Crew’s slam-clicker on Air India, afloat or not

Though the average airline passenger may not be familiar with the term, ‘slam-click’ is one of the most cherished perks of cabin crews.

The rumpus created by the flight attendants of Air India about the recent proposed move by the loss-making national airline to have its cabin crew share rooms — keeping in mind “gender sensitivities” — once again underlines the importance of this privilege.

As the onomatopoeic word suggests, it is the sound of a door being shut and locked, and jet-lagged airline crews the world over apparently resort to it more often than not on their layovers to recalibrate their circadian rhythms.


And while there have been rumours before about regular airlines (as opposed to chartered flights) intending to make their cabin crews “buddy up” in hotel rooms, it has never actually been officially implemented.

That slam-click is a sacrosanct perk can also be judged from the fact that all airlines still provide their crew members with the comfort of individual hotel rooms even as they shave inches off seats on board to squeeze in more economy-class passengers.

After all, flight safety demands that the cabin crew remain rested, alert, happy and able to marshal people in case of emergencies even if the passengers packed like sardines may not be able to extricate themselves in time to follow evacuation protocols!