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The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#31

Post by jbellis »

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.

And yet... there's an awful lot of Mac users on HN.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#32

Post by nck4222 »

krolley wrote: post #25
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.

It's more subtle than that. Studies have shown that babies prefer gazing at attractive faces rather than average faces.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3631018.stm

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#33

Post by yardie »

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.

The absence of labor and discrimination laws for one. A close second is customer service.

1. Flight attendants is a way for women to travel before assuming traditional domestic roles. Few of them plan to make a career of it and many see it as a way to meet well connected men. The last flight I took (BA) had a thai and japanese flight attendant. Both spoke many languages fluently and both worked for their national carriers at one point, Thai Airways and JAL. When they started getting too old (>40) they were both unceremoniously booted from the airline. They really enjoyed the time they worked there but were now starting from the bottom at another airline.

2. Customer service. US airlines have gotten much worse at it Asian airlines are doing an outstanding job. Take 200+ passengers that have had a relatively shitty experience of purchasing tickets, airport security, and delays. Now it's the job of 5-10 cabin crew to try and pacify them for the next 2-6 hours. It's a recipe for disaster for everyone involved.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#34

Post by jrockway »

kolektiv wrote: post #11
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 a…

There is simply no way such thing as a promotion at an airline. All privileges (pay, schedule selection) that are given to the pilots and flight attendants are based on hours-worked at that airline. There are no other rewards.

I'm not talking about hotness at all. Some employees, attractive or otherwise, are simply bad at their job. Some other employees, are really good at their job. The airlines would get better employees if they fired the bad ones and gave the good ones more money or a better schedule. That's all I'm saying.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#35

Post by jrockway »

nandemo wrote: post #16
minikomi wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'l…

I've always wondered about this, because I've been very surprised that people that can speak so many languages are serving me coffee on an airplane. But if the pay is better than sitting in an office and translating instruction manuals or whatever, then it makes perfect sense to me.

(FWIW, I've never been on an AA flight where all the flight attendants seemed to be able to speak a language other than English, but every flight attendant I've seen on Cathay or Dragonair has been able to speak English and probably Cantonese, Mandarin, and Japanese as well. I always found it very interesting that people even bother flying US-based airlines.)

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#36

Post by mseebach »

Corrado wrote: post #28
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.

> It needs something to make me want to get back on a plane.

For me it's getting to my desired destination quickly and without too much discomfort. If I want to have hot women serve me drinks, I'll go to a burlesque club.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#37

Post by jrockway »

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…

$533/hr with $532/hr paying for the fuel needed to carry the fuel. Longhaul flights are flying tankers with a few passengers aboard :)

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#38

Post by Hisoka »

I personally prefer the flight attendants to be cute, or pleasant to look at, mostly because I (as well as many others) sometimes get really scared at random times during a flight. Looking at these attendants for a moment gives me a more calming feeling than looking at someone who is not as attractive.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#39

Post by elliottcarlson »

jbellis wrote: post #31
officemonkey wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And yet... there's an awful lot of Mac users on HN.

The amount of jobs listed on HN that are geared toward Mac users is quite sad. Not that anyone is saying "Mac Only!" but, there have been quite a few posts that simply ignore that there are skilled developers using other platforms. When I've brought it up in the past it seemed that my opinion was quite unpopular though.

Ironically, I am the only developer at my job not on a Mac. Sure I get some jokes at times, but I am just as efficient as anyone else, and if I had made a switch to a Mac just to fit in, I wouldn't have been able to hit the ground running.

Re: The Declining Hotness of Flight Attendants

#40

Post by elliottcarlson »

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.

But keep in mind, the article is clearly outlining what was the mentality in the 70's - and mentions that one of the forces included outrage from feminist groups. The average business traveler in those days, and thus the most important clientele of an airline, were men - and catering to the "needs" of those men is what made them money.
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