Presenting the Losers

[Josquius]

A big part of it is probally crappy wages for practically everyone. Air stewardesses can't get married and go off to stay home and shit out babies ye olde style, both members of the couple have to keep working.

What?
Its the way things were back in the Mad Men days. Lots of hot young secretaries, air stewardesses, etc... as 90% of them were just working for a few years until they got married. A family living off a single salary was a vialble proposition (plus of course other reasons; house work being more of a full time job, crappy women's rights, etc...)
(Asia still largely works this way. Banks in Japan- hotness central)

[Jacob]

This time you sort of made sense, Josq.

Garbon, he's saying that back when being a stewardess was mainly a job for attractive young women to do until they met a successful business man to marry and be the sole breadwinner you'd tend to get young pretty ones. Now that that social pattern no longer holds (fewer women aim to land a successful husband as their primary career strategy; more families need two incomes so the hot young stewardesses keep working even after they're married), we tend to see fewer nubile young ladies.

[Admiral Yi]

It is reasonable, but totally overshadowed by the fact that airlines used to have hard caps on age and explicitly hired for looks, both of which got legislated away.

I'm willing to bet that the hottness of Asian airlines has nothing to do with two income families blah blah and everything to do with the fact that they toss them out the door at a certain age.

[derspiess]

That's one Asian custom I'm willing to adopt.

[CountDeMoney]

I'm willing to bet that the hottness of Asian airlines has nothing to do with two income families blah blah and everything to do with the fact that they toss them out the door at a certain age.

You think it might be something to do with a cultural approach to the image of certain customer-driven services, particularly as a visible extension of the company? 
I wouldn't think Asian approaches to the service industries are as negative as they are here, where stewardess = waitress and trashed accordingly.

[Jacob]

It is reasonable, but totally overshadowed by the fact that airlines used to have hard caps on age and explicitly hired for looks, both of which got legislated away.

I'm willing to bet that the hottness of Asian airlines has nothing to do with two income families blah blah and everything to do with the fact that they toss them out the door at a certain age.

I concur.

I was merely clarifying Josq's position to garbon, not endorsing it.

In fact, I'm reasonably certain that the Chinese airlines have things like body measurements, height and weight as part of the job requirements.

[Admiral Yi]

You think it might be something to do with a cultural approach to the image of certain customer-driven services, particularly as a visible extension of the company? 
I wouldn't think Asian approaches to the service industries are as negative as they are here, where stewardess = waitress and trashed accordingly.

If US airlines could get away with it, I'm sure they would.  Neither do I think there would be a dearth of hott applicants.

I dated a flight attendant once and she said it's the best waitress job there is.

[Josquius]

Yeah, its mainly a social/cultural thing in Asia. Its just the expected thing from a lot of girls that they will stop working when they get married.
Though socially East Asian countries are a bit behind the times when it comes to women's rights, legally they (well, Japan and probally the other non-evil ones) tend to be pretty comparable to the west.

[garbon]

I was merely clarifying Josq's position to garbon, not endorsing it.

To be fair, I understood it - I just didn't think it was particularly compelling as the reason for the shift.

[derspiess]

I regret not having made my career in the airline industry.  The free travel perk would've been a dream come true.  Wife & I are friends with a couple that are both retired from Delta-- awesome people and they're constantly flying all over the damned world.  They enjoy the hell out of it but it's kind of wasted on them, as they enjoy all the superficial stuff but have no idea about the history or actual culture of the places they visit.

[derspiess]

I was merely clarifying Josq's position to garbon, not endorsing it.

To be fair, I understood it - I just didn't think it was particularly compelling as the reason for the shift.

I thought that was common knowledge

[The Larch]

I regret not having made my career in the airline industry.  The free travel perk would've been a dream come true.  Wife & I are friends with a couple that are both retired from Delta-- awesome people and they're constantly flying all over the damned world.  They enjoy the hell out of it but it's kind of wasted on them, as they enjoy all the superficial stuff but have no idea about the history or actual culture of the places they visit.

According to friends of mine who working in tourism, being part of the cabin crew (pilots + hostesses) is absolute poison for stable relationships. All the older pilots they knew were in their 3rd or 4th marriages, and pilots and hostesses bed each other like crazy.

[garbon]

I was merely clarifying Josq's position to garbon, not endorsing it.

To be fair, I understood it - I just didn't think it was particularly compelling as the reason for the shift.

I thought that was common knowledge

That the inability to raise a family on one income lead to the decline in attractive stewardesses rather than the removal of gender and age discrimination in hiring/firing practices?

[Josquius]

I was merely clarifying Josq's position to garbon, not endorsing it.

To be fair, I understood it - I just didn't think it was particularly compelling as the reason for the shift.

I thought that was common knowledge

That the inability to raise a family on one income lead to the decline in attractive stewardesses rather than the removal of gender and age discrimination in hiring/firing practices?

I said it was also part of it, not the only reason.

[Brazen]

Did any of you see Pan Am, which was basically about air stewardesses in the early 60s? Not surprised, it was crap. But the first episode showed them turning up for regular weighing, measuring and grooming inspections. The actresses had to wear longline bras and girdles to get the right shape and posture.