, men were on the job. United
Airlines hired eight men from Hawaii to fly
their Hawaiian routes. As a result of the influx of males from
that point, Eastern Airlines created the job title of “flight
attendant”. The job held wide appeal to
men and women and it became commonplace for flight
attendants to be male or female, young or older,
married or single, any race, even parents. The salaries were
beginning to climb - airline fever had claimed more lives!
Once
you have “the fever”, it will be with you for the
rest of your life; there is no cure, and anyone who has never
experienced a flight attendant
career will never comprehend just how powerful
it is. Flight crews are very close comrades as a result of having
this unique passion in common. There is a wide belief that the
job is a daring and unusual dream experience; flight
attendants are considered to be gutsy individuals
who regard the world as their playground.
Of
course, those of us who fly know that in reality the job is
hard work, sometimes with long hours and grouchy customers.
It is difficult to find the glamour in your job when you are
down on your hands and knees in the galley, going through tray
carriers looking for someone’s lower dentures they left
on a tray! Or working a 14-hour day due to a mechanical delay.
Or dealing with a planeload of airsick passengers during heavy
turbulence. These things are all part and parcel of a flight
attendant’s job. But the fun and excitement far outweighs
these things, and I don’t know many flight
attendants who would trade it all in for a nine-to-fiver!
The
charisma has as much to do with the look of flight
attendants as the places they travel. These
sharply dressed men and women who serve you meals or beverages
in the air seem to be the epitome of romance; what will they
do when they are off duty - shop in Rome? Party in Frankfurt?
Catch glass beads at a Mardi Gras parade? Tour the Pyramids
or Catacombs? What celebrities do they commonly meet
and what interesting stories could they tell about these people?
Each
airline has a unique uniform, smartly tailored, complete with
the airline logo and wings. Wings are earned, and flight
attendants go to a lot of trouble to get them!
Training is sometimes long and arduous. Flight
attendant trainees must not only be strong and
resourceful but intelligent, healthy and energetic to graduate.
Possibly
the most important component of the aura of mystery surrounding
the flight attendant
is the fact that that which is difficult to obtain is often
the most coveted. Not just anyone can become a flight
attendant; thousands of flight attendant
wannabes apply for these jobs every month, but few are chosen.
Statistics show that on average, less than 10%
of those who apply are selected for the job. What separates
the people chosen from the ones left behind? That is part of
the magic, and sometimes it is not something that can be even
put into words. After meeting the requirements, applicants must
convey a certain persona to the recruiter, and the recruiters
are adept in discovering those who have what it takes.
No
one can say for sure just what the charm of a flight
attendant is. But I remember the look on a young
man’s face on one of my flights. He was taking his first
airplane ride and gazed up at me with wonder, and asked, “is
this what you do for your job – meet people and fly to
different places all the time? Kewl.”
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