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The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#11

Post by kolektiv »

jrockway wrote: post #8

Incidentally, can anyone else believe that the American airlines let these unions happen to them? They can't even promote employees for good performance anymore; there is only one criteria that employees are evaluated on, and that's time in that job at that airline. Change jobs and you're back at the bottom. Change airlines, and you're at the bottom. The end result is that the flight attendants that choose the "best"…

I don't want to fall in to a Reddit like trap of [citation needed] as a reply, but what in this article leads you to believe that airlines can no longer promote employees for good performance?

I don't know if you're saying it's a bad thing that airlines can no longer fire the recently un-hot, I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume no. Do you think that the service being better on the airlines you mention has any real link with hotness, or just incidental correlation?

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#12

Post by officemonkey »

jrockway wrote: post #8

Incidentally, can anyone else believe that the American airlines let these unions happen to them? They can't even promote employees for good performance anymore; there is only one criteria that employees are evaluated on, and that's time in that job at that airline. Change jobs and you're back at the bottom. Change airlines, and you're at the bottom. The end result is that the flight attendants that choose the "best"…

I think you're conflating "poor service" with "declining hotness".

In fact, I think the original article is pretty sad. Does anyone really care if their stewardess is hot? I don't. I just want them to hand me a can of diet coke, a napkin, a cup and some ice.

>$10,000 for a flight to Singapore on Cathay Pacific, it was worth every penny.

Also, $10,000 ÷ 17 hours (SF to Singapore) = $533/hr. For that kind of money, the hostesses better be hot, naked, and willing to give a happy ending.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#13

Post by minikomi »

jimbobob wrote: post #4

I would be interested to see what makes the Asian airlines different... it seems as though flight attendants there are usually younger and quite attractive.

I used to teach English in a stewardess school in Tokyo. It is a VERY sought after position for young ladies just out of high school or short-term language school. Competition is so fierce, they even teach them how to do their make-up, part their hair, tie their scarf and ENTER THE ROOM and BOW depending on which airline they are applying for.

I'd guess it's: competition due to being seen as a glamorous job leading to a stream of young, attractive new recruits + it not meeting such expectations + (at least in Japan) girls wanting to get married by 25 and, having English under their belt and a "desirable" job, achieving this goal and stepping down to be a salaryman's wife rather than staying on until they're "less hot".

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#15

Post by gaius »

officemonkey wrote: post #12
jrockway wrote: post #8

Incidentally, can anyone else believe that the American airlines let these unions happen to them? They can't even promote employees for good performance anymore; there is only one criteria that employees are evaluated on, and that's time in that job at that airline. Change jobs and you're back at the bottom. Change airlines, and you're at the bottom. The end result is that the flight attendants that choose the "best"…

I think you're conflating "poor service" with "declining hotness". In fact, I think the original article is pretty sad. Does anyone really care if their stewardess is hot? I don't. I just want them to hand me a can of diet coke, a napkin, a cup and some ice. >$10,000 for a flight to Singapore on Cathay Pacific, it was worth every penny. Also, $10,000 ÷ 17 hours (SF to Singapore) = $533/hr. For that kind of money, the…

No, it's a proxy indicator. A 50-year-old can be hot if she takes care of herself (TV is full of people like this these days, hell the streets are too). Just as they have stopped caring about their appearances, they have stopped caring about customer service. If you doubt this, just try flying United long-haul.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#16

Post by nandemo »

minikomi wrote: post #13
jimbobob wrote: post #4

I would be interested to see what makes the Asian airlines different... it seems as though flight attendants there are usually younger and quite attractive.

I used to teach English in a stewardess school in Tokyo. It is a VERY sought after position for young ladies just out of high school or short-term language school. Competition is so fierce, they even teach them how to do their make-up, part their hair, tie their scarf and ENTER THE ROOM and BOW depending on which airline they are applying for. I'd guess it's: competition due to being seen as a glamorous job leading t…

It's not only a glamorous job, it's a very well-paid job in comparison to the average OL ("office lady"). In fact, the average stewardess annual salary is higher than the average (male) salaryman's.

So I doubt that the average stewardess is the type that is desperate to get married by 25 (which would likely imply marrying a guy who makes less than her!), though you have a point in that when they do get married they'll most likely retire.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#18

Post by nandemo »

jrockway wrote: post #8

Incidentally, can anyone else believe that the American airlines let these unions happen to them? They can't even promote employees for good performance anymore; there is only one criteria that employees are evaluated on, and that's time in that job at that airline. Change jobs and you're back at the bottom. Change airlines, and you're at the bottom. The end result is that the flight attendants that choose the "best"…

> (...) are the ones that care least about their job: they're at the top and they don't need to do a good job to stay there.

I don't know exactly how Japanese airlines work, but the system you describe (seniority) is pretty much standard in Japanese big corps, even without unions.

While that leads to extremely sad things inside the corporations (shudder), customer service doesn't usually suffer due to it. The high school kids working at my local convenience store displays a higher and more consistent level of service than the average stewardess in a North American airline.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#19

Post by artmageddon »

gaius wrote: post #15
officemonkey wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're conflating "poor service" with "declining hotness". In fact, I think the original article is pretty sad. Does anyone really care if their stewardess is hot? I don't. I just want them to hand me a can of diet coke, a napkin, a cup and some ice. >$10,000 for a flight to Singapore on Cathay Pacific, it was worth every penny. Also, $10,000 ÷ 17 hours (SF to Singapore) = $533/hr. For that kind of money, the…

No, it's a proxy indicator. A 50-year-old can be hot if she takes care of herself (TV is full of people like this these days, hell the streets are too). Just as they have stopped caring about their appearances, they have stopped caring about customer service. If you doubt this, just try flying United long-haul.

TV is full of people like this thanks to the wonders of modern plastic surgery and botox, and Photoshop in the magazines.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#20

Post by spodek »

"...as much as male customers might have enjoyed the eye candy..."

Statements like this, in the article, annoy me. Men aren't the only sex that prefers looking at attractive women to unattractive women. Men and women may have different motivations for our preferences of whom to look at, but we all have the preference.

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