Orgies, threats at breakfast and Champagne at any cost: Private jet attendant reveals what the super wealthy are really like at 45,000 feet

New York Post

6 days ago

In 2015, Danielle Styron, then 32, was offered her dream job as a private jet flight attendant. It promised a six-figure salary, trips to luxury resorts and full benefits. It seemed too good to be true — and it was.
Over the course of two phone interviews, the pilot continually hinted at the 'alternative lifestyle' of the plane's owner, a religious man who split his time flying with his family half the month and with his girlfriends the other half. As the conversation went on, it became clear the role involved participating in orgies with the girlfriends onboard while the owner watched.
'We only fly them once a month, so it's not like you have to be a lesbian, you would just need to have fun with them,' the pilot assured her.
6 Danielle Styron has written a dishy memoir about her time as a private jet flight attendant.
Olga Ginzburg for NY Post
Styron writes about the seedy job interview — and the seven years she spent flying with the rich and famous — in her dishy new memoir 'The Mile High Club: Confessions of a Private Jet Flight Attendant' (Post Hill Press; out now), co-written with her brother, James Styron.
'Names have been changed to protect (us from) the malevolent,' the intro reads. 'Behaviors have been presented to humble them. You know who you are.'
Styron, now 41, didn't end up taking the job with the orgy-loving jet owner, but she went on to work for for a number of difficult people.
Some of her clients, she writes, were 'miserable, vampires of human joy.'
One passenger berated her for not having the proper tequila stocked, even though it wasn't requested. Anorexic, food-obsessed wives micro-managed everything that came out of the galley kitchen. An assistant threatened to punch her in the face over a not-hot-enough breakfast sandwich.
Then there was the time a woman shoved Styron into a bulkhead mid-turbulence because her beloved puppies got jostled. 'She treated the dogs better than any human on board,' Styron writes.
6 Styron worked on private planes for seven years.
Courtesy of Danielle Styron
One of her lowest points was being asked to source Champagne on the tropical island of St. Maarten, just after it had been devastated by a hurricane. The client demanded bubbles despite the natural disaster.
'I'm standing there thinking, 'There's no Champagne. There was just a major hurricane. People are standing outside waiting for bread, and you're asking me to spend $20,000 on bubbly,'' Styron told The Post.
There was only one supermarket open, which Styron begrudgingly patronized in search of the requested Champs. 'It felt dystopian,' she said.
6 'Names have been changed to protect (us from) the malevolent,' she writes in the intro. 'Behaviors have been presented to humble them. You know who you are.'
Courtesy of Jen Senn
Then there was the two-timing bigwig who would fly with his pregnant wife one day and his mistress a few days later.
'As a woman, it was hurtful to be a part of that,' she said. 'Even though I had no choice. What was I going to do, blow my life up to be like, 'Yo, your man's cheating on you?' She probably already knew.'
Sometimes, as the title of the book suggests, passengers got intimated in flight. She and her crew knew the drill: retreat to the front, let the guests go at it, and deal with the cleanup later.
'It's usually in the bathroom, galley, or right there on the sofa,' she writes. 'It's their house, right? Private jets are like flying living rooms.'
6 Styron's brother, James Styron, encouraged her to write about her experiences on the job. He's a co-writer on the book.
Olga Ginzburg for NY Post
Despite the uncomfortable situations and challenging passengers, the jobs also entailed plenty of good times and perks. She partied in Las Vegas with pilots and jetted off to Costa Rica, Aspen and St. Barts.
One time in LA, the plane broke down on the tarmac, a typical mechanical delay. Danielle was tasked with keeping the charter guests fed and entertained while the pilots tried to fix the plane. The lead passenger was none other than actor and comedian Jamie Foxx.
Unlike most high-profile clients, he took the delay in stride.
He was 'the most delightful celebrity,' she said. 'He was cracking jokes and telling stories. He was pure light. [After three hours on the ground,] we were out of food, the mimosas were gone, people were losing patience, but not Jamie. He was still smiling. Still gracious. It restored my faith in humanity.'
6 Wealthy passengers treated their private jets like private homes, Styron says, meaning they sometimes got intimate in the living room.
Courtesy of Danielle Styron
Misery, however, seemed to be more the norm.
'You think these people have it all,' she said. 'But I saw the opposite. They're really insecure. Their friends are all about one-upmanship. One man owned several planes, had a beautiful wife, everything in the world, and he was obsessing about his hair plugs. Like who cares?'
Styron ultimately retired from aviation and went back to doing what she'd done before, working as an aesthetician.
6 Now retired from aviation, Styron works as an aesthetician.
Olga Ginzburg for NY Post
She now owns Fluff NYC, a brow and skincare studio on the Upper East Side, where she tends to people's faces — not their egos.
'It's less glamorous,' she said with a laugh, 'but way more peaceful.'