Fly Girl

A Memoir

By: Ann Hood

Narrated by: Ann Hood

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

An entertaining and fascinating memoir of “gifted storyteller” (People) Ann Hood’s adventurous years as a TWA flight attendant.

In 1978, in the tailwind of the golden age of air travel, flight attendants were the epitome of glamor and sophistication. Fresh out of college and hungry to experience the world―and maybe, one day, write about it―Ann Hood joined their ranks. After a grueling job search, Hood survived TWA’s rigorous Breech Training Academy and learned to evacuate seven kinds of aircraft, deliver a baby, mix proper cocktails, administer oxygen, and stay calm no matter what the situation.

In the air, Hood found both the adventure she’d dreamt of and the unexpected realities of life on the job. She carved chateaubriand in the first-class cabin and dined in front of the pyramids in Cairo, fended off passengers’ advances and found romance on layovers in London and Lisbon, and walked more than a million miles in high heels. She flew through the start of deregulation, an oil crisis, massive furloughs, and a labor strike.

As the airline industry changed around her, Hood began to write―even drafting snatches of her first novel from the jump-seat. She reveals how the job empowered her, despite its roots in sexist standards. Packed with funny, moving, and shocking stories of life as a flight attendant, Fly Girl captures the nostalgia and magic of air travel at its height, and the thrill that remains with every takeoff.

©2022 Ann Hood (P)2022 Recorded Books

Much more than I expected

I expected some fun and possibly scandalous stories but this book delivers so much more. This is an interesting true story of adventure, bravery, corporations, Americana, ambition, sexism and world travel. Ann Hood somehow makes all of that flow effortlessly on to the page.

I enjoyed this book

Interesting topic to me and the story held my interest. Learned a few things and loved hearing how life was as a TWA flight attendant!

Surprisingly delightful

I expected more crazy stories or something giddy, but I thoroughly enjoyed the telling of the real life experiences of a flight attendant. Ann Hood has a gift for writing and reading. Her training, work and travel are fascinating. She weaves in history and economics and equal rights in an honest and interesting way without making a soapbox out of any of it. I really enjoyed this book.

Excellent read

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There were countless things I now have more respect for. My how our world has changed, some good, some not so good. But I guess that’s life… And this is what this book is all about. Very well done.

I can't believe how much I liked this book!

I love history. I love personal history. I love someone who can make you feel right there in the moment, and this book fit all. I wish I'd had the guts to do all the things the author had to do to get and maintain her job at TWA. It was like becoming a flight attendant while reading. I enjoyed living vicariously through her.

I think everyone knows that the flight attendants in her day worked their tails off (I have reservations of today's attendants). Her story was so interesting!

Fascinating Insight into the World of Commercial Flight

Wonderful to have the book narrated by the author! What a fascinating life she has had! Extraordinary life and experiences.

Good book.

Really enjoyed the book even though the sections on food service and technical airplane info was needlessly detailed in my view. Nevertheless, the author’s wonderful attitude toward life and her indomitable spirit shone through. I found her inspiring and wish she were my friend! Performance was very good. I love it when an author can effectively read her own memoir.

Looking for Insights Into The Flying Life?

Ann Hood describes well her experiences as a young Flight Attendant at TWA from training in the middle of Kansas, first experiences traveling solo & the politics of US Commercial Aviation. As a former Airline Employee I loved the details she shared about the flying life.

Interesting

Interesting story about the career of a flight attendant in the 80s and 90s. I thought it would be more of a novel-like memoir, but it’s more history than story. Interesting if you ever wanted to be, or were, a flight attendant.

We’ll written, not what I expected

I expected more of a comedy with entertaining stories of passengers and flight mishaps. There was some of this but more history of airlines and changes over the years in expectations of flight attendants. All of that was interesting, just less of the light entertainment I was looking for.