How Old Should a Flight Attendant Be?

[Firecat]

The answer will depend on whether you are airline management,a passenger,male or female,your own age or whether you are already an existing crew member.
Airlines would like you to be under thirty,have no kids or commitments at home and stay for around five or six years.
Male passengers would prefer a young dolly bird thats easy on the eye.
Younger crew would like the old farts to leave and the older crew complain about younger crew having little or no life experience.
In amongst all this is an answer.
Management in most airlines realized a long time ago that individuals under twenty five with little life experience get into trouble with alcohol and the rigours of the job.
Older Crew tend to recalcitrant but still work hard(generally).Although there are some who have reached their use by date.Its generally recognised that experience dealing with people is important.
So a mix of not too young,not too old and mainly female with life skills would be desirable.
Airline mangement prefer burn and churn.No long service leave and a continuous stream of fresh new enthusiastic faces.Enthusiasm begins to wane after about five years so management would like you to toddle off.
Most airlines dont pay that well anymore and financial considerations usually make it time to move as well.
It can be fun while it lasts

[SlideBustle]

I'm crew and I personally think that a mixture is more desirable and airlines should not ''want'' any age really - just an individual who has excellent service skills, goo teamwork skills and will be able to calm and professional in an emergency. They will find out in the interview and training of this.

You will find good and bad in all ages. Personally myself? I am under 25 but whilst I do like a tipple now and again ;) I personally regard myself as mature and sensible even though I still like a good time like most people I suppose but I am mature aswell, especially when it comes to work. I have passion for the job and as sad as this sounds, with every day that goes by I ''soak'' up as much experience and do my best for my customers and am a ''stickler'' for procures in particular SEP. And I'm under 25! Shock horror!!

Like I said there is good and bad in both - there are bad young'uns who are inexperienced don't care except for downroute antics and are sloppy, then again you also get older crew who whilst more experienced are jaded, complacent and I've flown with some who even when I was new I had to remind them of certain safety things. Then again, there are many who are fab and bring loyalty and real experience. Likewise many of us youngsters are very enthusiastic and whilst might not have 20 plus years experience, we have the standards fresh in our minds (I personally keep up to date and regularly refresh myself not just at recurrent!) It all depends on the individual and the attitude really.

Unfortunately, I have encountered some older crew who are hostile when they find out you are under 25, however I would stress this is just a very bitter minority. Most of my shall we say senior colleagues are fabby!

It's all about attitude and the person you are - age has little relevance (except if you employed a 14 or 82 year old for example!!! lol)

[BobHead]

I will repeat this as it fits the thread. I recently had a trip,Spain to UK to USA to NZ to Oz to Singapore to UK to Spain. By country mile the best CC on the 10 flights were Air New Zealand mostly over 40. The worst were Virgin Blue, Brisbane to Perth mostly under 25.

Thats my honest opinion.

Bob

ANZ:D

[tiggerpurrrz]

I am flying around with people 20 years younger than myself...not that I'm old...42...but sometimes I do wish there were more people my age...I do believe it's a maturity thing..and life experience does give you that maturity..;)

[apaddyinuk]

Despite my management degree im still very much of the opinion that if I ran an airline, I would want to keep my staff, treat them well, recognise excellence amongst them and ensure that by doing so they are helping to retain my customers!

I dont care if they are fit, fat, hot, ugly or whatever...as long as they have friendly personalities, work hard, take care of their appearance (presentable), enthusiastic and most importantly capable of reading between the lines!

Your airline (or any service product really) can have all the bells and whistles but this can often be destroyed by the person who delivers it! Investment and maintaining the human elemant is the only way forward!

Old fashioned??? PAH!

[AirborneSoon]

I agree that the best crew mix are the ones who want to be there and like being there. It's a service business and decent service is only delivered by people who are there by choice and enjoy it. The rest is irrelevant. I work with crew of all ages who have varying degrees of attitude and it's the attitude which makes or breaks the flight and passenger experience. And attitude is not always determined by the length of time in the job. Some people can make light of any situation while others make even the easiest duties hard, hard work and unpleasant.

As far what male passengers want....well don't you think that's a bit old hat now? Back in the 60s when the majority of passengers were business men (who's company's were paying for their fare) then maybe that was valid. But when I get onboard the majority of my passengers are not men who want some eye candy. They are everyday folk, male, female, families, children who couldn't give a fig how good looking the crew are just as long as they get their coffee hot and their alcohol cold. They'd much rather be served by a willing smile, politeness and a desire to deliver than a good looking crew member. When someone's sick, cold, hungry, irritated, frightened the relative attractiveness of the crew makes no difference. :bored:

If I were running my own airline I would hire for optimism, friendliness and ability to roll with the punches. Those are the qualities that make someone great at the job. I'd also reward my crew fairly for their work so they weren't stressed about paying their rent or other things which my passengers do not care about. It takes so little to maintain a good relationship with your crew which is why I wonder why so many airline managers botch it up. Happy crew will go the extra mile for your fare paying customers, they will smile everyday, they will want to do the job to the best of their ability. It's such a no-brainer. :ok:

True enough there are some crew who will always find something to complain about. Those are the ones who have chosen the wrong career and could do with a helping hand finding a new avenue for their talents. Maybe psychological profiling would be a better way to go about hiring crew. Many other occupations do it, so why not crew?

[capt.cynical]

On my last flight before I retired, 6 of the 14 CC were born AFTER I started flying.

I knew it was time to go !!;)

[IFLy4Free]

In the US it is not all that uncommon to be hired in your 60's.

[Bad Hat Harry]

The wages airlines are paying these days deters a lot of potential employees.
A sixty year old woman wouldnt mind the low income if it gets her away from hubby to do a bit of shopping.
Gen Y are pretty sharp.They wont work for peanuts.Maybe thats why a lot of carriers have disinterested monkeys working for them

[ExSp33db1rd]

In the US it is not all that uncommon to be hired in your 60's


Where ! Where ! or is 75 a bit too far past it ?

[Dushan]

Where ! Where ! or is 75 a bit too far past it ?

Not too past it at all. The OP didn't say airline job. Check Wallmart. They are always looking for greeters. :E

Happy New Year :ok:

[Bn02fly]

I'm 20 and cabin crew for a large modern airline. I work alongside people that are old enough to be my parents, but to be honest its great. We all seem to get on great and i think its easy to forget for those not in the cabin crew world that you have to be a certain type of person to be cabin crew no matter what your age or sex or looks you HAVE to be able to cope with the constant Galley FM.

Everyone i work with comes from massively differnt backgrounds and areas of work,some of us are real veterans and some are complete newbies, but our company hires us for who we are! So its about a personality and you dont get much more bubbly than us lot even after a paphos and back!

Most airlines REQUIRE you to be over 18 (on long haul most 21 due to alcohol licensing laws) and in the uk the upper limit of 65 is usually adhered to.

There are advantanges to having mixed crew, the veterans keep us newbies in the know and give us vital tips (i.e how to deal with rostering people) and the newbies help where new equipment and computers come in to play. its yin and yan :) all in harmony.

[SlideBustle]

Bn02fly - as a fellow ''young 'un'' like yourself I completely agree with you :D It is all about the individuals. Like I said before regardless of some steretypes, there are good and bad in both!

I know some people say older crew are more professional etc etc.... but I have seen many professional younger crew and some unprofessional, complacent older crew. I hope I as a younger crew come into the professional and thorough camp :O Of course there are many older crew who are professional aswell..

Ability not age is the way recruitment should be (obviously keep the over 18 age limit obviously!!)

[followthesun]

I had to leave 'big airline' seven years ago when I reached 55.That was the contract. I was not ready to leave because I still did enjoy the work and the lifestyle. My lovely crew on my last flight gave me my 'goodbye' in first class after arriving from SFO. I am not ashamed to say that emotion got the better of me.
Some of my age group could not wait to go and really should have gone. Equally some of my younger colleagues should have been pushed out. They hated the job, the passengers, and felt trapped.
I feel that if you have all the positives, you are healthy, you can evacuate an aircraft correctly in the time and pass SEP. Why should you not continue to fly?
I get just a little fed up with Virgin advertisements that contain highly attractive young women. They look lovely but it is so sexist and so ageist. Not to mention, spot the male cabin crew.
What I did up to the day I retired was give passengers what they wanted. A high quality of customer service whatever the time of day and wherever we were.I worked quite hard to do that. Some days were easier than others. I viewed that I was an aviation professional.
That really is what it should be about. Not age, not about being male or female, young or more elderly.
I know that the business has moved on but I still do miss it.I am from a generation that was pushed out by an airline before our natural time. There is a natural time.
Probably because of flying for thirty years I still do have dreams about it. My advice to anyone flying is this. You a a fortunate group that really does own the world. The vast majority of people do not get the opportunities you do. Enjoy your life to the full because it goes very quickly. Leave when you no longer enjoy it because time is too precious to waste. You will not get a second chance.

[romy]

When I dream about it now I would call it a nightmare! I'm on the flight in my nightwear having forgotten to get dressed and worried because I left the car outside the ops. block.on double yellow lines.:eek:

[Howard Hughes]

I want someone who is able to open the emergency exit and drag my sorry ass out if I'm unconscious! How old they are, what they look like, or whether they know how the Captain likes his tea, is all secondary to that...:ok:

[NVpilot]

Age is no factor, being in a good state of health is.

[TightSlot]

The best crews on a flight that I have worked with have always been a 'mix' of everything. Age, Experience, Male and Female. The crews where things have gone wrong have always been those where one of those groups predominates.

[Qansett]

It's funny about cabin crew appearance.

Virgin Blue cabin crew- lots of young girls are beautiful, nice and friendly whereas boys are skinny, ugly and bored.

Qantas cabin crew - lots of mixed young and old women but they aren't beautiful. However, men are really good looking and well-groomed. They are well-build, beefy and friendly.

Sorry about being generalization! hehe

[beerdrinker]

Was it United or Northwest several years ago on the Tokyo route had Grandmother, Mother and Daughter on the same crew?

I expect some hairy a*sed engineer claimed to have "relations" with all three.

[yaletown]

I think in North America, where they bid for schedules based on seniority, most crews really resent the ones that will not retire. Fly YVR to SYD someday and see that the most junior crew member is usually around 50 years old. Atleast in Canada there is a mandatory retirement age of 65, whereas in the States there isn't one. I had a commuting United flight attendant on one of my flights heading to SFO for work. I aksed her, 'So, how long have you been flying?' The response "Well, I was with Pan Am for 20 years, then of course in 1985 United bought the Pan Am Asia routes, and the aircraft and crews came with that deal. So, I have now been with United since then (this was asked to her in 2009). To give you an idea, I bought a house in Marin County for $20,000 back then." Houses in Marin County are in the millions today. I suspect she used to drive her Model T to get to work. All this woman does each month are 2 SYD trips and a CUN turn from SFO. She has many rental properties, lives in Canada and is covered by the health system, and has a husband who retired years ago and they live well. I know she loves her job, but I do think it is time for the likes of her to retire so younger crews actually have the chance to fly to SYD.

[doors2womanual]

One of the most fascinating flights I went on was Air Canada LHR-YYZ. Average age of crew .....about 60?
I swear Nancy Reagan served me in economy. The bar trolley was like an adaptation of a zimmer frame! My brother had his knuckles rapped for daring to press his call bell! He then went into the galley to ask for a beer and was told he had already had one and had reached his quota for the flight!
Virgin (only did once return to BGI) crew looked v gorgeous, but I was rather worried when, after take off the senior crew member said in her welcome p.a. "only press your call bell in an emergency"!!! So, would that be in the case of a ditching, decompression or full blown clearly catastrophic??!!!
Personally, I think a complete mixture of ages, sex, experience, nationality makes for the very best room party!
All in all, it's the most wonderful industry to work in and having just left my once fab job I feel pretty well equipped to say that it is the people, flight crew and cabin crew that make it that way!:)

[beerdrinker]

We're getting off topic but I loved the one aboout the time when a SLF pushed their call button. The Flight Attendant walked down to him, cancelled the call button and then wagging her finger at him said "Naughty Naughty".