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.

Couldn’t give a toss 😂 as long as they are doing their job 👍

Hate to burst your bubble, but cabin crew are mandatory only for safety reasons and evacuating an aircraft.

All the rest is marketing.

And let's face it, you don't get the same class of passenger.

How many stories do you read now of drunk abusive passengers who behave like football thugs or the lowest most ignorant segment of society, who think with their fists or their potty mouths.

Well I travelled on a plane recently. Long haul, BA. I had no make up on, was tired and very casually dressed. Defo had a vpl going on.

The cabin crew were polite enough to not mention it at all. They were all perfectly lovely and I even woke up to find one of them gently replacing my blanket and closing the blind for me. Who would have thought they had no interest in how I looked whatsoever!

The tight skirt and heels just screams male fantasy.

They should wear whatever is most comfortable to operate in (particularly on long haul flights) and doesn’t scare the horses. Critically, no clothing that would impede egress of the plane in an emergency - so heels are out.

Over 20yrs ago I worked for a company that designed and made high end uniforms. We did lots of airlines and the real high point was when we landed the Emirates account. I can tell you that so much thought and time and love and attention used to go into those uniforms. We designed the hell out of them and were really proud of them.

When we got the Virgin account the budget was initially £5,000 per cabin crew - this was for the Westwood uniform and it was an unheard of sum in the industry. It was beyond crazy. We also had to personally destroy all old uniforms. When we re-wrote their uniform guidelines it was an A5 booklet half an inch thick. Everything was mandated down to manicure colour, heel height, hair style, lipstick. All provided free of course.

Ex BA hostie here. We had high heels to walk through the airport and then flat cabin shoes. Our uniform was by Paul Costello and we had to wear a certain colour of red lipstick and nail polish was mandatory, as was make up. That was in the eighties.

But remember, in reality the crew are not there to look glamorous, the fact that they serve you refreshments is an added bonus. They are there primarily for your safety.

Its bloody hard work, so often we looked bedraggled despite our best efforts. We’re human after all, but honestly some of the personal and stupid remarks people come out with are just incredulous.

I was on the good salary with BA but now the salaries are dreadful. You certainly don’t do it for the money.

I don’t know who makes the Virgin or TUI uniforms now but when TUI were Britannia, the uniforms were designed by Elizabeth Emmanuel. It didn’t mean that the quality of the fabric was good I can tell you.

Good to hear what it was like at the coal face

The crew have absolutely loads to get done, that’s why they’re noisy. Michael O’Leary is staffing his planes at the absolute bare legal minimum. There’s not many physical jobs where we expect women (and let’s face it this thread is about the women!) to dress like corporate receptionists whilst throwing around 25kg of trolley.

If you’re paying for Ryanair, you’re paying for mass transit with wings. Get some earplugs maybe?

Michael O’Leary is staffing his planes at the absolute bare legal minimum

As pretty much all European airlines do these days, especially on short haul…

Ryanair are taking a bit of a kicking here but they are certainly not the only airline where there’s a bit of a gulf between the quality of the uniform as seen at the big reveal for the press and the ones the crew end up wearing on the line x months later.

There was a rumour one designer pulled out, or threatened to pull out, of working with one major well known airline because of the demands being made for the end product to be cheap to mass produce.

The public fares kept low, one consequence of that is the quality of the uniforms you see the staff wearing.

Seeing pants isn't smart, Do you feel the same about seeing Bras through tops?

@AllProperTeaIsTheft i pity people that care about looks. All that matters is that they are good at their jobs and treat their customers well. All that matters!

Even if they have knickerlines? 😂

Some of them still have mandatory make up rules….

They don’t.

https://www.google.com/search?q=emirates+cabin+shoes&rlz=1CDGOYI_enAE721AE721&oq=emirates+cabin+shoes&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyCQgAEEUYORiABDIICAEQABgWGB4yDQgCEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgDEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgEEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyDQgFEAAYhgMYgAQYigUyBwgGECEYoAEyBwgHECEYoAEyBwgIECEYoAHSAQg2Nzc0ajBqN6gCGbACAeIDBBgBIF8&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

Love a VPL, no reason it can't become fashion.... crocs did!

Last flight I took I was talking to one of the cabin crew about how good the new jumpsuits look on BA. She said a lot of them love to wear them as the trousers are much more practical/comfortable (only downside being going to the toilet in a jumpsuit).

I'd swerve any airline owned by a country that hated women.

Depends on design, I think. If clothes have a deliberately inbuilt bra, that's fine. Not keen on racer back t shirts worn with a normal bra so the straps show. Just me but I don't think it looks great. In my little world, underwear should be just that.

I would not complain if they were not wearing make up (looks at Reddit).
I don't care. They are there to make sure we are safe, and give us snacks.

Thank goodness they wear flat shoes now, my aunt was an airhostess and had to wear heels for around 10 years, and has been left permanently disabled - ongoing court case ( several ex stewardesses involved)

Cabin crew being there for passenger safety is a given. But they represent the airline and serve food and drink so being clean and presentable is important too.

The male cabin crew always look well groomed and well dressed doing the same job. It’s just (some of) the female ones that seem to look a mess.

Male cabin crew grooming: wash, shave, quickly brush hair +/- hair gel. 15 minutes tops.

If female cabin crew roughly dried her hair and tied it into a pony tail, and wore no makeup, would you consider she was “not groomed”? She’s undertaken as much grooming as her male counterparts at this point.

@Likewhatever

The male cabin crew always look well groomed and well dressed doing the same job.

From what I saw at work over the years I’d say there was as much variability with the male cabin crew as there was with the female cabin crew.

That said the vast vast majority of crew managed to stay the right side of the compnay line when it came appearance standards.

Thats especially tough to do post in-flight horizontal rest (bunk rest) on some Long Haul flights when,regardless of being male or female, they have probably have less than 15 minutes to get sorted out before being back on public view.

I would definitely consider someone groomed who had brushed her hair and pulled it back into a tidy pony tail or bun.

Also I think you’re probably underestimating the amount of time male cabin crew spend on their appearance.