Working the flight with a celebrity on board: the protocol, the good ones, the bad ones, and the rule about photos
-
#1 Fourteen years on the London routes and I have had, at a rough count, two hundred famous people on my flights. New crew are excited about this. Senior crew are not. Here is the protocol and the truth.
The protocol
The purser is told in the briefing, sometimes, and sometimes finds out at the door. The celebrity is a passenger. The airline's rule and every purser's rule is that they get the service everyone in that cabin gets, no more, no less, and that their privacy is protected: no crew photos, no crew requests for autographs, no telling the other passengers, no posting. That rule has ended careers and it will end more.
The good ones
Most. Genuinely. The actor who was polite and asleep. The footballer who thanked every crew member by name at the door. The musician who asked for nothing and tipped the whole crew a bottle of something at the end, which we could not accept, and which went to the charity box, and which he found funny. The famous chef who asked to see the galley and then said something kind about the meal that I still do not believe.
The bad ones
A few. The one whose assistant asked for the cabin lights changed, the passenger behind moved, and a specific water that we did not have, in the first ten minutes. The one who was rude to a junior crew member and then charming to me when he realised I was the purser. The one who was drunk and who, I will say, was handled correctly and firmly and who did not fly with us again.
The rule about photos
No. Not at the door, not in the galley, not 'just for me'. If you must have proof, remember it. The crew member who took a photo of a sleeping famous person in business on a competitor's flight some years ago is not a crew member any more and the story is on the internet forever.
The honest truth
After the first few, famous people are passengers with better luggage. The ones who are memorable are memorable for being kind or being awful, exactly like everyone else, and the kind ones are the majority, exactly like everyone else. The excitement fades and what is left is the job.
Stories welcome. No names. The rule applies here too.
-
#2 Virgin, and the no names rule is the right one and I will honour it: the kindest passenger I have had in nine years was very famous and asked me how my day was and waited for the answer. That is the whole story and it is enough.
-
#3 Emirates, US routes, and the assistant asking for things in the first ten minutes is a recognisable genre. The assistant is often worse than the principal. The principal is asleep.
-
#4 Italian, and the drunk one being handled correctly and firmly is the story I would tell new crew. The uniform does not care who you are. That is the point of it.
-
#5 JFK to LAX is the celebrity route and we have a saying: better luggage, same seatbelt. Paul's version is longer and more polite.
-
#7 Korean Air, and the K-pop passengers are our version, with fans at both airports and a protocol that is almost military. The photo rule is absolute for us and the reason is the same: one photo and a career is over.