Flight Attendant

If you’re looking for anecdotes about the excitement of a flight attendant’s day-to-day, this is not your book. If you’re looking for a sociological study of the history of the position, that is what you will get.

It’s rare that I have trouble finishing a book, but this book was the exception. I’m well familiar with academic literature, and this book reads like a dissertation… as I suspect it originally was. The author is trying to stretch his (obviously extensive) research into something interesting and readable, but the end result – the book – is as dray and colorless as the research. Too much is made of the concept of flight attendants as being “spaced out,” a term the author coins (and then overuses) to describe their relative position vis-a-vis time and physical space. In other words, the job pays not only financially, but also by giving (predominantly) women a chance to carve out separate spheres of their lives.

Some of the historical background to the modern industry is fascinating, but it’s bogged down by the unreadability of the reporting. Other facts are presented as novel, in what reads as almost an insult to the reader. (For instance, flight attendants have their own lingo! They talk of “picking up shifts” – whatever could that mean?) In an attempt to be thorough, the author has over-researched.

This book will be worthwhile for some readers, for certain, and definitely has a place in academia. However, the attempts to bill it as being of mass-market interest are perhaps too ambitious.
Rating: 2 / 5

The definitive work on this fascinating and often misunderstood profession and subculture.
Rating: 5 / 5

This book intrigued me because of my lifelong fascination with careers, career choice and career change. I am also a fan of Arlie Hochschild, the sociologist who drew our attention to emotional labor. And I used to travel extensively and talk to the flight attendants. (More than once I’ve been asked, “Are you sure you didn’t fly? I can’t believe you know this!”)

So I was predisposed to like this book and mostly I did. I like the author’s sociological approach, placing the attendants’ work in a broader context of managing space and time. The book reads like a novel. If I were still teaching I can imagine assigning the book for a “sociology of work” or “work life balance” class.

However, after awhile I felt the author needs to introduce a healthy dose of economic reality. The book emphasizes the negativity of the job: low pay, long hours, health-threatening (and sometimes life-threatening working conditions) and more. But let’s get real: ever since the jobs opened up to women, the airlines have gotten so many applicants they can afford to be demanding, selective and even unreasonable. When demand exceeds supply it’s a buyer’s market, i.e., the airlines are buyers and flight attendants (like all workers) sell their labor.

For some reason, most of us have no trouble understanding this idea in the real estate market but we resist applying the idea to the labor market. To be sure, as a society we want to protect workers against unsafe conditions. But whether we’re talking about entry level editorial assistants, movie production assistants, adjunct professors of liberal arts or flight attendants, we need to recognize that people get paid more when their skills are scarce and/or in high demand. That’s why janitors and house cleaners often earn a higher hourly wage than, say, preschool teachers and yoga instructors.

Second, many flight attendants loved (and continue to love) their jobs. Read Elliott Hester’s book, Plane Insanity. I remember talking to one attendant: after complaining about her job, she said, “I have too many neat privileges to give up flying.”

Back in the early days of the 40s, 50s and 60s, flight attendants did conform to stereotypes and fantasies. But you have to compare their careers to the available alternatives. Watch the video The Best of Everything to get a reality check down Memory Lane. Southwest began as the Love Airline. But the author fails to note that today’s Southwest attendants wear khaki slacks or hiking-style shorts with sneakers and socks. They wear letter sweaters during football season. Not exactly seductive!

True, media often glamorize the flight attendant profession. True, the “Coffee Tea or Me” series seems bizarre, especially today. But the Gwyneth Paltrow movie actually is a very funny satire (anybody else notice the uncanny resemblance to the Cinderella story, dwarf and all)? The book and movie Catch Me If You Can depicts “stewardesses” very respectfully: many came from strict religious backgrounds and most resisted the pseudo-pilot’s charms.

Finally, as in many studies of occupations, unions are presented as heroes and saviors. True, unions may have helped remove weight and other petty restrictions. However, one flight attendant told me, “They don’t always help. Sometimes they make deals, where they’ll help one person and not another.” I have no idea if that’s common or accurate perspective. But I have heard first-hand stories (mostly from management) in other fields, describing some pretty amazig deals with the unions.

In the end, the book comes across as an insightful glimpse into a profession that has fascinated outsiders since the early years of passenger flying. I would like to see a more balanced view but this book will be a welcome addition to the publications on the sociology of work.

Rating: 4 / 5