The truth about …Nicole

By Anna Streule

Someone tells you “Flight attendant” and I bet you think of glam make up, polished smile, sleek hair do, always at your service and always in high heels. Have you ever thought of what is behind these smiles, this glossy facade? How does one even come to be a flight attendant? What are myths and what is real when it comes to rules for a flight attendant? Do you really have to be tall and slim? Is it all as glam as the uniform suggests? Well, thankfully Mums in Heels have done the research and asked the questions:

Nicole Wipfli is a very dear friend of mine. She is genuinely one of the kindest, sweetest people I have ever met. She is never without a smile, always at the ready to help you whichever way she can. Her sleepless nights are spent worrying about the health of her nearest and dearest, and her spare time is spent riding and studying medicine. She seems to be one of those ridiculously happy go lucky people who can just cruise through life without a worry in the world. Turns out nothing is ever so simple. What turned out as a simple interview to find out more about the life of a flight attendant, ended up as so much more. This is her story.

We meet on a slightly chilly, overcast morning by the lake in Oberwil. Nicole is nervous. Really nervous. Despite appearances – as you can see she is downright gorgeous, with a body to die for – she majorly lacks in the self confidence department. This should not be the case. She is not only attractive, she is intelligent, funny, well travelled – she even spent a year in Los Angeles learning English, working as a nanny – and as perviously mentioned, one of the kindest people I know. Yet her knight in shining armour appears to be missing in action. Not that Nicole needs rescuing mind you. As the photoshoot progressed, so did her confidence. She started out nervously and a bit stiff, like the trained ballerina that she is, and ended up thoroughly enjoying herself, letting her hair loose and almost, just almost, started believing us as we shouted compliments at her through the camera lens.

Anna: Had you always wanted to be a flight attendant ever since you were little?

Nicole: Oh gosh no! I was a pharmacist and loved it. Through unfortunate circumstances the pharmacy where I worked had to close down, but through pure chance my father was doing business with Swiss at the time. He mentioned he had a daughter, they sent me the application forms… The rest is history.

Anna: What do you like most about your job?

Nicole: 24 years ago, when I started, being a flight attendant was a whole different ball game. You actually got to travel and see places. And back then the world was so exciting and so different! In China for example no one owned a car, everyone were on bikes. Now the schedules are so tight we don’t have time to see much if at all, and anyway, everywhere looks more or less the same. The same Starbucks, the same shops. What I do still love however are the people. The people are still different, the food is still different, the lives are different. I absolutely love talking to people, that is the biggest perk of my job.

Anna: How do you manage to keep a work-life balance?

Nicole: With severe difficulty (laughs)! My monthly flight schedule dictates my life, and therefore also the lives of my family and friends. I have to be very well organised and sometimes very flexible indeed. Being away, missing birthdays, weddings, Christmas, concerts etc is definitely a downside to my job, but over the years I have learned to try and give all the important people in my life as much time as possible when I am home.

I sense there is slight disappointment here. Like she wishes certain things were different, as if they somehow would have been different had she not had to make quite so many sacrifices, had to be quite so flexible.

Nicole: Relationships are hard no matter what. You have to take the time to work at them, but with a schedule like mine there is never really that time. If there is an argument or a rough patch and I have to leave in the morning and be gone for three days you just push the problems under the carpet, you never really resolve anything. It´s not great…

Anna: What is your best beauty tip? How do you manage to keep yourself looking so fresh young despite all those hours in an aeroplane?

Nicole: Water! Lots and lots of water. And use moisturisers in all their various forms – spray, serums, masks.. Both for your skin and hair. The air inside an aeroplane is incredibly drying.

Anna: And what about your look and appearance, what is the deal with all the rules and regulations regarding that?

Nicole: It still is very strict. There is a very large folder with long paragraphs covering your nails, how long they are allowed to be and colour. Long sections about your hair, colour and length. Which colour lipstick. It´s all in there. Having said that it is a lot less strict than it used to be. When I started you had to be a certain height and weight. These days you can be pretty much any shape and size. As long as you are more or less presentable and are willing to work you can come along.

Note from the editor: Due to Swiss´ fleet expansion with the new B777, Swiss is in the process of hiring 800 new flight attendants in 2016 alone. More information seek here.

Anna: How do you manage to relax, and escape all these rules, all this noise and demands?

Nicole: The love of my life is, as I am sure you know, your horse Favory. He is literally the best thing that has ever happened to me. Nothing or no one else makes me as happy!

Nicole is wearing Yana Ray pink dress

Emanuel Ungaro Vintage Cocktail dress