A United Airlines flight attendant served the cabin in khaki pants and an untucked blue shirt. Is there something I am missing like United adapting Southwest Airlines uniforms?
Odd Flight Attendant Uniform On United Airlines
A reader asked me, ‘Why is my flight attendant wearing an untucked jean shirt and wrinkled khakis?” He also sent the following pictures:
(I blurred out the face of the flight attendant…I also will not publicly mention the date or route, but it was within the last week)
This was while he was on the flight…my first thought was that this was not a flight attendant at all. My next thought was that this was a trainee. But no, he was the purser!
The reader added, “Also wore sneakers. Was really strange. I kept thinking I was on Southwest Airlines.”
I am thoroughly confused, here.
What could have caused this? There were no signs the flight attendant was intoxicated or otherwise under the influence of a controlled substance. He did look disheveled (hair messed up, unshaven) but also apparently provided perfectly satisfactory service onboard.
If we give him the benefit of the doubt and imagine, perhaps, that he spilled something all over his uniform, is that standard protocol? Wear what you have? Don’t flight attendants carry a back-up uniform precisely for this reason?
I recall once a United flight attendant who wore an argyle sweater over his uniform…he looked like a golf caddy. My understanding is that flight attendants at United are not permitted to divert very far from company-issued uniforms items.
I know United is trialing new uniforms at the moment (that oddly look just like American Airlines’ uniforms…), but I hope this is no one of the uniforms under consideration!
Wear testing one of my favorite looks from the #NewUniform collection. More to come! #beingunited pic.twitter.com/sVKniCIFG4
— Carolyn McGlynn (@carolyn_mcglynn) July 30, 2023
CONCLUSION
I’m genuinely curious what the story is behind this uniform. It seems like a “uniform malfunction” to me (in the broadest sense of the phrase), but the wrinkled shirt and disheveled looks also makes me wonder if else might be going on.
Can any United flight attendant clarify what may have been going on here?
Likely a trainee. I’ve seen others out of uniform serving in cabin.
The author states he was the purser (head flight attendant).
As a 20 yr UA FA experiencing the unprecedented operational meltdowns within our company this summer, I can tell you exactly what this was: We do not have the internal staffing in crew scheduling nor the functioning technology in our crew software to to adequately staff flights with working FAs right now. Crew is routinely being “lost” in out-stations, or crew have gone under legally required rest we sit on duty with hold times of several hours (often 4+ hr no joke) trying to get in touch with our own crew planning department . This was almost certainly a FA who was planning to travel as a non-revenue passenger and was asked to step in as working crew so that the flight did not cancel. I have had to do this before on my time off.
If your flight ever cancels due to “unforeseen operational difficulties”, that is UA’s obsfucating way of not admitting that they cannot move crew around the system to staff your plane.
Must be a slow day but I will bite, someone could have stolen his suitcase on the way to or from the airport. Working with the shirt off his back.
He still could have tucked it in.
Could have used spin and called it an enhancement. Say that they are on an on time departure despite one cabin member being sick because the replacement came on duty with little advance notice. Please forgive his non-standard uniform. Even if they are lying, it is no worse than a weather delay lie often used.
My guess is he was an off-duty flight attendant who was supposed to be a passenger on the flight and the flight was short FA. So, he offered to work the flight so the flight could depart. it has happened to me on a flight before.
Bingo. Kudos to that FA (if this is what happened… very likely IMO) for pitching in on his commute or DH leg.
Yes! I was on an AS flight ex-HNL earlier this year where the same thing happened. One FA on the crew who had flown in the day before had fallen ill, so they were one short. An AS FA who was returning from vacation offered to work the flight. They did make an announcement at the beginning of the flight, though, explaining why she wasn’t in uniform, but also asking everyone to give her a big thank you for volunteering during what was supposed to be her time off.
Exactly! Seen it before and it’s awesome when a crew member steps up like this and it all works to salvage a flight. Likely was off duty commuting to/from work or even just on personal travel on a day off and they were short a flight attendant for whatever reason. If he was legal and had his required items, could have volunteered to work. Unlikely to be on a scheduled deadhead leg as part of a trip because I believe they have to have uniform with them if not wearing it.
I don’t get the mention about his possible state of anything related to intoxication. That’s going a bit off the deep end pretty quickly and irresponsibly. I know you don’t care for United but still….
That’s what I was thinking and I don’t work for the airlines…nobody wants to work these days and that guy was probably just helping out. Who cares what he’s wearing as long as it’s relatively appropriate attire?!
me too, years ago. I was impressed.
This is likely the situation.
My guess as well. Years ago there was a pilot on easy jet who flew the plane from the UK to the Med “by accident” after a colleague of his became incapacitated prior to takeoff. The pilot was off-duty on vacation and dressed in jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers.
See here: https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/inspiration/easyjet-passenger-volunteers-to-fly-plane-to-avoid-long-delay-due-to-pilot-shortage-20190906-h1hrvr.html
That would be my guess, too. I’m surprised nobody included that information in the announcements…or maybe they did.
I am a flight attendant for another U.S. carrier and I can tell you that I have personally been in this exact same situation.
It was my day off. I was using my flight benefits, flying out of a non-base city when I was approached by one of the working crew members and asked if I would be willing to work the flight. One of the working crew members had just found out her father had passed away and was pulled from the trip.
The options were me working the flight in street clothes, delaying the flight for hours waiting for a new flight attendant to be deadheaded in from a base or cancelling the flight.
When those are the options, the company doesn’t care what we are wearing.
Quiet quitting
Unshaven??? Isn’t that one of the profile criteria for terrorists?
The untucked shirt is strange, but perhaps he had seen an ad for a company that makes shirts that you don’t tuck in?
If he really was on a commute or DH, surely he would have had the uniform in his bag, so this must have been a non-rev on a day off, planning to fly as a passenger, who ended up picking up extra hours, literally on the fly.
These days, we must all have an attitude of gratitude if United is able to assemble minimum pilot and FA crew, fuel the aircraft and leave before they timeout. Whatever they may look like, a cancellation was avoided!
It was either have your FA looking disheveled, who was obviously not supposed to work the flight but volunteered his services to crew scheduling, or wait for a reservist to be called out. No mystery.
Similar situation here, but better explained to the passengers:
Multiple reasons. The more likely situation would be he was pass traveling and offered to work to establish minimum crew.
We do not need our uniform to do that as long as we have our required duty items. I’ve seen it happen with a scheduled crew member getting sick before a flight and someone else taking over because there was no reserves. If he was commuting home maybe he didn’t have a clean uniform and it was better and quicker to just wear what he had on.
Also possible something happened to his uniform while working and had to quickly change. Wardrobe malfunctions happen.
I’ve had to deploy off-duty crew in civilian clothes on multiple occasions – in one memorable case during the pandemic, a diversion led to an entire set of replacement crew in jeans and T-shirt coming out of a CRM training course and flying two sectors!
It was a requirement however from our CAA that an announcement had to be made to passengers notifying them that cabin crew were dressed in civilian attire and individually identifying each cabin crew so dressed during the safety demo. Furthemore, any cabin crew out of uniform would be required to wear a branded hi-visibility vest in case of an emergency evacuation (which was SOP for us anyway).
@SeanM … Looking Sharp in your photo .
I knew an AA flight attendant who was forced to buy uniform mandated items at a store in order to be allowed to work. The airline provided hotel had thrown away uniform items during a stay over cleaning. The hotel never reimbursed the cost and replied safety deposit boxes are provided for a reason.
Matthew Klint ,you really search about your stupid articles, don’t you ? You are the most pathetic writer I have ever seen. I was in the same flight, and they made an announcement explaining the situation.
Grow up!
Sorry, the reader recalled no announcement. What was the announcement? And if you were on the flight, what route?
Why would you write a blog about this? Very stupid that you would entertain this crap.
Monica, i can’t understand what you wrote! The irony!
Years ago I flew American SJU-JFK and happened to run into a school acquaintance who was an off duty AA flight attendant. The flight was busy so she jumped up to help out her colleagues. I don’t think it’s that uncommon
This joker needs to grow up. Who cares what the person was wearing? Did his clothes seep into your food or beverages and somehow contaminate them or does it really NOT matter in the end? Did you still receive satisfactory service? All you tried to do here is get someone in trouble in the service industry. Stop being a Karen.
I agree. A man’s working and this guy is taking pictures of him and trying to embarrass him. I don’t understand people anymore. They are so desperate for attention and they won’t write anything behind this guys back.. did this writer ever go up and ask the guy instead of printing this article with pictures of him. This is why people don’t want to work anymore doing anything for the public because there’s always somebody trying to bash someone.
These viral videos talking about people constantly behind their backs are tedious. If you must be sooooo nosy…try just asking… Your services haven’t changed. Then try real hard to get back to minding your own business!
What a pathetic waste of time to sit down and type this story, spreading photos of an underpaid and overworked frontline worker and criticizing their uniform when really you have no clue WHY they might be wearing that. If you’re so concerned, why not just ask? Pathetic writing.
Read carefully – I was not on the flight.
And yet you were fine writing a whole article casting aspersions
It’s the official outfit of the UA Incel sub=community, modeled on your flight by none other than frequent LALF poster tiny-handed Chi Hsuan!
The most likely reason is that this flight attendant was not supposed to work this flight. The one that was scheduled to fly may have gotten injured or called out sick and this gentleman was nonreving or commuting to his base so he volunteered to work the flight to either avoid a delay or the flight canceling. I will say this though, if I’d volunteered to work a flight and my picture ended up on the internet for doing my job (and doing it well per the passenger) I wouldn’t volunteer to work another flight.
He obviously had good intentions. Your intention to spread his photo on the internet without having actually been there in the moment shows your intentions are accusatory. The photographer could have asked why he wasn’t in uniform but no, it was more important to get a photograph & create a news story about it.
“Obviously” ??? I don’t make such assumptions. I wasn’t there.
Should my reader have asked the FA? Sure. But he didn’t. My question and photos were not meant to attack – any regular reader of this blog would know that.
Yea… This was written like an accusatory hit piece. Shame on you. “Stories” like this are making LALF go downhill quickly.
Wasn’t a trainee for a variety of reasons. The most obvious reason has been mentioned by a few people. The guy was riding on a pass, they were short a crew member and he agreed to work so the flight would go.
Hopefully he didn’t “volunteer “ as that implies he wasn’t paid. He might have volunteered with the guarantee he would be paid the hours.
Now I would assume the flight was going from a smaller out station to a base so only the one leg would have to get covered. Upon reaching a base it would be easier to find a replacement.
I don’t know why but if it were me or if I were on the crew I would definitely made sure some kind on announcement was made. Maybe there was an annoy and the paparazzo didn’t hear it or wasn’t paying attention. Imagine that-a customer not paying attention to a PA announcement….
Rough out there for flight attendants these days- pitch in to help on a short-staffed flight and have some blogger who knows no details slamming your appearance by default
A poorly written article designed as click bait more than blogging. You’ll get your clicks, but this is a hit to the Live and Let’s Fly site/brand.
If you’re really a travel writer, you already know about airline uniforms, and “Is there something I am missing like United adapting Southwest Airlines uniforms?” is an ignorant take.
“What could have caused this? There were no signs the flight attendant was intoxicated or otherwise under the influence of a controlled substance.” – the same unnecessary, inflammatory comments could be said about the quality of this writing. To suggest that a FA would be out of uniform potentially due to intoxication or drugs here is shameful. No, you didn’t suggest that directly, but the presupposition is sad.
“I know United is trialing new uniforms at the moment (that oddly look just like American Airlines’ uniforms…), but I hope this is no one of the uniforms under consideration!”
I wonder if “something else is going on” with this writer…
Grow up and write better content…
It was a LALF reader who volunteered to keep a flight from being cancelled.
The submitting reader needs to stop being so uptight. Oh noes his khakis are wrinkled, what a horrible thing!
Grow up. He (by the reader’s own admission) provided perfectly fine service, he’s dressed informally but still business-casual. Honestly if this was the new FA uniform I wouldn’t even care. In a time of very low unemployment, be happy that United found a decent hardworking person to serve you drinks.
The best explanation I could come up with, appeared in the comments above: he was deadheading and stepped up to get home along with the rest of the flight. My spouse, who got trapped at MDW during the great SWA meltdown over Christmas, did the same (but was fully uniformed).
Which brings me to the other thing. The passive aggressive, pseudo-elitist jabs at the appearance and professionalism of Southwest crews throughout are really neither accurate nor acceptable; they say a lot more about you than them. In the last year, having become an extended part of the WN family, I’ve gotten to meet a lot of SWA F/As. Although there are less formal uniform options (the polo and shorts), most of the crews my spouse flies with prefer the more formal uniforms (dress shirt, tie, slacks, even a vest, which the hubs regularly sports). The ladies usually go for the knee length dress. So, not sure when you last flew SWA. Having just spent 32 hours on four different airlines to get from LAS to DVO, the only better dressed male crew I saw were PAL’s boys in full navy blazers. So, I would respectfully ask you choose the comparisons more accurately.
Probably wasn’t dead heading either. Some crew change into civvies and fly incognito. The males usually wear their pants at least and just change shirts. He could have been deadheading but I doubt it.
Give us a clue. Was this a non hub origination flight??
Help out a hundred something people get to where they’re going, get called disheveled.
I work at an airline, and I’ve heard of this happening once before.
Basically the situation Thad happened at my airline years ago, was the purser got sick during the trip, and could not operate. So they would have to cancel the flight.
But we had a purser who was on staff travel who was coming back from holiday.
Company called them, explained situation, and they offered to work, rather than have the flight cancelled. He did not have a uniform, but company allowed it.
Not sure if this is the same situation, but could be a possibility.
Or his uniform just could have been soiled from a previous flight. I always carry around an extra uniform, but I know many crew who do not.
Imagine someone having to step in while off duty to help get your flight to your destination and then having the audacity to take pictures and b*tch about clothing.
I’d ask you to watch your language please.
OMG Mathew. Shut up already! And everybody responding on here including myself… no publicity is bad publicity. isn’t that what is said? The debate sparked by this article whether it being about Matthew being an idiot or the flight attendant being a good guy or a bad guy, all is bringing people to read this blog and comment on it which is awesome for the blog so congratulations Matthew I get your strategy. Feel sorry for the guy you had to bash in order to get it though
Probably could have asked the flight attendant in question.
At least they could have given him an apron to wear while on duty.
Yet, I’ll take a FA in civilian clothes any day instead of sitting on the tarmac for hours waiting for a replacement or experiencing a cancelled flight.
Three cheers for the young gentleman!!
Also I don’t know of anyone who routinely brings a spare uniform. Too much to schlepp around. Usually have an extra shirt especially on multi day trips.
We can work flights in civilian clothing (jeans, shorts, tees, etc. with a displayed CREW Badge to protect a lengthy delay or cancellation (Operational Integrity) as long as we meet legalities when the Operation is short on crew availability. It’s nothing new, surprising or a magical apparition. Since it’s utilizing an unplanned qualified volunteer to meet FAA minimum crew, a uniform may have not been promptly available. Don’t sweat the small stuff as the aircraft is operating the route transporting customers to their destinations.
Let me add volunteering to work a flight while I’m pass-riding to the list of things I will never do as a flight attendant. Imagine trying to help out on your day off so the segment doesn’t delay or cancel, and now your picture is all over the internet with some attention starved blogger trying to insinuate you were under the influence. Lmao… this job is thankless.
Oh please. I asked an innocent question.
Asking a question, but posting it on your blog. Hmm….couldn’t you just have reached out to your UA contacts without making a whole post about it?
I did. Crickets. They don’t like certain questions.
However, one FA who claims to have worked that flight claims it was a new hire and that UA has a uniform shortage right now.
New hire AND a purser? Nope. Pick a lane.
I agree. This is why nobody wants to work with the public anymore. Everybody’s taking pictures and posting and trying to embarrass people. As long as you got there safe with a nice flight crew why would you care? You don’t know what this guys gone through you don’t know what he did for the company. You don’t know why he was dressed like that, but let’s throw it on the Internet and embarrass him
That uniform is called mindyabusiness.
So many of you keep repeating that he was “volunteering”. I think it’s a pretty safe bet that he made a deal with crew scheduling so that the flight wouldn’t cancel. When they are desperate they will agree to almost anything, it’s the only time crew are in control. I’ve worked a 90 minute flight and gotten paid for an international trip because they needed the coverage. Good for him!
I was another FA on that flight working the back. He was a new-hire. Sadly, our company has been unable to supply uniforms to our new hires. That is one reason we will be changing uniforms soon.
Funny because I talked to others who worked the flight and they said yes he was a new hire but he was nonreving on his day off. Scheduling called and asked him to work the flight so it wouldn’t cancel because they didn’t have enough crew. If you’re are going to post something post what actually happened. I doubt you were actually working this flight honestly. Because many have come out and said what happened.
Funny how this article and comments are all “wondering” or saying it’s a “uniform malfunction”. This FA more than likely saved your flight from being CANCELLED or DELAYED! He most likely was just a a regular passenger trying to go somewhere, but didn’t have his uniform as he was off duty. Please next time, take the time and gratitude to THANK HIM, because without him, your flight would have most likely been delayed or even canceled.
Read up in the comments. He is a new hire and they have a uniform shortage. Who should we thank now?
He was originally a passenger on this particular flight who volunteered to work. Otherwise this flight would’ve cancelled due to short crew below the FAA minimum.
Unfortunately, this is a sign of the times. Crew scheduling, who should be keeping up with crew and their whereabouts, is an absolute mess. The flying public is more concerned about what the flight attendant is wearing than the fact that they arrived at their destination safely. Especially with all of the delays and cancellations going on this summer. He was wearing his company I.D. Yes, an announcement should have been made to clarify.
They don’t look like our uniform american flight attendant here
Only in terms of the checkered shirt, which I find very distinct and also don’t care for.
Seems this has already been exhaustively addressed, and I’m almost certain that this is a case of an off-duty FA stepping up to fill an unanticipated staffing gap. Happens more frequently than folks realize. Plus, not only will be get paid, but he also ensures that the flight gets to its (i.e. his) destination. Is anyone familiar with the Texas A&M 12th Man? Similar concept. Not that hard to figure out really.
No, Matthew was not on this flight, but why wouldn’t the OP simply ask the guy?? I mean, you’re literally sitting in his cabin, being served by him. Did they not talk at all, for food or drink orders? Communicate. Weird. And a bit creepy.
What would you expect them to ask? Why are you so disheveled and looking like you just stepped out off a 16 hour flight from SIN in coach? I mean, this looks so contrary to the norm you almost don’t want to embarrass them.
And, if you read up in the comments, It was not the case of an off duty FA stepping in. It was a new hire in fact and UA is having problems with uniform supplies.
I agree. This is why nobody wants to work with the public anymore. Everybody’s taking pictures and posting and trying to embarrass people. As long as you got there safe with a nice flight crew why would you care? You don’t know what this guys gone through you don’t know what he did for the company. You don’t know why he was dressed like that, but let’s throw it on the Internet and embarrass him
I dress respectfully. I care about my appearance (especially relating to a professional setting). I avoid being rude. I stay out of drama. I don’t make scenes. Guess what, as a result, no one takes pictures of me to put on the internet.
Well this author seems like a kunty Karen. Oh it’s a Kunty Kevin with a small dick
A new hire cannot be a purser.
Not true. New hires can be purser.
This has been exhaustively covered in these comments, but a few facts:
– FA was an Inflight Supervisor – a salaried employee that manages groups of other FAs within a base – that worked this flight to allow it to go out on time due to short crew.
– Supervisors have to be fully qualified FAs, and they can join any flight as a supplementary crewmember. Most FAs hate this, as it usually means they are being checked up on.
– Supervisors don’t wear the uniform
– The biggest misconception people have is that the FA working the Purser position is the most Senior and specifically trained. That is not the case – in fact, the likelihood of the person in the Purser position being the most junior crewmember on the flight is very high. That is because of two reasons: a) you have to be Purser Qualified to bid for that position each month, but if it goes unfilled or the FA is a no-show (both happen very often) the most junior Reserve will fill that role. This is called being “juniored in”. b) most FAs don’t like the Purser position domestically and don’t bid for it, as it’s a lot of extra hassle for an extra $1 per flying hour ($2 for a widebody). It’s simply not worth it for most.
Given the summer of hell we are experiencing, I commend anyone stepping up to get a flight out on time or not cancel. Pretty sad that this Karen felt the need to take pictures and send them to a blogger to publicize – I mean, really.
I’m a flight attendant for UA. Sometimes, in very rare cases, when something goes wrong at a destination that is not our hub, scheduling will look up FAs that used their benefits to commute/go on vacation to that destination, they will call them and ask if they would cover the open position to avoid flight cancellation. And just because we are not scheduled to work, if it happens that we don’t have our uniforms with us but we agree to work, the company excuses us and just asks us to wear our day-to-day clothes. At the end of the day we’re there for your safety, and we’re train to do our job with or without the uniform.
Delete this entire post. Click bait. The question has been answered and it’s rude to keep the photos up. LALF is better than this.
What drama over absolutely nothing. Sturm-und-drang over an untucked shirt in an era when bare feet and pijamas are considered appropriate for air travel by many.
No one knows the circumstances but boy-oh-boy everyone has an opinion.
Did the plane take-off, fly and land safely? Was it on time? Did the precious pxs in Business/First (of which I am frequently one) get their juice and coffee? If yes, then who the flip cares how the FA was dressed?
He wasn’t supposed to work the flight! It was actually his day off. He was going to just be a passenger. They didn’t have enough flight attedants in base to cover it so they asked him to work it on his day off to stop it from canceling you jag! If he wasn’t there your flight would’ve canceled! He couldve told the company no, he was helping everyone out! This picture is going all around Facebook! You owe a retraction and apology! Imagine using your OFF time trying to do a good deed, only to have your picture go all around the internet. Remember this next time your have a flight cancel or be hours delayed because they don’t have enough crew.
I hope this article serves as a lesson to all flight attedants to NEVER help out company or passengers on their own time again! I’m sure the flight attedants privacy you violated won’t!
Disgusting post. An employee steps in to stop a flight being cancelled. That should be the headline. The fact that you haven’t changed it now that you know says a lot about you.
Maybe you post the screenshot from crew chat showing this to me? Because my internal source told me it was a new hire without a uniform, not an off-duty new hire who volunteered to avoid flight cancellation. Thank you.
Hey just a heads up, whoever wrote this article, you’re actually a piece of human garbage. You should take real steps to improve your morality, because you’re a scumbag as of now.
We are so glad for your patronage, champ!