Flight Attendant News

The media image of flight attendants usually is distorted, so it's refreshing to read an article in the press that paints a more accurate picture.

An article from the Copley News Service syndicate, and published in the Jamaica Observer announces in its title that Glamour is gone in the flight attendant's world.

Do you ever wonder why more and more flight attendants on most US airlines look like the walking wounded instead of the charming ambassadors and concierges of the skies that we used to know in the good old days of flying?

How would you like to work for up to 14 hours - after sleeping four to five hours the night before - and pamper hundreds of hungry, harried and hassled total strangers squeezed into tight seats, or deal with self-anointed prima donnas, who want first-class pampering for their $50 coach-class ticket? And then have your pay cut, benefits chopped, pension possibly jettisoned and maybe lose your job?

Sound familiar to any of you airline flight attendants out there?

The article goes on to discuss longer work hours and reduced rest time - a situation I wrote about elsewhere more than six months ago.

The article also mentions other contentious issues such as reductions in pay and benefits, and potential outsourcing of flight attendant jobs.