I travel for work most of the year, hence why I am always posting about opting out of facial recognition and biometric theft at airports. But for this piece I want to talk about the cabin crew, particularly with the highly publicized airline crashes that have been happening this year alone.
Up until not even that long ago, flight attendants on flights had to be women, white, of a certain conventional look, and single. In fact, if they got married, they were often fired.
Historically, they were also often nurses because flight attendants have always been there for passenger safety.
Sidebar, this is Ruth Carroll Taylor, who became the first Black flight attendant in the United States in 1958.
She was already a nurse and worked for the NY Transit Authority and wanted to challenge the racism of the airline industry.
She did it. She opened the doors to a new piece of history, but they made her resign very soon after because they didn’t like the fact that she got married. Since then, much has changed, but many aspects have not.
A major change in flying is the introduction of meals in flight. The flight attendants, who had previously been there for a different role, now took on the additional task of getting food to the passengers. This changed the industry, and also passengers’ understanding and perception of flight attendants.
Because of people like Ruth Carroll Taylor and DEI, we are now able to have more diverse cabin crews with many different genders, races, and ethnicities. Comparatively, there is also a little less racism, ageism, sexism, ableism, and transphobia while we’re flying.
Most certainly, the skies are still very much filled with the many systems of oppression, but a little less so because of the work of so many before us.
The cabin crew are there for our comfort and safety. However, let us be honest, most people are not ever extraordinarily comfortable in the air, so the crew are actually there for our safety.
Whether or not we pay attention to the safety demonstrations that they go through at the beginning of each flight, those are for our safety. Everything that they do is for our safety. From asking us to put your seatbelts on, bringing us water, smiling and saying hello, calming people down, to making sure people feel a little safer, it is all for our safety. There is physical and emotional labor that cabin crew do to keep us safe.
The cabin crew are trained in a variety of skills, including emergency evacuation, medical care, communication, deescalation, and so many additional critical skills.
These people are there to save our lives. They’re not here to be our servants. But because capitalist colonialism is doing its damage, people often think the cabin crew are there to serve the passengers when, in fact, they’re there to keep us safe.
So, treat your cabin crew accordingly, as someone who is saving your life. Treat them with respect and gratitude.
While you are flying, they are your guide and light.
Comments are closed.