Confessions of a private jet attendant… where what happens on board stays on board – or has done, until now!

Even by luxury hotel standards it is impressive. Vivaldi plays in the lounge.

The pillows you requested are filled in the bedrooms. Silk pajamas are provided in the private bathrooms. In the dining room there is a platter of caviar and fresh seafood, and a bottle of your favorite vintage champagne on ice.

And space? This is the cabin of a private Airbus A320neo. About the same size as an Easyjet plane.

And Vanessa Williams, 35, from Greenwich, London, is one of three flight attendants.

“Maybe 19 passengers come to a bachelor party and they want to party the whole time and smoke and drink beer non-stop,” she says. “Or you have a Muslim family that wants to pray at certain times and doesn’t eat anything because they are fasting.”

Passengers are often driven directly to the door of the aircraft by a driver, while passport checks are carried out on board. All their wishes are met during the entire flight. They probably won’t even experience turbulence, because private jets can fly higher than commercial planes (about 42,000 feet instead of 35,000 feet), meaning they often miss bumpy spots.

Despite the glamour, some pilots and flight attendants say they feel pressured to take risks to keep private jet customers happy. Harry, 41, from Surrey, is a pilot who used to fly for a major private jet company and now works for British Airways. “You’re constantly expected to turn a blind eye,” he says.

‘I saw some guys take off from a mountain airfield in the Alps with only one engine working so they could repair the plane and return in time to pick up the owner. For some customers, “No” doesn’t exist.’

Sounds dangerous? It can be downright death-defying:

‘A friend was transporting some Albanian passengers and one of them got into an argument with his bodyguard. Guns were drawn,” he said. “The pilots had to depressurize the plane (reducing the pressure in the cabin and thus lowering the oxygen level) to switch them off,” says Harry. “When they landed, the pilots blamed it on a leaking outflow valve.”

Guests have sky-high expectations. “We have super-fast Wi-Fi on board, but there’s a spot over the Atlantic Ocean where you’re between the satellites and it always cuts out,” Williams says. “We had these crypto guys on board, all on their laptops all the time and when we lost the internet they went crazy. They shouted: “Bring us back online! We have to make money!” but I couldn’t do anything.’

That said, private flight attendants are well compensated: they earn between £50,000 and £100,000 per year depending on their experience (compared to the £26,000 average of a commercial flight attendant). They also receive tips, both in cash and gifts. “I got a beautiful Gucci handbag,” Williams says.

“My friends who work in the Middle East get luxury bags all the time.” The uniforms are also a step up from Easyjet. “We wear smart Reiss suits and an Hermès scarf,” she says. ‘There’s no polyester in sight.’

Some clients just want to be left alone. “There are some passengers who come on board and don’t make eye contact or only communicate with you through an assistant,” Williams says. ‘Once we had Russian passengers who boarded with some young French girls. They had a big bottle of vodka and let’s just say they didn’t want to be disturbed.’

Sex at 42,000 feet? “The music was loud and the doors were closed the whole time,” Williams said. ‘What happens on board, stays on board.’