Source of Information : Economic Times
Call Jahnavi Kumar* at 12 pm and she replies in a sleepy voice. Flying the international circuit, she had got in late. When she calls you back, it's 5 pm and she's ready with her lipstick in place to fly the domestic circuit.
She says she's reaching her breaking point soon. But for now, she combs her bun, pins her hair up and is all set to welcome aboard yet another round of "thankless passengers who feel that they are entering a restaurant and not an airplane", her summing up of the airhostess profession.
But how widespread is this mood among the women (and a few men) who are up in the air? Which is to ask has airlines' current business troubles severely impacted the flight crews? Is this sunrise segment of GenY employment looking less sunny?
As ET on Sunday spoke to air hostesses, industry experts, aviation professionals and cabin crew trainers, a counter-intuitive conclusion emerged. Airlines' scary business numbers hasn't, yet, affected either those working as cabin crew or hiring. But the very reason aviation is considered viable, low-cost airlines, has increased the stress factor for the women up in the air.
Jobs are Still There
Air tickets, despite recent jumps in prices, are still cheap and passengers still have many options. According to aviation industry estimates, there are 430 aircraft up and flying in the Indian skies. By rules, it's mandated that there should be a team of 110-150 employees per aircraft (in a rotation of 10 teams) from pilots, cabin crew to engineers.
Going by these estimates, roughly the Indian cabin crew strength stands at 17,200. A 2010 McKinsey study on aviation stated that India's aviation industry will create an additional 40,000 vacancies in cabin crew jobs over the next 3 to 4 years.
KPMG's Amber Dubey (director, aviation) says, "We do not anticipate a shortage in cabin crew capacity, given the large population of English speaking youth in India and the aspirational value of the airline sector." Air hostess training institutes tell the same story. Some of the institutes, including the interestingly named Flying Cats, set up when aviation took off post-reforms have shut down. But those are like Frankfinn are still in business and new trainers have entered the market.
Industry watchers say that it is noteworthy that despite all the troubles in airlines, cabin crews haven't lost jobs in numbers. So far, the worst hasn't happened. Some cabin crew will tell you stories of irregular salary payments but almost no one ET on Sunday spoke to reported a crisis situation in their jobs. But there were plenty of tales of on-job stress. The little-appreciated fact of this job is that, according to air hostesses at least, the glamour wears off quickly, and it does so especially in low-cost carriers.
Everyone's Flying, So...
Priyanka Guha*, an air hostess with a low-cost airline, says, "Everyone who flies today don't have travelling etiquettes." Guha, who moved from a full-service airline to her current one a couple of years back, has been flying for three years now and doesn't mince her words.
"There have been cases where irate customers have thrown food back at flight attendants," she says. Her complaint: most Indian passengers feel that if they have bought flight tickets they have bought the service. "They want to travel cheap but with all the perks of a full-service, which is not possible," she says.
History offers an interesting insight into complaints like Guha's. The cabin crew job never started out as being glamourous. And women weren't employed in the beginning. Britain's Imperial Airways had "cabin boys" or "stewards" in the 1920s.
In the US, Stout Airways was the first to employ stewards in 1926 and Western Airlines and Pan American World Airways were the first carriers to employ stewards to serve food. And in 1930, United Airlines created history by hiring the first female flight attendant, 25-year-old registered nurse Ellen Church.
Many of the early flight attendants were nurses, because, and this is what many passengers probably miss, then and now, serving food and giving blankets are not air hostess's primary job, ensuring safety of passengers comes first.
Yes, the boring, rehearsed pre-flight safety demo where air hostesses tell you how to tie your belt to secure the life jacket is their prime work. "Even in our training, the technical and the safety aspects dominate," says Divya Aggarwal*, a flight attendant with a no-frills carrier. She says she has been trained to do anything from attending cuts to delivering babies in-flight.
When did flight attendants become glamorous? When Pan Am started picking cabin crews who looked or could be made to look glamorous, in their sassy blue skirt suits. Incidentally, the strict uniform code of cabin crews is a result of the military aviation background of many commercial aviation pioneers in the West.
As air hostessing became a pink-collar profession, airline companies realised the publicity value of their stewardesses. The glam image took hold firmly from the post-war period, and is alive till date.
In post-reforms Indian aviation, there have been plenty of air hostess fashion highlights. Jet Airways has become more practical by introducing pants and Kingfisher went for the stark red and white combination. But it's Indigo's short blue skirts with hair tied in a tight French knot or retro bun, you have an option to wear a short cropped wig, which is probably the most interesting fashion statement. It's the retro flight attendant look.
"The glamour comes from the uniform, the well-groomed look, travelling and the fact that cabin crews are among the best-paid jobs in the middle-skills service industry," says former Jet flight attendant, Mansi Luthra. Luthra is now the city head for Pune branch of an image consultancy First Impressions Consulting. Luthra gave up her wings after three years of flying. She says monotony had set in her job, there was no prospect of growth. But the money isn't bad.
Today an entry level (all you need is a Class XII exam certificate) air hostess can start at Rs 25,000-30,000 per month (plus allowances) in the domestic circuit. Pay for the domestic circuit can go up to Rs 70,000 per month. In international airlines, pay, excluding allowances), starts at Rs 70,000 and can hit Rs 1.2 lakh per month.
Swati Sengupta*, a first-month-into-her-job flight attendant with a low-frills airline, checks all the boxes Luthra says are a must for joining the job. She loves the idea of donning her uniform and "the poise and stature" it gives her.
"You are different from the rest and that's clear when you walk to your aircraft," she says. But she also says the glamour fades fast, especially when she has to fly out at odd hours in full make-up and her hair neatly tucked, and still get bad flight reports for not applying the lipstick properly.
Passengers & Peanuts
Veterans like Kumar look at Sengupta's enthusiasm as a novice's exuberance. They say donning the war paint day in and day out is the toughest call of their profession. "Knowing that there's no career change that you can hope for really gets you down. Even if your grade goes up, you will still be pushing trolleys and talking to disgruntled travellers," Luthra says. She recalls passengers at the bar service asking why they can't get bigger packets of chips instead of small packets of peanuts. "You can't tell them they are not in a restaurant, so you smile and serve."
Luthra is happy her days of putting the 'work' face on every morning are behind her. "Yes, you get paid but it's not easy money. You are sweating it out every inch of the way. There are passengers who literally demand three meals on board," she recalls. The high points that survive all the stress? Travelling and meeting new people. Including people who can change your life?
Look where Maureen Wadia, Nina Pillai and Parmeshwar Godrej landed their planes, many air hostesses say. But those days are over probably. As a columnist noted, people have stopped looking up to flight attendants. There's glamour in plenty of other places.
How to Handle Drunks
So, how are the air hostesses of tomorrow feeling? Pretty good. Nalini*, 20, is enrolled with one of the new aviation, hospitality and travel management training institutes Asia Pacific Academy for Aviation & Hospitality. She's sitting in a class where she learns how to handle difficult passengers. The trainer was a flight attendant with Air Sahara.
The teacher takes the class through a crash course, handling everything from how to calm down inebriated passengers to treating epileptics. The class of six looked attentive, enthusiastic and there were plenty of questions: the best ways of grooming, what substances are banned on board and Kingfisher. Clearly, the class was following the twists and turns in the fortunes of a potential employer.
However, more than a few flight attendants, current and former, say training institutes don't really work. "It helps girls to open up and develop their communication skills. As for the in-flight service, your airline training is more solid," says Aggarwal.
But Samir Valia, president, marketing & corporate communication head for Frankfinn Institute of Air Hostess Training, says the institute has managed to place 5,000 students in this "recessionary period", 1,600 got jobs in airlines, Indian and foreign.
Inside-aircraft stories: Stress factor for air hostesses & cabin crews
"There's a huge gap in training and a huge demand for cabin crew with most domestic airlines stepping up operations," he says and adds that at Frankfinn they primarily concentrate on soft skills (communication, presentation and interview techniques).
"Most people will forego a small flaw in looks if the person is good at communicating. It's this skill that we help develop." Valia also says recruitment of cabin crew hasn't gone down. He names Indigo, Emirates and Oman Air as airlines which are recruiting almost on a monthly basis.
More Trainers
While many training institutes like Flying Cats, Maples and Air Hostess Academy have closed down, there are new entrants. Rajan Mehra's and Deepak Gupta's Asia Pacific Academy currently has two centres, both in Delhi, and both running to capacity from the first month.
"The industry is still glamourous," says Mehra, "Except it's more practical now." He says women enter the industry with a conscious decision to fly for some time and use the platform for preparing for other careers.
Frankfinn has 78 centres with multiple batches of 30 people running at all times. A year-long course with them costs Rs 1.6 lakh. A post-graduate diploma costs Rs 1.2 lakh. APA charges Rs 1.4 lakh for a year and Rs 70,000 for a month. But the courses don't come with any job guarantee. "That is something you can't ensure. No institute can," Valia says.
Luthra was a trainer with Frankfinn for six years before becoming an image consultant. She says on an average, three out of 10 flight attendants recruited are from training institutes. "Ultimately, the job teaches you the most," says Aggarwal, who's now contemplating doing the MBA she had promised herself.
But there are those who want to stay on. Kumar says, "The job becomes an addiction. The flying, the erratic schedules, everything becomes acceptable. Even demanding customers. I still have passengers come and tell me that I am doing the job of their dreams." If only there were fewer food-throwing passengers.
Confessions of an Air Hostess
A month into her job, the glamour of flying is forgotten. But aviation still soars high for this 21-year-old employed with a private airline.
There are whispered voices in the aisles of cutbacks, job losses and airlines shutting down. And I will be lying if I said that we are not affected. Flight attendants of another private airlines who are now joining us share horror stories of not being paid for six months, of flights flying with only 60-70 seats full and of living in fear of losing their jobs the next day.
It makes you worry but then you see that you are catering to a full-flight service with 180 passengers, of your employer buying more planes and welcoming new entrants everyday and you breathe a sigh of relief. It's been a month since I have joined this industry, completely on a lark.
During my interview, my hands were scanned thoroughly and after meeting the usual height, weight and looks criteria, there were general questions on education, where you see yourself five years from now, etc. And after a final meeting with the company president, I was in. What followed was a gruelling two months' training in Gurgaon. Surprisingly, serving was just a small part and was only taught after we passed the DGCA test on airline safety and technical details.
Glamorous? Not really
Within our training we had our grooming classes, on how to apply our makeup and wear our uniform. In fact, in our last inspection few girls were held back for two weeks because their eyeliner was not even!
The glamour comes from the whole persona of a flight attendant. The uniform, make up and the look. When you step out of the house, all eyes are on you. But after flying 60-70 hours a week the glamour wears off quickly.
To get up at 3 am and put on a cake of paint on you, wear a bun and don your uniform, the glamour flies out of the window. Before each flight we are scrutinised from top to toe, any chipped nailpaint, uneven lipstick or awry hair strands are a black marks on your flight reports. More such faux pas and you are grounded.
And then comes the most difficult part of the job, passengers. Some of them think since they have bought a ticket, they have bought the airline. They constantly crib. They ask for blankets, cotton, tea, coffee and complain about food.
On each flight, usually with 4 cabin crew members, we are supposed to do two rounds of food and beverage, two rounds of merchandise and two rounds of cleaning. But people are so buzzer happy that we don't get past seats 1 to 30. And that's another black mark on our flight reports. Most flights, I don't end up eating anything as I am always on the buzzer.
Excess Baggage
Then there's the usual Indian men who would do anything to get close. In our training, we are told to ignore them but inform the crew head or the captain as a first step. If they persist, tell them off in a polite yet stern manner.
And thirdly, if they really persist restrain them by tying their hands with the seatbelt or keep them in the aft. But many times the harassment is subtle. They would get up the moment you are around and brush past you, or call you and then touch you accidentally. What can you do?
Then there are the difficult passengers who refuse to comply with anything. They ask for your name and want to report you at every given chance. It stresses you out. But when the passengers are nice, they come and thank you for a service and appreciate you and that helps to ease situations. It's this positive feedback that makes me want to don my uniform and wear my war paint every day, at 3 am in the morning
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