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Flight attendant turned Love Island star spills BA secrets like strict uniform rule

EXCLUSIVE: Lucinda Strafford, 22, who lives in Brighton, shot to fame on Instagram and YouTube after appearing on Love Island but she was once a BA air hostess

[Lucinda in her flight attendant's uniform with a red and blue tie and white shirt]

Lucinda in her flight attendant's uniform(Image: Lucinda Strafford)

Love Island star Lucinda Strafford may be known for her stint on the hit reality show in 2021 but before heading to the villa, the 22-year-old had a career as a British Airways flight attendant.

Nowadays the British beauty, who lives in Brighton, is a successful boutique owner and YouTube creator and has more than 824,000 followers on Instagram page @LucindaStrafford.

READ MORE: 'I quit my job to work on yachts and now get paid to travel the world'

Before skyrocketing to fame, Lucinda was a flight attendant for a year, but she found the role wasnt as glamorous as expected.

Lucindas mum was a cabin crew worker for many years and the influencer claims she found that the job no longer met the same standard.

[Lucinda, brunette, in a black bikini in front of the sunset]

Lucinda worked at BA for a year before being made redundant(Image: Lucinda Strafford)

Not everything about working in the sky is a positive.

The gorgeous influencer said: I did find the uniform requirements very strict.

"I felt it was frowned upon if you had to go up a size, so you just tried your best to keep the same uniform youd always have.

Its SO hard to maintain your weight when working as cabin crew as youre always surrounded by food and you eat at unusual hours because you need the energy."

[Lucinda in white bikini and nude skirt on a busy street]

The beauty has since appeared on Love Island and owns an online boutique(Image: Lucinda Strafford)

Lucinda added: When you land you never want to work out because youre so tired.

I know its a usual thing to put on weight when working as cabin crew. I remember when I started people would say you wont stay that skinny forever!

And, Lucinda noted that office managers would sometimes measure the crews skirts and put a strike next to your name if the uniform wasnt 100%.

She added: When you were on airport standby, Id be by the offices of the managers, and when you would walk past some of them would measure your skirt and if it was too short theyd tell your manager in charge of you and you would have to get a new size.

"You werent allowed to wear any bracelets, and I remember my friend was wearing a Cartier one that she couldnt take off for a flight unless she had a certain tool, and she got really told off and had a warning.

[Lucinda Strafford]

Lucinda said there were many pros of her old job but didn't like the strict dress code(Image: lucindastrafford/Instagram)

But, there are some major positives that come with working as a flight attendant.

The influencer commented: My favourite routes to work were definitely the Caribbean.

"I loved Barbados, that was always my favourite! I used to sometimes go there three to four times in a month, but each time it was only usually for one night.

I was really lucky to have gone on a three night Maldives, that was also one of my absolute favourites.

However, not all journeys are so glamorous.

[Lucinda sits on a jet ski in a pink bikini]

Her favourite destination is the Caribbean(Image: Lucinda Strafford)

She added: My least favourite was short-haul. Because I flew from Gatwick I was mixed fleet, because at the time there wasnt a fleet that just did long-haul.

Getting up at silly hours in the morning was not for me, especially having to drive to Gatwick Airport and drive back the same day later on.

The days are actually longer as well because you had to go there and then clean the aircraft, well we didnt clean it, and then would have to go back as well on the same day.

[Lucinda in a crop top and shorts, both cream, carrying a pink bag]

Lucinda didn't find the career as glamorous as she thought it would be(Image: Lucinda Strafford)

A spokesperson for British Airways told Daily Star: While it's disappointing to hear this view from one of our more than ten thousand world-class cabin crew, we offer a highly competitive salary and benefits package that compares favourably with other airlines.

The airline noted that while they do have uniform standards they do not measure skirt length.

Crews at Gatwick are also given meals for flights and other teams clean the aircraft before departure.

BA flight attendants are also trained in de-escalation techniques.

Would you ever work as a flight attendant? Tell us in the comments

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