The Legacy of the Flight Attendant

Welcome to all those people who found us through the recent Middle Seat Terminal blog post. It is always nice when we notice that professional journalists are reading our efforts, and certainly it inspires us to post more.

In writing about the early jet days, which admittedly are before our time, there were other aspects that were rattling about in our minds. We’ve been pondering the legacy of the flight attendant. As recent events on US Airways flight 1549(and to those newscasters who called it United Airways, be a bit more diligent) prove, a competent and well-trained flight attendant can be the difference between life and death just as much as a pilot can.

We ask a lot of our flight attendants. When we see a flight attendant, it is usually in the performance of their least important duties…serving beverages and such. The majority of their duties are safety-related. They perform a pre-flight safety check on the plane to ensure all safety equipment such as life vests are available and periodic checks during the flight. They must be trained in first aid to assist in medical emergencies. They must be ready to direct passengers in an evacuation.

Most importantly, in a post-9/11 environment, they are expected to police the cabin.

Flight attendants, or stewardesses, were a concept pioneered by Ellen Church in 1930, when she convinced Boeing Air Transport to create the stewardess position for registered nurses. The initial medical training indicates that even thus early on in aviation, having expert assistance onboard was considered significant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKiVCkE0dDw

The Braniff Air Strip

People often speak of the glory days of air travel. It was during this period that the stewardess, or the air hostess, began to be sold as a service. To appeal to male passengers, among other things, these professionals were subjected to strict regulations. They had to be single, of a certain weight, age, and appearance. Despite being professionals, they were expected to be part of the airline sales pitch in a way that shocks us today, such as the classic Braniff Air Strip, pictured here.

Or perhaps an upstart competitor to Braniff…Southwest Airlines, and this classic ad?

1972 Southwest Ad

As those days are long gone, it is worthy to spend a few moments thinking of how flying was once glamorous, not only for the passengers but for the people who worked for the airline. Sadly, harder work schedules and cuts have taken some of the romance out of flying for the passengers and the crew. But we must never fail to appreciate the importance of the ever-increasing duties we are asking of these individuals. In the 70s, a flight attendant was expected to act as a hostess, now they are expected to act on the offensive in the event of an attack, giving them a bit of a law enforcement feel to them.

It is this increased duty that has led to a great deal of strain lately, as the LA Times reported last week on how the Patriot Act has redefined the act of being disruptive on a plane as not only a federal felony, but an act of terrorism. So, even though the flight attendants are not booking and charging people, they are subduing them and turning them over to law enforcement when the plane lands for judgement that can include probation and/or jail time. Two hundred such incidents have been reported since data recording began in 2003. and only one of them was indisputably an act of terrorism, that of Richard Reid the Shoe Bomber.

With all this, from nurse, to sex object, to sky marshall through the age of air travel, it is worth taking a moment to consider not only how we see flight attendants, but how they themselves might see their roles evolving in the future.

For more on the past, check out the blog of an American Airlines 707 Stewardess. There is a lot of great material there from one of the AA Stewardess who was on their first jet flight and many more. Lots of nice memories and pictures.

We will have more on the past. He who fails to learn the lessons of history is doomed to repeat them…And we get a kick out of finding old airline commercials on Youtube.

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