Aircraft leasing companies hired flight crews to fly the planes from National's base in Las Vegas to various air parks.
As for B.F.O.Q.s, "Can any Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner seriously believe that the business of the airlines would suffer if all of them hired flight attendants on the basis of their individual qualifications and ability?" Griffiths asked.
"I think everyone, all the major carriers, are hiring flight attendants right now," said Karen Watson, a spokeswoman for Dallas-based American Airlines, which stopped actively recruiting in 1993 but is now hiring again, in New York and around the country.
Airlines are quite selective when it comes to hiring flight attendants; the right candidates must have a special mix of cool-headedness, endurance and the ability to provide excellent customer service.
At the same time, low-fare airlines (many of which are hiring flight attendants, incidentally) have become well known among business travelers for friendly in-flight service, even if they don't bring you dinner.
Delta posted that they were hiring flight attendants and the applications started coming in two per minute!
In one of their commercials, they said (in effect), "We don't hire flight attendants and then teach them to be friendly.
Northwest Airlines said it will raise ticket prices, implement a hiring freeze and cut its domestic flights by 5%.
Delta interviewed and hired Pan Am flight attendants and pilots, but not by the seniority system traditionally employed.
In a conversation with Meredith Amdur, CEO of Quebec City, Canada-based Wanted Analytics, with the right data companies can change their strategies not only for individual job descriptions but also bigger decisions like broader hiring, flight risk, or where to better place a new business office.
We loved reading Elliott Hester's "Fly Guy" article about flight attendant predicaments ("Layover Hotel Scares," Oct. 7), especially the new-hire flight attendant being locked out on the balcony.
