Cabin crew claim they are forced to sell used tights and unwashed uniforms to fetishists online because they are so poorly paid.
Various listings on selling sites like eBay show worn and ‘well-loved’ shoes being sold for up to £100, with unwashed tights proving a hit for the highest bidders.
One listing for a pair of used flight attendant tights says the garment has been ‘worn on many long distance journeys on very long hot shifts’ and ‘fragrant of my natural perfume as often worn minus underwear’.
A cabin crew member at Norwegian Airlines, who wished to remain anonymous, said the unusual money-making schemes have increased due to low wages.
The man, who has been working for Norwegian Airlines since 2015, said:
You do think, ‘oh goodness £500, it’s a lot’. People think we have a glamorous life going around the world. I don’t think people realise we are reduced to selling our used crew shoes to make ends meet.
An awful lot of crew I am flying with have been reduced to selling uniform. On every flight, at least one or two are doing it.
He continued:
I have just flown from Buenos Aires with a girl who had an email from a guy who offered £500 for her tights if she wore them non-stop for a week.
She said it was bizarre but she was contemplating whether to accept.
Some of my colleagues have regular customers. One has been offered £300 for a photo of her wearing the outfit being sold.
He concluded that while some collectors do purchase the items to collect ‘from a fashion perspective’ about 45 per cent of the buyers are making the purchases for reasons of which he dreads to think.
A Norwegian Airlines spokesperson said:
Norwegian cabin crew renumeration is in line with the market rate and in many instances above that of our competitors. We never comment on the personal situation of our colleagues.
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A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.