Women’s Health UK – September 2019

Women’s Health SEPTEMBER 2019 | 117

of isolation and provides no

light relief from the job at hand;

that job being customer service

at its ugliest. ‘It’s a running joke

that cabin crew have it easy,

offering drinks or duty-free gifts

every few hours, but that isn’t

the case at all,’ says crew

member Janice*, 62. ‘No one

flight is the same, so you never

know what’s coming – some

passengers are fraught before

they even reach the aircraft

door, others get frustrated with

crying babies or need medical

attention – so you’re constantly

alert to drama and often treated

badly. It can be like a customer

complaints line – but face-to-

face.’ The fact that employees

are eyeballed by their customers

in person means the friendly

facade must never drop. ‘We’re

expected to leave any issues at

home and paste on a smile, for

customers as well as the rest of

that flight’s team, regardless

of how we feel,’ says Amanda*,

50, who’s been flying as cabin

crew for 25 years. This mask

goes further than acting for

the customer – despite it

being 2019, the stereotype still

exists that cabin crew will be

composed in looks as well as

manners. Remember that 2009

Virgin Airways TV advert? It

celebrated 25 years of flying not

by announcing feats of success,

but with a video objectifying

the ‘red hot’ stewardesses and

poking fun at comparatively

dull passengers who found

them unattainable. Prescriptive

uniforms, make-up guidelines

and instructions to wear heels

when walking through airport

terminals still stand, all adding

to the pressure to conceal the

reality of life as cabin crew.

The closed working

environment does crew no

favours, either. Worlds away

from fresh, cabin air is recycled – sucked in

through the plane’s engine, then siphoned

off into the air-conditioning unit before

being pumped into cabins, having

potentially collected and carried unhealthy

traces of toxins. Trade union Unite confirms

that, at present, legal action has been served

in 51 court cases against five UK airlines in

relation to causing ‘irreversible neurological

damage and chronic illness among

susceptible individuals’ from toxic cabin

air. Plus, flying at altitude can reduce oxygen

levels in the blood, linked to behavioural

changes, headaches and confusion. And

medicating with healthy food is a difficult

option at 30,000 feet, as crew are only

provided with food on certain flights.

‘I try not to eat airline food as there’s little

nutrition in it,’ says Amanda. ‘The company

provides sandwiches, fruit and cheese for

pre-take-off, but there’s rarely enough

for every crew member.’

Sky’s the limit

As with the majority of mental health

sufferers, employees’ symptoms tend to

develop slowly over time. For me, I signed

up as cabin crew in my twenties, seeking

adventure and an escape from the dreary

nine-to-five, having seen both my dad and

brother enjoy careers in flying. A job with

British Airways delivered. One week, I’d

be landing in São Paulo and the next I’d

be heading to the beach in Sydney. I was

social on trips, trying to make the most of

every moment – I hated staying in my hotel

room and would actively encourage others

out of theirs, heading out to explore the

destination and meeting fellow crew for

a drink or dinner. There were so many

opportunities to take advantage of; hiring

a taxi in Calcutta to catch a boat across the

Ganges, visiting an island in Hong Kong

to have dinner at a restaurant the captain

recommended, day-tripping to the Great

Wall of China and attending an annual

rodeo in Calgary. All perks of the job, all

enjoyed with colleagues I barely knew. But

after three years, the lifestyle affected me

more and more. I began to isolate myself,

too exhausted to engage with others and too

scared to let anyone see I was struggling.

That night in Singapore was the beginning

‘We’re expected to leave any

issues at home and paste on

smiles, no matter how we feel’

controlled under an EU-wide flight-time limitations

directive. While some long-range duty shifts can be as

long as 19 hours, the stringent directive rules that duty

times must not exceed 60 hours in any one week, or

2,000 hours a year. Despite these rules, in February, the

European Union Aviation Safety Agency published a

report highlighting the increased probability of high

fatigue levels during nights and periods with late finishes,

among both pilots and cabin crew, recommending the

implementation of further measures to prevent fatigue.

Under pressure

With thousands of members of cabin crew working

across each major airline and rotas largely generated

at random, it’s far harder for staffers to form lasting

friendships than for the average office worker. A lack of

stable social networks only serves to exacerbate feelings

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