Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Galley Gossip: A question about why flight attendants are fat, old, grumpy, lazy and ugly
Dear Heather,
Here's another you hate to hear but I will say it anyway... Why is it that US domestic flight attendants are so much more fat, grumpy, lazy and uglier than their foreign counterparts? They are ALL drop dead gorgeous, smile and don't ask me for any money when I fly with them. Why is that?
Big Daddy
Dear Big Daddy,
Why am I not surprised that a question like this is coming from a person addressing himself as Big Daddy? Why is it that I shake my head as I read this question and wonder just how big Big Daddy is and whether or not Big Daddy is fatter, grumpier, lazier, or uglier than his foreign counterparts? Does Big Daddy not realize that flight attendants are people, too, and that a flight attendant has every right to grow older and get a little fatter and uglier as the years go by, and that a flight attendant can remain a flight attendant as long as he/she can perform the job? Doesn't big Daddy realize that flight attendants are allowed the same rights as passengers?
Perhaps Big Daddy doesn't know that the flight attendants working the US Airways flight that landed in the Hudson River last month were all senior flight attendants in their 50's. Does Big Daddy honestly believe that all of the passengers who were evacuated safely off that flight and onto the wings and into the slide / rafts in freezing temperature really cared whether or not their flight attendants had hips a tad bit bigger, or a belly slightly larger, or faces not quite as pretty as their foreign counterparts? What is it, Big Daddy, that brings out such backwards thinking in people? And what will become of our foreign counterparts when they, too, get older and fatter and uglier, Big Daddy?
Just a couple questions, Big Daddy - are you married? Do you have children? Run with a good group of friends? If so, do you judge them as lesser than if they're fatter and older than their foreign counterparts? So why are flight attendants any different?
As far as only experiencing grumpy flight attendants on board your flights, I only know what I know, and what I know is I always try to be kind and friendly with my passengers, always making small talk while serving drinks and doing whatever I can with what little is provided. Most of my passengers deplane with a smile on their face. I say most, not all, because one person can only do so much for 160 passengers (or more).
As far as lazy flight attendants go, there's only so much a flight attendant can do in this day and age of travel besides offer a drink and apologize because we don't have this and we don't have that to a full flight of miserably cramped passengers. I'm sorry the airlines have had to drastically change due to the weak economy. I'm sorry that I have to constantly say I'm sorry. And I'm sorry you feel the level of service and the looks of your attendant are inferior. I'm sorry, always sorry.
But at a time when companies are going under, my airline is still flying strong. I'm proud of that. Even if that means I have to ask you to pay for your headset, alcoholic beverage and snack. At a time when companies are cutting back, my airline has yet to lay off within the last few years. I'm proud of that. Even if that means there are no more pillows and peanuts and the average age of a flight attendant is forty years-old due to the fact that we haven't hired in years.
If all that matters to you, Big Daddy, when choosing an airline is a gorgeous flight attendant who smiles and doesn't ask you for money, than yes, our foreign counterparts are by far superior. I hope that answered your question. If you have another question email me at Skydoll123@yahoo.com.
Happy travels,
Heather Poole
Photos courtesy of (black and white flight attendant) Alexindigo, (flight attendants) praziquantel - flickr
Filed under: Galley Gossip
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
Mark Feb 17th 2009 8:40AM
Have come across quite a few "air mattresses" is my lifetime, LOL. Trust me, they are out there, ready, willing and able. That's why my friends always stay at the hotels where they know the flight attendants stay.
They aren't hard to find....................
JN Feb 16th 2009 4:34PM
I flew 212 times in 2008. I used to enjoy flying, it was fun. No more. Stewardesses are not solely to blame for this, and not all of them do their job with grudging attitudes. I found an exception on an Alaska Airlines flight in October LAX-SEA. Lovely girl, trim, great smile and attitude. She was not looked upon favorably by her peers on that 737, who were bloated, overly caked with make-up and wore stone faces to mask some dissatisfaction with their job. But this one girl made my day. She moved efficiently but still knew how to use her eyes to be friendly. Yes, it is flirting, what the hell do you think men want when they are stuck in a seat for hours? If you set the passenger at ease, they enjoy the flight and will return even if other people in the chain (reservations, agents, etc) screw up. But hey, if domestic airlines feel the purchasing power is no longer in the venue of male (and straight) fliers, then keep doing what you're doing now, because we have other options.
Pamela Feb 16th 2009 4:59PM
Just be nice and make me happy as a passenger please! I fly a lot and actually agree with both side for some parts. It is true that young attendants are perky, pretty, and very cheerful, but I would not mind the looks at all if I was getting decent service. I'm a femal traveler so a pretty F/A really does not matter, Please! However, quite a few of the flight attendants that I encounter (especially on the oh-so-easy night flights from the USA to Europe or the UK) are waaay too senior and waaaay too rude. Come on, at least pretend to be nice to me, I'll be asleep by 10PM and I am flying business class here! They do seem to make the job seem like such a chore and really try to ignore me (over a million miles) and my four year old too (*who has 95,000 air miles!) who, by the way is also impeccably behaved. Flying has always been something I look forward to. I use my "applause" coupons for good service, but lately I am sad to report I been using these customer service recognition coupons as a bribe for half decent service.
cpv Feb 16th 2009 6:17PM
WOW this is the first time I have read your stuff.
Now because of you extremely defensive answer to a real question I don't know what to think.
I have to say as fact, the USA carriers are filled with older Grumpy Flight attendants who don't really want to be there.
Just a Fact. when I fly Smaller airlines in the USA who are newer, the fact is that their Group is much more friendly.
Maybe if you don't like people, or their questions/ comments, however mundane you just quit and find something that you can enjoy. GET a job where you don't come across as pissed off. I now live in Europe and I can as FACT say they have a friendlier bunch of Flight Attendants.
JUST A FACT.
M Feb 18th 2009 1:36PM
Heather,
I am going to assume that you are a well put together FA when I ask this question...Can you honestly say that you have never been embarrassed to walk through the terminal with any of your flying partners?
You know the ones. They don't starch their shirts--or worse, they wear "the dress" because they think it doesn't need to be ironed (even on a 4 day). If they wear a jacket, the elbows are shiney from wear. The shoes have never seen a bottle of polish and they have "cart toe" so bad you're not even sure what the original color was.
Her hair is probably halfway down her back and in desperate need of a comb--or perhaps she's sporting the "cheerleader" ponytail (complete with whispies) that is just oh-so professional.
And don't even get me started on the ones with the skirt up to THERE and the 4 inch jumpseat heels.
Be assured, I am far from the 115 lb petite beauties of yesteryear. Honestly, I am short and pudgy--but my uniform is always clean and pressed (even on reduced rest layovers), my hair and make-up (the minimum amount) are clean and tidy. My shoes are clean and polished. (I usually block between 100 and 120 hours per month doing domestic--so there's a lot of mileage on me, but I keep it together.)
It doesn't take that much effort to look professional--and I think that is really what this whole discussion comes down to.
It’s not about being attractive (except maybe to Big “tiny Penis” Daddy)--many of our fellow US based FAs give the appearance of being haggard and tired and...well, unprofessional.
I recently worked a trip with an FA who was a damned good FA--exactly the person you want in the jumpseat with you in an emergency. However, she was an unholy mess in the appearance department--wrinkled dress, ladder in her hose (for 2 days!), scuffed shoes, fly-away hair.
I couldn't figure out why I was so run-down on this trip until I realized--the PAX asked me for EVERYTHING! She would go through w/ the trash cart and a minute later I'd walk the aisle empty handed and everyone would try to hand me their trash.
She would be doing a water walk and PAX would wander back to the galley to get water from me.
She is an amazingly warm and outgoing person, but to the PAX she was unapproachable and did not convey confidence—just because of her appearance.
Former FA Feb 23rd 2009 11:04AM
I agree with Big Daddy and I am a married woman. If I am going to be stuck in a tube for a minimum of 3+ hours on a plane I want something good to look at. I think the old, Pan-Am style days of flying were the best ever and people take flying for granted now-a-days. I love getting on a plane and seeing a nice, in-shape, young, pretty crew as opposed to an old, out-of-shape, grumpy crew. If I were to start an airline here in the U.S. I would make sure to hire young and friendly and in-shape flight attendants and I am sure a lot of people would chose to fly my airline as opposed to delta or united or continental. Also, the thing about getting old and gaining weight, you can take good care of yourself and workout and remain healthy to not only look good but be healthier in general and I hate seeing fat flight attendants because isn't that also a safety issue? If there is a fat flight attendant sitting in the jumpseat and something happens and she passes out or dies on the jumpseat, she would block the exit. How is the other flight attendant supposed to evacute the plane? Gotta think about these things...
Kay Feb 24th 2009 9:50AM
Last I knew, Flight Attendants are not there to be your "eye candy". They are there for a number of reasons, your safety being a big one.If you really care about what size your FA is, ou might be looking for a strip club, instead.
Cliff Mar 4th 2009 6:37PM
I fly short hauls on the West Coast and SFO-NRT several times a year, usually on a US Flag carrier. Yes, the F/A's on the long haul are older--they have the seniority to bid the trip, but: no, they are not "grumpier." Certainly no worse than others in service industries. How many "grumpy" waiters have you had? The older F/A's are experienced, as Sully said several times when pointing to his colleagues: that dude did a great job, but without 100 % crew support there would have been loss of life.
I've had friendly conversations on the long hauls, extra treats from the galley, and generally, as good a time as one could have in a 10 to 12 hour flight. Its kind of a golden rule thing: if you treat others as humans, not mindless servants, they will respond. Perhaps a good life lesson for Big Daddy and his ilk. (On the long hauls I usually bring a little snack gift and drop it off in the galley. It shows that someone in cattle class appreciates the hard work pushing trolleys and putting up with the likes of Big Daddy.)
Mike Mar 23rd 2009 8:47PM
I hate to break it to all these people who just got there ego's hurt who just realized F/As weren't their to cater to their every need, but F/As are there primarily for safety. Believe me, if the FAA allowed it, F/As would have been axed from the majority of flights years ago. Sure, some of you may have sat in an exit row although I'm almost positive that you would panic and have no idea what to do in the 1 in 100,000 event an emergency actually happened. Sure, you could pull the handle, you could probably open the exit too. But being an F/A during an emergency is about a lot more than opening a door, its risking your life for your passengers. F/As don't leave the aircraft until everyone is off. Even if its on fire, filled with fuel and smoke. Sure, life threatening emergencies are rare. No F/A is going to argue with that. But F/As help out in all sorts of circumstances that don't make the news. F/As in the past ten years, stayed extremely calm as suicide hijackers plowed their planes into the side of the WTC, prevented a suicide bomber from detonating a bomb, evacuated dozens of aircraft, and given medical help to thousands of people. Can you say that about your profession? Your at 35,000FT, anything that goes wrong is the F/As responsibility, thus the reason Amy Sweeney and Betty Ong weren't still baking cookies and serving drinks as their plane plowed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Did those two heroic F/As save any lives that day? No. But they provided extremely vital information to those on the ground and did the best anyone could have. The days of "I'm Suzie, come fly me" are gone. F/As like it or not are no longer servers, there the last line of defense against another 9/11 and are 911 at 36,000 feet. If you don't like this, go fly on a private jet. If you don't like the surly and grumpy F/As go fly SQ. But in the 1 and 100,000 chance your plane bursts into a fireball i'd much rather have an AA F/A than an SQ F/A on my flight. At least the AA crew wouldn't go running and screaming like the SQ006 crew did.
Lucila Apr 21st 2009 2:56PM
Heather,
I've been reading your blog for a while now and based on your posts and pictures, I've come to the conclusion that we work for the same airline. I'm not a flight attendant, but I admire your work and all that you do. I could not have your job and by the end of my comment you will see why. I just had to leave a comment on this post. I have two things to say to Big Daddy: 1) I like his foreign counterparts much better than I like him even if they are more fat, grumpy, lazy and uglier than him; 2) He is lucky that I was not the one answering his question because I would have answered with as much class as you did, IF I answered it at all, which brings me to tell you Heather that you absolutely ROCK. I am proud of the airline that I work for for all the reasons that you mentioned plus some and I am proud that I work for the same airline as you and that one of these days I just might be in your flight. :o)
Lucila Apr 21st 2009 3:19PM
Heather, I've been reading your blog for a while now and based on your posts and pictures I've come to the conclusion that we work for the same airline. I'm not a flight attendant, but I admire your work and all that you do. I could not have your job and by the end of my comment you will see why. I had to leave a comment on this post. I have two things to say to Big Daddy: 1) I like his foreign counterparts much better than I like him even if they are more fat, grumpy, lazy and uglier than him. I fly abroad a lot, so I know what I'm talking about; 2) He is lucky that I was not the one answering his question because I could not have answered with as much class as you did, IF I answered it at all. Not because I don't have class, but because he doesn't deserve one ounce of my class, which brings me to tell you, Heather, that you absolutely ROCK. I am proud of the airline that we work for for all the reasons that you mentioned plus some and because of people like you. One of these days I just might be on your flight. :o)