Many people dream about becoming a flight attendant for a major airline. But, it’s a difficult and lengthy undertaking as airlines can take anywhere from three to six months to get through the hiring process and that's if your resume makes it through the initial cut. The competition is intense with an estimated one to one and a half million applications for every 5 to 10 thousand available positions. To put it another way, each year, more than 100,000 people apply to be a flight attendant for Delta Air Lines but less than 1 percent get the job. That means it’s harder to join a Delta flight crew than it is to get into Harvard, which accepted 4.6 percent of applicants in 2022. If you make the cut, you soon learn that flight attendants are onboard primarily for the safety and well-being of passengers, as well as one another, with service taking second place. Flight attendants may work for an airline, on a private aircraft or sometimes even in the military. The title is thought to have come from the maritime world and these roots are still seen today in the airline career ladder in roles such as “purser” and “chief steward.” But, where did it all begin?
The world’s first flight attendant was reportedly Heinrich Kubis, who started working on a German Zeppelin in 1912. He was a professional waiter who had worked in luxury hotels around the world and progressed to working on the infamous Hindenburg airship which exploded over Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1937. He oversaw the waiters and chefs and was working when the disaster occurred. Kubis assisted passengers down from the dining area and helped some in jumping to safety. Luckily, he escaped the tragedy without injury. In the 1920s, Imperial Airways in the United Kingdom started to recruit “cabin boys” who could load luggage and reassure the passengers that this new mode of travel was safe.
Towards the close of the decade in 1929, Pan American World Airways became the first airline to employ “stewards” whose job it was to serve food. A predecessor of United Airlines called Boeing Air Transport (BAT) worked with registered nurse Ellen Church in 1930 to devise a program whereby nurses were hired for three months at a time to travel onboard the airplanes and look after the passengers, quelling their fear of flying. The stewardesses, or "sky girls" as BAT called them, had to be registered nurses, "single, younger than 25 years old; weigh less than 115 pounds and stand less than 5 feet, 4 inches tall.” The innovation was a resounding success and other airlines followed BAT's example over the next several years.
Through the 1950s and 60s, being a stewardess was seen as a desirable occupation for a young women, although the restrictions continued. Only young, unmarried females were accepted into the training programs and overall appearance was very important. If you wanted to get married, they had to resign and the women “retired” by the age of 35. Their uniforms were form fitting and often included hats, high heels and white gloves, so a distinctive and glamorous reputation was always perceived by the flying public. In fact, PanAm didn’t permit any changes to hair style or hair color without permission, and every six months stewardesses went to their local head office for weigh-ins. If they were over the range dictated for their height, they got a written warning and were told to report on a monthly basis for weight checks.
When the 1970s rolled around, fashions changed with the times and draconian rules were dropped. Though social change was taking place on the streets, business was still thought to be a man's world. Stewardesses in futuristic, mod and even risqué attire were a marketing ploy, as the price of airline tickets was not set by the individual airline, but by the government. If the ticket was the same price for any airline, how was a brand to gain a competitive advantage? We saw skimpy hot pants and knee high boots as the standard uniform for startup carrier Southwest Airlines. Things changed yet again mid decade with the rise of unions and the push for equal rights. Men started to join the ranks as “stewards” and before long, the designation flight attendant came into common usage. The uniforms settled down as well.
Flight attendants’ appearance and image are still very important factors for most airlines, but several have adopted gender fluidity into their employment practices. In 2022, Alaska Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways made headlines by allowing all flight crew members to wear whichever uniform they wished, regardless of gender, and introduced badges which indicate preferred pronouns. In an announcement made in late March, Alaska claimed, “With these changes, fingernail polish, makeup, two earrings per ear, and a single stud nose piercing are expression options available to all employees. We’ve also updated our grooming policies to allow tattoos in more locations, more hair style options and are adjusting the names of our uniform kits to be focused on fit vs. gender identifications.” Virgin has also become one of the few global air carriers to now allow its flight attendants to display their tattoos, in a move the company says will allow workers to “express their unique identities.”
Travel has changed significantly since Heinrich Kubis took to the skies in 1912. The terrorist attacks of September 11 heightened awareness and had a profound impact on flight crews. Eight pilots and 25 flight attendants were working the four flights that were hijacked and flight attendant training is still affected by those events. There are new procedures, including notifications to crews for when a pilot exits the flight deck to use the lavatory. Flight attendants are also more dispersed throughout the cabin during boarding. The onset of the pandemic in 2020 and the virtual collapse of air travel created additional problems with many flight attendants opting for early retirement or accepting buy-outs offered by airlines wanting to trim their labor expenses. Disruptive and abusive passenger incidents threatening safety and security have risen remarkably in recent years, placing flight attendants on the front lines facing passengers often under the influence of alcohol or drugs. And now, we are experiencing travel chaos following a surge of people wanting to travel while airlines still struggle with limited capacity, adding further to the challenges faced by cabin crews.
No doubt, there will be difficult times ahead and no-one can predict what the future holds, but one thing is certain: the role of the flight attendant will continue to evolve.
Until next time…safe travels.
I was going to suggest the reintroduction of hot pants and knee length boots - but knowing our luck it would be a heavily tattooed bloke wearing them!