Hello everyone today I thought Id talk about a rather interesting topic related to aviation, it is…drumroll please…..the use of attractive female flight attendants to increase ticket sales. If you would rather form your own opinion before reading mine then please feel free to check out the link below and read the story. If not please continue reading and I’ll outline the three major reasons I disagree with this new approach.

1. Conformity and “Type Casting”
2. Prevents qualified women from getting good jobs
3. Attempts  to corner a market in a way that will not really affect demand

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/20/travel/asia-flight-attendants/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

1. The biggest issue that I have with this tactic is that it teaches women that beauty is more important than brains. In our modern society we have been actively combatting this mentality so why are we still trying to instill this notion in young women? This is definitely counterproductive as it limits women to roles that require little thought and will stunt their professional progress. Think of it this way, there are many actors in Hollywood right? How many actors do you now that have been “type cast” into specific roles (meaning they only play one type of character and we don’t get to see the full range of their talents). Almost every actor has been thrown into a skill set, take for instance Tom Cruise, he is very famous and everyone should know of him, he always plays the action man. Because of his early action film roles he has been stuck in action film acting for years, he deviates very little from this skill set and this limits the range of his talents as an actor. This is exactly what I mean in relation to women, a woman who is told to get the job she wants she must be pretty and good at serving people limits her possibilities by conforming to a role that she cannot fulfill happily. She might have other dreams to reach but, by telling her she is only good for being pretty and serving people she will slowly forget her dreams and become just that, a service girl for the rest of her life. She will never be happy and will always regret that she did not follow her wishes, so please do not force a job like this onto anyone, actors or women, it is not morally correct.
2. Another situation arises in my mind that I am sure has been encountered before in the industry is that this approach to hiring prevents well qualified women who may not be as “pretty” as others from getting the job. Who is to judge whether a woman is pretty or not, we are all beautiful people in our own ways as there is more to beauty than pure outward looks. Beauty in definition encompasses one’s personality more so than it does outward appearance. Since beauty is such a difficult aspect to judge upon your first encounter with an individual why then would you attempt to hire on the basis of aesthetic qualities? It makes absolutely no sense, what ever happened to the good old resume and diploma? If you are qualified via experience and training to hold a job then you should be hired for it, this concept falls under the equal opportunity laws that are now being introduced into other countries besides America. Basically these laws state that every individual, no matter how they appear on the outside should be given equal consideration in the hiring process, and that the individual hired should be selected based on their qualifications to perform the job. So let’s follow the common sense way of hiring and stop baring good workers from their jobs!!!
3. Finally, the demand for air travel will only increase with population growth so why is there a sudden need to earn more cash with this type of a hiring process. No matter what the average commuter will pick the lowest cost option for flying, they don’t really care too much about the in flight service. So by attempting to earn more money by hiring attractive female flight attendants corporations are only hurting themselves as they spend countless dollars trying to determine who the prettiest girl is and how they can make her even prettier. Not only that but, they spend even more money on advertisements like those mentioned in the article to depict attractive women, thinking that this will somehow increase their revenues? The simple economic rule is that the ticket buyer will pay only the cheapest price they can get and the airlines that offer these attractive flight attendants are not the cheapest in regards to tickets. So, again supply and demand states that their approach is not going to get them very far at all, in fact in may put them in the other direction…towards bankruptcy perhaps?

Only time will tell what the end result is I hope you enjoyed reading my opinion on this matter and again I encourage you to do your research and form your own. The link to the article is above, please check it out and let me know what you think.