Air Hostesses Then and Now

By Marian L. Tupy of Cato.

"In the mid-1960s, being an air hostess was considered to be a glamorous job. Back then, however, air stewardesses were paid less than half of what they make today. They also had to endure much longer flights, since 1960s airplanes carried relatively little fuel and had to stop for refueling. That also meant that flight attendants had to serve more meals and, consequently, worked harder during the flight. Most importantly, the likelihood of dying on the job declined substantially. In 1965, there were 1,142 airplane fatalities per 250 million passengers carried worldwide. Only 761 people died out of over 3 billion people who flew in 2014.

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