The "pragmatic approach", as you put it, probably comes about from the cabin crew mainly coming from non-islamic countries, so they themselves are probably not what you could term "orthodox" muslim.
I'd suggest that if you want to compare cases, that you have a thorough read through any given version [there are quite a few] of a bible that you might have handy for all the dietary & other prohibitions it contains. If you behaved truly in the manner described you'd have a very strange lifestyle, avoiding quite a lot of stuff..........
