Cabin crew manage to juggle the demands of serving hundreds of passengers with staying calm under pressure, all while looking impeccably glamorous, but what’s it really like to do your job at 35,000ft?
But one air hostess has revealed what it’s really goes into looking impeccably glamorous at 35,000ft, and whether the job is really as enviable as it looks.
Evelin Martin, 22, from London, works for Virgin Atlantic and shares the secrets of her travels, not to mention glamorous snaps, on her Instagram and YouTube accounts, where she has a combined 11,000 followers.
In a recent Q&A on the most frequently asked questions she gets as an air stewardess, she revealed that it can be a ‘lonely’ life, if there’s nobody to spend time with on a stopover.
But of course, there are plenty of perks including discounted travel, and having her hotels and food paid for on stopovers.
Evelin Martin, 22, from London, jets around the wold in her job as cabin crew. She posts snaps from her travels to her Instagram, and often shares secrets from her sought-after job to her YouTube and blog. Pictured in LA
In her most recent video, she posted her complex beauty routine for staying pristine on her long haul flights, claiming it was easy to do and long lasting. Pictured in Jamaica
Easy glam! Evelin said that her make-up look, invovling 12 products, is easy to do and long lasting, perfect for Transatlantic flights
Do you have to pay for your own hotel rooms when you fly?
The answer is no, the company we work for take care of our hotel rooms so we’re very, very lucky. That’s not just my airline, every airline does that
The main reason I can think because we’re together and it would be off-putting to the crew to not
Sometimes we get to stay in really amazing places. Sometimes we have to stay a bit less central, but it is what it is
Do you have to pay for your own food?
This is a question that gets asked a lot and we do. It’s different every trip but we get a card that’s loaded with cash and adjusted for how expensive the area is and how many nights you’re there for – it’s sort of paid for basically
The clip, posted to YouTube , shows her using a light layer of Kiel’s Ultra Facial Cream, before coating her face in CYO long lasting foundation – shade 109 and Maybelline Fit me Matte and poreless – shade 332 golden caramel (pictured on Brooklyn Bridge in New York)
Do you get free flights?
I wish we got free flights! This is an ongoing joke and something customers ask us every single flight. We don’t, not with my airline anyway, I don’t think you’d get it with other ones.
We get a couple of “free flights” every year, where you just pay the taxes on them, they can pay anything from £120 to £160.
We get about seven of them a year, they are going to be stand by, all the passengers get on before you and if there’s space we get on. If there’s not we get rolled onto the next flight
Does it not get lonely and how do you cope when it does?
It can be a really lonely job unfortunately. When I started I didn’t really know what to expect and I just knew I was very lucky to just fly to all these amazing places.
But it did mean I had to go to all these places on my own because I didn’t know the crew or the crew had other plans.
One day I was sitting in my hotel room in New York and I had the most amazing view overlooking the Empire State Building and all of New York, and I thought “no way” I have to experience all of this on my own? And I did get a bit upset. But it is what it is,
I’ve been flying with this company for nearly two years now and I’ve kinda developed my own routine, I don’t really feel that lonely anymore.
How to look glamorous at 35,000ft
In her most recent video, Evelin shared her complex beauty routine for staying pristine on her long haul flights, claiming it was easy to do and long lasting.
The clip, posted to YouTube, shows her using a 12 layers of make-up, starting with a light layer of Kiel’s Ultra Facial Cream, before coating her face in CYO long lasting foundation – shade 109 and Maybelline Fit me Matte and poreless – shade 332 golden caramel.
She then adds concealer, opting for LA girl pro conceal shade porcelain, putting it around her eyes and forehead for a contoured look.
Next, she adds powder, LA girl PRO face pressed powder – shade classic ivory and eyeshadow, morphe artistry palette – shade 9D painted desert.
To ensure she keeps a sunkissed look, Elevin adds bronzer, Morphe brontour – shade celebutante and blusher, Sephora matte perfection blush duo – shade peach blossom and finishes her face off with a highlighter: Morphe – shade extra.
Making sure her eyes sparkle too, the glamorous air hostess adds ELF – shade medium to her brows and Max factor 2000 calorie dramatic volume mascara to her eyelashes.
She completes the look with morphe lipliner – shade Frenchie & Sephora and lipgloss – shade pink crystal.
FULL LIST OF PRODUCTS
Moisturiser: Kiel’s Ultra Facial Cream £24.50
Foundation: CYO long lasting foundation – shade 109 £7.50
Maybelline Fit me Matte and poreless – shade 332 golden caramel – £7.99
Concealer: LA girl pro conceal – shade porcelain – £5
Powder: LA girl PRO face pressed powder – shade classic ivory – £6
Eyeshadow: Morphe artistry palette – shade 9D painted desert £24
Bronzer: Morphe brontour – shade celebutante £12
Blusher: Sephora matte perfection blush duo – shade peach blossom – don’t think it’s sold in the UK but in the US is $16 (£13)
Highlighter: Morphe – shade extra – £14
Brows: ELF – shade medium £4.50
Lips: Morphe lipliner – shade £4.50
Frenchie & Sephora lipgloss – shade pink crystal – $12 (£9.78)
Eyelashes: Max factor 2000 calorie dramatic volume mascara (£7.99)
TOTAL: £140.76
She then adds concealer, opting for LA girl pro conceal shade porcelain, putting it around her eyes and forehead for a contoured look
And if the rest of the crew don’t want to do anything I kinda just do it on my own. For example today, I’m in Shanghai, and the weather is terrible so this morning I went to the markets on my own.
This is my first time here, I’ve never been here before. The internet doesn’t work here on my phone and we’re basically in the middle of nowhere, so I thought it was quite brave of me to just sit on this bus and go into the area where the markets are.
I’ve managed to meet up with some other crew that are from another airline and I got a taxi back with them.
I was sitting there eating food by myself and I thought ‘That’s it, I’m not going to be able to get back to the hotel in this rain’ I couldn’t walk or google anything.
I don’t know how the taxis work and the taxi people don’t even speak English here, but we made it work. And you know, if I hadn’t have done that I’d have been stuck in my hotel room all day, and I know for a fact I wouldn’t have wanted to do that.
Are you not scared of flying?
You know, funny story, at the start I was a little bit scared of flying. Before I started to fly, but I think this job is really good for conquering your fears.
Sometimes I think do you realise you are 30-40,000 feet in the air with nothing under your feet flying across the Atlantic? They are really really long flights but I tend to not think about it.
I need to look comfortable in front of passengers. It wouldn’t look professional if I had to comfort a passenger who was scared of flying while being scared myself.
How do you deal with difficult passenger situations on board?
I’m lucky I don’t have that many, it just comes with experience, I’ve been flying for nearly three years and there are people who have been doing it 20, 30, years.
Often sharing tips about cabin crew, the influencer recently shared a Q&A of the most frequently asked questions she gets as an air stewardess
I do think I can manage these situations quite well just because I’ve seen these things working on board and you just have to make it work because you don’t have a choice when you’re in the air.
Sometimes it’s the smallest things, for example you’ll do all the meals and the passengers in the middle will be disappointed they didn’t get their first choice meal.
We’ll run out of chicken and they have to have beef or the vegetarian option. We can’t get off the plane and go to the shop and buy them chicken, it is really hard to please everyone.
It’s really important for everyone, including passengers to remember we’re there for their safety, we’re not there to give them the most amazing meal of their life.
I understand they’re long flights and people like to have food on the plane.
If that were to happen I’d offer them a meal for premium or first class, when they get mad I’ll crouch down and tell them I’m sorry and say we do have the meal from first class and they’ll say “you’re amazing” and they’ll be absolutely over the moon.
It’s those little things that go so far, it’s made their whole entire flight for them. I’ve gone out my way a tiny bit but I treat people the way I liked to be treated. I’ve had some incidents when I’ve not managed but I always try my best.
Sharing the video with her 3,000 YouTube subscribers, Evelin said that life on board can be lonely, and sometimes she gets sad being in amazing destinations without her family. ‘I can be a really lonely job, I think at the start I didn’t really know what to expect, I just knew I was very lucky to fly to all these amazing places. I often didn’t know the crew or they had other plans.
What’s your best tips for jet lag?
Wow, I want some too please! It’s the hardest part of this job. I do struggle with coming to the Far East because it all depends on schedule of the flights. I made this huge mistake of going to sleep yesterday.
Then I slept all the way to the evening and stayed up all night, it was my mistake, this is the most difficult trip but I’m still alive.
I tend to be OK away from home but when I go home I can be lazy, I want to go out sight seeing and I can match their hours. So, I haven’t quite mastered how to deal with jet lag but i’ll let you know when I do.
Although lots is taken care of, cabin crew do need to pay for their own food when they travel to an extend. They’re given a cash card loaded with money to pay for – but only to an extent. Pictured in Jamaica
Evelin added that she doesn’t get free flights, but one of the perks is reduced price flights, about seven times a year. ‘I wish we got free flights! We have a couple of “free flights” a year where you just pay taxes £120-£160 return, we get about seven a year and just pay the tax’ she added. Pictured in Jamaica
Do you get scared when there’s really bad turbulence?
To be honest, I do get a bit hot and sweaty and hot flush when there’s really bad turbulence.
I think it adds a bit of excitement to our day, as bad as it sounds. It’s the same thing as being scared of flying, we can’t be scared on board, as we’re there for the passengers comfort.
It is quite fun as we get to sit down and strap in. I have quite a few stories from when we’ve had bad scary turbulence.
How much do you get paid?
To be honest, I don’t really have an answer to this as there’s so many different factors.
We get hourly pay, basic pay, sector pay, allowances, so it really all depends on where we’re going, how long the flight is and how busy we are this month. It differs with all airlines too.
Evelin also shared the pros and cons of short haul and long haul flights in a revealing blog post . She said early starts and no night stop to explore new countries are the worst parts of the short haul flights, but she loves being able to sleep in her own bed and getting home by lunch time. Left in New York, right in LA