Title: Fly Girl
Author: Ann Hood
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 288
Publication Date: Apr 4, 2023
StoryGraph* Moods: informative, adventurous, reflective
How I Stumbled Upon This Book: I honestly don’t remember where I first saw this book – I don’t think it was a verbal recommendation from anyone. But I read it as research for a story I’m working on.
Other Books by this author: Hood has over a dozen other books to check out
*StoryGraph also offers content warnings.
Description:
“In 1978, in the tailwind of the Golden Age of air travel, flight attendants were the epitome of glamor and sophistication. Fresh out of college and hungry to experience the world, Ann Hood joined their ranks. She carved chateaubriand in the first-class cabin, found romance on layovers in London and Lisbon, and walked more than a million miles in high heels, smiling as she served thousands of passengers. She flew through the start of deregulation, an oil crisis, massive furloughs, and a labor strike. As the airline industry changed around her, Hood began to write–even drafting snatches of her first novel from the jump-seat. She reveals how the job empowered her, despite its roots in sexist standards. Packed with funny, moving, and shocking stories of life as a flight attendant, Fly Girl captures the nostalgia and magic of air travel at its height, and the thrill that remains with every takeoff.”
Why I recommend this book:
By the time I flew for the first time, flying wasn’t something people dressed up for, and airlines were already trying to cram as many seats on board as they could to maximize profits over comfort. This memoir by Ann Hood is an interesting look into the ‘heyday’ of flying, giving insights into what it took to even become a cabin attendant, not to mention all they went through dealing with passengers.
Given my own experience flying, I can’t even imagine flying when it was such a luxury – when people wore suits and dresses, and they were served high-end food and drinks in the first-class cabin. Hood lets us into the secret world behind the curtain – her application process, her training, and what it’s like when you’re new and don’t have any say at all in what sort of schedule you get.
But also – the romance of it, getting to see places all around the world most of us only dream of. Not to mention meeting all kinds of people on the flights themselves. Hood even manages to write her first novel during the quiet moments sitting in her jump seat.
If you’ve ever flown, I recommend reading this. You will definitely see your next flight from a different point of view.
“I was one of those people. Stepping off a bus from Manhattan into the glass and concrete terminal dressed in my TWA uniform and on my way to a faraway city. From the moment I had my wings pinned onto my dark blue jacket in 1979, to the day in 1986 when I hung my uniform up for good, being a flight attendant brought me everything that I had dreamed.”
~ Ann Hood, Fly Girl
Ami Maxine 