50-year-old Russian woman in the USA got a job as a flight attendant: “Here and at 86 they fly”

Until our compatriot began working in the air, she cannot name herself and the airline, but she described the employment procedure in general terms. She worked as an accountant in a retail chain, saw an ad on the airline’s website, sent a resume, and in response was invited for an interview.

– Were you surprised by your age there?

– Why be surprised, an 86-year-old stewardess still flies in the USA, and the average age of flight attendants is 46 years. I passed the selection, now at the trainings. Of the 150 people in my class, about 20% are 50-60 years old, about 40% are 35-40 years old, up to 35 units. They don’t look at age, it’s not the main thing.

– And what is the main thing? What were the selection criteria?

– You have to be able to lift weights, reach a certain mark on the door and fit in the seat for the stewardess.

– What about work experience? And the medical board?

– There is no medical board. Only a covid vaccine is needed, but a withdrawal can be made. In addition, some areas may require vaccinations against local diseases. Experience is not needed, everything will be taught in a 6-week course. We are engaged in very intensively: 6 days a week for more than 12 hours. We study the device of the liner, the provision of medical care, security, actions in emergency situations, evacuation from board in a few minutes and psychology – how to convince, how to calm, etc.

Since I hear this for the first time, I involuntarily begin to suffer from doubts:

– Is this training paid? Is there a guarantee that you will get a job upon completion? Or will they just write out a crust – and fly where you want?

– Training is free, only for those who have passed the selection. At the end of the exams. Whoever passes, starts working in the air.

– How much will you get?

– Last year, novice flight attendants were paid $32,000 a year (about 200,000 rubles a month – auth.) plus bonuses, this year added another 5%.

On the airline’s website, indeed, on February 15, a message about an increase in salaries: from April 1, the carrier intends to “invest again in its employees, adding 5% to the salary of everyone – from pilots and flight attendants to ground personnel.”

“They raise salaries by 4-5% at least twice a year,” the newly minted stewardess rejoices. – And experienced flight attendants earn half a million a month, if in rubles.

According to American ratings, this air carrier really leads the industry in terms of “humanitarian values” – in respect for employees and applicants, the size and regular increase in wages, social responsibility and the ability to attract interested people and develop their abilities. “This well-deserved promotion is a direct result of your efforts,” comments the CEO. – Our employees are the best in their business, only thanks to you we take to the skies for a better future!”

However, this airline was not always so nice. According to our compatriot, as an anti-example, they keep their own advertisement for hiring stewardesses from 1965: “We are looking for unmarried and previously unmarried girls from 20 to 26 years old with world-class figures, long straight legs, even teeth, radiant smooth skin and excellent health. A successful candidate must understand that she will not be able to get married until she retires at the age of 30-32, when there can already be serious problems with marriage.”

– Now they would instantly go bankrupt after such an announcement, – says our compatriot. – Describe a woman like a horse! And comments about the difficulties with marriage after 30 are generally beyond!

Well, nothing, but now the main thing is to fit on the seat. And in a number of airlines they take flight attendants up to 80 years. 86-year-old Bette Nash from Boston got into the Guinness Book of Records as “the oldest stewardess in the world.”

“Bette came to us 65 years ago, in 1957,” they say in the office of the national air carrier, who became famous for being an age-old flight attendant. – She will fly as long as her strength, health and desire will allow her.

– And if she came to you at 80?

– Up to 80 they would still take it, but after that they don’t. After 80, learning is already hard to perceive. And who is already trained, can fly safely on the 9th decade.

Passengers love “their Bette,” and some even deliberately take tickets on the New York-Boston-Washington flight she currently works on to chat with her. And in our country, the work of flight attendants has always been referred to as “professions of increased risk to health.”

– I flew in the last years of the Soviet Union, – says the ex-flight attendant. – Therefore, I retired not before 40, as it was in the early 80s, but at 49. But in the last 7 years I was written off to the ground – to ground personnel. Now I am 58, my pension is 10,500 rubles.

– Earnings and pensions of Russian flight attendants depend on the rating of the airlines where they work, – says the former flight attendant. – Also on the length of service, hourly flight time, on the type of flights that you serve, on the knowledge of English. Some airlines have their own requirements. If we take our national carrier, then immediately after training, the salary of a flight attendant is 15-20 thousand rubles, and with experience it can reach up to 100 thousand rubles per month. The average monthly salary is 40-55 thousand rubles. The pension depends on the length of service and the amount of insurance premiums. On average, 20-25 thousand rubles. Flight attendants are entitled to early retirement: women at 45 if they have flown for at least 7 years and 6 months, men at 50 if they have worked in the air for 10 years.

What is required from Russian women to become flight attendants of this same domestic airline? “Girl 18-27 years old, height from 165 cm with an attractive appearance and fluent English. Good health is required, the absence of chronic diseases and allergic reactions (a medical examination is being carried out), pleasant diction and well-delivered speech … A successful candidate should not have any external skin defects and tattoos on her body. If there are vacancies, the airline announces a competition, applicants for the flight attendant position are interviewed and undergo a medical examination. Those who successfully passed them are sent to courses from the airline, after which exams are completed. Those who pass them work 30 hours in the air as trainees under the guidance of an instructor, after which they are allowed to work independently. In describing a successful candidacy for a flight attendant “like a horse,” a Russian employer sees nothing shameful:

– Healthy, beautiful, young women contribute to the peace of mind of the passenger.

And with such requirements, stellar air passengers manage to call Russian stewardesses in their blogs “clumsy bodies that, in which case, will block the passage.” And air brawlers bite them, like a recently drunk passenger on a Stavropol-Moscow flight, whom flight attendants prevented from smoking. Well, in such conditions, “stewardess” to 80? And is it not dangerous for a woman after 50 to work in the air? And for herself, and for passengers?

“In Soviet times, the health requirements for flight attendants were very strict, almost like for pilots,” recalls a former member of the medical board in civil aviation. – With bronchial asthma, pressure above and below normal, cardiovascular diseases, thyroid dysfunction, varicose veins, allergies, myopia, the commission could not be passed. Plus all sorts of complex stress tests. And all sorts of health problems often appear just after 50. And then all the time on your feet, changing time zones, emotional and physical fatigue, changes in height and pressure – the body of a woman 50+ can behave unpredictably. For age stewardesses only gynecologists and psychiatrists. The former do not recommend women to become flight attendants before giving birth: the overloads received by the female body when working in the air often then interfere with the normal carrying of the child. And the latter note that flight attendants “decommissioned to the ground” are more likely to suffer from severe depression, as it is difficult for them to integrate into earthly life.