Donning my hard hat for this one - cabin crew appearance

[TellerTuesday]

I do realise I'm probably going to get flamed for this but has anyone else noticed a real decline in the appearance of cabin crew members?

Just had a flight with Virgin and the female members honestly looked dreadful. Ill fitting uniforms, red trousers stretched over VPL bottoms, tight white gaping shirts, one had a drab cardigan over the top.

I realise it's a sexist notion but when I was younger they always looked so glamorous strutting through the airport in their heeled court shoes (mainly flat now it appears), immaculate hair and make up.

Also thought the same when I last flew with TUI. The male cabin crew always seem to look well turned out.

Quality of clothing has dropped massively over the last 10 years

Post a few recent photos of yourself and we'll let you know if you look better or worse than cabin crew we've encountered lately.

Well I disagree, they need to be comfortable. Im not sure Ive seen people looking scruffy as such, thats a different thing and I wouldnt like that, someone needs to be well turned out but flat shoes, no make up thats fine

And if the cut of the uniform is a bit crappy then its going to gap and pull in certain areas, nothing that can be done about that

They should look well turned out, but they can do that in sensible shoes that won't injure their feet. And what's the problem with a vpl? Reassuring that they're wearing sturdy pants!

Cabin crew is paid a bit more than minimum wage. It’s not the glory years of BA legacy crew on £££. YABU.

As far as I've heard, air hostesses were contractually obliged to be under a certain weight. They most likely chose women who were very pretty too, but you would be on dodgy ground doing that these days. They look like the rest of us mere mortals squeezing our love handles into last year's summer dress now.

I prefer it, feel like they’re more on my wavelength now and as though they’re more approachable.

Did it affect their ability to do the job?

🙈

I mean heaven forbid the cabin crew member serving me my drink has a VPL!!

Why does it matter? I mean apart from the fact that they should be provided with quality uniforms as standard. Someone’s appearance doesn’t determine how good they are at their job.

Did they do a good job though?
If someone is bringing me coffee and potentially saving my life in the case of emergency then I’m not bothered what they are wearing.

Thank fuck if they no longer have to make themselves look pretty and feel uncomfortable in heels. It was ridiculous.

I’m not sure heels was actually a great choice for carrying hot beverages on an airplane!

I do think there’s been a huge uptick in how much make up they wear - but that’s a reflection of society as a whole

How was the customer service? Did they look after you well? Surely that's the only important thing on a long flight?

I've literally just hopped off an international virgin flight - the cabin crew all looked happy, nice and competent at their jobs. The flight was smooth and the service was fab! Apologies but I didn't stare at any of their arses long enough to notice a VPL - perhaps you should concentrate on the inflight entertainment?

Glad that they don't need to wear make-up. Or high heels. As long as they do their job well, that's surely the main thing.

Given this isn’t the 1960s and all the other supposedly glamorous aspects of flying disappeared years ago I don’t know why glamour for cabin crew is still a consideration - cabin crew are there to carry out important safety functions and serve passengers not look pretty. So long as they look reasonably clean and tidy and are wearing clothing that enables them to do their job I don’t see why they need to look any more glamorous or immaculately made up than the person behind the checkout at Tesco or the lifeguard at my local pool.

As for the heels - they ought to be required to wear sensible flat shoes for safety and foot health. Your in flight comfort isn’t impacted by cabin crew footwear.

The quality of clothing has gone way down.

add in many airlines and other businesses have touted their move to gender neutral uniforms. Now I support this under the idea that a piece of clothing should be available to anyone. However, the businesses have taken it to mean making one pair of trousers in a boxy fit that has no hope of fitting a woman’s hips properly. The same goes for tops. The cuts are straight and boxy with no angles to accommodate breasts and waists. So you end up with clothing that is both too tight and too loose simultaneously. Women end up just trying to find a pair of trousers that won’t fall off as they walk.

there are several big box stores near me that used to have good teen clothing sections. They decided to merge them into one gender neutral department. Nothing fits the girls anymore. We just had to stop shopping there.

I would imagine red is a very difficult colour for a lot of people to wear… with my colouring I look like I’m on fire!

I can’t get my head round the horror of having to wear red trousers either😱 Cut them some slack, OP, our bodies do strange things on flights, I hope that the least the crew can hope for is some comfort with lower heels and not being forced into the masks of make up they used to wear.
If they did their job efficiently, then surely, it’s all good?

If their turn out has turned down perhaps it’s an industry choice to reflect the sloppiness of passengers now - who also used to dress up to travel

Oh no not pant lines how common ! We were on a long haul flight with Virgin last year, those attendants didn't stop .they were brilliant and I can't say I noticed their gaping blouses or Pants . You are being ridiculous 🙄

I fly every year and quite frankly couldn't give a toss as long as the plane lands safely.

I don't much care how they look as long as they're doing their job well, but I have wondered recently (after a flight with a male presenting member of BA cabin crew wearing the uniform shift dress) whether BA and Virgin crew are issued with guidelines when it comes to making gender fluid uniform choices but flying to conservative countries?

He didn't seem to be raising many eyebrows in Heathrow, but if he disembarked in the Middle East or some parts of Africa or Asia I suspect he might get a less nonchalant reception?

YABU so incredibly unreasonable.

Up until c. 2019 it was MANDATORY for female cabin crew to wear make up - a list of required items like eyeliner, blush, and lipstick - and high heels, per their employee handbook across almost every airline. I've been down an aviation rabbit hole this past week so your post is timely.

I am blown away that this was permitted, that women's bare skin was deemed unacceptable. They were obliged to spend not only money buying the required makeup but obviously every day it takes time to apply it. No such requirement for the men of course. They were essentially deemed to be there for the sexual gratification of the male customers.

Once one airline started removing the strict mandatory make up rules and casualling up the uniform, other carriers followed suit.

So I am, extremely happy that they look less 'glam'. I think it's outrageous that this was ever permitted.

The job has changed a lot. I flew frequently from the 1970's onwards (maternal family in mainland europe) and it was so different back then. Cabin crew was a glamourous job with decent stop overs and good pay. Flying was a luxury experience, even in economy! The staff reflected that.

Now most flights are on a par with a coach trip. Would you expect your coach driver to be super smart and glamorous? No. I feel sorry for them tbh. Crap conditions, crap pay, it can affect fertility in females. Its not a job I'd want to do now and I was desperate to be an air hostess (as they were known then) as a kid.