Why Won’t U.S. Airlines Give Flight Attendants Hats?
I’ve had the image in my head ever since I decided to become a flight attendant. I admit it’s cliché: walking through the airport terminal with my (then-theoretical) crew buddies, rollaboard suitcase obediently bowed one step behind, a smartly tailored uniform, scarf (of course!) and — the best part — a hat. Eighteen years into the job and I’m still waiting for that part of the vision to come true.
Forget the “Elegance of the Airline Scarf” (in what would seem a follow up to fellow flight attendant Heather Poole’s piece). The hat is the purest flight attendant symbol. I really like my scarf, but anybody can throw one on from home and look the part. The hat is what I’ve always wanted most from my uniform. So why won’t they give it to me?
Like many finer touches of the airline world, hats went out of fashion decades ago. They’ve made a bit of a comeback, with big effect — just not in the U.S. I have asked around to both flight attendants and some management and haven’t been able to come up with an answer as to why U.S. airlines seem firmly disinterested.
Some Delta people are quick to point out that they have hats. I’m not knocking Delta’s uniform here, because it is my favorite in the U.S., but can we agree fedoras and trilbys don’t count? Nothing about those hats say “flight attendant” in my opinion, so on that note, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of bringing authentic flight attendant hats back to U.S. airline uniforms.
The Pros
One might guess that U.S. airlines find them too expensive. There’s no more compelling reason for them, but that would be silly. If anything, a uniform hat would be amazing value for money in terms of branding. When you think about a cabin crew uniform with hats, which airlines come to mind? Good ones, that’s who! Their resistance can’t be about what the hat “says” — unless they wouldn’t want anyone to get the impression we’re awesome?
They also function as an efficient way to spot crew. I’m told that’s why airlines “in the age of hats” were strict that they had to be worn for take-off and landing. In case of an evacuation, the hat is what passengers could look for. It’s much easier to spot in a crowd than the body of most cabin crew uniforms. This is confirmed by Olivia Roqua, whose (foreign-based) crew uniform includes a hat. She says it’s easy for crews to stay together at the airport for this reason.
How does she feel about the accessory? “I love my hat! We always get complimented on it – especially in the States.” She also admits that they are hot in the summer but, on the upside, “you can hide things under it” like your cellphone. I’m sold!
The Cons
It’s true that right now some colleagues will be wildly waving their arms at me from behind your back as I talk to you, begging me to just shut up already. My friends that don’t want hats were against them because “hat head” and “it’s one more thing for me to lose” and “hats make my head itch”.
“You need to plan your hairstyle to fit the hat,” Ms. Roqua concedes as one reason some colleagues don’t love theirs so much. “[It’s also inconvenient when] you forget where you stowed it, and it’s far from your jumpseat.”
One friend in the anti-hat camp, Penelope King, tells me she just attended a purser conference at her company where management actually addressed the issue of hats. The takeaway was that, “almost no one likes and almost no one looks good in [them].”
I’m not buying it. Do U.S. airlines really think all their uniform pieces look good on everyone? Furthermore, hats (in general) may not suit everyone, but have you ever looked at a crew from Aeroflot, Etihad or British Airways and thought: She looks… terrible?
I accept that not everyone is on the Hat Train with me, but it can’t be true that “almost no one” likes them. For each no I’ve seen someone else gave a resounding yes. Couldn’t we solve this by making them optional? It works for British Airways.
There are clear reasons why individuals would find them a hassle, but I still can’t see why no U.S. airlines are interested in what seems to me an obvious branding coup! You let me know if you have any insight. Meanwhile, I’ll just be over here waiting, surely in vain, for that last part of my flight attendant dream to come true.
[Photo: iStock]
To the author: fedoras and trilbys ARE hats. I worked in the women's accessory business for 24 years. If you're so unhappy without a hat (after 18 yrs) quit and work for an airline who requires them. Oh, maybe the benefits aren't as good as your current ones and you'd have to relocate? Poor baby; but you'd have a lovely hat or maybe not...
We flew KE a few years ago--business class. After the lovely ladies performed their "greeting" ceremony, they became sky waitresses w/no desire nor drive to function beyond servants. Off went the pins, scarves, heels and they became average women who plunked down trays of mediocre food, like many other international airlines. EK had the WORST FAs and service on 9 hr flt JNB/DXB. Shoddy service, inattentive cabin crew and once their uniform accoutrements were stowed, they became no more than typical diner gossips in the galley.
I like the servile component of the hat actually .... FA should be seen as serving the pax and to "be here for your safety". But to answer the question of the author: yes, a great many times, I have seen a BA FA and though "oh gosh, she looks terrible" ... despite the hat,
The best flight attendant hats worn on US carriers were in my opinion, and not in any particular order: 1.) Pan Am's bowler hat, circa 1970, which premiered when their Boeing 747 was introduced. 2.) United Air Lines, circa 1969. They were caps, with matching uniforms by designer Jean Louis. 3.) Hughes Air West, circa 1968. Female FAs wore caps and capes, in bright yellow and blue. 4.) Braniff, 1965 and 1970. Designer: Emilio Pucci. The 1965 version was a "space helmet", essentially a plastic bubble to protect the hairstyle from outside weather at airports where airstair boarding and deplaning were common. Regarding foreign carrier headwear today, Korean Airlines's female FAs do not wear hats. Instead, they wear beautifully styled hairpins that look modern and traditional to Korean culture at the same time. Singapore Airlines is another carrier whose female FAs do not wear hats, basically because they do not go with their kebaya uniform. However, all of the female FAs have basically one or two hairstyles. They all have uniform haircuts and styles, I assume, by the same stylist that mandates a standard look. This requirement would be the closest thing to wearing a hat, which is basically having a uniform hairstyle for all female flight attendants. I personally would like to see hats worn on flight attendants working for US carriers. You are right, by wearing hats. The attendant can be spotted from far away and the hat and uniform become part of the airline's branding. Also, wearing hats will force flight attendants to have better grooming and standard hairstyles so that they will look good with a hat on.
The reason US airlines don't give hats to flight attendants is because flight attendants would probably complain about having to wear them, complain about how unflattering or ugly they are, complain about how it doesn't match their hair (or lack thereof), and complain about comments from passengers about said hats. That's why you can't have hats. Rouge hats rock on the men. Rob Lowe may hate them. But then again, Rob Lowe couldn't act his way out from under one.