"Washing Seniors’ Stockings and Even Giving Them Wake-Up Calls": Former Flight Attendants Reveal Extreme Hierarchical Culture

[Financial News] Attention is once again turning to workplace bullying practices after former flight attendants revealed the reality of the rigid hierarchy and so-called “hazing culture” that once prevailed among cabin crew members at major South Korean airlines.
A video posted on the YouTube channel “My Love Ryu I-seo” on the 11th featured Ryu Yi-seo, 42, who worked at Asiana Airlines for about 16 years, and broadcaster Haeeun Sung, 31, who worked at Korean Air from 2017 to 2022. They described abusive practices that were once widespread within flight attendant organizations.
According to their accounts, forced wake-up calls for senior colleagues and personal errands for them were once routine among cabin crew members.
Recalling her time overseas, Ryu Yi-seo said, "Because everyone was in different time zones, junior crew members had to call each senior’s room one by one." She added, "It was an everyday practice to report in a roll-call-like manner, saying, ‘I’m [senior’s] junior from class [number]. Are you awake? It’s [time].’"
She continued, "If we failed to make the wake-up call on time, it became a serious issue, and we were reprimanded for supposedly having become lax in our attitude."
Haeeun Sung also pointed to abuses stemming from the hierarchy, saying, "I heard that during the era of earlier senior classes, juniors not only had to make sure their seniors received wake-up calls, but even had to hand-wash and deliver their seniors’ uniform stockings."
The workplace system of address also came under scrutiny. Sung said, "Regardless of age, we had to call a female senior who was younger than us ‘eonni,’ meaning an older sister." She added, "If we failed to follow that rule, we would be scolded with remarks such as, ‘Are you refusing to call me eonni because I’m younger?’" By contrast, male seniors had to be addressed as “senior” rather than “oppa,” or older brother, reflecting arbitrary and strict gender-based rules, she explained.
The two said, "As time passed, managers worked to improve the culture by telling people not to force wake-up calls, and many of these abusive practices have now disappeared."

[email protected] Moon Young-jin Reporter