Life Of An Air Hostess - Not What It Used To Be
Once a dream job for women, being an air hostess today is far from wonderful. Especially if you fly shorter distances , female flight attendants have a tough job.
“Sometimes it’s like hell”, says an air hostess for British Airlines. “Babies cry out loud because their ears hurt, children kick the back of seats and run up and down the aisles . Some passengers scream at you if you tell them what they are not allowed to do.
Working in the skies has changed. In the early days of aviation , the job of an air stewardess was prestigious and pay was good. Young women saw the world, flew to exotic places where they could spend a few days at expensive hotels. They showed the passengers to their seats and helped them with their baggage . Everything was calmer and there was time for rest or a cup of coffee in the kitchen. Today the job is more stressful . Flight attendants have three or four flights a day, with only little more than half an hour for the turnaround .
In the 1990s the first budget airlines appeared on the scene and made it possible for everyone to board a plane. Before that travelling by plane was only for higher income classes, but today tickets are so cheap that the airplane has become a means of mass transport . Most people who buy cheap tickets think they get the same service as those who pay ten times as much in business class.
People are behaving worse and aggressiveness is increasing . One reason may be that people are not allowed to smoke any more, thus becoming more nervous. Alcohol is also a major factor . Air hostesses complain that more and more holiday travellers start getting drunk before take-off and continue drinking on the plane.
Female flight attendants complain that they are sexually harassed by passengers more often than before. Experts think that airline advertisements are responsible for this because they almost always show stewardesses.
All in all the fascination of the job has gone. Air stewardesses today are nothing more than waitresses pushing a trolley through the aisles at 10,000 meters.
Related Topics
Words
- advertisement = poster or commercial that wants people to buy something
- aggressive = to be angry and want to attack someone
- aisle = passageway, gangway
- appear = come out, show
- aviation = the world of flying airplanes
- baggage = suitcases
- behave = the way you act towards others
- board = get on
- budget airline = an airline that sells cheaper tickets and does not have the service that other companies have
- calm = quiet
- complain = to say that you are not satisfied about something or someone
- distance = the space between two places
- especially = above all
- exotic = something unusual or strange, mostly from a foreign country
- factor = cause, reason
- fascination = attraction, appeal, what makes something interesting
- female = about women
- flight attendant = person who serves food and drinks to the passengers and looks after their safety
- harass = here: to bother a woman and make her life unpleasant
- income = the money you get for the job you have
- increase = go up
- mass transport = many people can be brought from one place to another
- means = way
- pay = what you earn
- prestigious = here: thought to be one of the best; admired
- responsible = to blame
- scream = shout
- stressful = with a lot of stress; it makes you worry a lot
- take-off = start
- thus = that is why
- tough = hard, difficult
- trolley = a small table on wheels
- turnaround = the time it takes to land, clean up the airplane, get the passengers on board and take off again
- waitress = a woman who serves food and drinks in a restaurant