“We say, ‘We have a minor technical problem and engineers are on their way.’ But in reality? The cabin pressure isn’t working.” Of course, flight attendants also play important roles in maintaining safety and keeping people calm in emergencies.īut a crew thread on Reddit saw one user saying: “When people ask for the reason for a delay, we usually give a bulls**t response because the real answer would spook passengers. Some cabin crew allegedly use secret signals to communicate with each other so passengers don’t know what they’re saying.įormer crew member Heather Poole reveals the lengths crew will go to in her book Cruising Attitude: Tales Of Crashpads, Crew Drama And Crazy Passengers At 35,000 Feet.įlight attendants have revealed they rate their passengers’ looks.
These days the demands are different, with reports claiming American Airlines simply advises that cabin crew have no noticeable hair in their nostrils, ears and underarms, along with a full set of front teeth. They also had to retire at 32 and have no children. In the early 1960s, considered the golden era of air travel, now defunct US airline Pan Am had stringent criteria that today seem totally outdated - female crew had to be at least 157.5cm and weigh no more than 57kg. These days, flight attendants often spend much of their time in the air delivering meals and dealing with drunk passengers, but there was a time when it was seen as one of the most glamorous professions for those who could physically match what airlines were looking for. Hook-ups happen between members of the airline crew. “Actually, he’s the pilot,” she shot back, before the marshal beat a retreat to his seat. “It’s not like your husband is here,” he said to her in a final attempt to bed her on board. Supposedly on the plane to protect passengers after 9/11, he repeatedly hassled a female crew member for sex. The same article told how an air marshal was trying to pack more than his pistol on one flight. In an article in Cosmopolitan magazine, one flight attendant recalled how a Hollywood hunk headed to the bathroom with his female “manager” and kept hitting the call button with his bum while the rest of first-class were trying to get some shut-eye. “But eventually the crew resorted to sitting between them for the rest of the flight.”Ĭelebrities are at it, too, it seems.
“We played good cop, good cop – trying to reason with them,” she said. She told Compare Travel Insurance she once had to help restrain two first-class flyers who were determined to get it on without even bothering to hide in the plane bathroom. Natalie Smith, who worked as cabin crew for Virgin Atlantic, decided to spill the beans about her three-year stint flying the flag for Sir Richard Branson. Former Virgin Atlantic flight attendant Natalie Smith.