Tag Archives for flight attendant.
Ellen Church was a pilot and a nurse. She sought a pilot job with United Airlines (then Boeing Air Transport) but got nowhere. Then she suggested the airline hire traveling nurses, helping to ease the fear of flying people had so early on in aviation.
She was hired in 1930 as head stewardess and she then hired seven other women on a three month trial basis. They formed the ‘original eight’ of what would become flight attendants.
Most coverage has been about passengers – being afraid to fly, not allowed to fly by their companies, being advised to avoid risk. The President of the United States is advising against discretionary travel that is still mostly permitted. Yet day in and day out airline crew continue to show up at airports, get on planes, and interact with passengers. They’ve continued to work flights to Europe and Asia that many passengers have been unwilling to take.
United Airlines is cracking down on flight attendants posting photos of themselves online posing inside of overhead bins, known as the “Overhead Bin Challenge.”
It’s understandable that an airline wouldn’t want to have to take a maintenance delay if an overhead bin was damaged. And HR is certainly going to prefer to tell employees not to do it – it’s harder to sue the airline for an injury that way. On the other hand, heaven forbid a United Airlines flight attendant look like they’re having fun at their job… Last summer Southwest Airlines, for their part, backed up their flight attendant’s “brief moment of fun.”
She says that her seniority meant she was earning $250,000 a year as a flight attendant and that Delta just wanted to replace her with someone cheaper and younger and she says “her bosses dismissed her for taking a carton of milk off a plane after her line manager gave her permission.”
Reportedly her termination was for “improperly pa[ying] a co-worker to work her position and later fail[ing] to work at her designated position on a different flight. She was also accused of stealing aircraft items for personal use and spiking her coffee with alcohol during a flight.”
Deregulation has meant more people have access to the skies thanks to lower prices (the government used to mandate high prices most people couldn’t afford). Flying has become more small-d democratic. Without government protection for airlines wages haven’t grown.
Working as a pilot was once glamorous, but the relative status of pilots has fared (somewhat) better than flight attendants. Some of the same effects have influenced the way we regard pilots today versus 40 years ago, although there are additional factors that have made serving as a flight attendant fall in status even more than flying up front.
There are a few aviation photos that are considered trophies. Photo sitting inside an engine?
Check. Photo sitting in the cockpit? Check.
On Monday a Southwest Airlines flight attendant greeted passengers boarding a Nashville – Atlanta flight from inside an overhead bin.
According to the passenger the family was filming the flight attendant because they found her rude on the plane.
Apparently the mother in the family had fallen ill and sought direction on “properly dispos[ing] of her throw up” and the family claims that the flight attendant responded “oh please I’ve been dealing with you people for 30 years.” They also claim the flight attendant followed up on her threat with customs staff.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
On Sunday, June 16 an ALK Airlines flight VBB-7205 from Pristina in Kosovo to Basel Mulhouse near the shared border point of France, Germany, and Switzerland provided even greater flight than promised when passengers booked their itinerary.
Video filmed by a passenger shows a flight attendant “flying up toward the ceiling of the aircraft, along with the drink cart, which spills over several passengers. One of the soaked travelers can also be seen praying immediately after the cart comes crashing down.”
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
