Flight attendant

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Flight attendant in an Embraer ERJ 145 LR of PBair, Thailand
Flight attendant in an Embraer ERJ 145 LR of PBair, Thailand

In aviation, flight attendants - formerly known as sky girls, stews, air hostesses, stewardesses or stewards - are members of a flight crew employed by airlines to ensure the safety and comfort of the passengers aboard commercial flights.

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A Lufthansa flight attendant performing an in-flight safety demonstration
A Lufthansa flight attendant performing an in-flight safety demonstration

The primary and overriding responsibility of flight attendants is passenger safety.[1] They are often tasked with the secondary function of seeing to the care and comfort of the passengers, insofar as this does not interfere with their safety responsibilities. They are often perceived by the flying public as waiting staff or servants because only this latter function is normally seen outside the extremely rare event of in-flight emergency; and historically this perception has been portrayed by airlines in ads and commercials.

The role of a flight attendant ultimately derives from that of similar positions on passenger ships or passenger trains, but it has more direct involvement with passengers because of the confined quarters and often shorter travel times on aircraft. Additionally, the job of a flight attendant revolves around safety to a much greater extent than those of similar staff on other forms of transportation. Flight attendants on board a flight collectively form a cabin crew, as distinguished from pilots and engineers in the cockpit.

Outside the exceptional case of an in-flight emergency, flight attendants usually provide courtesy services for passengers, such as preparation and distribution of in-flight meals and drinks, management of in-flight entertainment systems, sale of duty-free and other merchandise, and the like. As the most visible representatives of their airlines, their importance to customer relations and the image of their airlines is considerable.

Many jurisdictions mandate the presence of flight attendants on commercial aircraft, based on the passenger capacity of the aircraft and other factors. This mandate generally relates only to their function as safety technicians.

Singapore Girls, female flight attendants of Singapore Airlines
Singapore Girls, female flight attendants of Singapore Airlines

Flight attendants are normally trained in the hub or headquarters city of an airline over a period that may run from six weeks to six months, depending on the country. The main focus of training is safety. One flight attendant is required for every 50 passenger seats on board in the United States, but many airlines have chosen to increase that number. One of the most elaborate training facilities was Breech Academy which Trans World Airlines (TWA) opened in 1969 in Overland Park, Kansas, U.S. Other airlines were to also send their attendants to the school. However, during the fare wars the school's viability declined and it closed around 1988.

Safety training includes, but is not limited to: emergency passenger evacuation management, use of evacuation slides / life rafts, in-flight fire fighting, survival in the jungle, sea, desert, ice, first aid, Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), defibrillation, ditching/emergency landing procedures, decompression emergencies, Crew Resource Management and security.

Multilingual flight attendants are often in demand to accommodate international travellers. The languages most in demand, other than English, are Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.[citation needed]

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Some airlines, such as EVA Air, have height requirements for purely aesthetic purposes. Horizon Air and other regional carriers have height restrictions because their aircraft have low ceilings. A typical acceptable range is from 5'2" (1.57 m) to 6'0" (1.83 m).

Flight attendants are also subject to weight requirements as well. Weight must usually be in proportion to height; persons outside the normal range may not be qualified to act as flight attendants.

Flight attendant, circa 1949-50, American Overseas Airlines, Flagship Denmark, Boeing 377 Stratocruiser
Flight attendant, circa 1949-50, American Overseas Airlines, Flagship Denmark, Boeing 377 Stratocruiser

The first flight attendant, a steward, was reportedly a man on the German Zeppelin LZ10 Schwaben in 1911.[citation needed]

Origins of the word "steward" in transportation are reflected in the term "steward" as used in maritime transport terminology. The term purser and chief steward are often used interchangeably describing personnel with similar duties among seafaring occupations. This lingual derivation results from the international British maritime tradition dating back to the 14th century and the civilian United States Merchant Marine which U.S aviation is somewhat modeled. Due to international conventions and agreements, in which all ships personnel who sail internationally are similarly documented by their respective countries, the U.S. Merchant Marine assigns such duties to the chief steward in the overall rank and command structure of which pursers are not postionally represented or rostered.

Imperial Airways of the United Kingdom had "cabin boys" or "stewards"; in the 1920s. In the USA, Stout Airways was the first to employ stewards in 1926, working on Ford Trimotor planes between Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Western Airlines (1928) and Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) (1929) were the first US carriers to employ stewards to serve food. Ten-passenger Fokker aircraft used in the Caribbean had stewards in the era of gambling trips to Havana, Cuba from Key West, Florida. Lead flight attendants would in many instances, also perform the role of pursor, steward, or chief steward in modern aviation terminology.

The first female flight attendant[2] was a 25-year-old registered nurse named Ellen Church. Hired by United Airlines in 1930, she also first envisioned nurses on aircraft. Other airlines followed suit, hiring nurses to serve as "stewardesses" on most of their flights. The requirement to be a registered nurse was relaxed at the start of World War II, as so many nurses enlisted into the armed forces.

The first stewardess uniforms were designed to be durable, practical, and inspire confidence in passengers. The first stewardesses for United Airlines wore green berets, green capes and nurse's shoes. Other airlines, such as Eastern Air Lines, actually dressed stewardesses in nurses' uniforms.

Perhaps reflecting the military aviation background of many commercial aviation pioneers, many early uniforms had a strongly military appearance; hats, jackets, and skirts showed simple straight lines and military details like epaulettes and brass buttons. Many uniforms had a summer and winter version, differentiated by colours and fabrics appropriate to the season: navy blue for winter, for example, khaki for summer. But as the role of women in the air grew, and airline companies began to realise the publicity value of their stewardesses, more feminine lines and colours began to appear in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Some airlines began to commission designs from high-end department stores and still others called in noted designers or even milliners to create distinctive and attractive apparel.

In the 1960s and 1970s, many airlines began advertising the attractiveness and friendliness of their stewardesses. National Airlines began a "Fly Me"; campaign using attractive stewardesses with taglines such as "I'm Lorraine. Fly me to Orlando." (A low budget 1973 film about three flight attendants, Fly Me, starting Lenore Kasdorf, was based on the ad campaign.) Braniff International Airways, presented a campaign known as the "Air Strip" with similarly attractive young stewardesses changing uniforms mid-flight.[3] A policy of at least one airline required that only unmarried women could be flight attendants.[4]

Flight attendant unions were formed, beginning at United Airlines in the 1940s, to negotiate improvements in pay, benefits and working conditions.[5] Those unions would later challenge what they perceived as sexist stereotypes and unfair work practises such as age limits, size limits, limitations on marriage, and prohibition of pregnancy. Many of these limitations have been lifted by judicial mandates. The largest flight attendants union is the Association of Flight Attendants, representing over 50,000 flight attendants at 22 airlines within the US.

In the UK, cabin crew can be represented by either Cabin Crew '89, or the much larger and more powerful Transport and General Workers' Union.

In Australia, flight attendants are represented by the Flight Attendants' Association of Australia (FAAA). There are two divisions: one for international crews (Long Haul) and one for domestic crews (Short Haul).

Airline managers commonly subjected flight attendants to various forms of discrimination from the early days of the profession until the 1990s.[6] Flight attendants at United States-based airlines, and others as well, were forced to resign or were fired if they got married, if they were overweight, wore eyeglasses, if they turned 30 years of age (or 32 at some airlines). These discriminatory policies came under attack in the U.S. after passage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Flight attendant unions like the Association of Flight Attendants used Title VII, in the courts and at the bargaining table, to bring an end to such practises and recognise the professionalism of the flight attendant career. The no-marriage rule was eliminated throughout the U.S. airline industry by the 1980s.[7] The last such broad categorical discrimination, the weight restrictions[8] were eliminated in the 1990s through litigation and negotiations.[9] By the end of the 1970s, the term stewardess had generally been replaced by the gender-neutral, and more wordy, alternative flight attendant. More recently the term cabin crew has begun to replace 'flight attendants,' because of the term's recognition of their role as members of the crew. This, does not, however, suitably replace the older terms, being a collective noun rather than a singular one.

The role of flight attendants received heightened prominence after the September 11, 2001 attacks when flight attendants (such as Sandra W. Bradshaw and CeeCee Lyles of United Airlines Flight 93, Robert Fangman of United Airlines Flight 175, Renee May of American Airlines Flight 77 and Betty Ong and Madeline Amy Sweeney of American Airlines Flight 11) actively attempted to protect passengers from assault, and also provided vital information to air traffic controllers on the hijackings.[10]

In the wake of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, many flight attendants at major airlines were laid off on account of decreased passenger loads.[10]

Actions of flight attendants in emergencies have long been credited in saving lives; in the United States, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and other aviation authorities view flight attendants as essential for safety, and are thus required on Part 121 aircraft operations. Studies, some done in light of British Airtours Flight 28M, have concluded that assertive cabin crew are essential for the rapid evacuation of airplanes.[11][12] Notable examples of cabin crew actions include:

  • Scandinavian Airlines Flight 751, when cabin crew recognized an emergency landing was imminent and commanded the passengers to "bend down...hold your knees" to adopt the brace position.[13]
  • Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529, whose sole flight attendant provided emergency briefings, brace and evacuation commands to the passengers when the Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia aircraft sustained serious damage to one of its engines and crash landed. The NTSB accident report commended "the exemplary manner in which the flight attendant briefed the passengers and handled the emergency".[14]
  • British Airways Flight 5390, in which a flight attendant was able to prevent a pilot from being lost through a cockpit window that had failed.
  • Southern Airways Flight 242, on which the cabin crew provided safety briefings to their passengers, and on their own initiative, warned passengers of the impending crash by commanding passengers to adopt the brace position. At least one flight attendant is known to have assisted in rescuing trapped passengers.[15]
  • Air Florida Flight 90, in which the lone surviving flight attendant passed the only lifevest she could find to another passenger. She is recognized in the NTSB report for this "unselfish act."[16]
  • TWA flight attendant Uli Derickson who protected passengers during the TWA Flight 847 hijacking by assisting with negotiation efforts.
  • TWA Flight 843, when a TWA Lockheed L-1011 aircraft crashed after an aborted takeoff in 1992. The aircraft was destroyed by fire. Nine flight attendants, along with five off-duty flight attendants, evacuated all 292 persons on board without loss of life. The NTSB in their after accident reported noted, "The performance of the flight attendants during the emergency was exceptional and probably contributed to the success of the emergency evacuation."[17][18]
  • On British Airways Flight 2069, cabin crew stopped the plane from being crashed by a mentally ill passenger.[19]
  • Crew on American Airlines Flight 63 prevented shoe bomber Richard Colvin Reid from blowing up the plane.[20]
  • Flight attendants on Qantas Flight 1737 prevented their plane from being hijacked by a passenger with mental health issues. Two of them were taken to hospital with stab wounds.[21]
  • Aloha Airlines Flight 243 suffered a decompression which tore an 18-foot section of fuselage away from the plane. Despite her injuries, flight attendant Michelle Honda crawled up and down the aisle reassuring passengers.[22]
  • Senior Purser Neerja Bhanot saved the lives of passengers and crew when Pan Am Flight 73 was hijacked. She was killed while protecting children from the terrorists. After her death she received the Special Courage Award from the United States Department of Justice.
  • Flight Attendants on Air Canada Flight 797 used procedures which were not specifically taught in training such as instructing passengers to open over wing window exits to allow passengers to evacuate quicker, moving passengers to the front of the aircraft to move them away from the fire and smoke, and passing out towels for passengers to cover their nose and mouths with while the cabin was filling with smoke.

  1. ^ Occupational Outlook Handbook, Flight Attendants - Nature of Work, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
  2. ^ The Original Eight: Genesis of the Modern Day Flight Attendant
  3. ^ Ask the pilot
  4. ^ Flight attendant history 2
  5. ^ From Skygirl to Flight Attendant, Women and the Making of a Union by Georgia Panter Nielsen, ILR Press/Cornell, Ithaca, NY (1982)ISBN 978-0875460932
  6. ^ Skies Often Overly Friendly, Early Flight Attendants Faced Sexism, by Dawn Klingensmith, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Lifestyle Section, March 7, 2007.
  7. ^ United Settles Sex-Bias Case, New York Times, July 11, 1986.
  8. ^ Public & Private; In Thin Air, by Anna Quindlen, New York Times, May 16, 1993.
  9. ^ Accord on Flight Attendants' Weight, New York Times, August 30, 1991.
  10. ^ a b Flight attendant history 10
  11. ^ "Evacuate, Evacuate, Evacuate"
  12. ^ Evacuation Commands for Optimal Passenger Management
  13. ^ Det gælder dit liv!
  14. ^ NTSB Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc., Flight 529
  15. ^ Am I alive?
  16. ^ Full NTSB Accident Report
  17. ^ NTSB Report
  18. ^ TWA Flight 843
  19. ^ Crew's training saved terror flight
  20. ^ Explosives scare forces down plane
  21. ^ Heroes foil Qantas hijack attack
  22. ^ '243' is horrific Aloha flight story

Flight Attendant Labor Unions:

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