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...The airlines would like to still have weight standards for flight attendants but U.S. based airlines are probably prohibited by anti discrimination laws. Foreign airlines may be allowed to be more 'picky'.
I've observed throughout much of the world - including some socially-conservative countries, and some countries ostensibly in the egalitarian vanguard - a rather obvious tendency to favor the young and the pretty for positions of visibility, service, front-office work and the like. This covers flight-attendants, receptionists, and all sorts of positions where a representative of the company interacts with customers face to face.
While it would be crass to condone discrimination against those who didn't happen to win the genetic lottery, nevertheless, I must admit that as a male business-traveler, I'm more at ease and in a more pleasant mood, if the flight attendant or the office-lobby attendant or the waitress-staff and so forth happens to be young, female and attractive. It is quite simply an inherent bias.
I've flown about 10 times this year and almost all of the flight crew were polite. Smiles, greetings when boarding and exiting the plane. I make a point to tell them all "Thank you," as I get off the plane. I'm sure there are some gruff ones out there, but at least your contact with them should be brief.
I'm sure it was nice to have eye candy back in the day. It's not like the FA can sit on your lap and gab with you on your way to your destination.
Most cities in this country have strip clubs a short distance from the airport if that's your thing. Or you can get a privacy screen on your phone or tablet and watch adult movies for some eye candy. Let the crew do their job and be able to support their families without turning their career into a modeling competition.
I am a happy and congenial traveller but the last time I flew domestic I swore I never would again. It was a truly hellish experience. I'd rather take more time and pay a little more to be treated better (yes, better) on Amtrak. Flying domestic is a dehumanizing experience...I fully expect the passengers to be mooing as they come down the aisle.
First you struggle to get to the airport hours early so you can stand in line and then TSA assumes you are a smuggler or terrorist. Then you get to play some sort of musical chairs when you line up to board. Once at the door to the plane you are greeted with a smile --- the last one you will see. You bob and weave down the aisle to your seat, stowing whatever you were able to carry on the plane. Then you get to fold yourself into an unnatural shape to wedge into the seat and strap yourself in. Next you get a neighbor who wedges into the seat next to yours...much closer than you have been with a stranger since gym class. Your seatmate is in an awful mood, does not speak and crams earbuds in his ears. The attendants go through the charade of how to fasten our seat belt and find our floatation device in the unlikely event that we would crash into a body of water. You play elbow tag on the arm rest as the plane sits on the tarmac....finally taking off twenty minutes late. If you are lucky you might get a bag of peanuts or pretzels and maybe something to drink. Of course there is a baby crying. The plane lands but you expect to continue to your final destination -- as stated on the reservations and ticket -- but no, you have to change planes..."sorry for the inconvenience" (which one?). "Not to worry, sir, you will get to board first on the next plane" -- so we all march to the appointed gate where there is already an angry horde jockying for boarding position. Our group parades right by and boards the plane with lots of hostile stares and mumbled comments. We wedge into our seats and then the angry mob comes down the aisle and fills up the remaing seats. They are not in the mood for conversation. Some are carrying some kind of ethnic food that they bought on the concourse -- yum. Meanwhile you are wondering if your checked luggage was located for the plane change and if it was actually on board. Too bad if it isn't because the plane is leaving the gate. The second leg is just as bad as the first -- maybe worse because of the lingering food smell and the kid kicking the back of your seat. Of course this second flight is just as long as the first because you first flew 500 miles out of the way to a hub and are no closer to your destination than when you started. Upon landing you stagger to the baggage carousel and happily discover that your luggage miraculously did make the second plane. Well, cheer up, you arrived safely at your destination -- but are already apprehensive about your return flight after your visit. What's more...you get to pay good money for this abusive ordeal.
Sure most of us prefer pretty and young flight attendants (the most amazing ones I met on Asiana and Korean Air ) but when it comes to the overall flight experience, I want a crew that is experienced and capable of evacuating the airplane quickly, that knows how to handle unruly passengers and those with fear of flying, and that is always professional. I would trade in the eye-candy for safety and professionalism at any time.
This. I don't know, maybe for men being able to fantasize about the flight attendant is the most important thing. For me, the most important thing is how prepared he or she is to help get us all safely out if something should go wrong.
Either I'm consistently the world's luckiest traveler or the term hellish has been watered down so much that I could call damn near anything hellish. I haven't noticed any horrible tsa treatment or wait times beyond 30 min and that's unusual. I also don't recall any obese flight attendants and rating their overall attractiveness isn't something I care to do because it's irrelevant to my travel.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Originally Posted by statisticsnerd
The US carrier I like best is Southwest. They hardly ever delay or cancel their flights. Plus, the interiors of their planes are very clean, and the flight attendants are better than the other carriers.
They used to intentionally avoid markets and airports which were susceptible to wx delays and other things.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Originally Posted by craigiri
Air may be the best way to get somewhere - at some times - but that (in the USA) is largely because we have not invested in the right infrastructure.
Japan is small. Europe is also relatively small (unless one is crossing many countries). China is not small, but I'm not sure how many Chinese citizens actually travel 100's of miles unless it's by air.
Even if a high speed train were to go 200MPH, it would take 14 hours just to travel between LAX and NYC, assuming no stops, no delays, and no time taken on either end. That is a long time. That's why domestic air dominates here. What else would you suggest?
I'm sure it was nice to have eye candy back in the day. ...
Most cities in this country have strip clubs a short distance from the airport if that's your thing. Or you can get a privacy screen on your phone or tablet and watch adult movies for some eye candy. Let the crew do their job and be able to support their families without turning their career into a modeling competition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hackwriter
This. I don't know, maybe for men being able to fantasize about the flight attendant is the most important thing. For me, the most important thing is how prepared he or she is to help get us all safely out if something should go wrong.
The point isn't to indulge in prurient interest in the service-staff, but rather, that an irascible and harried businessman is probably going to be more calmed by a fetching young thing sashaying down the aisle in tight 1960s-style uniform, than by a flight attendant whose more representative of the general public. Again, I don't assert that service-providers (airlines, restaurants, real-estate agencies and so forth) should have discriminatory hiring-practices, to get their clients in a better mood and therefore to do more business. Such discrimination has a cost to society. But it is a clever and effective ploy. It's immoral, but it works.
As to the question of crew-competency, well, call me a blathering idiot, but I really don't care. As a person without a family, whose career is largely complete, I have different priorities than most people. I take a fatalistic view. If both engines fail and we're going to crash-land in the frigid North Atlantic, well, I'm not particularly distraught by that. It beats spending 20 years of fighting Alzheimer's. In the tradeoff between safety and convenience, I'll take convenience every time. I'll take a wide seat and a gourmet meal and an on-time departure, over safety, every time. And yes, I'm one of those people who wears a seat-belt while driving, only because of fear of getting a ticket. Left to my own proclivities, I'd rip out the seat-belts and the airbags. But that's a topic for a different thread.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rcsteiner
Even if a high speed train were to go 200MPH, it would take 14 hours just to travel between LAX and NYC, assuming no stops, no delays, and no time taken on either end. That is a long time. That's why domestic air dominates here. What else would you suggest?
But a very substantial part of US domestic travel is "regional", say on the order of 500-800 miles, or even less – especially in the Midwest, upper South and East Coast. For many US travelers, the first leg of a flight to Europe or Asia begins with a regional flight to their local hub. These regional flights are often the most fraught with weather-related delays. Airplanes are small and cramped, with limited luggage-room and no amenities (even in first class – which in many cases doesn't even exist on the smaller planes).
It would have been awfully convenient, if say O'Hare, Dulles, Hartsfield and JFK were serviced by networks of high-speed rail. Living in the small-town Midwest, I generally fly internationally out of Dulles or O'Hare. Quite often, I miss my international flight because of weather-related or mechanical delays on my regional flight inbound to O'Hare or Dulles. Sometimes to avoid this I'll actually drive the 300 miles to O'Hare or 500 miles to Dulles (distance by road), park at the airport ($$$) and embark on my international flight.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Originally Posted by ohio_peasant
But a very substantial part of US domestic travel is "regional", say on the order of 500-800 miles, or even less – especially in the Midwest, upper South and East Coast. For many US travelers, the first leg of a flight to Europe or Asia begins with a regional flight to their local hub. These regional flights are often the most fraught with weather-related delays. Airplanes are small and cramped, with limited luggage-room and no amenities (even in first class – which in many cases doesn't even exist on the smaller planes).
I agree, but there doesn't seem to be any solution at the moment except Amtrak. I know there are physical tracks all over the country, but I have no feel for the politics embedded in things like existing track ownership or new track right of way creation. I do suspect the former (existing track ownership) is a significant hurdle. And those are all fairly low-speed tracks.
For me, there is no rail solution at all for my most traveled route (ATL-MSP), and it's a 20 hour drive in optimum conditions.
They used to intentionally avoid markets and airports which were susceptible to wx delays and other things.
Not sure if that is still true.
Eventually they had to expand into northern tier markets where weather is often iffy in order to meet customer needs. Their hublet at Chicago Midway seems to be pretty equivalent to O'Hare in terms of Chicagoland winter weather delay problems.
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) but when it comes to the overall flight experience, I want a crew that is experienced and capable of evacuating the airplane quickly, that knows how to handle unruly passengers and those with fear of flying, and that is always professional. I would trade in the eye-candy for safety and professionalism at any time.
