Selects: How Flight Attendants Work

Summary

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Stuff You Should Know: "Selects: How Flight Attendants Work"

Podcast: Stuff You Should Know
Hosts: Josh Clark & Chuck Bryant
Release Date: May 23, 2026 (original air date: December 7, 2017)
Episode Theme:
A deep dive into the world of flight attendants—the evolution of the profession, what the job truly entails, industry myths, rigorous training, behind-the-scenes stories, and the challenges and perks of the role.

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Episode Overview

This episode, selected as a SYSK "Selects" rerun, offers a rich exploration of how flight attendants became the unsung heroes of commercial flight. Josh and Chuck break down the job's history, the dynamic and often grueling training process, post-9/11 changes, stereotypes, real-life responsibilities, pay scales, and the sometimes quirky reality of airline life.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Changing Nature of Air Travel and Passenger Attitudes

• Loss of Glamour: Flying has shifted from a glamorous event to "just getting from point A to B", mostly due to increased security, rising stress, and shrinking seating ([04:55], [05:16]–[08:10]).
• Post-9/11 Realities: Security procedures have made passengers exhausted and less excited for flights.

  "Added layers of security...increases stress so much that you're exhausted by the time you get on the plane." — Josh ([04:55])

• Modern Passenger Behavior: More transactional, less polite—leading to greater appreciation needed for flight attendants.

Early Flight Attendant History

• Origin Story: Initially, cabin crew were young men, but the first female flight attendant, Ellen Church (a nurse and pilot), convinced Boeing Air Transport in 1930 to try women in the role. It worked so well, it set an industry precedent ([09:39]–[10:31]).

  "She had it going on...why don't you hire eight women to take care of you on your flight for three months and just see how that goes?" — Chuck ([09:52])

• Precedents & Zeppelins: Heinrich Kubis credited as the world’s first flight attendant (on Zeppelins) in Germany, predating Church by 18 years ([11:01]).

Stereotypes and Sexism in Aviation

• Sexist "Golden Age": The 1960s–70s ushered in the “sexy stewardess” era—stringent hiring based on looks, age, height/weight, and marital/parental status ([11:58]–[13:18]).

  "You had weight limits and height limits...It's all about sort of, hey, get up there and look good and serve drinks." — Chuck ([11:58])

• Ridiculous Ads: Airlines used suggestive and downright sexist ad campaigns, e.g., "Fly Me" (National), "Does your wife know you’re flying with us?" (Braniff), and even handed out “little black books” to male passengers ([14:48]–[15:40]).

  "Eastern Airlines gave out little black books to their male passengers so they could get numbers of the stewardesses..." — Josh ([15:41])

Modern Requirements and Hiring

• Competitiveness:

  • Entry is tough—Delta once had 100,000 applicants for 1,000 jobs ([13:47]).
  • High school diploma now required, college degree gives an edge.

• Shift from Looks to Practicality:

  • Height and weight limits now exist only for safety reasons—reaching bins, fitting jump seats ([12:12]).

Training: “Barbie Boot Camp” & Safety First

• Rigorous Regimen:

  • Training spans 7–12 weeks, 6 days a week, 12 hours per day, and you must dress as for a real flight ([19:39]–[19:56]).

  "They call it Barbie Boot Camp...you show up as if you are there to work a flight." — Chuck ([19:56])

• Exams and Drills:

  • Written tests require 90%+; practical (drills) require 100%, mostly emergency-related.
  • Customer service training is a very small part of the curriculum ([21:26], [22:57]).

• Why It’s So Tough:

  • Airlines are super selective—many "wash out" during training because so many want these jobs ([22:01]–[22:35]).

  "...because this job always has been and still is so competitive that the airlines can choose to be super picky." — Josh ([22:01])

• Ongoing Education: Flight attendants retrain annually on new procedures, plane layouts, safety ([25:48]).

Memorable Analogy

"...5% of time you spend is what you end up doing 99% of the time. But you just have to be so prepared for that 1%." — Chuck ([25:27])

Day-to-Day Realities, Perks & Annoyances

• Unpredictable Schedules:

  • Long days, weekends, layovers—flexibility increases only with seniority ([29:49], [30:17]).

• Human Trafficking Awareness:

  • Modern crews are trained to spot suspicious situations after landmark work by Sandra Fiorini and advocacy groups ([33:29]–[34:40]).

  "They actually...volunteered at the last Super Bowl to look for human trafficking because apparently the Super Bowl is also the 'Super Bowl' of prostitution and human trafficking in the world every year." — Josh ([34:40])

• Buddy Pass Reality

  • Often a hassle for FAs due to "last in line" standby and potential for losing perks if the friend behaves badly ([31:01]).

• Travel Perks:

  • Free or very cheap travel for themselves and immediate family—some will fly to Europe for “lunch” ([32:15]).

Pay and Working Conditions

• Low Starting Pay:

  • Some start as low as $18K/year, median was $37K in early 2010s; first-year hourly was $21.23 for some airlines ([37:33]–[39:07]).

  "Starting salary can be like 18 [thousand]...the median in 2012 or 13 or 14 was 37 [thousand]" — Josh ([37:41])

• Pay Starts Late:

  • Flight attendants really only get paid when the boarding door closes, not during boarding itself ([40:07]).

  "The only hours that they get paid for at that rate are flight hours. When it says the boarding door is now closed, the clock just started for them." — Chuck, Josh ([40:07], [40:12])

• Seniority Is Everything:

  • All pay, schedules, and perks are seniority-based; some ride out whole careers thanks to the removal of age restrictions ([39:07]).

• Why Not Tip FAs?:

  • Discussion about how underappreciated they are and jokingly suggesting tip jars ([41:25]).

Heroism and Emergency Scenarios

• Historic Acts:

  • Early flight attendants regularly saved lives, e.g., TWA’s Nellie Granger rescued passengers after a 1936 crash ([42:29]).

  "She pulled a couple of passengers to safety and made it down the mountain to get help and went back up with the rescuers..." — Josh ([42:29])

• Medical Training:

  • Early FAs had to be registered nurses.

• Unexpected Situations:

  • Flight attendants sometimes deal with people smuggling corpses onto planes to avoid shipping fees ([43:30]).

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Notable Quotes

• On Modern Flying:

  "If you're one of those putzes who's mean to flight attendants, get off the plane. You're a jerk." — Josh ([04:10])

• On Sexist Past:

  "Eastern Airlines gave out little black books to their male passengers so they could get the numbers of the stewardesses." — Josh ([15:41])

• On Training Intensity:

  "They call it Barbie Boot Camp because you don't show up in your sweats... you show up as if you are there to work a flight." — Chuck ([19:56])

• On Pay Reality:

  "They're doing that for almost free because the only hours that they get paid...are flight hours." — Chuck ([40:07])

• On Heroism:

  "Any flight attendant on a commercial aircraft that you're flying is capable of saving your life should an emergency arise." — Josh ([26:31])

• On Customer Service Limits:

  "They don't have to indulge you once you have passed the point of sobriety or just jerkness. They don't deal with that stuff anymore." — Chuck ([29:20])

• On Travel Perks:

  "Some of them will hop on over to Europe or something for lunch." — Josh ([32:15])

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Memorable Moments & Lighthearted Tangents

• Phone-in-Seat Danger ([03:05]): New safety announcement about not fishing your phone out of a seat—ask a flight attendant for help or risk breaking your device (skills now in their repertoire).
• Biscoff Cookie Debate ([24:00]): Josh and Chuck debate which snacks are best and the surprising science of serving Diet Coke (it takes longest to settle).
• "Cabin Boy" Movie Reference ([09:49]): A brief side-joke about old movie references.

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:18–07:36] – How airport/flight stress has shifted since 9/11
• [09:39–13:18] – History of flight attendants & Ellen Church's impact
• [14:48–16:14] – Sexist airline ad campaigns and hiring practices
• [19:13–22:35] – Brutal modern training: "Barbie Boot Camp"
• [25:48–26:46] – Ongoing training and annual recertification
• [29:49–32:19] – Schedules, buddy passes, and standby headaches
• [33:29–34:40] – Human trafficking vigilance and flight attendant advocacy
• [37:33–41:29] – Pay scales, when pay actually starts, and discussion of tips
• [42:29–43:05] – Early flight attendant heroics and medical training
• [43:30–44:13] – Stories of smuggling dead bodies on planes

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Conclusion

Josh and Chuck emphasize that behind the beverage carts and friendly greetings lie highly trained, deeply skilled professionals who play a crucial role in passenger safety—often underappreciated and underpaid. The real job of a flight attendant is much more than drinks and snacks: it’s safety, vigilance, adaptability, and at times, heroism. If you want to know more, the hosts suggest chatting up a flight attendant for even more incredible stories.

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For Listeners:

If you’re ever flying, remember to show kindness and appreciation for these professionals—their training and quick thinking might one day save your life.

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End of summary. (Ads, intros/outros, and unrelated tangents omitted.)

Transcript

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[Josh Clark]

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[Josh Clark]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

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[Josh Clark]

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[Josh Clark]

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[Chuck Bryant]

Hey everybody. Happy Saturday. Chuck here delivering a brand new Selects episode. But it's really not brand new because as we all know, these are reruns, carefully curated and selected by both Josh and I each week. This one comes to you from December 7, 2017. How flight attendants Work. Just got back from touring the Midwest and I went on quite a few flights and made sure I gave my appreciation to all the flight attendants because they do such great work and I think are often underappreciated. So if you want to know what they are actually doing on their job and a little bit about how you get hired some behind the scenes stuff, check out this episode right now, How Flight Attendants Work.

[Podcast Announcer / Cyndi Lauper (in ads)]

Welcome to Stuff youf Should Know, a production of iHeartradio.

[Josh Clark]

Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as part of your cabin crew is Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Filling the whole thing out is our pilot, Jerry Rowland. Captain Jairs, as we'll call her from now on.

[Chuck Bryant]

If you'd like to return your seat to its full upright position along with your tray table.

[Josh Clark]

If you've lost your device or phone in the seat, don't touch it. Just come get one of us.

[Chuck Bryant]

Did that happen to you?

[Josh Clark]

It's a new thing.

[Chuck Bryant]

What? Tell me.

[Josh Clark]

No, it's like a new thing on Delta. And the safety instructions, they actually take a little time to say, if you've lost your tablet or phone in your seat, don't adjust it. Come get a flight attendant.

[Chuck Bryant]

What do you mean lost in the seat? What do they mean?

[Josh Clark]

Like, if you have. If you're sitting there and you got the butterfingers and, like, you turn into Jerry Lewis, all of a sudden your phone slides down into the seat beside you or in between the seat next to you.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

Your phone is in grave danger. If you adjust your seat back upright again.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh.

[Josh Clark]

Like they say, get a flight attendant. Because they now have additional skills in their repertoire to get your tablet or phone out safely.

[Chuck Bryant]

So at some point, a memo went out to these airlines that said, we're breaking cell phones because people are like, well, maybe if I just throw my seat up, it'll pop out.

[Josh Clark]

Sure, it'll shoot right out. Like, I pressed rewind on life.

[Chuck Bryant]

Weird.

[Josh Clark]

Anyway, this is stuff you should know.

[Chuck Bryant]

I thought this was pretty interesting, actually, and it gave me even more of an appreciation for flight attendants than I had already gained over my years.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, because if you're one of those putzes who's mean to flight attendants, you

[Chuck Bryant]

get off the plane, you're a jerk. Yep.

[Josh Clark]

Shouldn't be mean to people anyway. Like, everybody's walking around carrying their own burden that you're totally unaware of. And if you're mean to somebody, it usually is because you're not getting what you want right then. Yeah. So if everybody can just calm down and be nice to each other, that's great. But be extra nice to the flight attendants. And if you don't agree with me now, I guarantee you'll agree with us. At the end of the podcast.

[Chuck Bryant]

And even. Even in our own article here, there was a interview with the flight attendant.

[Josh Clark]

A couple of them.

[Chuck Bryant]

A couple of them. But one of them very. You know, one of these vets said, you know, back in the day, everyone was all excited when they flew. They were going someplace fun. Now everyone's crabby.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, but she makes a really great point. Why? She says it's because this is all post 9 11. That the added layers of security that they've put onto getting from your car onto the plane increases stress so much that you're exhausted by the time you get onto the plane. And flying has become a chore, a task.

[Chuck Bryant]

Plus, I don't buy it.

[Josh Clark]

The seats have gotten way smaller. I do buy that the legroom's gotten smaller. And, yeah, I think that it's just kind of become more of like a. Let's get from point A to point B. Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Taking your shoes off, taking your laptop out. It's about all the extra security. No big deal. That's what I say.

[Josh Clark]

Did I tell you I've gotten kind of on board your train about taking your shoes off on a flight?

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, to not do it.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Good.

[Josh Clark]

So every once in a while, I'll just be like, to hell with that. I don't care. I'm taking my shoes off. I know my feet don't stink. Right. But I understand that there's people like you out there who are deeply offended by that kind of thing. So I typically do leave them on unless my dogs are just yapping so. So loud. I can't.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

I can't ignore it. But it's pretty rare these days.

[Chuck Bryant]

I think my deal with that is, is you can't count on everyone's feet to not stink. And I think plenty of people are

[Josh Clark]

like, I don't care that their feet stink.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. That's pretty rotten.

[Chuck Bryant]

I just want to be comfy.

[Josh Clark]

That's pretty rotten. We live in something called society. There are rules.

[Chuck Bryant]

But getting back to the new regulations, which is pretty much, laptop out, shoes off. I mean, you still had to go through the line just like before, you know?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. It feels different to me. Yeah, it does.

[Chuck Bryant]

Different as in more time consuming. Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Much more stressful. Like, it's not a. It's not an event. Like, it was. It definitely used to be an event in a person's life to go on an airplane.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, do you have a different feeling when you go on vacation compared to

[Josh Clark]

work, travel, as far as the airport goes?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And how you feel about it? Same.

[Josh Clark]

Yep.

[Chuck Bryant]

Same stress.

[Josh Clark]

Yes. A lot of it, to be fair, is in my head. To me, pretty much the worst thing that can happen to you is missing your airplane. I don't even want to imagine what happens when you miss your airplane. Yumi's like, it's not that bad. As a matter of fact, she's kind of entertained, like, purposefully Making us miss.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, your own version of cognitive behavioral therapy.

[Josh Clark]

Therapy. Right. But I don't want to miss it. So I generate my own stress in a large part, but it does seem like much more of a process than it was before.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

How about you? You're fine with it?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I mean, it's no big deal. It's just shoes and a laptop.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Two bits.

[Josh Clark]

But it does seem like. And I read this travel and leisure article about flight attendants where the author was saying, or I think she was quoting a flight attendant who was saying, like, we've all kind of decided as a group that we're fine with just getting on an airplane and getting to where we're going and it doesn't have to be this luxury experience.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

And as a result, the. Of an airline ticket has come down dramatically compared to the golden age of flying.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, but then it has gone back up since it was pretty cheap.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. But relative to, say, average income, it's, I think, much less than it was in, say, like the 60s. Right, but in the 60s, they were cutting like cuts of meat on a cart in front of you. I'm not kidding. There was a carving station that they would move. I'm not kidding. I've seen pictures of.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, I believe it. I think it's funny that that's the definition of fancy as a carving.

[Josh Clark]

It really is. I mean, it is. The guy had the hat and everything.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, well, you and my extended family agree on that.

[Josh Clark]

But it's true. And all of us take our shoes off while we eat our carb meat. But there used to be that there were like piano lounges in first class lounge. Like there were. It was like it was an event to do it. But the fact that it's gone is because we've all said no. We want to be able to travel for less cost.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

With fewer frills.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I just kind of want to get there. I'm with you there.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

If that's what you think. Or I'm with the airline industry.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

I just put me on the plane and get me there. Maybe throw a whiskey down my throat and that's about all. Banana, maybe.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

If it's the morning.

[Josh Clark]

But the people who are going to help you get there. Banana and whiskey.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, sure.

[Josh Clark]

Okay. The people who are going to help you get there, they have. Their job has changed over time, but they have not because they are unsung heroes and have been from beginning to end.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. The early days of plane travel, they hired young men to take Care of the stewardship of the plane.

[Josh Clark]

Cabin boys. Yeah, Cabin boy, that Chris Elliot movie.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I think that was a boat cabin, but still, still a cabin boy. And that was just sort of the thing. And then this woman came along and you dug this up. It's really great. Her name was Ellen Church, the 1930s, in 1930 in fact. And she was a nurse and a licensed pilot. So she had it going on and she said, you know what, I have an idea. Boeing Air Transport, who would become United Airlines, why don't you hire eight women to take care of you on your flight for three months and just see how that goes. And it went great. And they said, I think we're onto something here.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. She actually pitched the idea because at first the execs were like, no, that's a stupid idea. This is no place for women. And she said, well get this. How is a man going to say that he can't fly because he's afraid of flying if he knows there's a woman up there flying around? And they're like, actually that's pretty good psychology. So they took her up on it and it became a thing from that moment on. But before her, I have to say, if we're talking gender non specific flight attendants.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yes.

[Josh Clark]

A man had her beat by 18 years. A German man named Heinrich Cubis, who was the world's first flight attendant. And he worked zeppelins, including the Graf Zeppelin in the Hindenburg.

[Chuck Bryant]

Really?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Did he die on the Hindenburg?

[Josh Clark]

No, he lived. Oh, wow. Very few people died on the Hindenburg. I think they were mostly on the ground, remember?

[Chuck Bryant]

Eh, I don't remember.

[Josh Clark]

Because the hydrogen burned up and the people who died were ones who jumped. That's what it was.

[Chuck Bryant]

Is that it? Did we do a show on that?

[Josh Clark]

We've talked about it before.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Clark]

One of our many, many, many short lived video series.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, right, of course. So at any rate, Ellen Church changed the face of the flight attendant industry. And then in the 60s and 70s, of course it was sort of a. And this is not me talking here, this is in the article. It was the sexy stewardess phase of airline travel.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And that was definitely the deal that you had weight limits and height limits. You had to look a certain way and they put you in just the right outfit. And it was all about sort of, hey, get up there and look good and serve drinks.

[Josh Clark]

So. And they were like those limits you talk about. Technically they're still around. There are weight limits and height limits, but. But they're restricted to. You can't be so short that you can't reach the overhead bins.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. They're all practical limits.

[Josh Clark]

Right. You can't be so tall that you're just bumping your head all over the place. You have to be of an adequate size to fit into a jump seat that the flight attendants sit in. Yeah, but that's it. Back then, it was you have to weigh, like, no more than £120. You have to be this height. And it had everything to do with looks and attractiveness.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And you're 32, so you're fired.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, that was the thing, like, very early on. I think in the 50s. I think in the 1950s, airlines started instituting age restrictions where once you got to age 32, you were no longer eligible to be a flight attendant. You might have a job down on the ground, but you couldn't be a flight attendant anymore because you were too old, according to them. Plus, also, you couldn't be married or have kids. Right?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. It's very restrictive back in the day.

[Josh Clark]

Also maybe the most sexist industry that's ever existed.

[Chuck Bryant]

And of course, that's airline dependent. It's not like there was a federal regulation, so it all depended. But you need a high school diploma at the very least these days. But they're very competitive jobs to get. Gone are the days where you can just waltz in there with a headshot and get a job as a flight attendant. A lot of people want these gigs, and so if you have a college degree, then you definitely have a leg up these days.

[Josh Clark]

Definitely. But it's always been pretty competitive. Supposedly in 2006, Delta announced that they had a thousand openings and got, like, 100,000 applications.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

But it's always been, like, really competitive because from the beginning, it was viewed as, like, really glamorous.

[Chuck Bryant]

In the beginning.

[Josh Clark]

In the beginning, for sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't know about from the beginning.

[Josh Clark]

So. Because it's been a really competitive career, Chuck. And because the airlines were run by, like, men who decided that they owned their. Their flight attendants because they ran the airlines. There was in that 60s, the swinging 60s era of that sexy stewardess thing you were talking about, like, they were a major draw for airlines.

[Chuck Bryant]

Sure.

[Josh Clark]

And the airlines, like, advertised them as such. So I've got. I found something. This is in that Travel and Leisure article. I found. You ready for this?

[Chuck Bryant]

I am.

[Josh Clark]

This is going to knock your socks off. I purposefully didn't send this to you

[Chuck Bryant]

because you wanted my socks.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. So national airlines in the 60s had an advertisement where they had flight Attendants Debbie, Cheryl, and Karen. And they cooed, fly me. They also had an alternate slogan. I'm going to fly you like you've never been flown before.

[Chuck Bryant]

And these are print ads.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

Continental. Well, Continental is lame. Braniff had one. Their advertising said, does your wife know you're flying with us? Yeah, yeah. Pacific Southwest said, you want an aisle seat because all of our flight attendants have miniskirts. And sometimes they drop stuff, basically. And then get this. Eastern Airlines gave out little black books to their male passengers.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, wow.

[Josh Clark]

So they could get the numbers of the stewardesses, the flight attendants.

[Chuck Bryant]

And then Qantas had a slogan. Ever seen a tickle fight?

[Josh Clark]

Crazy. You're right. That's basically the sentiment behind it. And so you've got the airlines advertising this, and then the flight attendants unions are fighting this stuff tooth and nail. To be treated in a dignified manner and not be fired because you weigh 122 pounds, right? Yeah. It's just crazy. This is like. This was the way that it was back then.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. You show up for work and it's like, hey, honey, get on the scale.

[Josh Clark]

And when's your birthday again? Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Terrible. You kind of went to a Bill Clinton there. Sounded a little Bill Clinton y. I

[Josh Clark]

thought it sounded like W. All right,

[Chuck Bryant]

well, let's take a break then and work on our presidential accents, and we'll come back and talk about post 911 flying.

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[Podcast Announcer / Cyndi Lauper (in ads)]

I'm Cyndi Lauper with fellow Kyntix advocate chef Michelle Bernstein. We'll share our experiences with plaque psoriasis with psoriatic arthritis.

[Josh Clark]

And Dr. Panico will talk about the possible connection.

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Cosentyq Secukinumab is prescribed for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. 300 mg dose and adults with active psoriatic arthritis. 150 mg dose. Don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Like tuberculosis or other serious bacterial, fungal or viral infections. Some are fatal. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms like fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough, had a vaccine or planned to, or if inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, serious allergic reactions and severe eczema like skin reactions may occur. Learn more at 1-844-cosentyx or cosentyx.com ChefMichell.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, so we did mention that after 9 11, things of course did change and things change in a big way for flight attendants. They not that they never trained on safety, but I think the training got way more intense.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Did you see that one I sent you?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

From I think the points guys website.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, we should go over that now, actually.

[Josh Clark]

So he has a flight attendant insider who like writes quite a bit for his site. I don't remember her name, but just look up the points guy flight attendant insider. And she just, she goes into great detail about what it's like to go through training and it is more intense than I realized it was for sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, they, and this depends on the airlines, but they sort of give averages. The Average training is seven weeks, but they can be as long as 12 weeks. We're talking six days a week, 12 hours a day. And they call it Barbie Boot Camp because you don't show up in your sweats and tank top with no makeup.

[Josh Clark]

Right. It's not like you're a passenger.

[Chuck Bryant]

No. Yeah, exactly. Your big fuzzy slippers and your pillow from home. No, you show up as if you are there to work a flight. So you have to be in whatever attire that they require you to be in and have your hair done, however you would do it and just basically be game day ready. And then they work you that many hours a day because that's about how many hours a day you're going to be working as a flight attendant.

[Josh Clark]

When you start working, at first you have very little control over your own schedule, although I get the impression you have flexibility out of the gate. But if you say I want to work this many days a month, that's the input you have at first until you start to develop seniority. So, yeah, they expose you to that six days a week, 12 hours a day during training for many weeks.

[Chuck Bryant]

So the first thing they do is learn all the safety equipment. They're given written tests that she said that they had to score at least a 90 on 80.

[Josh Clark]

I said that really weird, didn't I?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Well, she said if it was an 80, they had to retake it. So they had to score at least a 90 to.

[Josh Clark]

To pass. I gotcha.

[Chuck Bryant]

And then practical exams where you had to score 100% on these practical tests. And that basically means you are on a fake plane doing the thing. And it's not like you're serving that Diet Coke wrong. It's mainly 90% of this training. 95% of this training.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, that's what she said.

[Chuck Bryant]

Is equipment, safety, all that stuff.

[Josh Clark]

Right. Like the first stuff where they're giving you these tests that you have to score high on is here is. Here's all of the stuff you need to know about the equipment. And then there's the drills where you're showing that you know how to use it in these simulated emergencies. Right? Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Like smoke's pouring in a cabin. What do you do?

[Josh Clark]

Did you see that one picture of Emirates Airlines? It's like the big.

[Chuck Bryant]

I did not.

[Josh Clark]

Like a third of an Emirates plane. Basically the main cabin.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

With the slide out, going into a pool inside like a hangar. And you're like, oh, they're going to have to go down that slide.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that's not.

[Josh Clark]

There's no way. They're not going down that slide. And high heels and everything too. But they're running these drills and apparently this is a big. This is where most people wash out. She said was during the drills because it's so stressful. And also she points out that because this job always has been and still is so competitive that the airlines can choose to be super picky. So they will drop you from these training programs pretty easily and quickly because they know that they can find somebody else who could do it better. Right?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. So you end up with the cream of the crop in the end.

[Josh Clark]

Exactly. That's a really good way to put it. And then she says that really the last thing they learn and the stuff that they spend the least amount of time on is the actual customer service stuff like pushing the beverage cart where they know exactly what to do during if sudden turbulence hits and there's a beverage cartoon, they are taught less how to pour that Diet Coke or whatever.

[Chuck Bryant]

I think, like, I think I could do that.

[Josh Clark]

The pouring the stuff. I would get so stressed out.

[Chuck Bryant]

The whole thing. Like, I've seen it enough now. We travel enough for work where if like a Flight attendant was like, oh, my ankle. I could throw on the vest and run beverage service.

[Josh Clark]

You'd be like, step aside. I've got this.

[Chuck Bryant]

Like, I know exactly how they're doing it. I'm paying attention.

[Josh Clark]

Would you splint the person's ankle first and then take over beverage service?

[Chuck Bryant]

I would splint the ankle, and then I would get up. Do you want peanuts, pretzels, or a biscoff cookie?

[Josh Clark]

Yep.

[Chuck Bryant]

What kind of drink you want?

[Josh Clark]

Can't serve peanuts anymore.

[Chuck Bryant]

Sure you can. I had drinks the other day.

[Josh Clark]

What? Yeah. You had peanuts on a flight?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I think they don't serve peanuts if someone's allergic, but I don't think they ban peanuts.

[Josh Clark]

It's my impression they have just stopped. I've been on so many flights where they're like, we've got peanuts, but you can't have them because 13E is allergic. And everybody's like, oh, now they have almonds.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, they did have almonds on a Delta plate the other day that was on. They're delicious.

[Josh Clark]

You had peanuts on a flight. That's like a coelacanth.

[Chuck Bryant]

And then. I'm a sucker for those Delta cookies, though.

[Josh Clark]

Are you? I have desensitized to them. I actually just do pretzels now. Those biscoff cookies, I used to be a junkie for them.

[Chuck Bryant]

I like them.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

I mean, you know, it's just a little cinnamon, a little treat in the air, little shortbread something or other.

[Josh Clark]

It's like a gingerbread kind of gingerbread, but it's called speculose, which is the worst name for a dessert treat on the planet.

[Chuck Bryant]

It says that on the package.

[Josh Clark]

Speculus. It's like. Yeah, that's the original Dutch name for that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Interesting.

[Josh Clark]

I'll tell you where the money is, Chuck.

[Chuck Bryant]

Where's that?

[Josh Clark]

I don't remember what airline it is, but they have this Dutch treat. It's two thin, very sweet waffle cookies with a caramel, like, inside. Right. Caramel sandwich. And they say, take this thing and put it over your hot coffee and let the steam from the coffee warm it up. And, brother, you were on cloud nine.

[Chuck Bryant]

Who tells you that? The flight attendant.

[Josh Clark]

The package.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, okay.

[Josh Clark]

The flight attendant doesn't tell you that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

They just go, here, read this package.

[Chuck Bryant]

That sounds like some fancy international type flying.

[Josh Clark]

No, it was domestic. I think it was Midwestern, though. There's a lot of European immigrants from the 19th century.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

So that would.

[Chuck Bryant]

Exerting their influence.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

In all the best foodie ways.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

We got sidetracked there. Where were we?

[Josh Clark]

Oh, we were talking about how difficult the training actually is.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And that's sort of the long and short of it. I mean, it's long, it's sort of grueling, and at the very end is when you learn just the. She said that you learn that 5% of time you spend is what you end up doing 99% of the time. But you just have to be so prepared for that 1%. In case something goes wrong, you can just react on instinct.

[Josh Clark]

Well, what's. What made me feel really good was that she said the flight attendants you are flying with are so well trained, and they also have to go back for annual training every year to learn, like, new stuff that the airlines have figured out, learn new procedures, whatever. And, you know, anytime, say, like an airline deploys a new jet in its fleet. Yeah. They got to go figure that out because the safety stuff's in different places and they need to know this stuff and they need to be able to remember it and act on it during an emergency. So I guess I didn't really realize this, but any flight attendant on a commercial aircraft that you're flying is capable of saving your life should an emergency arise.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I mean, they talk about. They even go through, like, baby birthing training.

[Josh Clark]

Right. So the next time you want to yell at them because they're saying the overhead space is full. Yeah. Remember that that person can save your life if this plane starts to go down or lands in the water or something.

[Chuck Bryant]

And it's not their fault the overhead space is full.

[Josh Clark]

It's all the people who put their bag up and then walk to the back of the plane.

[Chuck Bryant]

Are you talking about the worst people on Earth?

[Josh Clark]

The worst people on Earth. And they took their shoes off as they were walking back.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, man. Why do people do that?

[Josh Clark]

I don't know, but I was on a flight the other day, and I've never seen overhead space more screwed up by just a handful of people who did that. It was crazy. Like, toward the end, people who were sitting in, like, the first, you know, five rows after first class, we're having to go to the back of the plane, and you're just, like, watching them like, oh, man, you poor person. As you're walking off the plane and they're just sitting there waiting to get their bag. Yeah. It's crazy.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I think when they started charging for bags, that's when everything went berserk because nobody wants to check their bag except me. I don't mind now.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, it's crazy. To me.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I've never lost a bag, so I don't mind. I don't have to sweat it. I mean, this is a. If I'm just going on a work trip, I don't even have my roller bag anymore. I have my. And I will buzz market them all day. My red ox.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, really?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. My red Ox shoulder bag.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

The thing is great, and I can fit everything in there, but if I'm going on, like, a vacation, and I know you think it's heresy, but I will check that bag and relax my day away.

[Josh Clark]

I'm not trying to yuck your yum here. If you want to check your bag, that's fine.

[Chuck Bryant]

Or gate check it. That's the good deal, because you don't have to pay there.

[Josh Clark]

Okay. I have no problem with gate checking it at the plane. So it's just stowed in a handy manner. So you just walk off and they hand it to you. That's fine. But there are very few things that you can do that is a bigger waste of time than standing around waiting for your bag to make it to the bag carousel. I hate doing that. Especially when you're ready for vacation to start.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I don't mind, because most airports, my bag's cruising around that thing by the time I get to baggage. Oh, yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

For me.

[Josh Clark]

Okay.

[Chuck Bryant]

And that's just. Cause I. I don't know. I don't like having to mess with fighting a bag, a suitcase on a plane. I don't like contributing to that whole process.

[Josh Clark]

Sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

Much less being a business traveler. Like, you see those dudes that have the roller bag with the big bag on top of that and then a backpack, you're like, dude, that's like, you've got three pieces of luggage.

[Josh Clark]

Yep. Need to merge them.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right. But this is not about just us complaining about traveling.

[Josh Clark]

No. All the flight attendants are like, get back to the flight attendants. Get back to us.

[Chuck Bryant]

So customer service. It is the goal of the flight attendant to keep you happy as possible. But also, you know, they don't have to indulge you once you have passed the point of sobriety or just jerkness. They don't deal with that stuff anymore. Like, they will stop boarding the plane if you are drunk before you get on and have you escorted off. It's serious business. Now, you shouldn't get on a plane if you're loaded.

[Josh Clark]

No time was they would get you loaded on the plane. No, they don't mess with that.

[Chuck Bryant]

But they're long days. So like we said 12 hour days, if you're new, like you said earlier, they don't have a ton of control over their schedule. So you're going to be working a lot of weekends. Everybody's going to be working some weekends. You're going to be doing overnight trips, spending the night in cities. And that can sometimes be fun if you put a positive spin on it.

[Josh Clark]

Sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

Or it can be a big drag.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. But one thing that I have seen across the board from all the sources I hit for this was that you, it's up to you how much or how little you fly up to, I think 100 hours a month. There's like a maximum you can, you can work.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right. They probably minimums too, don't you think? Or.

[Josh Clark]

No, not that I saw.

[Chuck Bryant]

Probably minimums to get perks, because.

[Josh Clark]

Probably do.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

But I get the impression that that's actually once you've done it for like six months. Typically when you're hired on for an airline, you're on a probationary six month

[Chuck Bryant]

period on the perks.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Because they don't want just, you know, number one, they don't know you from anybody. They've known you for seven weeks. They just trained you.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right. I want 10 buddy passes and then I'm going to quit my job.

[Josh Clark]

Exactly. Well, I saw another thing too. Apparently buddy passes are like the worst thing that's ever happened to a flight attendant. Oh yeah, because everybody begs for them, but they are like really actually bad passes. Like you're at the end of standby and if your friend, if you give the buddy pass to your friend and they start yelling at the gate agent, you get in trouble because it was your buddy pass that was being used. You might even have your perks revoked because your friend was a jerk to the gate attendant and everybody's always asking you for him. So a lot of people don't even touch the buddy pass perk.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's like if you're a country club member, you're responsible for the behavior of your guests right now. Not that I would know.

[Josh Clark]

There are other perks. You don't know. You've seen Caddyshack.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, but I've never belonged to a country club.

[Josh Clark]

There are other perks where like family members, immediate family members, sometimes extended family members, spouses, they get the same perks you do, which very frequently is like you just pay taxes on the ticket and you fly for free. That's different. Like all flight attendants take advantage of that. Some of them will hop on over to Europe or something for, you know, lunch.

[Chuck Bryant]

100 bucks?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, maybe if that in tax.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, well, buddy passes used to be a lot easier when they didn't oversell all the flights. You know, like I used to have friends back in the day. I'd get a buddy pass, fly, no problem.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

But now you're right, you're in a bad position.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, you are. Do you remember flights where like entire rows would be empty? They'd be like, well, the flight was scheduled so we have to stick to it.

[Chuck Bryant]

It's strange now, what a day. So you're going to be working 75 to 85 hours a month generally. But like you said, I guess you can't go over that 100 mark. And interestingly too, another thing you get trained for is very sadly, human trafficking. These days, they will fly kidnapped people right in front of people's faces. And so flight attendants now are trained to spot this kind of activity, which can mean like an adult who doesn't really understand about the final destination, that's a bad sign. Or if it's like an adult traveler with a minor. And they just. It definitely looks like a little more than one parental behavior going on, like don't get up and go to the bathroom, that kind of thing.

[Josh Clark]

Apparently that's how it started. There was a man who caught the suspicion of a flight attendant named Sandra Fiorini. She worked for American Airlines. She noticed that like a late 18 year old teenager age guy who had an infant that still had the umbilical cord attached and like a bottle of milk in his pocket and a couple of diapers stuffed in his. In his pocket, his other pocket. So like this baby was stolen or bought or something?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And she started looking into it and found out that this was actually a big deal and teamed up with a woman named Deborah Sigman who founded Innocence at Risk. And they kind of started this program where now if you're a flight attendant, one of the things you're trained for is to recognize human trafficking. And they, they actually a bunch of flight attendants volunteered at the last super bowl to look for human trafficking because apparently the super bowl is like also the super bowl of prostitution and human trafficking in the world every year. So flight attendants went to the super bowl and volunteered to kind of like keep tabs on things and call out people they thought were human traffic.

[Chuck Bryant]

You mean the big game?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, yeah. Somebody wrote in and said you can call it Super Bowl.

[Chuck Bryant]

Sure.

[Josh Clark]

It can't do anything.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. You can't like advertise anything using those words.

[Josh Clark]

Right. I don't think we can't sell our super bowl bobbleheads that we have a box full of. Too bad it was a poor investment.

[Chuck Bryant]

Should we take our final break here?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, let's do that. We'll talk a little bit more about some of the perks and drawbacks right after this.

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[Josh Clark]

talk about the possible connection.

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[Chuck Bryant]

All right, let's talk about pay, baby. You don't make a ton of money. Think starting salary's in the mid-30s.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, I know, I know. For a flight attendant, that's no, no. Starting salary can be like 18.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, really?

[Josh Clark]

The median in 2012 or 13 or 14 was 37. The median. Yeah, that's like, that's the middle. That's, that's not much you know, that's why it's such an attractive job for people who are just looking for extra money.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

If you're a parent and you have so much control over your schedule, once you start to get some seniority.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

It's a great, great way to spend your money. If you're a soap opera star. It's a great, great extra job. Did you see that?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. What was her name?

[Josh Clark]

Kate Linder, who plays Esther Valentine on the Young and the Restless.

[Chuck Bryant]

Who knew? She's a flight attendant as well.

[Josh Clark]

For like 32 years. Yeah. And she's done them both for about the same amount of time. Yeah. And she does it like every week.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And she says it helps keep her grounded. No pun intended.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. She didn't say the no pun intended part.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. But I mean, she gets those perks. She gets to fly to Europe for lunch if she wants and act on soaps.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

So good for her.

[Josh Clark]

And that's not to say that median. I mean, obviously that's the middle amount, but it goes much higher than that. And it all has to do. All perks, all pay, all benefits, all that stuff. The flight attendant profession is all about seniority.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, sure.

[Josh Clark]

And there are plenty of flight attendants out there who are career flight attendants. And you know, like Kate Linder, she'd been doing it for 32 years. There's another woman named Candy Bruton who is a 43 year veteran of flight attendant. You can make a long, happy career out of it now that they've taken that age restriction off.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. $21.23. A few years ago an hour was the rate for a first year attendant. So. Plus $20 an hour. But here's the thing, and this is something that I bet 95% of human beings don't realize when you were sitting on that plane and those doors are open and they're getting you your first class drinks or they're helping you put your bags away and you're complaining because you don't have a pillow. And coach, they're doing that for almost free because the only hours that they get paid for at that rate are flight hours.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. When it says the boarding door is now closed, the clock just started for them.

[Chuck Bryant]

Never knew that.

[Josh Clark]

No, I didn't either. They get something like depending on the airline, maybe $1.50 to $1.95 an hour for the pre. The boarding stuff. The pre. While the doors open stuff, I guess is what you call it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. So like next time you're sitting on the tarmac and you're delayed for two hours and you're super grumpy. Think about that flight attendant who is getting paid almost nothing to be dealing with how grumpy you are.

[Josh Clark]

If the boarding doors closed, they would be getting paid, right?

[Chuck Bryant]

No. They said in here, if flight delays, flight time is the only thing that matters.

[Josh Clark]

I thought it was once the doors closed. So if the doors closed and you go out to the Runway and you're just sitting there on the Runway, they would be getting paid. I thought.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's not what it said.

[Josh Clark]

Somebody let us know.

[Chuck Bryant]

Because it said in the article, if next time you're on a big flight delay, think about the fact that they're not making any money.

[Josh Clark]

I know you're. I know you're.

[Chuck Bryant]

And that's probably why the airline put it in there, because can you imagine how much money they would have to pay in flight attendants for flight delays?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, but it's not like the flight attendants are just like, I'm off the clock, don't bother me. Once we get into the air, you can bother me. You don't hear that, you know, so they should be paying them for that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Hey, I agree.

[Josh Clark]

You know, I think we should band together and start a social movement here.

[Chuck Bryant]

I wonder why you should tip flight attendants, too.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, that's not a thing.

[Chuck Bryant]

They should stand, you know, at the end when they stand there and say, good day and hope you enjoyed your flight. They should be holding a jar, as far as I'm concerned.

[Josh Clark]

Shaking it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Throw five bucks in there on your way out.

[Liberty Mutual Insurance Spokesperson]

Bye.

[Josh Clark]

Bye.

[Chuck Bryant]

I think that'd be great.

[Josh Clark]

You remember Tina Mucklow, the hero of the D.B. cooper heist? Yeah. He tried to give her 10, $20,000, and she said, no tipping allowed.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right.

[Josh Clark]

What a hero.

[Chuck Bryant]

And quite often, flight attendants are the heroes on many flights, whether it is dealing with, literally a terrorist and trying to manage that situation bravely or, God forbid, some sort of incident in the air with, you know, like, with the plane itself. But at the very least, those jerks on planes that think they can just talk to people however they want, they gotta put up with a lot in

[Josh Clark]

a very cramped space very early on in flight attendant history. I don't know if we said or not. You said that Ellen Church was a registered nurse, but that was par for the course for early flight attendants. They had to be registered nurses.

[Chuck Bryant]

Makes sense.

[Josh Clark]

There was one named Nellie Granger who was a TWA flight attendant, and she was on a flight going to Pittsburgh, I believe, in 1936. And it crashed. And she pulled a couple of passengers to safety and made it down the mountain to get help and went back up with the rescuers to help minister to the two injured passengers whose lives she saved.

[Chuck Bryant]

And she got 30 cents an hour.

[Josh Clark]

She got a trip to the flight time with her aunt.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's nice.

[Josh Clark]

By twa. Yeah. I got a couple more things. Sure. There's some crazy stuff that flight attendants have seen. The one that gets me though is dead bodies on planes that are purposefully brought onto planes, not people who die. Yeah. Apparently Singapore Airlines has what's called a corpse closet on their planes to stow a passenger who might die midair.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's nice.

[Josh Clark]

They're in the minority there. I think they might be peculiar with that. But sometimes, because shipping a body is very expensive, it can run into the thousands and thousands of dollars. Yeah. Some people say, well, it'd be cheaper if I just bought a plane ticket or put my mother in a garment bag and just smuggled her body on board and took her where she's going to be buried myself. Yeah. A guy got caught doing that in Miami. There was in this mental floss article. There was. The person who was interviewed said her roommate found a mother and a daughter trying to smuggle the dead father onto a flight, just in a wheelchair and said that he had the flu, but he was clearly dead and they had to stop the plane mid flight.

[Chuck Bryant]

Wow. Maybe he did have the flu.

[Josh Clark]

No, he was dead.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, I mean, maybe that's how he died.

[Josh Clark]

Oh. Maybe he previously had the flu. Yeah. It could have been like there's a kernel of truth to what we just said. That's it. Oh, and don't order Diet Coke because apparently it takes the longest to stop fizzing on a trolley. Okay.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's science.

[Josh Clark]

If you want to know more about flight attendants, just chat up a flight attendant. I'm sure they'd love to tell you some great stories. And in the meantime, it's time for listener mail

[Chuck Bryant]

to call this PSA about the flu. Because we had someone, Courtney Harmuth, who was a Scottie, who says this. Hey, guys, want to basically give you a PSA about how dangerous the flu can be. In 2012 was, a healthy high school freshman was suddenly stricken with a horrible digestive distress, a chills, fever, coughing. After a week or so, my parents took me to the GP and I was told to go to the hospital for observation and get an iv. What was supposed to be one night turned into a month. I'd contracted the swine flu. Oh, my gosh that first night my vitals went crazy and I ended up having to be kept in my local hospital for two weeks. During my stay, I developed pneumonia as a complication. Soon after that fluid began to fill my lungs and I had to be helicoptered to a larger hospital in Madison. She said being in the helicopter was pretty sweet though.

[Josh Clark]

Oh really?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Even though, you know, I would think

[Josh Clark]

being sick in a helicopter would not be comfortable.

[Chuck Bryant]

I think she's a bright side person.

[Josh Clark]

Okay.

[Chuck Bryant]

For about 20 minutes I was only taking in about 30% oxygen. My parents were told I could have brain damaged or may even die. Upon my arrival to the larger hospital, I was immediately put into a medically induced coma for 11 days.

[Josh Clark]

Oh my God.

[Chuck Bryant]

I was finally taken out of my coma. I had atrophied and weighed a measly 95 pounds. At 12 years old, I had to relearn how to walk, write and use basic motor skills. I am extremely lucky that I am completely recovered from the ordeal, did not suffer any long term health effects, and now at 23 years old, I have thankfully not had the flu since. I tell this to everyone to say please get vaccinated against the flu. The flu vaccine doesn't just protect you, but also your kids, parents, friends and co workers. Really love your show and want to thank you for doing such a great job about important and sometimes hilarious topics. That is our Wisconsinite fan, Courtney Harmuth.

[Josh Clark]

Thanks a lot Courtney. Glad you made it through that one. That was pretty scary.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, we said the flu could be dangerous. There you have it.

[Josh Clark]

Courtney just proved it. Everybody, if you want to tell us a great story that is harrowing and amazing, we want to hear it. Or if you have a good flight attendant story that's a good one too. You can send us an email to Stick stuff [e-mail]

[Podcast Announcer / Cyndi Lauper (in ads)]

Stuff youf Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts My Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Oregon Wildfire PSA Announcer]

Oregon. This is our home. From its wide Pacific shore to its majestic peaks and open desert, this state has it all. But one careless spark could take all of this away. Whether you're at home, at play, or on the job, the power and responsibility of Wildfire is in your hands. Please keep Oregon green.

[Liberty Mutual Insurance Spokesperson]

Should it stay or should it go?

[Chuck Bryant]

What if I mess it up? What if I have to pay taxes?

[Podcast Announcer / Cyndi Lauper (in ads)]

Now, if you're unsure about an old 401k, it's okay. Fidelity can help you understand your options avoid mistakes and taxes, and feel good about your decisions for your retirement savings. To learn more, visit fidelity.com rollover be sure to consider all your available options and the applicable fees and features of each before moving your retirement assets. Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC Member NYSE Sr.

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[Podcast Host (Guaranteed Human)]

is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.