Jaunted

Flight Attendants / Virgin Atlantic / The Royal Wedding / Videos / → All Tags

Flight Attendant for a Day

We're only a few days away from the Royal Wedding, so you know what that can only mean... That's right, scores of international reporters are busying themselves with British fluff stories while they wile away the time until they can begin covering hardcore news a wedding. One such puff story comes from Nicole Dabeau with Entertainment Tonight.

Nicole flew from LA to London on Virgin Atlantic to cover the Royal Wedding, but somewhere along the way she made the contacts to be able to dress up and briefly train as a flight attendant for the day, at "The Base" near Gatwick Airport. It's a cute little video above, and now we're thinking this would be a cool experience to offer for money—hint, hint airlines!

Flight Attendants / Richard Branson / Air Asia X / Tony Fernandes / F1 Racing / KUL / Air Asia / → All Tags

Delayed Again! Will Richard Branson Ever Dress in Flight Attendant Drag?

If you didn’t book your tickets last week for Richard Branson’s in-flight drag performance, you might have a little more time to do so, as it looks like the charity flight will be delayed once again.

Originally things were scheduled for April 1 and then May 1, but now things are being pushed back until July 4. The problem this time is that there are just too many people flying in and out of London to celebrate the Royal Wedding—that’s this Friday in case you didn’t hear. So the flight should leave from London on July 4 on its way to Kuala Lumpur.

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Weird Travel / Overweight Passengers / Hong Kong Airlines / Hong Kong Travel / Martial Arts / Flight Attendants / Airline News / → All Tags

Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting on Hong Kong Airlines

Don't mess with the cabin crew onboard Hong Kong Airlines, because they're about to become martial arts masters. No, really! After a flight attendants trained in close-range combat found her skills helped her deal with unruly and heavy passengers, the airline has now made such training compulsory for all flight crew, with other HK Airlines staff invited to learn as well.

According to the AFP, the flight attendants will specifically learn Wing Chun, a form of Kung Fu ideal for up-close combat in confined spaces.

Flight crew won't just be using it to chop troublesome passengers into submission; it'll also aid with overweight passengers. The Wing Chun-trained FA who inspired all this actually found her strength allowed her to better deal with an overweight man who was feeling ill onboard a flight. Those who are currently in the program say they're enjoying it, since being able to defend themselves is a valuable skill.

Perhaps now some American airlines will consider makes Pilates part of their crew training?

[Ip Man photo: alternativechronicle]

Flight Attendants / Richard Branson / Air Asia X / Tony Fernandes / F1 Racing / KUL / Air Asia / → All Tags

Tickets Now On Sale for Sir Richard Branson's In-Flight Drag Performance

There’s less than a month to go until Richard Branson finally walks down the aisle—of an airplane—dressed head to toe as a flight attendant. We’re just wondering if he’s going to sport those snazzy new heels that are on their way to his ladies at Virgin Atlantic.

What happened was he lost a bet with Air Asia's CEO Tony Fernandes regarding whose F1 racing team would have a better 2010 season. Team Lotus did a little better, so now Richard Branson gets to dress in drag and serve drinks on an Air Asia X flight from Kuala Lumpur to London. We like that the man is true to his word and recognizes that a bet is a bet, but more so that he has a great sense of humor.

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Airline News / Fashion Travel / Flight Attendants / Airbus / A330 / Virgin Atlantic / Airline Uniforms / In-Flight Fashion / → All Tags

Virgin Atlantic Flight Attendants to Strut the Aisles in New Red Shoes

When you think of flight attendant shoes, you don't exactly think sexy, do you? FAs are on their feet more than we can even imagine, trucking their luggage through airport after airport, on moving walkway after moving walkways and up and down airplane aisles for hours on end. Somehow, through most of this, the women manage to wear their heels.

Virgin Atlantic, whose flight attendants are easily spotted in airport thanks to their sharp red uniforms, are switching it up. The uniform by John Rocha, first introduced almost 10 years ago, is swapping the black shoes for a sexier red patent. The reason? Apparently their new ad campaign and commercial, which features red shoes on the FAs, has been so successful that now the public expects the higher level of glam.

Of course this will freshen up the uniform until they can get new ones, a change expected to occur in three years. Mark it on your calendars.

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Richard Branson / Air Asia X / Tony Fernandes / F1 Racing / Flight Attendants / KUL / Air Asia / → All Tags

Richard Branson Moves April Fool's Day to May 1, When He'll Dress in Flight Attendant Drag

Do you enjoy seeing billionaires publicly embarrassed? Then have we got a date for you to mark on your calendar. May 1 is the reschedule date for the Air Asia X flight from Kuala Lumpur to London on which Sir Richard Branson will dress in drag and serve as a flight attendant. Of course this is due to him losing a bet with Air Asia's CEO Tony Fernandes over whose F1 racing team would have a better 2010 season. Fernandes' Lotus won the bet and now, instead of Tony as a Virgin Atlantic trolley dolly, Branson will don an Air Asia skirt suit (hopefully specially made).

You'd think this whole stunt would be best suited to April 1—April Fool's Day—but it's already been delayed. The original drag day was planned for February 21, but had to be postponed due to Branson breaking his leg (after another skier ran into him) on the slopes in Switzerland.

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Videos / Air New Zealand / Airline Safety / Airline News / Airlines / Flight Attendants / → All Tags

Richard Simmons and Snoop Dogg: Coming to an Air New Zealand Flight Near You

If there is one video you watch today, please let it be this one. Introducing the newest in-flight safety video from Air New Zealand, a short film in its own right, which continues what's becoming a tradition of AirNZ viral videos.

Mashable went so far as to call it the "best in-flight safety video ever." It's great and got us bopping a bit in our seats, sure, but if you're a frequent AirNZ flyer, then we can imagine several Simmons' peppy workouts a week equals annoyance. It's not the best thing ever; their bodypaint in-flight safety vid really started them on this roll, so that should get some credit:

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Videos / In-Flight Safety / Celeb Travel / John Travolta / A380 / Qantas / Airline News / Airlines / Flight Attendants / Airline Uniforms / In-Flight Fashion / F1 Racing / → All Tags

The Video That Pissed Off Qantas Flight Crew, Starring John Travolta

SCROLL DOWN in above window FOR VIDEO (automatically starts)

What do you call a whole bunch of lions? A pride. What about a group of barracuda fish? A battery, which sounds like it has awesome band name potential ("The Barracuda Battery!"). So then what is the proper term for a plane-ful of flight attendants and other airline staff? A crew, if you know what's good for ya.

According to the Telegraph, some in-flight crew over at Australia's Qantas are pissed at John Travolta for calling them a "team" in a new in-flight safety video. Travolta, who owns a vintage Qantas Boeing 707 and is an official (though special flights-only) pilot with the airline, appeared in the video (shown above) to get passengers' attention for the safety demo. !

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Airline News / LCCs / Las Vegas Travel / LV Air / Flight Attendants / Hotels / → All Tags

LV Air Takes More Baby Steps Towards Becoming a Real Airline

Who remembers the debacle that was Jet America? The airline, which thought it'd be brilliant and base its operations in Toledo, Ohio and fly around for ridiculously cheap prices, folded before they could even paint the livery on an airplane. Upon hearing about the impending launch of LV Air later this summer, we wondered if they'd be 2011's Jet America.

LV Air has its sights set on the NYC to Las Vegas direct route, doing essentially a charter service that bring the Vegas experience to you the moment you step onboard (complete with "holographic" safety announcement by Vegas celebs).

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TV Travel / Retro Travel / Pan Am / Airlines / Flight Attendants / Travel News / → All Tags

Christina Ricci Steps Out to Film ABC's 'Pan Am' Pilot Episode

Yes! It's all happening! The earlier rumors about Christina Ricci starring in a retro drama about Pan Am pilots and flight attendants are true. In fact, the ABC show has been filming its pilot episode in New York City, and the paparazzi are managing to catch some glimpses of Ricci on set in vintage threads, but doing such anachronistic things as drinking Red Bull and wearing Uggs. Otherwise, her look is Audrey Hepburn-like.

Which of the Pan Am characters is she? Let's see...

Maggie, we will learn, is leading a double life. When not all dolled up on her flights, she is living as a bohemian beatnik in New York's Greenwich Village. Kate is secretly an undercover CIA agent. Her gorgeous sister, Laura, is new to the stewardess world, having just ditched her fiancé at the altar.

Our bets are on Ricci as Maggie, simply because she'd be a better beatnik than a secret agent. We'll keep our ears open for more gossip on this, since the pilot episode doesn't air until fall. See more of the Ricci pics here.

[Photo: Splash/DailyMail]

Broooaaadwaaaaaaay / JetBlue / Steven Slater / Theatre Travel / Flight Attendants / New York City / → All Tags

Steven 'Slip 'n Slide' Slater is Back, But This Time on Broadway

Guess who's back? You get two guesses: emergency exit slide and two beers. That's right; former JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater is back, but he's not quite himself. Slater will be played by actor Chad Miller in a new play called Wild Blue, which seeks to tell the story of that fateful day when Slater said screw it and disembarked his plane down in the inflatable slide, though with some Wizard of Oz influence.

Wild Blue, which is a real Broadway play in that it'll go down at the Access Theater on Broadway (way down Broadway) in New York City, opens March 30 and runs through April 9. Here's a little of what to expect:

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Chocolate Travel / Flight Attendants / Valentine's Day Travel / Airlines / Travel Tips / → All Tags

How to Make a Flight Attendant Your Valentine

Attention all you who are flying somewhere this weekend, or, on Monday Valentine's Day. We've got a big tip that you could get you a lot of winks from flight attendants, both male and female, if you're interested. Here's the tip: bring chocolate, specifically individual chocolate bars or a box of truffles. When you board and when most everyone's seated and the flight attendants are doing their seatbelt checks, hand it to one of them as a nice little gift for the flight's crew.

Not only are you more than a considerate human being, but you'll likely make their day, a day they may otherwise spend thinking about the raw deal they have working when they'd rather spend the weekend with their sweeties (or hanging out with single friends).

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