Where is a flight attendant uniform synonymous with high-touch service? Well, you may encounter JAL duds in a Japanese sex club. Your hostess may not keep it on long, but you’ll be happy to know that your safety is her first priority, whether you’re dressed or not. When JAL fell into bankruptcy, the risk that flight attendant uniforms would fall into the wrong hands skyrocketed.
It seems that people will pay big bucks to get serviced by a “flight attendant,” as long as it doesn’t happen on a plane. Thus, the uniforms can fetch thousands of dollars, a sale made easier by employees falling victim to mass layoffs. Flight attendant uniforms popping up on the Yahoo! Japan auction site were on the block for more than $3,000.
Of course, there’s more to this problem than the illusion of freaky FAs filling fetish fantasies for sex club patrons. The airline also says that there’s a security risk, as uniforms can make it easier to access restricted areas in airports. JAL also suggests that here’s brand risk, with an airline spokeswoman indicating, “We also do not want people misrepresenting the company or damaging our image in any way.”
I guess the impact on the airline’s image depends on the talent wearing the uniform …
The launch date of CW network’s reality television show Fly Girls is drawing near, the inside story of five, sexy Virgin America flight attendants working, traveling and crashing through the crazy jet set life together.
While the official series premiere date is March 24, Virgin America gave a few lucky folks an inside preview of the series on a secret flight between Los Angeles and Las Vegas last week. The chaps at Gadling were lucky enough to score a few tickets for the ride.
Things kicked off in Los Angeles at terminal 4 of LAX on Friday the 26th, wayward passengers filtering in from all corners of the continent to participate in the festivities. Our good friend Johnny Jet met us at the gate, and before long the lovely ladies from Fly Girls as well as David Cush, CEO of Virgin America appeared from the jet bridge and welcomed the salivating passengers aboard.
The brief flight from Los Angeles to Las Vegas was only 50 minutes long, but Virgin America and CW were able to pack in plenty of activity, from the Fly Girls themselves handing out specially crafted Veev cocktails to celebratory announcements to the climax of the flight: an exclusive preview of the pilot episode.
Cheers erupted as the show came to a close and the aircraft landed at McCarran airport, and as the crowd snaked towards the Palazzo and Emeril’s Stadium, there was a steady buzz of excitement and festivity growing.
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The Fly Girls would reemerge on the red carpet in front of the Palazzo Las Vegas, posing with countless celebrities and answering questions about the show, just before heading into Lagasses Stadium for an on-stage kickoff and all night dance party. For more details on that you can check out this week’s Travel Talk.
It was a fantastic way to begin what’s sure to be an interesting and revealing look into the lives of Virgin America flight attendants in the Fly Girls series. Be sure to tune in on March 24th to see the premiere.
I have been just recently hired as a flight attendant for a commuter airlines called Colgan Air. I am just emailing you to ask for some advice on starting out, tips of the trade! I hope to hear from you soon!
Thanks,
Leilah
Leilah,
Even in this day and age of travel when being a flight attendant isn’t quite as glamorous as it once was, airlines receive thousands of applications each month from people who are interested in the job. This means competition is fierce. Airlines choose only the best candidates. That, Leilah, says a lot about you. Congratulations!
When it comes to flight attendant training, as well as those first few months on the job, my advice to you is simply this, do not quit! Trust me, at some point you will want to. I’ve been there. We all have. Just remember that no matter how frustrated or tired you become, do not give up. Training will only last a few weeks and when it’s over you’ll have a lifetime of adventure ahead of you. No matter how much you miss your friends, family, and loved ones, do not throw in the towel. Stay focused. Think about all the great places you can take your family and friends once you get your travel benefits. No matter how much someone misses you and begs you to come home, don’t quit. Just think about all those days off (at least twelve of them) that you can spend with them when you’re not working a nine to five job – Every. Single. Day. No matter which crew base you’re assigned, do not make any rash decisions. The job is flexible and in time you will figure out how to manipulate your flight schedule so that you can be exactly where you want to be whenever you want to be there. Remember, the job is unlike any other job, so it only makes sense that it will take some getting used to. Eventually you will figure out how to make the job work for you.
While I know the job is not for everyone, I just want to make sure you give it enough time before making any drastic decisions. Because it’s not just a job, it’s a lifestyle, a very unusual one. I say this because years ago I had a crash pad roommate who, after eight months on the job, decided to quit. She wanted to become a hairdresser. Two years later she wanted her old job back. So she reapplied, scored a few interviews with different airlines, and, as far as I know, never did get hired again.
As for flight attendant training, it can be overwhelming at times. In fact, I found the seven and a half week course at my airline to be tougher than four years of college. Not because it was hard, per se, but because there is a lot of information to absorb in a short amount of time. On top of this, there will be late nights and early mornings with very little sleep in between. You will, at some point, feel exhausted. You might also find yourself having trouble thinking clearly, or even thinking at all! Then when classmates begin to suddenly disappear, you may become paranoid. I know I did. At one point I truly believed that the salt and pepper shakers in the cafeteria might be bugged. I mean why else were classmates going POOF! during a five minute bathroom break, never to be seen or heard from again?
Now mix it all together; all that new information coming in at once, the exhaustion, the paranoia, not to mention feelings of homesickness, and you’ve got a trainee reacting in ways they might not normally behave. Perhaps by pushing trainees to their breaking point the airlines believe they will observe how future flight attendants might react in less than desirable situations at 30,000 feet. Maybe this is just a way an airline can filter out the weak since a big part of the job is remaining calm under pressure.
A few other tips…
1. Don’t be late. The airplane doesn’t wait for anyone, so why would your instructor? Unless a flight is understaffed, an airline will not delay a departure in order to wait on a flight attendant who is running late. If you’re late to class be prepared to leave your flight manual by the locked door and return to wherever you came from.
2. Get lots of rest. Nodding off in class is another way to obtain your walking papers. Flight attendants must stay awake during a flight unless it’s a long haul flight overseas with scheduled crew breaks. We are to remain alert at all times in order to handle in flight emergencies quickly and swiftly. Caffeine is your friend.
3. Beware of flight instructors. Do not get confused and think you’re friends with a flight instructor. Oh sure they might be nice, at first, but it’s their job to make sure that only the best flight attendants graduate. Trust me, they’re just looking for a reason to get rid of you, so don’t make it easy by letting your guard down.
Hope that helps, Leilah, and good luck to you!
Heather Poole
** ATTENTION FLIGHT ATTENDANTS: Share your flight attendant training stories below – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Emotional support service animals are service animals that provide emotional support to an individual with a mental health related disability. On most airlines, documentation must be provided 48 hours before departure to permit emotional support animals to travel in the passenger cabin.
I’m all for emotional support animals on board when it comes to calming passengers who suffer from anxiety. What I have a problem with are passengers who bring their pets on board and then claim they are service animals in order to keep them on their laps. Don’t get me wrong, I like animals. I really do. I have one at home. His name is Gatsby and he’s a seventeen pound Maine Coon cat. But not everyone on the airplane gets excited about sitting next to the passenger who has a dog wearing a dress on their lap. A lot of people are allergic to pet dander, so it’s my job to remind passengers that their pets must remain inside their carriers during a flight. The only pets that are allowed out of the carrier (on my airline) are celebrity animals (for real) and service animals. That’s it. Case closed.
While doing a little research, I came across an interesting bit of information. “Did you know there are horses that are considered emotional support service animals?” I asked my mother who is also a flight attendant for the same airline I work for.
“Not horses. Small ponies,” she corrected. Before I could even comment, my mother who was now laughing said, “Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t you call a couple airlines and tell them you’d like to bring a small horse on board in main cabin. See what they say.”
Yeah. Okay. Maybe later.
Recently during boarding on a flight from San Francisco to Chicago, I walked into the first class cabin and spotted something I could not believe. On top of a tiny petite woman sat the largest emotional support lap dog I’d ever seen. Shaggy and well-behaved, he was almost as big as the owner who did not have the proper paperwork to prove that the dog was in fact allowed out of its carrier. Oh sure the dog was cute, but half the cabin claimed to be allergic to it and no one wanted to sit by it. Finally, when it became apparent that we weren’t going to depart until the situation had been sorted out, a man reluctantly agreed to sit by the oversized, but very sweet, dog. Eventually an agent appeared who confirmed he had seen the dog’s paperwork, and then quickly he shut the aircraft door and waved goodbye.
Later on during the flight I pulled the beverage cart to the front of the cabin, and as I passed by a passenger, an adult man sitting in an aisle seat, I couldn’t help but notice a very large sock monkey he cradled in his arms. O-kay, I thought to myself. Then I wondered if maybe, just maybe, it was an emotional support sock monkey. Hey, ya never know. Finally when I got to his seat, I smiled, asked what he’d like to drink, and then tried to make small talk.
“Cute monkey,” I said, because it was kind of cute. It wore a flannel shirt, corduroy pants, and wire rim glasses just like the passenger. “He looks like you.”
The passenger held up the monkey and giggled, but it wasn’t a crazy giggle, not a I’m-a-grown-man-cradling-a-sock-monkey kind of giggle. It was just a regular old laugh. Still, I wanted to know more, so I asked, “Did you make his clothes?”
“She did,” he said, nodding to the woman sitting in the middle seat who was now looking at me and smiling brightly.
Back in the galley I told the crew about the man with the monkey, and as I did so I cradled my own imaginary monkey that I unknowingly began to pet. This alerted a few of my coworkers who exclaimed, “He’s petting it!”
“No!” I dropped the imaginary monkey on the floor.
“Just tell me he’s not spanking it?” asked the joker in our group.
I laughed. “He’s just holding it.”
“That’s okay,” said my colleague who then went on to tell me about the time she asked a passenger to put her cat back in its carrier, only to find out that the cat wasn’t real. It was stuffed. “It was breathing,” she exclaimed. “I kid you not, its little tummy went up and down.”
As we pulled the pickup cart back up the aisle, I noticed the passenger with the monkey was not in his seat. I assumed he’d gone to the lav. What I found in his place surprised me. A big yellow banana sat straight up in the chair, right beside the monkey, and both had been buckled in tightly, which was good, I guess, considering the fasten seat belt sign was on.
When I told I told a friend about the monkey man, he seemed intrigued. Then he asked, “Do ya think if I dress it up I can bring an emotional support case of beer on board my next flight?”
Uh, no.
Of course just when you think you’ve seen it all, something else happens. Take for instance the time I came upon a passenger and his fluffy little dog standing in line to use the lavatory. “Sir, I’m sorry, but your dog can’t be out of its carrier,” I told him.
“He has to use the bathroom.” It was said matter of fact.
“Oh. Okay,” I said, and then slowly walked away thinking, bathroom? How?
“Oh my goodness, how cute!” I heard a coworker shriek. I spun around and saw my coworker down on one knee petting the dog. When she stood up, she said, “He’s so adorable, but he needs to be in a carrier.”
Again, matter of fact, the passenger said, “He has to use the bathroom.”
“Oh. Okay,” she said, as if what he had just said were the most logical thing in the world. The two of us locked eyes and didn’t say a word.
When the man and the dog entered the lavatory, we, the crew, discussed the situation. None of us had a clue as to how the tiny dog could possibly use the toilet, so we weren’t exactly sure what to do. Finally I decided to take matters into my own hands and just ask. I was curious. We all were. When the two suspects exited the lav and returned to their seats, I followed. Turns out the passenger placed a special “wee wee” pad on the lavatory floor that he discarded after it was used.
“Oh. Okay,” I said, as if it all made perfect sense. Immediately I returned to the galley to report what I had learned and to discuss if that was…well…even allowed on board. I mean…well….forget it…just remember this story next time you go into the lav without your shoes on.
Now say hello to Shebang, a celebrity dog I’ve never met…
British Airways has suspended 15 cabin crew members for “inappropriate” Facebook comments.
Back in October, a Jetstar flight attendant was disciplined for Facebook-stalking a 15-year-old (Airline apologizes for male flight attendant harassing a 15-year-old). That I understood. Some friends of mine in the law and medical fields have been warned about their Facebook personae; that they should consider themselves “employees of [the company]” first and foremost. I think that’s a little oppressive, but okay, they’re in some pretty high-power jobs where people immediately learn their full names.
But, I’m surprised anyone’s putting a Facebook gag on their cabin crew. I recently flew British Airways — and thoroughly enjoyed my experience — and not only do I have no idea about the full name of any one of the cabin crew, but I would never consider even searching them on Facebook, let alone friending them and reading their walls. If I were a big weirdo and did decide to spend my time that way, I would think the shame should fall on me, not on anything unsavory I might find.
What exactly is “inappropriate”? Does it depend what your definition of is is?
BA Press Officer Euan Fordyce is quoted as saying the airline “will not tolerate intimidation of our staff,” and that there were other, additional reasons for the suspensions. That seems to imply bullying, or some other kind of workplace no-no — but rumors are circulating that complaints about ongoing battles over wages, working conditions and job security are the culprits. Stuff.co.nz reports that “the UK’s Unite union called the move unacceptable.”
Funny; if they hadn’t suspended their crew members, I wouldn’t even know that those battles were going on.