From international travel to discounted plane tickets and snazzy uniforms, life as a flight attendant might look pretty appealing.
But while it might appear as though they live the high life, there’s another side to a career as cabin crew.
Jane Hawkes, a former flight attendant, has lifted the lid on the reality of the job in an exclusive interview with MailOnline Travel. The consumer expert and blogger (ladyjaney.co.uk) also reveals why she found business class passengers to be the most demanding group of travellers.
‘Everyone thinks it’s glamorous, don’t they?’ says Jane. ‘But the industry has changed an awful lot. It used to be silver service. Now you’re going down the aisle with a bin, putting everyone’s rubbish in it, picking up sick bags.’
And as the plane’s crew aren’t often able to do a full clean in between a tight and demanding schedule, Jane says: ‘You’re very much aware of how disgusting the aircraft is. I never ever go anywhere without my antiseptic wipes.’
With antisocial behaviour in the air on the rise, flight attendants are also often on the front line. Jane reveals: ‘I think people end up with different personalities and as different people [when they fly]. Something happens to people when they go through an airport, where little things become massive things.
‘People do explode. And to be able to defuse situations like that can be quite difficult, and you have to do restraint training. I didn’t have [to do it for real] but if someone is being a disruptive passenger you are within your rights to restrain them.’
Crew are also trained to handle a whole range of emergencies, but passengers often don’t appreciate the challenges of the role, adds Jane.
Jane Hawkes, a former flight attendant, has lifted the lid on the reality of the job in an exclusive interview with MailOnline Travel
‘I think people see air crew and cabin crew as being glorified waitresses in the sky,’ she claims. ‘But it’s so much more than that, because you are judge, jury, police and medic. Flight attendants are there primarily for your safety.
‘I think we all need to remind ourselves of that and listen to the crew because they don’t perhaps get the same respect as if the captain came down to talk to someone.’
And as surprising as it might sound, it’s business class passengers that get the red card for bad behaviour from Jane.
She reveals: ‘Business passengers are sometimes the worst because a lot of them have companies paying for it. They just want everything, left, right and centre. They want everything they can possibly have from that experience. A bit like going to an all-inclusive and just devouring everything.
‘First class passengers pay for a certain standard. They’ve got the privacy. They’re not paying for the service, they’re paying for privacy. So they might not even eat anything.
‘Then economy passengers can be quite fun because sometimes they’re going on an adventure, visiting people and they have stories to tell.’
Although you might assume that flight attendants fly with the same group all the time, Jane explains that your plane’s crew might not have ever met before.
She says: ‘Often you don’t know anybody. You get a briefing before you go on a flight and by the end of the flight, you’re pretty much bosom buddies, believe it or not.
And as surprising as it might sound, it’s business class passengers that get the red card for bad behaviour from Jane (stock photo)
Although you might assume that flight attendants fly with the same group all the time, Jane explains that your plane’s crew might not have ever met before.
‘Once crew, always crew. You need to gel very quickly because you have to work as a team.’
And while short-haul cabin crew also face early starts and long hours, it’s long-haul attendants who have the toughest deal, says Jane.
‘I was short haul and I always say short haul is a job, but long haul it’s your lifestyle,’ explains Jane. ‘Everything revolves around that long haul because you’ll come back jet lagged.
‘And actually as the years have progressed, the trips have changed because you don’t get as much time down the road. Going from east to west is horrendous. Your body clock is stuffed.
‘It’s very different from the glory days of crew jollies. People don’t have as much time. The hotels used to be better. Cutbacks have come in. It can be lonely, you can end up on your own for quite long periods of time if there aren’t any opportunities to meet up with other crew.
‘If some of your fellow crew have brought someone with them on the trip (a staff travel «clingon») or they have relatives or friends at the layover destination, they may not be staying at the hotel and other crew might not have anyone to chum up with for dinner.’
But while life in the skies might not be quite the glamorous lifestyle that people think it is, Jane reveals that there is one fantastic upside.
‘Being crew means you get to meet lots of lovely people across the world and make lifelong friends. There’s no other job like it.’
