This lingual derivation results from the international British maritime tradition (i.e. chief mate) dating back to the 14th century and the civilian United States Merchant Marine on which U.S. aviation is somewhat modelled.

[5]Three decades later, a 1966 New York Times classified ad for stewardesses at Eastern Airlines listed these requirements: A high school graduate, single (widows and divorcees with no children considered), 20 years of age (girls 191⁄2 may apply for future consideration).

[16]) In 1968, the EEOC declared age restrictions on flight attendants' employment to be illegal sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

[23] The role of a flight attendant is to "provide routine services and respond to emergencies to ensure the safety and comfort of airline passengers".

[29] When not performing customer service duties, flight attendants must periodically conduct cabin checks and listen for any unusual noises or situations.

While not necessarily the most-senior crew members on a flight (in years of service to their respective carrier), chief pursers can have varying levels of "in-flight" or "on board" bidding seniority or tenure in relation to their flying partners.

Further training is mandatory, and chief pursers typically earn a higher salary than flight attendants because of the added responsibility and managerial role.

Minimum entry requirements for a career as a flight attendant is usually the completion of the final year of high school; e.g. the International Baccalaureate.

In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration requires flight attendants on aircraft with 20 or more seats and used by an air carrier for transportation to hold a Certificate of Demonstrated Proficiency.

The languages most in demand, other than English, are French, Russian, Hindi, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Bengali, Japanese, Arabic, German, Portuguese, Italian, and Turkish.

[41] Since the 1980s, Asian airlines, especially national flag carriers, usually feature the traditional dress and fabrics of their respective country in their female flight attendants' uniform.

[45] In 2015, the Israeli airline El Al introduced a requirement that female flight attendants wear high heels until passengers had been seated.

[46] The airline's workers' union stated that the requirement would endanger the health and safety of the flight attendants and instructed its members to ignore the rule.

[50][51] A 2018 study found higher instances of melanoma, breast, uterine, gastrointestinal, cervical, and thyroid cancers reported in flight attendants in contrast to the general population.

[61][62] Cabin crew members are also regularly exposed to more UV radiation than the general population, which can make these workers more vulnerable to skin cancers.

[62] Poor cabin air quality is a subject of ongoing study in relation to symptoms such as headache, fatigue, fever, and respiratory difficulties among many others that have been reported by flight attendants, particularly on long-haul routes.

An open question remains whether these complaints are due to poor cabin air quality or to other factors inherent in flights, such as lowered barometric pressure, hypoxia, low humidity, etc.

[64] Other chemical contaminants found in the cabin may include engine leakages, pesticides and flame retardants, which contain compounds that may act as hormone disruptors and increase the risk of some cancers.

[73] According to Hochschild, flight attendants do emotional labour to enhance the status of the customer and entice further sales by their friendliness,[74] and support this effort by evoking feelings that make the "nice" display seem natural.

The workers respond to the speed-up with a slowdown: they smile less broadly, with a quick release and no sparkle in the eyes, thus dimming the company's message to the people.

[76]Hochschild notes that corporate logic in the airline industry generates a series of links between competition, market expansion, advertising, heightened passenger expectations about rights to display, and company demands for acting; and when conditions allow this logic to work, private use of emotional exchange gives way to corporate use of emotional exchange.

[77] Hochschild also writes of how flight attendants are trained to control passengers' feelings during times of turbulence and dangerous situations while suppressing their own fear or anxiety.

Braniff International Airways presented a campaign known as the "Air Strip" with similarly attractive young female flight attendant changing uniforms mid-flight.

[84] In 1968, the EEOC declared age restrictions on flight attendants' employment to be illegal sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Originally female flight attendants were required to be single upon hiring, and were fired if they got married, exceeded weight regulations, or reached age 32 or 35 depending on the airline.

In 1964, United States President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law which prohibited sex discrimination and led to the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1968.

For flight attendants, this meant that they had an official governing body to report offences to and allowed them to successfully challenge age ceiling and marriage bans in relation to their effectiveness as employees.

[91] In 1968, the EEOC declared age restrictions on flight attendants' employment to be illegal sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

[92] Studies, some done in light of the 1985 Manchester Airport disaster (British Airtours Flight 28M), have concluded that assertive cabin crew are essential for the rapid evacuation of aeroplanes.

[95] One exception was the accident on Air Canada Flight 797, when the investigative board found that "misleading" reports about the fire by the flight attendant in charge "influenced the captain's decision to delay the initiation of a descent", and that such "delay increased the time for the fire to propagate and the time that passengers were exposed to the toxic environment before the aeroplane could be evacuated".