Airline hostess...glamour job or glorified skivvy?

[Wacky Racer]

At the dawn of the jet age in the early 1960's if you were an airline hostess it was seen as a real glamour job.

However, thinking about it, the hours are absolute st, 3am take offs etc, and they are basically glorified waitresses serving food in an extremely confined space, plus they will have to put up with some pretty obnoxious/lairy characters.

Yes, they might go to some amazing places, but one airport or hotel is the same as another.

This is no reflection on the ladies concerned, they all do a great job. (Male staff as well)

Thoughts....

(My cousin's daughter works for Virgin Atlantic btw)

[EnglishTony]

I think they call themselves Flight Attendants these days. Hostess is a naughty word.

As for glamorous. Long haul, 1st class possibly yes. Charter flight to Marbella perhaps not. Budget flight from the middle of nowhere to Stansted, less said the better.

[Wacky Racer]

EnglishTony said:

I think they call themselves Flight Attendants these days.

Indeed. 2016 and important to be PC.

Apologies...


Salesperson ffs!

[souper]

I've often thought about how Glamorous it was but in 50's-80's but nowadays the reality of early late shifts soon ruin that.

Same goes for a long haul pilot I suspect that is the dream of a newly qualified officer, but surely getting up at 3am to spend 12+ hours flying further from home must grate, I suspect many would eventually settle for short-haul and be home the same day.

Edited by souper on Thursday 26th May 19:53

[Orchid1]

In the old days if you were a flight attendant you could walk down the aisle and say "Coffee, Tea or Me?".

Now it's "Sir if you and you're drunken scheme goblin mates don't sit down and shut up we're diverting to France."

[Monkeylegend]

Orchid1 said:

In the old days if you were a flight attendant you could walk down the aisle and say "Coffee, Tea or Me?".

Now it's "Sir if you and you're drunken scheme goblin mates don't sit down and shut up we're diverting to France."

Best to divert to somewhere else today.

[jonah35]

souper said:

I've often thought about how Glamorous is was but in 50's-80's but nowadays the reality of early late shifts soon ruin that.

Same goes for a long haul pilot I suspect that is the dream of a newly qualified officer, but surely getting up at 3am to spend 12+ hours flying further from home must grate, I suspect many would eventually settle for short-haul and be home the same day.

Long haul is still great

3 trips per month, a week at either end - expensed, nice hotel etc etc

[0000]

My brother in law is a pilot for Virgin. He moans they all stay in the hotel and don't want to go out for dinner or drinks because they get paid bugger all and even though they get an expenses allowance there's some incentive for them to not spend it as they get it regardless. Plus he does maybe two or three flights in a busy month whereas they just don't see anything like the same time off.

Travelling the world on a noisy plane and seeing little of it sounds a bit miserable, but I imagine there's worse jobs.

[ChocolateFrog]

jonah35 said:

souper said:

I've often thought about how Glamorous is was but in 50's-80's but nowadays the reality of early late shifts soon ruin that.

Same goes for a long haul pilot I suspect that is the dream of a newly qualified officer, but surely getting up at 3am to spend 12+ hours flying further from home must grate, I suspect many would eventually settle for short-haul and be home the same day.

Long haul is still great

3 trips per month, a week at either end - expensed, nice hotel etc etc

I imagine that's nice for maybe the first 10 times or so but not when it's the 100th.

It strikes me as a pretty stty job if I'm honest.

[Brother D]

Having lived with and dated a few crew in the past, long haul is the only thing that retains any resemblance of 'glamour', however, even for a decent carrier it's eye-opening what awfulness they have to put up with on certain routes, LGW to Mumbai was pretty awful - people going for a crap in the toilet (with the seat lid cover down), kids squatting in the aisle, and being handed a soiled nappy seem to happen on a semi-regular occurrence (and once a passenger dying mid-flight).

However on the flip-side and working a decent route, they got to spend a few days on layover when flying to StLucia/US etc (plus partners/named friends got to accompany them for basically taxes only). And rostas meant they only worked half the month, but pay was only 20K-ish (when you added in all the extras for a junior main-cabin crew).

Working as crew in the gulf/middle east was a whole different kettle of fish, and rather seedy all round...

[98elise]

ChocolateFrog said:

jonah35 said:

souper said:

I've often thought about how Glamorous is was but in 50's-80's but nowadays the reality of early late shifts soon ruin that.

Same goes for a long haul pilot I suspect that is the dream of a newly qualified officer, but surely getting up at 3am to spend 12+ hours flying further from home must grate, I suspect many would eventually settle for short-haul and be home the same day.

Long haul is still great

3 trips per month, a week at either end - expensed, nice hotel etc etc

I imagine that's nice for maybe the first 10 times or so but not when it's the 100th.

It strikes me as a pretty stty job if I'm honest.

Agreed. I've just spent 2 years on a project that was 1 week at home, 1 week away. The one week away was in a nice hotel with all expenses paid.

The novelty lasted about 2 weeks until I realised my home is way nicer. Everything I want/ own is in my house, so why would living in 1 room hundreds of miles away be a benefit?

[creampuff]

98elise said:

The novelty lasted about 2 weeks until I realised my home is way nicer. Everything I want/ own is in my house, so why would living in 1 room hundreds of miles away be a benefit?

You can get a local girlfriend and she won't know where you actually live?

[Trabi601]

You only realise the value of the crew when things go badly wrong.

I know it's rare, but they're the ones who'll (hopefully) get you off the plane alive if there's a survivable incident.

[037]

Why do you even care?

[Sheepshanks]

Wacky Racer said:

At the dawn of the jet age in the early 1960's if you were an airline hostess it was seen as a real glamour job.

However, thinking about it, the hours are absolute st, 3am take offs etc, and they are basically glorified waitresses serving food in an extremely confined space, plus they will have to put up with some pretty obnoxious/lairy characters.

Yes, they might go to some amazing places, but one airport or hotel is the same as another.

This is no reflection on the ladies concerned, they all do a great job. (Male staff as well)

Thoughts....

(My cousin's daughter works for Virgin Atlantic btw)

Isn't it much the same for pilots? Glorified bus drivers.

[anonymous-user]

ChocolateFrog said:

I imagine that's nice for maybe the first 10 times or so but not when it's the 100th.

It strikes me as a pretty stty job if I'm honest.

Nah it's a great job, I get away during the winter for a few days each month, I don't work very hard and really enjoy it when I do go in. I can live anywhere in the UK or even commute from Europe if I wanted. I see my family loads and have more quality time with my kids than any of the other dads at school. Cheap holidays and flights. Great salary and final salary pension plenty of time off. Great life work balance.

What's stty about thaT?

Edited by el stovey on Thursday 26th May 21:36

[iphonedyou]

0000 said:

My brother in law is a pilot for Virgin. He moans they all stay in the hotel and don't want to go out for dinner or drinks because they get paid bugger all and even though they get an expenses allowance there's some incentive for them to not spend it as they get it regardless. Plus he does maybe two or three flights in a busy month whereas they just don't see anything like the same time off.

Travelling the world on a noisy plane and seeing little of it sounds a bit miserable, but I imagine there's worse jobs.

Your brother in law does two flights in a busy month?

Do elaborate.

[Brother D]

ChocolateFrog said:

I imagine that's nice for maybe the first 10 times or so but not when it's the 100th.

It strikes me as a pretty stty job if I'm honest.

Erm.... you get to fly an incredible piece of engineering into the sky - I can't imagine that ever gets boring especially the start and end bits (even the bit in the middle you have the best office view ever). Even the oldest most jaded pilots must get a twinge of excitment on take off and landing. I'm not sure Joe Bloggs has the same feelings coming into the office in Slough for the day to look at a PC screen for 8 hours.

[0000]

iphonedyou said:

Your brother in law does two flights in a busy month?

Do elaborate.

s/flights/trips

[GG89]

ChocolateFrog said:

jonah35 said:

souper said:

I've often thought about how Glamorous is was but in 50's-80's but nowadays the reality of early late shifts soon ruin that.

Same goes for a long haul pilot I suspect that is the dream of a newly qualified officer, but surely getting up at 3am to spend 12+ hours flying further from home must grate, I suspect many would eventually settle for short-haul and be home the same day.

Long haul is still great

3 trips per month, a week at either end - expensed, nice hotel etc etc

I imagine that's nice for maybe the first 10 times or so but not when it's the 100th.

It strikes me as a pretty stty job if I'm honest.

Only on pistonheads would an airline pilot be described as a pretty stty job.

FFS.