Flight Attendant Style

Browsing the web this morning (due to finally reaching my boredom threshold with work-related reading, I admit it!) I happened upon some photos of flight attendants in the US. What I find really interesting is the difference between the grooming rules there, and how strict the airlines here in Australia are.

For example, one of the photos (found on Google search) showed two FAs doing a service, and the interesting thing to me was that they have their hair down. Many other American FAs have commented to me that they're allowed to have their hair down. Even one of our famous FA bloggers, Heather Poole, has some photos on her site where the ladies have their long-ish hair down. (BTW I think Heather has beautiful wavy hair that I'm very jealous of!!) :P


Here in Australia female FAs are restricted in how they may wear their hair. Generally, if your hair is longer than your collar or touches your shoulders, it has to be up. The most common options are: French roll, chignon/bun or ponytail/plait. If it's worn in a ponytail or plait, it must be 30cms or shorter once tied back, or it has to be completely 'up'.

Etihad FAs show how up-dos are done.

There's also rules about the kinds of hairties you can have. (Plain black, brown or blonde elastics) either covered with a clip, ponytailer shield (in black or tortoise) or a black ribbon tied in a bow. Some crew use hair donuts

but I think they look RIDICULOUS because most girls use one which is too large, you're meant to pick a small one because it gets bigger when your hair goes over it. Also, the idea is to pin the 'edges' of the donut to your head, not just the hair ends, or it looks as though, well, you have a donut stuck on your head!! :P Kind of like some Virgin Atlantic crew I saw in London, who had the donuts up next to their ears. So not classy!

Another difference I've noticed is during discussions about crew shoes (yes, we'll talk about ANYTHING!!!) While were allowed to wear flats in-flight (only after take-off), they cannot be either a) totally flat like a ballet shoe or b) have any straps, be clogs etc. They have to be something like this:


Our other shoes have to be a court shoe, leather no patent, with heels which are a certain height & width.

There's not much scope for personal choice here. No stilettos either, though I do try and push the rules a bit. My 'tarty' shoes LOOK like stilettoes from the side, but actually are a standard wide court heel. Yay for illusion, they look so much better with the uniform than blocky shoes. My other shoe hate is court shoes which are too blocky. Makes girls look like those chickens with the feathers covering their feet!

Rules also cover things like what kind of watch we can have, the size of our earrings (no dangling earrings here!) width of bracelets, nail polish colour, makeup style, what kind of makeup to have (minimium of blush, powder, mascara and coloured gloss), where our name tag goes, what our bags look like, what tags we can have on our bags (most crew ignore this one) and even up to what sort of perfume we wear. Most Middle Eastern airlines are very similar, except I don't think any of them allow for a pony tail.

Here's some nicely turned-out Air France FAs. If you click on the picture it also has information about the photographer and a book he wrote about flight attendants.


What do you think? Do you prefer more 'casual' crew (like Southwest) or do you like it better when the crew look 'perfect' (Singapore, Etihad, Air France). I'd love to hear your comments!

Virgin Blue crew

Qantas crew

Jetstar crew

Flying the A380- Singapore Airlines Trip Report (Part 2)

Once I had boarded & stowed all my stuff, I set about getting some pictures. As I hadn'tdone much long-haul flying as a passenger, I erred on the side of caution & requested an aisle seat. It was a bit annoying as I usually like a window seat for that reason, but the people sitting in my row were nice enough to let me lean over them to snap a few pics.




(The seat layout on the SQ 380 is 3-4-3 on main deck economy- I think it's the same for upper deck as well, though I only got a brief look)


I'd also like to add I really love the seat pockets- not only was there a section for the afore-pictured magazines & safety card, but additional elasticised pockets for iPod, camera, water bottle or whatever else one wants to cram in there. I could fit all the essentials near to hand without having to resort to rummaging in the overhead every 10 minutes.

Another neat feature (sadly forgot to photograph it) was the footrest. I found it a bit awkqard when sleeping, but good when I was awake watching tv,and wanting to take the weight off my feet. I think this might be better than the foot-net that Qantas have, but as I haven't yet tried that I can't be certain.

After take-off, the crew came around with a drinks service. Looking at the menu, I saw they were offering a Singapore Sling. Of course, I had to try it, in honour of my first trip on the SQ A380. I had thought it would be made with a pre-mix, but no, the friendly Singapore Girl mixed it all to order from the drinks cart:


That was really cool, but quite strong, so I also got a lemonade to have with the peanuts.


Next was our meal, which was really tasty. Again with the metal cutlery, which is kind of strange to see after dealing with plastic knives for so long! I ate pretty much everything, and then they gave out some icecream which was small pieces of icecream covered in chocolate. They were really good!

After lunch, most people went to sleep or watched movies, so I took the chance to have a wanfder around and look at the plane. I'm still kicking myself, at the time I felt like I was taking lots of photos but later when I looked at them I realised I didn't have any of the stair case or upper deck. Oh well, next time!



View out of the Right 5 door viewing window. The clouds were really cool, but they also gave us some turbulence. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I found it odd that the seatbelt sign didn't seem to be enforced. An announcement would be made, but after that people still got up and walked around with not really any interference from the crew. (They do things differently I guess!)

The plane nerd in me had to take a picture of this...
Airbus logo on each of the doors.



One for my flight attendant readers:
The door mechanism is a lot different from what we might be used to... although it does have similarities to others in the Airbus family.

Just think, it once took a week to make this trip! Now it's under 14 hours.



Getting there...


About an hour and a half before we arrived we also got a supper/dinner. This was chicken with noodles and was really good! Kind of like chicken noodle soup, but without the soup :P

And a few final 'plane geek' photos :)

The Heathrow Express train from Paddington to the airport. It's pretty high-tech, a lot like a plane itself. See the exit-row lighting, and the folding seats near the door which look like crew jumpseats. It even had wi-fi!! Took about 15mins to make the trip, which was well worth 16 pounds. (Hint: If you're crew, show your airline ID, the nice guy at the ticket counter gave me a crew ticket for 8 pounds!!)


The iPod connector on the seatback entertainment console:

The A380 also has AV input for a portable DVD or similar, and also allows you to view content from a USB stick like PDF files and Word documents. If you're not sure about what plane you're flying, or what facilities it has on board, check the airline website or the ever-handy Seat Guru website.


The IFE handset. The reverse side has a keyboard (for seat to seat messaging that hot guy ;) and gaming buttons for the multitude of games such as Mummy Mania and WHo Wants to Be A Millionaire. Hours of fun!

And I found this amusing:

The A380 is so big they give you a map to fiure out where your seat is!!!

Overall, I really enjoyed the flight and the crew were great- nothing was too much trouble. It's true- Singapore is a great way to fly!

Stay tuned for a Singapore Girl pic on the Galley Curtain blog =)

Trip Report- Flying the Skies With Singapore's A380 (Part 1)

Finally I'm in the mood to make a blog post, and seeing as my main theme of my blog is aviation, I thought I'd start with writing about what it was like to fly on the Airbus A380- giant of the sky.

Airline: Singapore Airlines (SQ)
Route: SIN-LHR (London Heathrow)
Aircraft: Airbus A388 (A380-800)



Before joining this flight, I had another sector with SQ from my home town to Singapore Changi Airport. Transit time was approximately 6 hours.

So many flights... and only about 3 or 4 hours out of the day!

On the flight up I traded watching tv for legroom, as the exit row at door R3 was unoccupied due to broken IFE. I asked one of the crew if I could sit there, and they were at first concerned I should know the tv's didn't work. When I assured them I was fine with it, they let me sit there, so I had the two seats to myself.

Strangely enough, I ended up receiving a special meal, even though I am neither Hindu or vegetarian, it ended up being tasty enough.

As a bonus, I got my meal before anyone else. If you tend to be hungry on flights, I recommend ordering a SM so you get to eat early. You will sit with your tray a bit longer too, though.

During my transit, I mostly looked around at the shops in the Terminal 3 transit mall. It certainly is a very traveller-friendly airport.

They had recharging stations for all possible gadgets (except USB for digital cameras, boo) a butterfly garden, free massage chairs and lots of other cool stuff.


Flowers in the butterfly house

Some really pretty butterflies, they were everywhere & there were lots of fake flowers with nectar pots in the middle to feed them.




The only thing lacking for an airplane nerd like me was a proper observation deck. The windows were big but didn't afford a view of the entire landing runway. I still got some good pics though.

SQ Boeing 777


QF A380

After lots of waiting around, we were finally ushered into the new boarding lounge which included gates for the A380.


While there, I tried to get a pic of my SavvyNavigator bag tag. Sadly the cool ones got corrupted on my camera card so this is the best of the remaining shots.
(Yes that is the A380 engines you can see in the background)

Our crew assembling to board the plane. I counted about 23 all up, that's a big crew!


After being welcomed on board & settling in, hot towels were passed out before take off which was a nice change. After departure we were given the amenity kits. Oddly, they had no eye shades, which I thought was really strange. Just some airplane socks & a small toothbrush. Of course I souvenired them for later, maybe I'll use them for a give-away later on.


As this is quite a big post, I'll write the rest of this one in the next day or two.

In Transit.... and I Laviated!

Hello blog people!

I'm currently cooling my heels waiting for my next flight in Changi Airport, Singapore. While I've travelled here in my FA life many a time, it's the first time I've a) been a passenger and b) had so much time to look around. Visiting Terminal 3 is also a first. While it's new and shiny, and has heaps of cool stuff like free baggage trolleys, koi fish ponds, a butterfly house & free foot massagers, most of the shops are too ritzy to buy anything from.

So far my airport purchases include an inflatable pillow (regular shaped ones made my neck hurt on last flight), a Kinder Bueno bar and a br/unch of spaghetti with a glass of OJ. The restaurant has free internet for patrons, and although I bought a meal I'm definitely getting a vibe of 'hurry up'from the staff. Too bad, 10 bucks should get me at least an hour of surfing :P And it's not even busy!

Flight here was pretty good. I was surprised by a couple of things. Got given an amenity kit, which actually contained only socks and a toothbrush (not even eye shades on a red-eye flight!). Good thing I BYO all that stuff!

The other thing I found unusual is that on SQ, the seatbelt sign coming on doesn't actually seem to mean anything. It came on 3 times during the flight for turbulence, and while the usual PA was made, the FAs continued to walk around doing work. I figured maybe it just applied to the passengers, but then quite a few got up to use the bathroom or rummage in their overhead bags, and went unchallenged by the crew!

Ok, I'm still getting looks, so I better cut this short. Next flight up is on the mammoth beast of the skies, the mighty A380. Let's see if it lives up to the hype!

PS- I laviated!!!! :D

PPS- Singapore Girls are even cuter in person. All so pretty. In-charge of economy seemed a tad grumpy though, maybe she was just in a rush and not grumpy?

Bringing Style to the Skies

A few days ago, Heather made a post about flight attendant scarves. I made the comment that the Asian girls flying the skies seem to have a 'something' which makes them seem so much more stylish than their Western counterparts- who, admittedly, have their own kind of style.

Scarves, as well as hats, play a big part in the crew uniforms of the major Asian airlines. It's very unusual to find an Asian airline which does not. (with the exclusion of the southern asian airlines such as Phillipines, Garuda and so forth) The only example which comes to mind aside from Singair at the moment is Cathay Pacific, who had hats up until 1983 but not since. I can only guess this was an attempt to 'modernise' the look.



I think it's quite stylish and I've always liked the device of using colour to signify the rank of a particular crew member.

This one, of course, is probably the most-recognised crew uniform in the world, the iconic Singapore Girl!



This uniform is so stylish and timeless, I don't think it will ever go out of style, despite claims that it is sexist and outdated.

Another cute outfit is this one from Korean Air, though hardly practical with all that white! (I hope they carry ScotchGuard with them!)


China Air attendants, obviously in a bit of a hurry


Reportedly, China Southern even holds a beauty pageant to find potential candidates to work as flight attendants for them.


The job of a flight attendant has attained cult status in Japan. Unlike in other countries, the job is well-respected and parents would not be unhappy if their daughters (or increasingly, their sons) were to pursue such a career.

Classes are intense, with focus not only on safety, but also on appearance, attitude, manner of service and even the ways in which the girls move and tie their apron bows!

Japanese people are well known for their love of uniforms, which I think is so cute. Even bus conductors and train attendants have uniforms reminiscent of airline uniforms.

If you'd like to see more about the Japanese culture of the flight attendant, you can try to view this DVD from Fuji TV. It's a show called 'Attention, Please' (Atenshon puriizu, in Japanese). It follows a wannabe, then novice 'cabin attendantu' through her journey from selection process and interview, to training and eventually flight. Two specials aired taking the heroine to Hawaii and then Sydney, Australia!

It's a very fascinating insight into how an 'ordinary' job in the Western world is perceived elsewhere.

From IMDB.com:
One of the most endearing scenes in the pilot episode though, is when the aspirants finally pass their initial phase training and are awarded their official JAL cabin crew uniforms -- replete with name tags, JAL-emblazoned silk scarves, and shrink wrapped in protective cellophane to boot -- thus allowing them to continue the rest of the cabin-crew flight training.

It's witnessing scenes like this when one realizes how much being a part of a recognized group means to the Japanese, and how negotiating such compulsions are oftentimes an "all-or-nothihg" affair for many in Japanese society.



You can watch the first part of the show below (with subtitles)