Cabin crew secrets: Flight attendant reveals strict rule they obey which left her 'hurt'

Cabin crew can often be easily recognised thanks to their uniform which can be very glamorous indeed, depending on the airline. Flight attendants are often impeccably coiffed and presented when they work onboard aircraft. Their appearance is dictated by a number of airline rules the cabin crew must follow.

“Well, I have crazy hair. It’s half wavvy and half frizzy. Weather, water, styling products, and the power level of the hair dryer all make a huge difference when it comes to looking presentable.

“Since I hadn’t wanted to have any problems at training, I’d gotten my long blond locks chopped at a professional salon before an amateur hired by the airline could get a hold of me.

“The result, in my opinion, looked amazing. But because frizzies on a flight attendant are unacceptable, regardless of humidity, I was schooled on how to smooth and tame my unruly hair by creating a classic French twist with three hundred bobby pin and an entire can of hairspray.

“It looked pretty. My scalp hurt. I lefty my mouth shut.”

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It wasn’t just hair that came with strict rules over what and was not acceptable. Lipstick was also vital for cabin crew.

“Lipstick, at flight attendant training, was serious business. It had to be worn at all times,” penned Poole.

“‘Why?’ asked a classmate who had dared not to wear the colour my airline had recommended that year, Clinique red.

“Instead she wore one that looked a lot like, well, no shade at all, a glossy nude.

“‘So passengers can read our tips during an emergency,’ said an instructor, matter-of-factly. None of us knew if he was serious.”

Poole also described in the book the effect the cabin crew uniforms had on pilots. When she first began work as a flight attendant she had a longer skirt than others.

“One look and they knew they could ask for food items they’d never in a million years get from a more seasoned flight attendant.

“When I told one such pilot we only had enough mixed nuts for first class passengers, he suggested I take one or two nuts, whatever I felt comfortable with, from each passenger’s bowl. ‘It’ll be our little secret,’ he added.”

Sometimes pilots would go one step further when they identified a new cabin crew member.

“Even worse were pilots known to prey on flight attendants right out of training,” wrote Poole. “Because we were young and dumb and unaware of the reputation some of these guys had, most of us found it flattering to be at the receiving end of their attention.”

“In fact, one of my roommates, a ‘Cockpit Connie,’ enjoyed it so much that when she finally got off probation she didn’t run straight to a tailor like the majority of us did.

“She left her hemline as long as possible so she could entice even more pilots into her layover hotel room late at night.”

Not all pilots were keen to start up something saucy with flight attendants, though. Some took on a more paternal role.

“On the flip side, there were the pilots who would see our long skirts and immediately go into father mode, trying to protect us from anything that could possibly go wrong in flight,” said Poole.

source: express.co.uk