- 5/1/2025
Flight anxiety among passengers is soaring amid high-profile crashes and technical problems. In a poll commissioned by The Points Guy, nearly 90% of respondents said they were afraid to fly. It's made flight attendants' jobs harder. When travelers are nervous, there's a risk of unruly behavior. But whether it's passenger misconduct or a crash landing, flight attendants are often the first line of defense. They're not just there to serve drinks; they're trained in firefighting, water and land evacuations, first aid, and self-defense. As the number of airplane passengers is expected to hit a record high in 2025, can flight attendants keep everyone safe?
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00:00Stay seated! Release seatbelts! Youth! Hub at the bottom!
00:05Leave everything! Jump and slide! Come this way! Leave everything! Jump and slide!
00:11When a plane crashes, flight attendants are the first line of defense.
00:17Flight anxiety has skyrocketed among passengers in the last few years
00:23because of high-profile maintenance issues and crashes.
00:28Preparing for these kinds of emergencies takes extensive training, from firefighting to water evacuations.
00:35The perception is that, oh, we just were waitresses in the sky.
00:40Flight attendants do have to follow strict fashion rules.
00:44So for the mascara, does it need to be so clumpy? No. So it needs to look very good.
00:50And go through rigorous instruction for meal service.
00:53Did you check with the passenger whether she wants to have a glass of wine?
00:57I didn't hear you.
01:01But this sometimes makes travelers overlook how crucial they can be.
01:05Unfortunately today, a lot of people just don't respect flight attendants.
01:10They are on that plane to get your behind off of it if an emergency occurs, not to kiss it.
01:17So what does it take to pass flight attendant boot camp?
01:21And can all this training keep travelers out of harm's way?
01:27The first commercial flights in the world didn't even have cabin crew, like we see today.
01:31In the 1920s, 1930s, when the industry was developing, arguably that was the least safe time to fly.
01:41We didn't have jet engines back then. We had, you know, propeller planes and they just weren't as reliable.
01:47These aircraft, they were very rickety. They were very loud. So people were afraid to fly.
01:52So in 1930, a nurse named Ellen Church went to what is now United Airlines and suggested it have nurses on board to help keep passengers calm.
02:01United agreed. It told Ellen to hire a crew. They were called the original eight and all were nurses.
02:08So they were there for peace of mind just to settle nerves in that aspect, but they weren't really trained for, you know, robust safety procedures that we see today.
02:17After World War II, airplanes started getting bigger with more exits and they flew longer over water routes.
02:24Flight attendants started being trained on more complex safety situations.
02:28Breathe normally and continue to wear your mask.
02:31So think water landings, cold water survival, more robust evacuations just because you have a lot of people.
02:37You had more exit doors to work with.
02:40Then we saw the flight attendant job evolve from being a nurse to being what was then called a stewardess.
02:48In the U.S. at the time, the government set routes and fares.
02:52So some of the only ways airlines could compete were with things like decor, food and beverage and cabin crew.
02:59The role of the flight attendant was almost a flying sexpot.
03:05They were very much sexualized to get people on board.
03:09The people who flew on airlines were mostly businessmen.
03:12Airlines invested in designer clothes by Chanel, Dior and Valentino for their stewardesses.
03:18They also had height and weight requirements.
03:21Female flight attendants for airlines like Chicago and Southern had to be less than 28 years old, single and have no children.
03:28And they were required to be under 120 pounds and shorter than 5'5".
03:34Being subject to random inspections by the supervisors before they got on the plane.
03:40The infamous girdle checks.
03:42But there was a change brewing and the women started to fight back.
03:46The flight attendant said, no, we're not going to be treated like porcelain dolls.
03:51Women, join us! Women, join us!
03:56From the 1960s to the 1980s, the women's liberation movement was in full swing and sexual harassment in the workplace became illegal.
04:05They formed unions.
04:07They fought back on restrictions such as flight attendants having to be single, flight attendants not being able to have children.
04:15Also during the period, a slew of aviation accidents led to changes in cabin crew training.
04:22We call it blood priority.
04:24And it sounds very morbid, but things change when people die or a major accident happens.
04:29The airline industry globally invests an enormous amount of time and money and other resources, training especially, to prevent those mistakes from ever happening again.
04:42Release seatbelts!
04:44In 1983, a back lavatory on an Air Canada flight caught fire, eventually killing about half the passengers on board.
04:51After that, there was training about learning how to put out fires, evaluating fires better.
04:56The U.S. at that point made smoke detectors in lavatories mandatory.
05:01Today, fire and smoke are still some of the most dangerous scenarios flight attendants might face.
05:07Although rare, these situations can happen if a lithium ion battery in a phone or laptop ignites, or if the plane strikes a bird.
05:14That's why it's so important that flight attendants learn how to fight fires, like those training here in Doha.
05:20So you're going to stroll in the cabin.
05:21You're patrolling your cabin.
05:22You observe that there is a lot of fire.
05:23Action.
05:24Sabrina, bring BCF.
05:25Me, line inform commander.
05:26We remove the electrical power.
05:27Switch off IFE.
05:28Go ahead.
05:29And take the BCF.
05:30Take the handle.
05:31Remove the safety pin.
05:32And in the nozzle at the base of fire.
05:45They also train with special equipment, like these masks, to handle smoke.
05:50Milan, you're patrolling the cabin.
05:53And you observe there was smoke that was coming out from the overhead stowage.
05:59And one of the passengers alerted you.
06:01Smoke, smoke, smoke!
06:02Smoke, smoke, smoke!
06:12Very good!
06:13Seem case.
06:14How long are we waiting now?
06:16Around one minute.
06:17For new cutter flight attendants, training lasts eight weeks.
06:21Hey, hey, are you okay?
06:23There is no breathing.
06:24I'm starting CPR.
06:26CPR, and for an adult, you'll use two hands, okay?
06:31First aid training starts in week five.
06:34Also first aid, helping deliver babies,
06:37a situation that has happened on a cutter flight before.
06:41Let's go into the practical session of our drills.
06:45Even seasoned crew members have to return to this facility
06:47every 12 months for a refresher on their training.
06:51Freeze, freeze!
06:53Like opening emergency exit doors on this mock-up A330.
06:56Evacuate, evacuate, evacuate.
07:00Check the door is on, check the water level is safe.
07:04It's safe, go ahead.
07:07We open, release.
07:11Pull to inflate.
07:12Wait, wait, slide inflating, wait, wait, slide inflating.
07:15Wait, wait, slide inflating, wait, wait, slide inflating.
07:19Very good, slide inflated.
07:20Open seat belts, leave everything, come this way, inflate life jackets, hands and knees.
07:26All customers are out, what do you do next?
07:27Check anyone here shot for help.
07:29You have an incapacitated passenger.
07:32You have an incapacitated passenger, how do you take that person?
07:35I will lift and drag.
07:39Okay, so you use the drag method with you.
07:42Go ahead.
07:43Take the passenger.
07:45Okay, Lordana, that was perfectly done.
07:49Thank you so much.
07:50Ladies and gentlemen, can you clap for our Lordana, please?
07:53Flight attendants and passengers knowing how to operate the doors can save lives in an emergency.
08:01In 1985, a British Air Tours plane engine caught fire.
08:05Fifty-five passengers died on board, partly because those seated in the exit row didn't know how to open the doors.
08:13So a couple things were learned.
08:15For flight attendant training, briefing the exit rows and ensuring that those people in the exit rows know how to operate the door.
08:21Just better evacuation procedures to encourage people to use all exit doors.
08:24By then, flight attendants had already been trained to evacuate a plane within 90 seconds.
08:31To see how crews learned how to get passengers out quickly, we went to the Singapore Airlines training center.
08:36Just go, just go, go, go, go, go.
08:39The airline has a fleet of half a dozen different commercial planes.
08:43Different aircraft type means different emergency equipment, different doors, different operations.
08:48But it uses this massive mock-up to practice sliding.
08:52It's half Boeing 777 and half Airbus A380.
08:55The height of this mock-up is exactly the height it is of the actual aircraft.
09:01This class of incoming flight attendants hasn't flown yet.
09:05All the way, don't hold anything.
09:07Continue to walk out, walk out, walk out, walk out, and go.
09:13Some of these trainers have decades of experience.
09:21So we protect our crew very much.
09:27There are paddings down here to ensure that they are protected from the fall.
09:32And the deceleration pads in the middle of the slide and at the bottom of the slide to ensure that they don't fly off.
09:38In the real situation, the actual deceleration strips are more towards the bottom.
09:44They also tell the trainees to keep their arms up to prevent friction burn and to sit up straight.
09:53Why is it bad to go down lying down?
09:55Then you cannot move your body upright to get off the slide.
09:58People behind you will come and ram into you.
10:02For that same reason, passengers should leave everything behind so they don't block the slide with their bags.
10:09That's what happened when this Aeroflot plane crash-landed in Russia.
10:1441 people died.
10:16Experts say that number could have been lower if people hadn't stopped to get their carry-ons during the evacuation.
10:23Passengers going down also have to remove any high-heeled shoes so they don't puncture the slide.
10:30How do you make sure they're not scared?
10:32This is scary.
10:33Well, they have the resilience and the tenacity because they just want their cabin crew.
10:39We choose with the right calibre and criteria.
10:41Stay seated!
10:47Stay seated!
10:49Stay seated!
10:51Release seatbelts!
10:52Over in Atlanta, Delta Airlines flight attendants prepare for land evacuations on this motion trainer.
10:59It is our one and only trainer that does shake, does move.
11:02Evacuate!
11:03Evacuate!
11:04Leave everything!
11:06Bad exit!
11:07Go back!
11:08Come this way!
11:09Leave everything!
11:10Jump and slide!
11:11Come this way!
11:12Leave everything!
11:13Jump and slide!
11:14Come this way!
11:15Leave everything!
11:16Jump and slide!
11:17Stay seated!
11:18Stay seated!
11:19Stay seated!
11:20She's thinking about her commands.
11:23She's thinking about where her exits are.
11:25She's thinking about how to operate those exits.
11:27She's thinking about where her emergency equipment is.
11:29Release seatbelts!
11:32She's also thinking about people that got on board that could help her in an emergency.
11:35You!
11:36Help at the bottom!
11:38And she's also going to think about the people that got on who might need her assistance.
11:43You're expected to make good judgment calls and you're expected to remember all your training
11:47and respond to emergencies and be Delta gracious and patient and all of that on lack
11:53of sleep as well sometimes.
11:54Leave everything!
11:55Jump and slide!
11:56Release!
11:57Seatbelts!
11:58Delta Airlines uses the 767 mock-up to practice emergency landings on water.
12:05Luckily, this is very rare.
12:07The last time it happened in the U.S. was in 2009 when a U.S. Airways flight from New York
12:11landed in the Hudson River.
12:13And miraculously, everybody lived.
12:15That's because the flight attendants, their training for water landings kicked in.
12:19They knew to direct people to the overwing exits and the front exits because the back was taking
12:23on water.
12:24So, if you can't swim, then you can't be a flight attendant.
12:29A lot of the times they have to show that they could physically carry a full-size body through
12:33the water, put it on a raft, and get someone out of the water in case you have a water landing.
12:37These are things that if you cannot do, you flunk out, and people do flunk out.
12:42Still, a lot of people want to be cabin crew.
12:45In 2023, 65,000 people applied for just 5,000 Delta flight attendant jobs.
12:51The airline offers a starting salary of $35,000 with health benefits and discounted flights.
12:58United told Business Insider its average salary is nearly $80,000 for cabin crew.
13:04Senior flight attendants on airlines can earn $100,000 or more.
13:08But the industry generally has sky-high turnover because training and the job can be so tough.
13:14This may be a very, very safe industry, but it's so high consequence.
13:17There's not much room for error, and that's why the stakes are so high when you become
13:21a flight attendant.
13:22Those wings that they wear, they're earned.
13:25They are the first and sometimes last line of defense when there is a safety problem,
13:33a security problem in the cabin.
13:35And oh yes, in between, when things are normal, they're there to provide cabin service.
13:43But they still take cabin service seriously because it's often all customers see.
13:48Thank you so much.
13:49Wow.
13:50It's so big.
13:59Back in Singapore, business class flight attendants are doing a mock service called a dry run.
14:04How to set up the table, making sure the glassware, the crockery, the cutlery are all placed in
14:09the right position.
14:11Nezahara Binti Jahari, who goes by Zahra, is guiding 20 trainees through this mock service.
14:17One person handling everyone during the dry run can be quite challenging.
14:21Okay, so now Josephine, you may start laying the table for Miss Corp.
14:26Good.
14:27Okay, is that the correct one?
14:29Yes.
14:30It is not.
14:32A bit further in.
14:35Before you offer the wine, what do you need to place on the table?
14:41The wine door.
14:42Yes.
14:43So please remember the right procedure, yeah?
14:45Yes.
14:46Very nice.
14:47Okay.
14:48Holding a full bottle of wine and pouring directly on the table can be quite challenging for some
14:54of them, especially when they're very new.
14:56I usually pre-empt them to start building up muscles before they come for business class
15:01training.
15:02All Singapore Airlines flight attendants start out in economy, in blue uniforms.
15:23After about a year or so, then you are trained to be able to work in business class, and the
15:29crew that work in first class or suite, you must be a ranking crew.
15:33That means you are of leading rank, which is the green uniform.
15:37We want to give our passengers the feeling of having an in-flight dining service, hence
15:43it's very important for us to study here, and that's why we have to make it perfect.
15:49Welcome Miss Corp, please enjoy your meal.
15:52Thank you so much.
15:56Over at Qatar Airways, flight attendants also go through what's called a wet run, with real
16:01food.
16:02As you can see, we do pay so much attention to detail.
16:06This veteran cabin crew is learning how to plate a new menu for business class, which includes
16:10caviar.
16:11All right, so you have to be very gentle with the little pearls when you're doing
16:16the plating.
16:18Very good.
16:19In case you do have any stains or anything like that on the plate, always make sure that
16:24you do clean it out before it goes into the cabin.
16:27All right.
16:28So what do you think, Truang, what we can do differently next time?
16:32I should have taken the metal spoon part to scoop it out instead of taking the metal spoon.
16:41Aluminum from the spoon also when in contact with the caviar can alter the taste.
16:49All right.
16:50So whenever you open the packaging, you will see this cabbage on top.
16:55Can you tell me what is the reason why we have that on top?
16:58Well, we try to keep the food moist and tender.
17:00Beautiful.
17:01Okay.
17:02Absolutely.
17:03So we do not use it for plating.
17:05Very good.
17:06What are the things that you would change if you're doing this on board the aircraft?
17:09Well, I believe I'll be using probably a spoon to place the vegetables, to place the kale.
17:14It's going to be a more presentable plate.
17:17Yeah.
17:18And much more hygiene as well.
17:20Next, trainees like Dana Houghton practice serving the food in the business class mock-up.
17:26So what I recommend is that once you place everything, that will be a good time to introduce everything.
17:49Yeah.
17:50So when we do multitasking, sometimes we tend to make a lot of mistakes.
17:54After serving the main course and wine, it's on to dessert.
17:58Okay.
17:59So we recommend that you place first the fork, because that's the furthest one.
18:04And then you move to the right side cutlery.
18:07There's always so much to remember by doing it by standards.
18:11Everything always has to be perfect all the time.
18:17What also has to be perfect through training is their whole look, from their hair and makeup
18:23to their manicures and shoes.
18:25Very nice manicure.
18:27Very nice lipstick also.
18:28Thank you very much.
18:32This is one of the ones that we wear while we're boarding the aircraft.
18:38And then throughout the flight with the service, we have the blue one, the dining jacket.
18:43That's what we call it.
18:44You have this really long flight, 16, 17 hours.
18:47It's a very long time for you to be in the same uniform.
18:51And women always have to keep their hair tied back in a bun.
18:55I just take it, twist it, and just start forming the bun.
18:59My hair net will just go over my bun, like so.
19:05And then these are the scrunchies as well.
19:08Dana has been a cutter flight attendant for over five years.
19:11I'm from Jamaica, so I'm from a very small island in the Caribbean.
19:14And you don't go out much or you don't see much of the world.
19:18I think growing up, that was one of my dream jobs.
19:21And you see anybody who's working with airlines as basically like superheroes.
19:25In the beginning, it used to take me a very long time, but now it's quite easy.
19:30So the bun is low enough, the hat will go just about here.
19:34And then I need to ensure that the string is below the bun, like that.
19:39And in place.
19:41And then we're ready to go.
19:43Flight attendant's makeup has to match the uniform and follow cutter rules.
19:48So you need to have a full coverage foundation, right?
19:51Okay.
19:52Next one.
19:53We have mascara.
19:54Very good, mascara.
19:55So for the mascara, does it need to be so clumpy?
19:58No.
19:59No.
20:00So it needs to look?
20:01Natural.
20:02Very good.
20:03Okay.
20:04Next one.
20:05What do you think is the best color for her?
20:06Yeah?
20:07Burgundy.
20:08Burgundy.
20:09Great.
20:10I did my best.
20:11You did your best.
20:12No worries.
20:13There's always a concealer to clean up the area.
20:14You know that, right?
20:15Concealer is our best friend, by the way.
20:18When you do your makeup early in the morning, you are using your bedroom light.
20:22Yeah.
20:23Very nice application.
20:24The moment you step out of your accommodation, what happens?
20:27You get scared, right?
20:28So now you need to make sure that, try to use as natural light as possible.
20:33Okay?
20:38So Diana, can you please show it to your colleague?
20:41How is it?
20:42Wow.
20:43Great.
20:44Yeah?
20:45It's a very natural tan here.
20:47She's more prettier, right?
20:48Yeah.
20:49And then always the last thing is our handbag.
20:52This one is, every crew will have the same one.
20:57It's very easy to get mixed up.
20:58So you can always just put your own passcode and do that, and it just opens like that.
21:03For men, the airline's grooming rules include no makeup, no buzz cuts, and no beards.
21:09Only mustaches.
21:10So now basically you need to show up for the flights with a fully grown mustache.
21:15I use my hair dryer so I can make the line over here and make my hair fall on this side.
21:21Okay.
21:22And then again, I apply just a little bit of this wax or any kind of paste that needs to
21:28be met.
21:29So if you use anything that's shiny, it's not allowed and nothing too much.
21:33While beauty rules may have gotten easier since the weight checks of the 1950s, overall
21:40flight attendants' jobs have gotten a lot harder.
21:44We have seen in the last six or seven years a spike in air rage.
21:50Fights breaking out among travelers or between passengers and cabin crew.
21:55And so not only were they quite literally taking punches on planes from disgruntled passengers,
22:00we saw people getting duct taped to their seat on airplanes because they couldn't calm themselves.
22:06The flight attendants did not apply for these jobs because they wanted to get into boxing matches
22:14with a stranger on an airplane.
22:19Climate change is destabilizing the jet stream and causing turbulence to get worse.
22:24And that's making flight attendants' jobs harder just because they're the ones that are typically
22:29standing during service when they may be going through these pockets of unexpected turbulence.
22:35Flight attendants also have intense work schedules with frequent time zone changes,
22:40overnight flights, and long irregular hours.
22:46Qatar and Singapore fly the longest routes in the world, topping well over 17 hours.
22:53Plus, passenger flight anxiety is on the rise.
22:56Social media searches for, you know, flight anxiety, fear of flying has shot up.
23:02And, I mean, that's understandable.
23:05But is flying still safe?
23:08Well, since the 1990s, the number of yearly crashes has more than halved,
23:11and fatalities have dropped 76%.
23:14By 2025, the U.S. had gone 16 years without a fatal crash.
23:19But that streak was broken in January, when a military helicopter collided mid-air with an American Airlines commuter plane near Washington, D.C.
23:31Experts have been warning about the accident risk over D.C. possibly becoming reality.
23:37We have a shortage of air traffic controllers in the United States.
23:40That's, you know, going back years.
23:43We have seen a lot of these near misses.
23:44We've seen a lot of these laps in air traffic control technology and communication.
23:49Over D.C., that's a very, very congested airspace.
23:53The administration has now applied new rules to that area where helicopters can fly when they can fly.
23:58But there's still more that needs to be done when it comes to improving air traffic control.
24:04Other high-profile accidents that have happened in the last year appear to have been caused by a bird strike and pilot error.
24:12The deadly incidents involving the Boeing MAXs were largely due to software issues.
24:17Still, flying is, statistically, the safest way to travel.
24:26And historically, Qatar, Singapore and Delta are among the world's safest airlines.
24:32Even your least safe airline in the entire world is still going to be safer than driving a car, statistically.
24:38I'm not going to sit here and say that flight attendants are solely responsible.
24:41It's a team sport.
24:42You have everyone from the ramp crew to the pilots to the dispatchers to the mechanics.
24:47All these people, they have to work together to ensure that every plane that takes off lands safely.
24:53But if something fails and the aircraft is on the ground and there are still survivors,
24:57the flight attendants are the last line of defense at that point to get people out of the plane.
25:01Which is what happened in February to a Delta commuter plane in Toronto.
25:06It crash-landed, caught fire, flipped, and slid to a stop.
25:10So you had spatial disorientation happening.
25:15What was up was down and what was down was up.
25:18It was like an Alice in Wonderland kind of setting.
25:21And you had only two flight attendants on that plane.
25:24But they got all the passengers out of that aircraft safely.
25:29The Toronto crash is far from the only example of flight attendants saving lives in emergencies.
25:34Their training has greatly improved survivability of air crashes.
25:39On 9-11, the cabin crew on board United Flight 93 reported the hijacking and fought back against the terrorists alongside the passengers,
25:47likely preventing the plane from hitting the capital.
25:49In 2024, after a runway collision involving a Japan Airlines plane.
25:56Miraculously, every single person on that plane evacuated.
25:59And experts really point to, one, the safety video of Japan Airlines is very straightforward.
26:05It doesn't have all of these theatrics that maybe you've seen on other airlines.
26:08And people largely left their bags behind.
26:14But should we be concerned about these kinds of situations happening more often?
26:19Absolutely not. I am not personally afraid of flying.
26:21I am very confident in the industry that we have set up in the United States.
26:25My husband is an airline pilot and he's not afraid to go out and fly the line.
26:28I have no qualms about flying because I know that the airlines take safety seriously.
26:36What does concern me is we've seen some firings under the current administration at the FAA.
26:45Many of these people were safety professionals.
26:48If we don't get enough air traffic controllers to handle this huge influx in flying and demand in the United States,
26:55then it's possible something like what happened over D.C. could happen again and we would have to learn from more mistakes.
27:02So what can you do as a passenger?
27:06Don't tune out the safety briefing and don't tune out the information the flight attendants are sharing with you.
27:12It could save your life.
27:14Wear your seatbelt even when the seatbelt sign isn't lit.
27:17If there is an evacuation, leave your stuff behind.
27:19If you're in an exit row, read that card.
27:21Although rare, if something does go wrong, that's how you can get out of life.
27:25That's how you can get out of life.
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