Aviation Word of the Day - Purser

  During a flight, there are a number of personnel responsible for looking after passengers and serving food especially in the course of long haul flights. Or simply long journeys. These people constitute the flight crew, apart from the pilots in the cockpit. They are known as cabin attendants or flight attendants or stewardess and stewards; depending on which ever the airline prefers to call their staff.

Flight attendants are mostly females but there are quite a number of males as well. They are expected to conduct themselves very highly and be as friendly as possible while seeing to the needs of the passengers in flight.

Typical of every group, there is a leader. The leader, otherwise known as the purser is the “chief attendant” of all the flight attendants on a particular flight or within the airline. Whether male or female, their job is essentially making sure that the cabin attendants work satisfactorily. They act as overseers.

Pursers are usually previous cabin attendants with substantial years of experience in the field of flight attending. And yes, they do earn more than ordinary flight attendants!