The Charming world of Flight Attendants

The world of flight attendants has also changed significantly since the beginning of commercial air travel. The first airliners were actually main planes with a few extra spaces for passenger. On these flights, you had to take care of yourself. The plane crew included only pilots, and they were so busy flying the plane that they didn't have time to attend to passengers.

Eventually, some early airlines added cabin boys to their flights. These crew members, who were usually tennagers or small men, were mainly on board to load luggage, reassure nervous passengers and help people get around the plane. In 1930, a young nurse named Ellen Church, along with Steve Stimpson of Boeing Air Transport came up with a new sort of attendant. Church proposed that registered nurses would make an ideal addition to the flight crew, as they could take care of any passengers that got sick. Boeing then an airline as well as a plane manufacturer, hired eight nurses on a trial basis to work in their airlines and then the rest from their is history.

Until relatively recently, airline stewardesses were under strict control. They were not allowed to be married -- ostensibly because husbands would complain that the long hours kept their wives away from home -- and most airlines had certain constraints on their height, weight and proportions. Their clothing was similarly restrictive: At most airlines, stewardesses wore form-fitting uniforms and were required to wear white gloves and high heels throughout most of the flight. While it was a perfectly respectable occupation for young women, early stewardesses were generally underpaid, had minimal benefits and were in a subservient role to pilots.

During the 1960s, '70s and '80s, flight-attendant unions, as well as representatives from the equal rights movement, brought about sweeping changes in the airline industry that addressed these problems. Since the 1970s, the policy of the major airlines has been to hire both men and women as attendants and to have no restrictions on size and weight. Flight attendants now share many of the same benefits as pilots, and airlines recognize them as a crucial component of the air-travel industry. After all, to most passengers, the flight attendant is the face of the entire airline and here assumes the role of that most important flight attendant training

Flight Attendant Job - Height & Age requirements

Every airline has a set of minimum hiring requirements. One of the first steps in evaluating a flight attendant career is determining whether you qualify for the position. Before you apply for a flight attendant position you should already have a pretty good idea if you are employable as a flight attendant.

So how important are these minimum requirements? They are critical to your future as a flight attendant. If you do not meet the minimum hiring requirements (especially in the areas of age, height, education, and citizenship) for a particular airline, you are not qualified for the job. Keep in mind, however, these are only minimum requirements. To truly separate yourself from the competition and improve your chances of getting hired, you must have something more to offer, such as solid customer service experience, a higher education, excellent communication skills, or the ability to speak a second language. Most airlines use a weighting system, assigning you a score based on your level of qualification; this score then determines whether you will advance in the application process.

If you are certain you do not meet the minimum hiring requirements for a particular airline, do not bother applying (until you do), since you won't even make it past the first interview.

Age
Age is a firm requirement. You either meet the minimum age requirement or you do not. Airlines won't waiver on this. The minimum allowable age for some U.S. airlines is 18, but most require you to be at least 20.

The age requirement is usually based on the age you will be upon graduation from training. So, if you are not at the minimum age at the time of your initial application, but will reach that age during training, you can still apply for the job.

With increased hiring now underway, airlines are constantly lowering their minimum age requirements in order to broaden their audience of prospective applicants.

If you do not meet the minimum age requirement for a particular airline, you can still apply for another position within the airline as a reservationist or customer service agent, which usually have lower minimum age requirements. As an employee of the airline, you would greatly improve your chances of getting hired in the future since most airlines prefer to hire from within rather than take chances on unproven newcomers.

You could also spend this time improving your chances of becoming a flight attendant by taking enrichment courses (such as learning a second language) or getting experience in customer service outside of the airline industry. Customer service experience can be as complex as working as a Dell Technical Support Representative or as simple as working the drive-thru window at Taco Bell. It all counts.

Due to discrimination issues, there are no maximum age requirements. In fact, in every flight attendant class, there is always a small percentage of "older" new-hires. Because there is no age limit, many people are pursuing second careers as flight attendants - and are gladly accepted because of their experience and level of maturity. Do not ever think you are too old to apply for a flight attendant position. A recent class of 100 new hires at a major airline had 7 people between the ages of 40 and 49, 5 people between the ages of 50 and 59, and 1 person over 60!

Height

Most flight attendants are between 5'2" and 5'9" tall. Outside of this normal range, certain airlines have minimum and maximum height requirements.

A very short person may have difficulty reaching the overhead compartments in an airplane, which are typically between 6' and 6'10" inches high. Some airlines have no minimum height requirement, but do require you to pass a reach test. The reach test is nothing more than a demonstration of your ability to reach all the necessary components inside an airplane's cabin.

You can perform a reach test on your own. Simply grab a tape measure, measure out a distance of 6'10" from the floor, and mark it on the wall. If you can reach the mark in bare feet, chances are you will pass any airline's reach test.

If you find you do not meet the minimum height requirement for any of the major airlines, do not let this discourage you. You can always apply to be a flight attendant for a commuter airline; commuter aircraft are much smaller, making height less critical.

Conversely, if you are a little on the tall side, most major airlines' maximum height requirement is right around 6’2". If you are taller than 6'2", keep in mind that you will be working in small galleys and may find it difficult to work 8-hour days in such a cramped environment.