Virgin - Is the in-flight beautician part of the cabin crew?

[silverelise]

Hi. Was just wondering about this. Is the in-flight beautician part of the cabin crew? In other words is she trained in the same procedures and safety drills as the other crew so that in an emergency for example, she would help to evacuate passengers? Or is she considered a pax in that situation and gets tossed down the slide with the rest of us? Either way I assume she's supernumary since I was on a flight the other week which didn't have an in-flight beautician (or did they just carry an extra flight attendant instead to ensure they have the correct number of cabin crew?)

[Fournier Boy]

They are indeed active members of the Cabin crew and are trained accordingly. In an emergency situation they would act and are trained as any other member of the crew. Their roles do not include Duty Free or Food service however they are permitted to hand out water.

They are currently only used on Virgin business routes and that is subject to crew availability as currently there are not enough girls employed by the company. More are coming through training so this should change in the future.

FB

[sinala1]

The IFBT (In Flight Beauty Therapist) is 100% SEP and AVMED trained - the only difference is they do the Beauty Therapy training in place of Food Service training - so yes, in an evac, they are essentially Cabin Crew.

[silverelise]

Thanks for the responses. Curiosity sorted!
I did miss my massage the other week but Virgin were kind enough to put some miles in my account as compensation so that made up for it
Hope the new IFBT's being recruited are as gorgeous as the current ones

[GEAR_DOWN]

I heard the next bunch of recruits to come on line as beuty therapists are men, due to the equal opportunities requirements. Virgin got into a lot of trouble about all girls being blonde a few years back.

[Fournier Boy]

As far as I know, there has only ever been one guy employed as an IFBT, and he left many years ago. This i doubt is out of picky-ness, more likely that none apply for the role.

On the issue of recruitment, I think you'll find that the only slap Virgin have had was with regard to age discrimination, not the colour of hair. Virgin Blue very recently hit the press with age issues.

[GEAR_DOWN]

My daughter went for a VS intervies back in 2000, and she wasn't even let past reception as the lady behind the desk said she would not be rewuired for interview as she would not suit the uniform! Virgin have had a lot of issues with the 'perfect' airhostess look!"!