Many years ago, I read a book titled ‘Flying High‘ which gave a glimpse of the life of an American flight attendant. It was a fascinating read, albeit being slightly dated. It belonged to my dad which comes to no surprise since two of my aunts are/were in this profession. I guess aviation-related work really does run in the family, or part of it anyway.
A recent visit from my cousin, the daughter of one of these aunts, gave me a more updated viewpoint of this supposedly glamorous career path, as well as the many hidden caveats that came with it. She actually graduated as a nurse but without much prospect of landing a full-time nursing job, travelling the world seemed like a great idea. And travel the world she does.
She arrived late at night on the 30th and it was her first time visiting Melbourne. My family and I did our best to show her the sights and sounds of the city with the free time she had left on new year’s eve before she had to jet-set towards another unknown (rather, she didn’t bother checking) destination. The usual barrage of questions were exchanged, more so from my parents.
Many fascinating tales were told like how she almost always never flies with the same crew members (there are more than 5000 after all), her lack of a sleeping pattern, life in Doha and so on. I even asked her how she handled the odd proposition (answer: company policy+smile+may I get you a drink+leave. Along those lines.) Speaking of smiles, she did also mention that it was hard to shake off the habit of smiling at people even when she was off-duty which can give guys the wrong impression, especially in Europe.
And did I mention the work hours? We’re talking about 3 days off a month, with an 11-hour minimum notice time for the next flight when she gets back home. Hey, living the life of decadent travel comes with a tight schedule, alright? She showed a couple (hundred) photos from exotic places like Moscow, Zurich, Hong Kong and I could clearly see the appeal of this line of work despite all the not-so-nice things she’d shared. It really does seem like a bachelor’s dream job, and I could not agree more that flight attendants have the world as their oyster. Or the world is their oyster, however you use that phrase.
She did share a random thought though: Why are there so many gays in Melbourne? Well, can’t blame her for seeing the pandemic of skinny jeans and the resurgence of 60/70/80s hairdos.
