United Airlines must be feeling like there is a conspiracy against them from the dog world. Three dog-related incidents in a span of a week with one ending in death have been reported in the US this month alone.

The latest incident resulted in the rerouting of a flight after it was realised that a dog was loaded onto the wrong flight.

Consequently, the airline has with immediate effect suspended pet cargo flights.

Last year, the airline was responsible for 18 animal deaths and various injuries in the course of transportation.

The latest dog death is being squarely blamed on the cabin crew. It is reported that a flight attendant directed a passenger to place their dog in the overhead bin.

The airline has since issued a statement indicating that the flight attendant was not aware that the dog carrier had a live animal inside.

These reports have turned the spotlight on the cabin crew and their role before, and during a flight.

Closer home, both ground and cabin crew find themselves on the receiving end of travellers, perhaps not as much with animal cases, but in delayed flights, over booking, missed luggage and any other thing that can go wrong before or during a flight.

Unfortunately, not so many people think about what the crew is trained to do and tend to judge them by their looks. Thus a measure of good onboard service from flight attendants is mostly associated with the look of the crew and how fancy or not they look in their uniform.

Eavesdropping on airport lounge chitchat, every now and then I hear passengers attribute or judge the “quality” of their flight to good-looking crew.

In fact, the chief executive of a well known global airline at one time stated that when it comes to recruiting cabin crew, youth is more important than skill and experience.

It is not different in the region and most of Africa either. Most airlines follow the same criteria, assigning older crew to ground service while reserving cabin duty for younger, more “good looking” crew.

On the contrary, European and north American airlines have older and mature cabin crew, and in most instances have a good mix of both.

From a passenger’s perspective, what would you be looking for in cabin crew? Despite public perception, the job of the cabin crew is a hard one and nowhere near glamorous.

It has everything to do with excellent service to passengers and being prepared to effectively deal with unforeseen situations and emergencies in the course of a flight.

The ability of cabin crew to remain calm and follow procedures in the face of emergencies or flight disruptions is vital for passenger and flight safety.

A common but silly scenario is that of male passengers occupying the exit row seats and making fun of the cabin crew while they are giving emergency evacuation instructions before take-off.

Inappropriate and demeaning conduct towards crew can have serious legal consequences depending on the applicable laws. At the core of everything, cabin crew are trained for safety and security of a flight above all else.  

Crew are highly and continuously trained in first-aid, aviation law, survival at sea, fire fighting and general security.

In big airlines, most cabin crew are assigned flights randomly and therefore hardly know each other but have to work as a team for a successful and safe flight.

Smiling, tucking in passengers and pouring coffee is not mandatory training for crew; safety and evacuation procedures are.

Stress is a major issue with cabin crew even as they are permanently smiling and being polite to passengers. Most of them confess that they miss spending time with family and friends because of the demanding work schedule.

The assumption that there is always a party waiting for the crew at the layover city is just that, an assumption. There are mandatory hours that a crew must rest, especially between long haul flights.

On your next flight, look beyond the good looks and you will see a safety officer who is trained to put your life above all else during a flight.

Michael Otieno an aviation consultant and travel writer based in Nairobi. Twitter: @mosafariz; E-mail: [email protected]