AIR HOSTESSES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 113, 14 May 1937, Page 9

AIR HOSTESSES.

PASSENGERS' COMFORT.

A POPULAR PROFESSION.

"Air travel has opened up a new field for women," Mrs. M. W. Stephens said after she arrived with her husband on the Mariposa this morning. 'The hostesses on the big 'planes are ex-, tremely popular, and it is the kind of work that ie admirably suited to women." All the big lines have their own schools, Mrs. Stephens said, where these pretty young women receive their training. They have to be under 23 when they commence, weigh less than 120 pounds, and. judging from the average woman one sees, be very pretty.

""They seem to get the most charming women." Mrs. Stephens said. "A course in nursing is included in their training, and if anyone is sick they are able to give medicines and first aid. But where there is no sickness, they find a hundred jobs to do. People who are doing their first trips are often nervous, and tlie hostess is a wonderful comfort. She points out the places of interest, keeps the traveller amused, and takes his or her mind off the thought that there is anything to fear."

Mrs. Stephens has a pilot's license herself and has flown across America and across Europe. She says she feels safer in the air than she does on the road, and confesses to an entirely unreasonable' fear of trains.

Mrs. Stephens leaves with her husband for Wellington to-night.