To be honest I believe that we should address the opposite side of the age and size of F.A.s issue. While I have not ridden the airlines that much I have on occasion been forced to use airlines for transportation, however, I have shared hotels all over the world with airline crews.
I have seen F.A.s so small and petite I can’t imagine how on earth they could possibly open a cabin door, especially if the aircraft is not in it’s normal upright position, let alone remove an emergency exit window and chuck it out the opening. (Those windows are heavy, trust me.) Now I’m saying they cannot perform these task, it is just rather hard to believe that they are capable of such tasks.
On the other hand my sister-in-law was a stewardess (her words, to be almost exact, was “I am not a fecking Flight Attendant, I’m a goddamn stewardess, I started out as a stewardess and I will retire as a goddamn stewardess. Don’t ever call me a fecking Flight Attendant!” Fecking was not the word she used, if you get my drift.) for American Airlines based at DFW. She retired on her 70th birthday. Not only could she handle the doors and emergency exits, but she could probably toss out anybody that was too slow getting out of the airplane. She was number 1 in seniority domestic and I believe 3or 4 international when she retired. So what I am saying is don’t dismiss the very experienced F.A. out of hand just because of their age.
Now on the rudeness issue I can’t really answer that question. It does seem like the rudeness is more prevalent on the Major International Air Carriers compared to Domestic Carriers such as Southwest. However, when one looks at the pay cuts, the loss of retirement and the possibility of losing their jobs that Flight Attendants are facing on some airlines, such as Delta and United, it is not hard to understand the negative attitudes of some of the crews, including the cockpit crew.