Talk:Flight attendant

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Stewardess vs Flight attendant[edit]

Isn't "stewardess" British English and "flight attendant" American? --Menchi 14:33 29 Jun 2003 (UTC)

They used to be called stewardesses in America. In the '70s it was decided to adopt a gender-neutral term and they became "flight attendants", but many Americans who learned the term before that time still call them stewardesses. I've never heard anyone call a male in that line of work a steward, although certainly that term has long been used for their counterparts aboard passenger ships. What they call them in Britain I cannot say. Michael Hardy 00:17, 15 Aug 2003 (UTC)

No, it's not BE vs AE, although it seems the term has been dying a slower death in Britain. It was still oficially used by British Airways until about 10 years ago (insiders please correct me), and for example Virgin Trains introduced "stewardess service" in 1998 or so. It seems there are still a lot of people on both sides of the Atlantic who don't think (or realize, if you prefer) the term is sexist or obsolete. --ProhibitOnions 04:51, 2005 Jun 22 (UTC)

I think they also use Cabin Crew. The Missing Piece 11:05, 4 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There is nothing "sexist" about using the term. People need to get an education and understand that just because a word denotes gender it is not sexist - that's just being childish and silly. --IceHunter (talk) 19:13, 10 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You're correct, but not politically correct. 155.213.224.59 (talk) 17:16, 25 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]
For safety reasons and just for clarity some industry commentators are returning to using the term "Steward/Stewardess" because it is more accurate. "Flight attendant" sounds too much like somebody who has some technical expertise in the actual FLIGHT OPERATIONS of the aircraft which should never be applied to someone who is basically serving as a cabin hostess. "Cabin Attendant" would be an acceptable term, but has been mostly rejected because it reminds people of 'cabin boy' on a ship.... which was basically a steward who had no function in the actual sailing or operation of the vessel. Sadly some hostesses are very offended by the use of 'stewardess' and have likened it to a pejorative for a person who's job significantly involves serving beverages and magazines along with keeping the aircraft cabin tidy and organized. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.150.249.19 (talk) 20:46, 5 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Update 2023: The word is still not sexist. 2A02:908:DF51:ABA0:4C7D:98EA:AE4F:4E44 (talk) 14:23, 15 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

relation to biology[edit]

what's the relation of biology to a flight attendant? or how's the knowledge about biology applied in this kind of job?

Question about NLRB ruling[edit]

Somebody asked this inline in the article: "When did that ruling happen?" Samaritan 06:46, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I'm Kristin, fly me?[edit]

OK, what airline was it? I recall the tagline, too; unless you can name the line, perhaps it should be removed... Trekphiler 12:32, 2 December 2005 (UTC) The Airline was National Airlines, which was later bought/merged into Pan Am.[reply]

Answer[edit]

National Airlines--24.234.90.226 (talk) 21:06, 17 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Coining of word "stewardess"[edit]

I'm afraid the word "stewardess" predates flight by many years. Female stewards aboard liners were called stewardesses before Ellen Church was born. The RMS Titanic had at least twenty stewardesses who were called such. They're even referred to as such in Archibald Gracie's 1912 book "The Truth about the Titanic". --Charlene 18:49, 26 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Time of training[edit]

I have a concern about the Training information... The text says it takes about 6 weeks. I believe it is in the US, but the time it takes depends a lot on the country we are.

I am a flight attendant myself, and where I live (Brazil), we must accomplish a 4 months course, pass a written exam, to start sending resumés. After hired, we have a 2 month training in the company. So in here it is 6 months training. (Not counting the training inflight)

I think we should change the text to be more "world wide correct". Marlon Braga 15:40, 11 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

there is no standard for how long the training needs to be in the us. just what information needs to be taught and how many hours need to be spent. for southwest, i trained for 4 weeks and 2 days. its longer for different airlines

No more stewardesses?[edit]

The term hasn't been commonly used since the 1960s, thanks to numerous legal battles with taking flight attendants seriously. It is an insulting, belitting term. Get with a plan, doofus. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.100.59.249 (talk) 04:19, 27 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The article says flight attendants are 'formerly known as stewardesses', not 'also known as'. Is the word 'stewardess' no longer English then? Surely people use it a lot, so shouldn't it be 'also known as'? Is this political correctness? In that case some reason why 'stewardess' should not be used may follow. But as it stands it isn't correct, is it? DirkvdM 06:55, 4 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Because up to half of flight attendants (depending on airline) aren't stewardesses. They're men. Now if you want to start a hew and cry, try calling a man by a woman's job description - generally the same men who scream about how "rampantly politically correct" gender-neutral terms like "firefighter" and "letter carrier" are also cringe in horror at the idea of calling a male flight attendant a "stewardess". Nobody had better say it's insulting to call a woman by a man's title, but by God it's clearly and undeniably insulting to call a man by a woman's title.
For some reason, male flight attendants have never been called stewards. So why have a gender-neutral term (flight attendant) for the men and a gender-specific one (stewardesses) for the women? Sounds demeaning to me. --Charlene 09:03, 6 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
For some reason, male flight attendants have never been called stewards.
That's baloney. In fact, international flight crews, in parallel with ship crews, where the terms originated, very often have a single individual listed as "Steward", which would be roughly comparable to the term "Head Flight Attendant" in an operation that doesn't use the word "Steward".--chris.lawson 05:34, 7 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You don't know what you are talking about. "Steward" has NEVER been used for "flight attendant" because few or no men WERE flight attendants until the 1970s. It was considered a female-dominated field. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.100.59.249 (talk) 04:23, 27 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I've always used "steward" for men and "air hostess" for women. Is this common usage or not? --81.145.242.7 16:29, 13 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Steward was a common name for the job in the UK. To give an example of the situation in some UK airlines now, British Airways employs cabin staff under the general title "cabin crew", with ranks such as "main crew", "assistant purser", "purser" and "cabin services director". In EasyJet, it's "cabin crew" and "senior cabin crew". With Virgin Atlantic, it's "cabin crew", "senior cabin crew", "cabin service supervisor" and "flight service manager". Wexcan (talk) 19:02, 27 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As a former "Stewardess" and "Stewardess Instructor" for a major airline, I can definitively say that when men were originally hired for inflight service on domestic (contiguous USA) routes in the early 1970's they were called "Stewards"....I know this because I personally trained the first domestic "Stewards" for one of the three major airlines. The change to "Flight Attendant" actually had nothing to do with any politically correct issues, but rather for economy in speaking and writing about the inflight crew (i.e. "flight attendants" vs. "stewardesses and Stewards"). I will continue to address other issues regarding this topic as my time permits. 98.217.252.93 (talk) 03:17, 2 July 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.217.252.93 (talk) 03:04, 2 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I wouldn't say the use of 'steward' and 'stewardesses' is "historical". While the terms have been overtaken by 'flight attendant', they are still used quite often. 'Air host(ess)' is pretty rare today, as far as now, but I still hear 'stewardess' regularly. People probably never said steward because we started moving to 'flight attendant' at the same time that male flight attendants started becoming part of the norm. Chris3145 (talk) 06:11, 16 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

"Steward" is a term that has NEVER been used for flight attendants. That term was strictly used for passenger ship travel and train travel. That is because very, very few men entered the flight attendant field until the 1970s. Many of us who read Wikipedia were around then. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.100.59.249 (talk) 04:21, 27 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Why I removed the 9/11 attendants[edit]

I removed the two flight attendants who were on duty during 9/11 because they didn't do anything notable and just happened to be on the unlucky flights.The Little Internet Kitty 00:14, 18 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Waiters/Waitresses or emergency workers[edit]

The article seems to imply that the hospitality role of cabin crew is secondary to their emergency role, which seems the wrong way round to me. Petecarney 23:00, 1 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe a bit late with the reaction, but you are indeed wrong, if you look at the break down of the training, in my case with Emirates, of the seven weeks of training, only 1 week is spend on service, and is as last.. The biggest part of the training consists of SEP: Safety and Emergency Procedures, and GMT: Group Medical Training. Travellin (talk) 14:41, 23 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

You would be wrong, safety is always our #1 priority, even if you see the customer service role more often. In the US the FAA requires flight attendant for safety reasons only. 72.198.110.131 20:30, 6 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Offensiveness/POV of "Stewardess"[edit]

Something that has not been addressed in this article is that the term "flight attendant" was coined not only to apply to male flight attendants, but also because many female flight attendants found the term "stewardess" to be reminiscent of the era when discrimination based on physical attractiveness ruled airline hiring policies. As a result, many female flight attendants today find this term demeaning and offensive. I don't know what support there is for this, but I know many people in the industry who have this view. I didn't include it because from me, it would be original research, but someone should track this down. OcciMoron 21:11, 15 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like a good start: [1]. Also claims Church was also a certified pilot, who as a woman had of course no chance of ever becoming a commercial pilot. --Paul Pieniezny 15:48, 13 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Pity those women couldn't have gotten some psychiatric help instead. We still use it here, and there is NOTHING pejorative about this term. Not to adults anyway. --IceHunter (talk) 19:17, 10 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The change to "Flight Attendant" actually had nothing to do with any politically correct issues, but rather for economy in speaking and writing about the inflight crew (i.e. "flight attendants" vs. "stewardesses and Stewards"). I will continue to address other issues regarding this topic as my time permits. 98.217.252.93 (talk) 03:18, 2 July 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.217.252.93 (talk) 03:09, 2 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

POV[edit]

This article reads like an ad.

"employed by airlines to ensure the safety and comfort of the passengers aboard commercial flights as well as on select business jet aircraft"

"They are often tasked with the secondary function of seeing to the care and comfort of the passengers, insofar as this does not interfere with their safety responsibilities. They are often perceived by the flying public as waiting staff or servants because there is not a full understanding of the career, the majority of their regular and rare duties are safety related and are the priority above customer service."

"Prior to landing all loose items, trays and garbage must be collected and secured along with service and galley equipment. All hot liquids must be disposed of. A final crosscheck must then be completed prior to landing. They must remain aware as the majority of mechanical emergencies occur during takeoff and landing. Upon landing, flight attendants must remain stationed at exits and monitor the airplane and cabin as passengers disembark the plane. They also assist any special needs passengers and small children off the airplane and escort children, while following the proper paperwork and ID process to escort them to the designated person picking them up."

"They then must do a safety demonstration or monitor passengers as they watch a safety video demonstrating the safety features of the aircraft. They then must "secure the cabin" ensuring tray tables are stowed, seats are in their upright positions, armrests down and carry ons stowed correctly and seatbelts fastened prior to takeoff."

"The main and always primary duty of a flight attendant is for safety"

etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.153.21.97 (talk) 14:19, 11 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Just because an article dosen't follow your POV doesn't mean it's not NPOV.--Ipatrol (talk) 22:05, 16 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How many?[edit]

How many flight attendants are needed according to safety regulations, depending on number of passengers? Someone could write that in the article. --217.209.224.39 (talk) 11:17, 7 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]


ANSWER:In the US the minimum crew required is 1 flight attendant for every 50 seats on an aircraft. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.108.193.161 (talk) 17:10, 13 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

What if one flight attendant can't fly, because of illness/accident, and no replacement available, so there is a lack of flight attendants? Are some passengers denied boarding? Once I was denied boarding because of a problem with one emergency exit, which required reducing the number of passengers. --BIL (talk) 10:22, 17 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The article now reads "For planes with up to 19 passenger seats, no flight attendant is needed. For larger planes, one flight attendant per 50 passenger seats is needed." - what about planes with more than 19 but fewer than 50 seats? 109.158.226.191 (talk) 22:40, 7 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Note: I see that the FAA source given as a reference is over 11 years old, but says it was "being updated" six years ago? Perhaps not the best. Martinevans123 (talk) 22:50, 7 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

How do I put in a link to this article?[edit]

I'd like to put in a reference, link or comment about this article, which describes the actions of the Flight Attendants in a catastrophic cabin fire.

http://www.flightsafety.org/fsd/fsd_feb89.pdf

I think it would be a good addition to the Wiki article —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.33.165.66 (talk) 11:39, 22 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Question about flight attendants[edit]

Is it really true that disobeying a flight attendant is a Federal Offense? I got that from the Monk TV series. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.204.234.149 (talk) 12:42, 16 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See http://blogs.findlaw.com/law_and_life/2013/11/what-happens-if-you-disobey-a-flight-attendant.html 155.213.224.59 (talk) 17:20, 25 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Debate on the actual first VERIFIED Black flight attendant/stewardess[edit]

According to this entry, a woman named Veronica Genereux is listed as the first Black American stewardess. However, there appears to be no corroborating information anyplace else proving that she was.

However, there are several references to a woman named Ruth Carol Taylor. According to the book "Femininity in Flight" she was the first VERIFIED and documented Black woman to be a flight attendant. http://femininityinflight.com/laborhistory.html#racial She worked for Mohawk Airline in 1958. Her story was covered by Time Magazine http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,868136,00.html as well as JET Magazine http://www.flickr.com/photos/vieilles_annonces/3786629024/. She is also mentioned on the San Diego Air and Space Museum website as being the first. http://www.sandiegoairandspace.org/exhibits/african_american_exhibit/women-at-the-forefront.php There is even a Wikipedia entry about her and she is mentioned at the wikipedia entry for Mohawk airlines, so why isn't she credited on this page as the first Black woman F/A, when there is overwhelming verifiable evidence that shows she was? 15.251.169.70 (talk) 22:50, 27 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

________________________________________________________________________________________

The forementioned paragraph lacks legitimate sources to verify that Ruth Carol Taylor as the first Black American stewardess. A more appropriate claim would be the first Black American stewardess hired by Trans-Word Airlines through Mohawk Airlines. In plain English, she was the first Black American stewardess hired by an American company. Even the image provided as evidence fails to provide its source. On a personal account with Veronica Genereux, she stated she is the first Black American stewardess. In addition, the other links provided no longer exist or not found. There is no overwhelming verifiable evidence that Ruth Carol Taylor as the first Black American stewardess. However, based on the information provided above, it could mean she was the first black American stewardess hired by an American airline.

Several sources, though questionably verifiable indicate Veronic Genereux as the first Black American stewardess.

Sources: http://stewardess.weebly.com/ http://www.aviationexplorer.com/Vintage_Stewardess_Pictures.html https://nairobiclub.com/2022/08/08/airline-attendants-are-employed-in-changes-hence/ https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/116917

Popular Culture[edit]

in popular culture you mentioned a number of ficinal flight As but you left off one important one

in the 1968 ABC series "Land of the Giants" Betty Hamilton was the stewardess for the marooned Suborbital flight 612 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.106.228.194 (talk) 04:10, 31 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Really, Betty Hamilton? Could we possibly add staunch capitalist Mr Branson? Are they any copyright-free images? Martinevans123 (talk) 16:26, 12 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]


Blatant advertising (lead photo)[edit]

The first photo in this article is just blatant advertising - a promotional shot that links to an airline's Flickr page. It needs to be replaced by something neutral. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.100.249.213 (talk) 07:31, 17 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Commons source says: "This image was originally posted to Flickr. Its license was verified as "cc-by-sa-2.0" by the UploadWizard Extension at the time it was transferred to Commons." So there appears to be no problem with copyright. Martinevans123 (talk) 07:39, 17 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Um, can someone double check this? Those photos look a wee bit too professional.Two kinds of pork (talk) 09:50, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
If I was the PR department/agent for the airline concernd, I'd be happy to load such an image at flickr as copyright free and see it used in a Wikipedia article. And the more "professional" the better, I think? Martinevans123 (talk) 09:59, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I've almost no experience with how image copyright is established for use on Wikipedia. What's to prevent someone from taking a copyrighted image, uploading it to Flickr using a CC license as if the image belonged to them in the first place?Two kinds of pork (talk) 09:45, 29 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I'm also not very experienced, alas. But I was recently told at Commons OTRS that I could not use a photograph of someone that appeared on his own flickr page, tagged with an open CC license, and with email permission from that same person, because permission had not been explicitly given by the photographer who was deemed to be the actual copyright holder. Martinevans123 (talk) 09:51, 29 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Breech Academy[edit]

Qualifications -> Training "... however during the fare wars..." Huh? What 'fare wars'? Something either needs linked here, or this better explained, or this line, or entire portion removed. Even a citation to a remote site? Let's not talk within our own limited frame of thinking - this is Wikipedia. Much of this article is of very poor quality. We can't be having personal chat within production articles. Trep26 (talk) 06:38, 16 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Ignoring male attendants and promoting female attendants[edit]

This article is highly sexist and anti-men. All the photographs are of female attendants. It should show photographs of male attendants in an equal numbers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.163.30.213 (talk) 16:23, 17 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

To say this article is anti-men is a bit far-fetched, but you're right, the article does seem to perpetuate traditional gender roles needlessly. ItsPugle (please use {{ping|ItsPugle}} on reply) 12:00, 9 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

First stewardess[edit]

It seems the very first stewardess took her duty before 1930. The French stewardess Jeanne Fontaine has been hired as a stewardess, as early as 1921, by the "Compagnie Aérienne Française". She recalls some highlights of her career, in a video documentary (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCXzoz1vk_w), was a business woman and a great character. She has been busy aboard the french Farman F60 "Goliath", considered as the first french commercial passenger plane (previously a WW1 bomber). One of her great granddaughters is today a stewardess as well. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.39.118.220 (talk) 10:28, 29 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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Legalese[edit]

A sentence like "The EEOC ruled that sex was not a bona fide occupational requirement to be a flight attendant."

is very difficult to comprehend. Legalese should be avoided. Also the section is of limited interest for audiences outside the US. --Rebentisch (talk) 15:20, 29 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Would you like to suggest an improvement? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 15:26, 29 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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