The cabin door hissed shut and the familiar scent of jet fuel mixed with fresh coffee hit me as I settled into my jump seat. Only this time I wasn't a passenger nursing a lukewarm tea. I was cabin crew. And at 64, that felt like the start of something entirely new.
Francesca Hicks had spent years behind a desk as a secretary before moving into nursing, specialising in dementia and delirium care. The work was rewarding but routine. Then one evening in 2022 a television advertisement for easyJet cabin crew caught her eye. What followed was a decision that many might dismiss as impulsive. She applied.
"The training is intense," she told me with a quiet laugh that suggested she had relished every demanding minute. CPR, first aid, safety procedures, fire drills, water drills and those brutal early morning starts tested her thoroughly. Yet she passed. easyJet, it turns out, sets no upper age limit for cabin crew as long as applicants meet the other criteria, including a minimum age of 18.
A different rhythm at 35,000 feet
These days Francesca works the busy short-haul routes. She performs pre-flight checks with the calm authority that comes from decades of caring for others. Safety briefings roll off her tongue. When medical incidents arise she handles them with the composure of someone who has seen real life unfold in all its unpredictability. One flight even required a diversion. She took it in her stride.
What strikes me most is how her story quietly challenges the notion that certain careers have sell-by dates. easyJet has doubled the number of cabin crew over 50 and quadrupled those over 60 since that 2022 recruitment push. The market, it seems, values competence and steadiness more than youthful stamina alone.
I think I am still a child at heart.
Her words stayed with me. There is something refreshingly defiant about refusing to wind down when convention suggests you should. Francesca's family were thrilled by her choice. No hand-wringing about stability or what people might think. Just support for a woman seizing an opportunity that private enterprise made possible.
