Flight attendants on Air India could soon stop reminding you of the elderly and portly headmistress who rarely ever smiled at you in school. And they could be more nattily dressed too.

In a desperate bid to woo paying passengers, the airline is thinking of imposing an age limit of 40 or 45 for cabin crew. At present, they can fly till they turn 58.

During the ongoing brainstorming sessions to improve aircraft occupancies, two factors emerged as requiring improvement - on-time performance and overall passenger experience at airports and inside aircraft.

Focusing on in-flight experience, an official said, "About 1,000 flight attendants in the age group of 20-27 have been hired recently. Once they are trained, there can be a correct mix of youth and experience." If the age limit proposal is accepted, those above the cut-off age could be put on ground jobs like most private airlines do.

Also, the current red-and-black sari that flight attendants wear was found to be a sore point with passengers. Even airhostesses haven't found it comfortable, especially in summer. "National Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi, is being asked to design a more aesthetic uniform for the crew," the official said.

But airline employees wonder if AI hopes to make them smile just with a new dress. "We are not getting our salaries. This month no payment has come so far," said a cabin crew member.

Air India may be brainstorming about providing a more pleasant in-flight experience for its customers by getting a younger cabin crew and a different set of uniform, but flight attendants say it is difficult for them to smile at their guests when their minds are clouded by various problems like unpaid salaries.

"In August we got some money only because the Prime Minister was quizzed on the issue in Parliament. How can employees smile if the thought of unpaid rents, bills, EMIs and an uncertain future dominates their mindscape? Sometimes even passengers ask us out of curiosity how are we managing and we just shrug our shoulders," said a flight attendant.

The management says it is aware of this issue. "The 2-3 month credit period which we are getting from oil companies will free up some cash for us to pay salaries. But we need to improve revenue to generate cash and for that we need to get back in good book of passengers. It is a fight for survival," said a senior official.

On OTP side, the airline is aiming at over 90% flights operating on time. AI's new CMD Rohit Nandan is learnt to have spent several hours on aircraft maintenance which have suffered in past few cashless months. He has released some money for this purpose to reduce the number of grounded planes. The management knows that unless there are some solid operational improvements, getting more money from the government could be tough as the CAG has warned against doing so without.

How can employees smile if the thought of unpaid rents, bills, EMIs and an uncertain future dominates their mindscape?