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The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#21

Post by andrewcooke »

mseebach wrote: post #9

While the current "un-hotness" of flight attendants might be union driven, I'm fairly certain there's another dynamic that would kick in if unions go away: It's simply bad business to fire/not hire good employees because they don't live up to a certain aesthetic. As the first analysis notes, people probably aren't willing to pay much, if anything at all, for hotness, while competence might be valuable.

amazing as it may seem - it might be in the best interests of unions, airlines and society in general to have more stable, professional jobs.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#22

Post by brudgers »

mseebach wrote: post #9

While the current "un-hotness" of flight attendants might be union driven, I'm fairly certain there's another dynamic that would kick in if unions go away: It's simply bad business to fire/not hire good employees because they don't live up to a certain aesthetic. As the first analysis notes, people probably aren't willing to pay much, if anything at all, for hotness, while competence might be valuable.

Throw in greying American demographics, the majority of college graduates being women, an understanding of the costs associated with hiring and training personnel, and the work environment changing from Pacific Clippers to Cattle Cars and the change is unsurprising.

Oh, and don't forget the rise of the MILF meme.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#25

Post by krolley »

spodek wrote: post #20

"...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.

I don't understand. As a man, would I prefer to be served by a hot man or an ugly man. Honestly, I don't really care. I can't say the same thing for women, however.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#26

Post by airlineuser »

From talking to senior flight attendants about how things used to be in the old days, I think the blogger is correct that strong unions are the reason for this change in the composition of the flight attendant work force.

As to why you see younger attendants on short flights, that's because long flights are more desirable for senior flight attendants. The way the flight bidding system works, a senior fa can fulfill their monthly flying hours quota by working 8 days of trans-Pacific flights at the start or end of a month, leaving the rest of the month free.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#27

Post by officemonkey »

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.

I'm saying is "hotness" doesn't have a bearing on customer service.

I don't care if my cab driver, dry cleaner, and barrista are good looking. It's about as relevant as promoting programmers based on what kind of funny t-shirts they wear.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#28

Post by Corrado »

IanMikutel wrote: post #2

So who else thinks Richard Branson read this and sees opportunity for Virgin Air?

Branson is just the type of owner that could use employee attractiveness to differentiate his product from the others. As I see it now, the airline industry is in a sad shape, expensive, homogenous, and bland, not to mention treating their customers like criminals. It needs something to make me want to get back on a plane. Attractive attendants might do it.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#29

Post by hessenwolf »

officemonkey wrote: post #27
gaius wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm saying is "hotness" doesn't have a bearing on customer service. I don't care if my cab driver, dry cleaner, and barrista are good looking. It's about as relevant as promoting programmers based on what kind of funny t-shirts they wear.

"Hotness", is created, not given, and a committed customer service employee will perform at least the minimum self-maintenance to make them selves not unattractive.

I have never worked a customer service job where a neat appearance (or cool, if at a certain kind of place) was not necessary.

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