Many people dream of a working life at 35,000ft, imagining that being a flight attendant is non-stop glamour.
But Skye Taylor, 49, who spent 16 years working as a stewardess, reveals that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
The ex-flight attendant told MailOnline it’s plagued by low wages and that sitting on the beach is a rarity for many crew members.
She found a solution to her lack of money, leaving the skies to be an X-rated cam girl who shares explicit material live on the internet in exchange for money.
Skye claims that when she started her career in the airline industry everything was different.
Skye Taylor (above, in uniform), 49, spent 16 years working as a stewardess, but reveals it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. She says the industry is plagued by low wages
The ex-stewardess, who eventually worked her way up the ladder to Virgin Atlantic, said: ‘Before Covid, we were treated very well, in America we got big discounts and freebies. With Virgin, we were given seven free flights a year so you could travel with your family.
‘They were very good benefits, not so great money, especially after Covid, which I don’t blame on my ex-airline.
‘I blame the government for ruining aviation, taking away workers’ rights and making it very difficult to do the job and afford to live at the same time.’
Skye thinks that flight attendants’ pay should be in line with that of train conductors.
She explained: ‘I don’t think [the wages] are fair on anybody when we work so hard. A train conductor gets £30,000 – we were paid nowhere near that.
‘Years ago, it was very good, then the government changed the rules so that we were given a standard rate, which took a lot of pay from us.’
According to gov.uk, the starting salary for a flight attendant is just £15,000.
Skye added: ‘I think what made me leave were the constant changes and not really having a good income – at my age that was quite scary.
‘Having to work other jobs alongside my crew job, I was just permanently knackered, with health problems coming up all the time as well, which is understandable because you’re being worked to death, then having to go to another job to try and earn money to live. It’s just very, very unfair.’
She continued: ‘The best part of the job was always to travel. You knew you weren’t on a high salary, but you got to see the world.
Skye said: ‘The best part of the job was always to travel. Now the government seems to have eroded that lifestyle’
‘I was also lucky to experience sitting on a Caribbean beach for four or five days. Now, that’s not happening on every airline. Well, certainly not in the UK. I think American airlines treat their crew very, very well.
‘Now it’s very much… get you back to base as soon as possible so we can do as many flights as we can.
‘I knew I didn’t have a well-paid job, but I did have an amazing lifestyle.
‘Now, the government seems to have eroded that lifestyle. And I ended up on less money after Covid than when I started.’
She also hopes to tempt fellow cabin crew to try webcamming like her.
Skye said: ‘I’m basically starting my own company, first-class models, which is going to be a cam agency, and I want to help cabin crew because it’s something they can do.
‘Obviously, they might not want to go down the adult road, but it will definitely give them an income when they’re on the go, because your job is a lot of waiting around sitting with your phone in a room on your own.
‘That’s my main focus at the moment, trying to help the cabin crew community as well as women.
‘I just want to help them out, because it’s very hard to get another job – you have to ace your first job, you have to be on standby, you have to be totally committed to flying, and things can change.
‘You know, you could get stuck because of the weather, so [cam work would be] another job to supplement your income.’
