Flight attendant profession pioneered:
With the introduction of small airplanes in the 1920s, new jobs became necessary to make the "flying contraptions" functional and reliable. When U.S. mail contracts were awarded in 1925, a few passengers were allowed to ride along on the mail routes, but they were expected to fend for themselves. Pilots were too busy with the early challenges of flying--dealing with weather problems and mapping out routes--to deal with passengers' needs. Both pilots and passengers had one overriding concern--to get from point A to point B with no serious mishaps.
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Little, if any, attention was given to service aboard the early airplanes, which were flimsy and cramped. But the big airships were a different story. Airship crews were hired and trained to serve passengers in the dirigibles' swanky dining rooms and private sleeping compartments. Thousands of travelers enjoyed the quiet and spacious luxury of airship travel between 1910 and 1937.
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Because economic survival was paramount, many young airline companies tried daring ideas to entice customers to fly their unreliable, noisy and often dangerous airplanes. In Europe, Britain's The Daimler Airway employed cabin boys in 1922. Little is known about the Daimler stewards, other than that they were small in stature and weight, and that their duty was to offer passengers general assistance and reassurance. The cabin boys at Daimler did not serve refreshments.
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The early experiments of providing safety and service to some of the world's first airplane customers established an important part of the future airline industry. The pioneering cabin boys and their employers launched a career that millions of airline passengers would come to consider essential. Today, more than 300,000 men and women work as flight attendants, including the more than 25,000 at United Airlines who carry millions of customers to domestic and global destinations.
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