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.

I mean, weighing staff, dictating what lipstick they wear, no tattoos, Branson turning up for a photo op in front of his plane emblazoned with a ‘busty babe’, the full on misogyny. It just wouldn’t fly these days would it. No pun intended.

I'm nearly 50 and being the kid of missionaries, I boarded my first flight when I was 8 years old. Back then I think cabin crew were mostly female and they were impossibly skinny and glamorous. I have vague memories of an airline 'hostess' bringing me a colouring book, crayons and a teddy on my first ever flight...they were like lovely angels.

But times have changed and I'm incredibly thankful they have. No longer do women have to live up to an impossible standard of beauty and weight in order to be deemed 'worthy' of having a certain of job. We no longer have to bow to the captain as though he was some kind of god...because these days sometimes the captain is a woman and at that, is a total goddess who has battered her way through a male dominated industry to do the thing she loved.

So in short, yes, everyone should turn up to work looking clean and smart but if you're hankering after the bygones where women floated about like angels, silently tending to your every need, those days are (thankfully) gone.

My cousin is BA Cabin crew and always looks very glam.

Other airlines manage to design uniforms that are flattering, comfortable and elegant on long flights (e.g emirates, Singapore). Their employment policies

The Virgin uniform is horribly dated and unflattering. It’s a bit embarrassing really

I had this thought on a recent Ryanair flight. I flew Quantas and then emirates I think years ago and remember thinking they were so glam - thin, perfect make up, perfect fitting uniforms they looked like models. But these just looked like normal people 🤷‍♀️. Morley necessarily a bad thing. I mean, on the other flights I went on 10 years back they were obviously picking people based on looks. I do find it funny though how every male flight attendant I’ve cone across seems incredibly camp 😂🤷‍♀️

So your criticising cabin crew who still look better than all the scruffy tattooed people on board?
If you want people to have class,then make it extend to the flyers as well.

I'm with you OP. Only Middle Eastern or Asian airlines probably still have those same glamorous standards.

(And I have no illusions about my own fat arse and ugly face but air hostesses used to be how I dreamed of looking.)

Been on a Virgin flight recently and the staff couldn't have been nicer or more helpful which is what I'm interested in. As it happened, everyone I saw looked like they'd made an effort to be well presented also, as you'd expect people to do in a customer service role.

Not that bothered about how they look but they do need to be able to nail the safety aspects of the job.

Have you seen the state of passengers recently? I almost went into teacher mode on my last flight to challenge a small group of teenage girls about the difference between what to wear on the beach and what to wear travelling. Let’s just say that not much could be left to the imagine with tight midriff strappy tops and the shortest of gym shorts - and that was flying into a cold rainy LHR from another destination that was also rainy and chilly on departure

A gaping blouse would ruin my holiday.

Flat shoes would just remind me that it's shit coming home.

God forbid they give service with a smile and are professional and polite doing a shitty job.

I don't see why they should have e to wear heels and be caked in makeup. They are not objects.

I realise it's a sexist notion

Yes it's sexist.

Thank goodness times have changed

The clothes they are provided with are now poorer quality & they are relatively more poorly paid.

I'd far rather they were presentable/neat, but primarily comfortably dressed, with flat shoes (far better for actually doing the job, not to mention in an emergency). High heels are frankly speaking a stupid invention designed to debilitate women.

The recent Virgin Airlines advert implies they are becoming more "edgy" for want of a better word

Emirates cabin crew wear a particular red lip (Mac I think?) And they used to have heels with flats to change into when doing service

I fly easy jet monthly and the crew are always well turned out and extremely helpful.

Well, I'll be honest, if I had a chance of survival on a flight that was hitting the ground like a fucking dart (cheers Big Yin never fails to make me laugh) I'd probably prefer someone wearing flat shoes and being comfortable helping me out as opposed to some woman teetering on stilettos.

I flew AirFrance today, fabulous and glamorous crew, elegant uniform, subtle make-up. Similar with BA ten days ago although lacking that French thing. I suspect it depends which airline you fly with.

Cabin crew work harder than ever now. Barely minimum rest down route and being worked to the max permitted.
None of the week long stopovers of the past, and on shorter flights, its minimum rest in the hotel. Not much time for self care

Cabin crew also get the bare minimum of uniform. It's usually two of either trousers, skirts or dresses. They're almost impossible to exchange if you put weight or lose weight or get a tear or rip. The uniform designers do not design for glamour anymore...just practicality
As for flat shoes....it's health and safety nowadays!
Gone are the days when crew flew for a few hours and maybe could survive wearing heels...nowadays crew are flying for many many more hours and comfortable is a number one priority.

How do I know?

I'm cabin crew and have been for over 30 years.
I do however still take pride in my appearance and try to inject a bit of glamour in and industry that is so not glamorous anymore

I have been working in this industry for 15+ years, most of that as cabin crew. The rest of the time managing cabin crew. So I have quite a few opinions on the above!

1. you'll find a lot of these uniforms are not the best quality. Yes, they're designed by Vivienne Westwood, but she ain't making them. It goes to the lowest bidder, hence the quality issues. Combine that with crew getting a uniform allocation let's say once every few years, and washing uniform as opposed to dry cleaning it because a) cost and b) time, then you have your answer. That virgin jacket and blouse is not made for anyone bigger than a 12 or with a large chest.

2. for UK airlines certainly, the only time weight is taken into account is if the person can fasten their crewseat sealtbelt or not.

3. most airlines it is no longer mandatory to wear makeup. but guess what, some of us actually like to! And that's ok. And if you don't, that's ok too. Yes, you're expected to look neat and presentable in uniform, as you would be when representing most brands, regardless of industry.

4. Crew are obliged to change into lower shoes when onboard. This is to ensure they are safe to move around when the rest of you are sitting. It also reduces damage in the event of an evacuation.

5. There has been the odd reference to "minimum wage" and "shitty job" here and there in this post. Please do not say that - genuinely, the majority of people i know who do this job do not just tolerate it, they absolutely love it. I personally have lived the best years of my life in this job (which i fell into by accident) i have seen the world and met some very interesting and influential people along the way. I have also developed my career and been exposed to some excellent international opportunities. We're doing just fine - please don't feel sorry for crew, it's really not required!!!

My DD is cabin crew for easyJet and wears the shift dress which looks really smart. They don't have to wear heels but she chooses to have fairly low heels rather than flats. Her warm layer is nice too, a cardigan and a shawl for her top layer.

I do think the Virgin uniform is a bit dated and in general separates look less smart than a dress IMO.

Ffs. VPL - and what?! Get over yourself.

Yes. It's disgraceful. I've actually made a formal complaint and requested a £29 refund for the outbound trip. I decided to let the return trip pass as I noticed one woman at least appeared to be wearing shape wear, and the young man's shirt looked well ironed.

Flew a few times recently with TUI and all the cabin crew looked incredibly smart!

Virgin cabin supervisor here 👋.

The uniform isn't particularly designed well for anyone over a size 10.

You order a size 10 skirt/trosuers/blouse and none of the sizes are consistent.

The trousers are much more comfortable to wear on certain aircraft as they're cold planes, so they keep us warmer.

The cardigans are the same, not particularly flattering but keep us warm in the middle of the night.

The shirts turn grey after about 5 washes due to not being 100% cotton.

We don't have to wear makeup anymore. That was scrapped in about 2018/19. However if we choose to wear makeup we must go with the uniform issued colours, so red lipstick, red/french/burgandy nail varnish.

There is still a certain amount of rules and regulations over what we are permitted to wear.

The quality of the fabric has changed massively over the last 21 years I've been with them. My first uniform was beautifully tailored and the fabrics were great quality.

And all cabin crew (female) have two pairs of shoes, no matter what uk airline you fly with. Heels (in various heights) which are classed as ground shoes. So we put them on when we disembark the aircraft and walk through the terminal. The flat shoes are for wearing onboard the flight, so if we needed to evacuate the heels wouldn't tear the slides. Plus doing a 10 hour flight in heels would be beyond painful.

When I started you were weighed and measured, and you had to be in proportion. None of that happens now. And people are recruited on their service skills/knowledge, and rightly so!

I mean I love my uniform, but I'm a size 8 and sometimes I don't always look well turned out mainly due to the fabric quality and how it's cut.

YABU.
The world is different not just cabin crew outfits.
Work and office dress is so much more casual now. Hardly ever see guys in suits and ties anymore yet used to be the norm. Along with pencil skirts and high heels.
I think it’s good to be comfortable and have you seen the Virgin tv ads? They encourage difference and to be yourself.
Like pps have said I just want to be safe and comfortable on a flight.

I fly to the UAE often with work, and always find the BA team far more down to earth, both in terms of dress code and approachability. A total a breath of fresh air compared to the stiff professionalism Etihad, QA etc