Since when do we assume that every passenger is a young male?
I find it quite funny really, because when it comes down to it, everyone has different taste.
Glamour will only get you so far. I have flown with absolutely gorgeous people who either froze when the shyte hit the fan, or had no idea what to do. Usually they struggled to hold a conversation as well. Of course, to be fair ive flown with gorgeous people who are brilliant safety and service wise - but there is NO link between looks and the duties of a flight attendant.
We generally did two types of flights
-Mine flights, where 99.9% of the pax were butch, hard working males.
-Holiday flights, where 99.9% of the pax were over 55.
We had a great variety of FAs, gorgeous, not so gorgeous, female, and male (well, i was the only male in my base).
Generally, the miners didnt care. Yes some of them loved their girls - but after their first drink they couldnt care if you were an orange panda wearing sequence - as long as they got what they wanted whether that be another drink, a chat, or to be left alone.
In one case, the miners requested the flight only be crewed with males, as I at least couldnt care less what obscenities came out of their mouthes, as long as they didnt offend anyone else. In some cases it did, as on the final sector normal paying rpt pax joined - however as I had a rappor with them it was never a problem to get them to settle down, unlike some girls who were in the galley crying with a closed bar and a double cart across the aisle at the front.
The oldies cared about one thing - service. It didnt matter what you looked like.
Yes you are the face of the airline. Theres plenty of attractive older, and larger crew too though.
Safety wise, it makes no difference how big ur arse is. I had one male pax in business class (who would travel regularly for business), who tended to give me in particular a hard time. I found he was happiest whenever the girls served him, and had no problem letting them. It only took one inflight fire, and him to see that all the crew, the pretty, the old and the large, male and female, working together using the safety equipment the pax rarely see in use (fire extinguisher, protective breathing equip, fire gloves, dangerous goods kit), and he NEVER had an issue with the older or larger or male FAs again. In fact, he even came up to me in the street when I was on an overnight, and he shook my hand and said it really made him realise just why we were there. (not a big place).
Finally - , personality and ability will outshine even the most 'less blessed' of crew.
Secondly - Not all passengers are so shallow. PLLLLEEEASE stop living in the past. Not all changes over the last 40 years have been for the worse...