Grandfather becomes flight attendant at the age of 62

A grandfather went from a job in the civil service to working on a plane as an air steward. Mark Heydon, who turns 63 next month, did not let his age get in the way of his dreams. 

He decided to take to the skies after he was made redundant as a family first officer managing a yearly budget of more than £1 million.

His role is now very different but he has taken to it quickly because he is such a natural at customer service. 

Janine Santos, 41, shared a picture she took with Mr Heydon online and praised the grandad-of-five for his ‘amazing customer service’ during a flight on June 3.

Mr Heydon, from Porthcawl in Wales, said: 

When I was talking to Janine I never imagined it escalating to this extent.

I just welcomed her and her friend on board and talked to them about their holiday.

It was lovely talking to them, it’s quite astounding that [Janine’s post] has had the number of hits it has – it’s amazing.

Mr Heydon said he chose to become a flight attendant because he felt doing something different would be good for him. 

He added: 

I think a number of things keep you young and a new challenge, doing something that frightens you, is one of them.

Clearly this one was frightening in a sense in that you never knew what was in front of you.

It was about the unknown really – would I cut it, and so on.

Ms Santos added she was moved when she saw Mr Heydon because he’s the same age as her father, who recently died from cancer.

Getting the job was not easy, with Mr Heydon one of 260 candidates who were selected from more than 12,000 applicants. 

He admitted it took him took four days to recover from fatigue after training. 

He said: 

My wife is so proud of me.

She looks after me to make sure I’m turned out well in my uniform and she tends to follow my flights online to see if it has taken off or is delayed.

My first day was very nerve-wracking, I felt a bit like a rabbit in headlights.

I was trying to remember so many things because the role flips between customer service to aircraft security and passenger safety.

source: METRO