Remember back in the day when flying was fun?
Posted on 12/01/2010 11:31:44 AM PST by null and void
Delta Air Lines is having what might possibly be the most-popular job search in a long time
But getting there isn't so enjoyable. First trainees have to sit through a flight simulator where the airplane cabin shakes, rattles and feels like it is falling from the sky. You can feel your stomach in your throat. Then alarms go off, smoke fills the cabin and a computerized voice tells everybody to evacuate.
There are also informal training sessions on such things as how to find housing. Most flight attendants either commute to their base airport or spend a few nights in cramped communal apartments, given the unfortunate name "crash pads." Hint, start out at CrashPads.com
All this for a job where passengers are often rude, hours can be unpredictable and the starting salary is in the upper $20,000s. But flight attendants say they wouldn't trade it in for any other job.
Speaking a foreign language is not a requirement for the job, but it sure helps.
"Twenty years ago, when I got hired, a language was not a necessity," Leonard said. "Is it a plus today? Absolutely. Look at everywhere around the world we go."
The real key to getting to wear the Delta uniform is personality.
"It's not about serving peanuts and Cokes, It's about making sure that the flight experience for any customer -- from point A to point B -- is one that engages them to the point where they will say: 'I want to fly Delta again.'"
Delta flight attendants have an average of 20 years of working for the company. So, when hiring, the airline is being picky. Besides, these are the people who spend the most time with passengers and are essentially the public face of Delta.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
ping
I hope the airlines can weed out the ugly and fat stewardesses.
...and the foul-mouthed gay ones too.
With twenty years average experience I would say it is the norm. ;-)
I just was on Delta this morning. One of the Flight attendants was so large she barely squeezed down the aisle. The other one was really old and I could barely understand what she was saying into the microphone, though no one listens to the important safety information they share anyway.
My wife and I traveled this summer on a flight that was codeshared, Air France/Delta. On the Delta leg, the flight attendants may have all been older than jet travel itself, and those were the ones that weren't gay men. The Air France flight seemed to have been staffed with supermodels. The difference was simply amazing.
Also, the Delta crew looked like they slept in their uniforms. The AF crew looked like animated clothing advertisement.
Perhaps in this country. The Philippines do things a little differently. It's SHOWTIME!
Holy smokes, that's old! lol
sounds like my bathroom on turkey day.
Hey all,
Mrs. toast is a Delta flight attendant and I believe the commenters are generalizing a bit too much with the old, fat, and ugly statements.
Trust me, there are also a few hot babes mixed among the frumps.
I remember flying on my first jetliner in 1959. It was a Boeing 707 out Idlewild(recall that?). It was Pan Am flight to the Bahamas. The stewardesses were dressed in Christian Dior outfits, and the women themselves were as lovely as their outfits. The plane was clean as a whistle, everyone was dressed to the 9s(even me - I was 10 years old), and soothing music was piped through the aircraft as passengers boarded.
Now we have cattle calls for boarding; no food of note; and funny looking and unkempt attendants.
Now that’s progress!
-Rex
Does this mean they will open up routes to Scotland again? My neighbor is a Delta pilot and when he would fly to Scotland he would get me a bottle of the finest Scotch in the world.....Mortlach....
I am runnin low
Did I really say that???
I convinced my kids that the smoke alarm was a dinner bell.
If my recent Thanksgiving flying is any indication all of those new flight attendants will either be old enough to remember VJ day, fat enough that they would have to buy 2 tickets if they sat in coach, or so flaming that you feared the entire plane would catch on fire.
Remember back in the day when flying was fun?
Damn right it isn't. When's the last time airlines served peanuts?
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