Tg Rejuvenating Its Female Cabin Crews

[Rempler]

From dpa (deutsche Presse-Agentur/the leading press agency in Germany) in cooperation with Reuters:

About 800 female stewards (I assume you are calling them "air hostesses") above 45 years of age are receiving compensation-offerings of up to 30 monthly salaries.

TG is underlining that this is to be understood as an OPTION, and the acceptance is absolutely voluntary.

Their male counterparts above 45 years (1.200 out of 6000 total (?) employees) are not receiving such an offer.

TG-CEO Piyasvasdi Amranand mentioned that TG has strong ambitions to rejuvenate its female cabin crew for 2 reasons:

- TG intends to improve its image and to increase its attractivity (and thus pays tribute to the positive marketing (and probably revenue) effects Air Asia has achieved by promoting its "younger" crew)

- The cost reduction impact is also of considerable importance as the beginners, who shall be deployed instead, only will earn about one third of the the salary of long-standing employees in corresponding positions.

The average age of TG's cabin crew is named as "35-38" (Air Asia: 28)

For those interested, below copied is the original article I've found this morning in the German web-news:

Stewardessen über 45 sollen weg

- Thai Airways verjüngt sich -

Mit jüngeren Stewardessen will die Thai Airways attraktiver werden und Personalkosten sparen. Die Fluggesellschaft bot den weiblichen Flugbegleitern über 45 Jahren Auflösungsverträge an.

Das ganze sei freiwillig, betont die Airline. Das Angebot gilt nur für Frauen. Die 1200 Männer unter dem Bordpersonal von 6000 Mitarbeitern bekamen kein Angebot. Die Gewerkschaften haben den Plan abgesegnet.

Rund 800 Stewardessen über 45 können bis zu 30 Monatsgehälter bekommen, wenn sie den Hut nehmen. Jüngere Kolleginnen verbesserten das Image der Fluglinie, meinte Thai-Chef Piyasvasdi Amranand, und sie seien billiger. Berufsanfänger bekämen nur ein Drittel des Gehalts.

Das Durchschnittsalter der Stewardessen ist nach Angaben der Zeitung 35 bis 38 Jahre. Beim heimischen Billigkonkurrenten Thai AirAsia sind die Stewardessen an Bord im Schnitt 28.

dpa

My personal lesson which I am drawing from this news is: Males above 45 do not show any significant reduction of their attractivity

[cdnvic]

A big mistake getting rid of their most experienced employees. They'd do better to rejuvenate their fleet and wash the planes once in a while.

[Mosha]

Older than 4?

[gotlost]

Bring back the good old days.

[livinthailandos]

well this trend is similiar i believe to a lot of other airlines in the region, although I can't say the same for a lot of the US Carriers and most of their Female Cabin Crews look over 50, tired, worn out and very grumpy. So much for flying friendly US carrier skies. Thank god I fly only Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air

[jontom]

well this trend is similiar i believe to a lot of other airlines in the region, although I can't say the same for a lot of the US Carriers and most of their Female Cabin Crews look over 50, tired, worn out and very grumpy. So much for flying friendly US carrier skies. Thank god I fly only Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air

Well this has made me think, my Thai wife is going to be 38 this year should I offer her a salary deal and rejuvenate my marriage? What do you think? Although having asked that question you should know that despite her obvious old age (according to Thai Airways) she does keep a smile on my face!!!!!

[ericthai]

well this trend is similiar i believe to a lot of other airlines in the region, although I can't say the same for a lot of the US Carriers and most of their Female Cabin Crews look over 50, tired, worn out and very grumpy. So much for flying friendly US carrier skies. Thank god I fly only Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air

I know Singapore has had this in place for years. I agree the US needs to do something I hate United Airlines flew them once from Philippines to the USA and the old bag air hostess could see I had hangover and would keep waking me up, never flew that airline again. Stay with Delta when I have to use a US carrier, then it's Korean or Singapore.

However not sure how much this is going to help TG. They need to work on the planes

[jetjock]

Congrats to Thai Airways for doing what most US airlines would love to do if they could legally get away with it. Injecting an air of youth and freshness into the cabin crews of long established airlines, especially those like United, would certainly give passengers a better traveling experience and cut costs to the airline. US airlines have no mandatory retirement age so many of the F/A's have a 'fly till I drop mentality' which is obviously not in the best interest of the airlines. I have flown with many F/A's in their 70's who are still very nice to passengers but had a hard time just getting from the parking lot to the airplane so although they are well trained and experienced, I would not have much confidence in their physical ability in aiding passengers in a crash or evacuation.

Yes, I admit that I loved those 'Hot Pants' that the stews of PSA used to wear so I admit to being a sexist pig when it comes to these type of matters however even on the financial aspects and passenger experience aspects, I think it is a very smart move for Thai Airways as it would be for some other airlines.

[londonthai]

a bit of a dillema - it would be a poorer service from those unexperienced, but the airfare might go down after sometimes (say after 40 months). I do not care much about the top quality service - I can always bring attention to my needs, but I do expect a thai smile and politeness.