I recently had the most enjoyable 5-hour flight of my short life, and I have Asiana airlines to thank. This is an airline that seems to have the right ethos: keep even the average customers ensconced in a world that feels much more luxurious and privileged than their reality. Asiana doesn't do this by giving passengers false promises, you know, like beds for everyone and massages for weary. Here's how Asiana does this: offering free booze and only hiring beautiful women.
I'm an American, and I grew up watching movies in which stewardesses were these bastions of class and beauty high in the sky. To say you were a stewardess meant, invariably, that you were a catch. All that exists in theory, but almost never in practice - at least with American airlines. See, American airlines are bound by those pesky unions, who keep them from, say, only hiring really attractive women under the age of 25. The result is that most stewardesses I see on US carriers look like the kind of women who were really attractive in high school. Then kids, age, food, and too much make up began to creep into their lives. Of course the unions keep these women in the job and on the plane.
Now I'm 100% in favor of unions. But, I'm 110% in favor of flying on international carriers not encumbered by these standards, and who can provide me - for the same price - with a fleet of handsomely-dressed statuesque Korean women... and free booze. On the flip side, there is certainly a negative to archaic hiring policies at a company like Asiana. For example, I know a friend of a friend who is Korean, 28, beautiful, and speaks amazing English, yet both Korean and Asiana air turned her away because SHE WAS TOO OLD. Is quality control worth creating a generation of insecure 20-something Korean stewardesses-to be? I'm truly conflicted. The good news is that all of you out there must fly Asiana to give me a well-founded answer.
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