June 14, 2026, 2:01 pm | Read time: 4 minutes
You might have noticed: Bearded pilots are a rarity. The same goes for cabin crew members. TRAVELBOOK knows the reasons why.
There are a number of appearance requirements that candidates for the job of flight attendant ideally should meet. Most airlines require cabin crew members—who are still mostly female—to have a minimum height. Additionally, airlines such as Lufthansa and Easyjet prohibit visible tattoos or piercings. TRAVELBOOK explores this topic in more detail in this article. And when it comes to facial hair, many airlines have at least guidelines for crew members. Or let’s put it this way: It’s no coincidence that you rarely see flight attendants or pilots with beards.
Overview
Why Pilots and Flight Attendants Rarely Have Beards
If you delve into the topic a bit, you’ll quickly come across a case from 1978. Trans World Airlines (TWA) had suspended a pilot because he had a beard. “Before March 1978, TWA had appearance regulations for flight officers that prohibited them from wearing beards of any kind,” according to the online database for U.S. legal topics “Law Justia,” where the case is documented. The suspension did not withstand an appeal at the time. Nevertheless, one of the arguments by TWA—that the pilot’s beard posed a safety risk—continued to be discussed.
Also interesting: In case of cabin pressure loss–how long the oxygen masks last
Beard and Oxygen Mask–A Safety Issue?
In 1987, several years after the TWA case, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) addressed the issue. In a publication, it presented the findings of a study that examined the impact of beards on the effectiveness of oxygen masks, showing that the device’s performance decreased proportionally with beard length.
If this is true, the rare but not entirely excluded sight of bearded pilots and flight attendants could only be interpreted as those airlines being lax with the safety of their employees—and thus potentially also the passengers. That can’t really be the case. Yet rumors of a connection persist.
“Pilots are not allowed to have beards because they can’t properly fit the oxygen masks in an emergency. Fact or myth?” asks Swiss Chair Airlines in a Facebook post. The commenters are divided. “Of course pilots can have beards,” some write confidently. Others believe there’s a lot of truth to it. There’s no resolution there. TRAVELBOOK provides it here.
Why Hawaiian Airlines Pilots Must Say Goodbye to Their Beards
Why Some Flight Attendants Sit on Their Hands During Takeoff and Landing
Concerns Now Resolved
In fact, the safety concerns have now been resolved. Thirty years after the FAA’s circular, another study came to a completely different conclusion. This was conducted on behalf of Air Canada, where a strict beard ban had been in place for employees until then. Research leader Sherri Ferguson and her team got to the bottom of the burning questions: Do the devices used in the aviation industry provide enough oxygen to protect even bearded pilots from oxygen deficiency in the event of cabin pressure loss? And also from, for example, carbon monoxide poisoning, should the cabin fill with smoke from a fire?
The answer was: yes. In detailed studies with participants who had beards of varying lengths, the researchers concluded that “facial hair does not affect the effectiveness of an oral-nasal face mask.” This is stated in a press release from the responsible Simon Fraser University (SFU). For Air Canada, the study was the basis for changing its guidelines for flight personnel, it further states. Since 2018, male crew members have been allowed to have beards—as long as they do not exceed a length of 1.25 centimeters.
Individual Company Rules Depending on the Airline
It seems stricter at the airline for which “Mentor Brady”—a pilot and user of the portal “Airline Pilot Life“—flies. He doesn’t name the company but quotes from his flight operations manual. It states: “Beards and goatees are not permitted. No facial hair growth (of any kind) is allowed below the upper lip.” His explanation has nothing to do with safety. “When it comes to professionalism, passengers often have higher expectations of pilots,” he speculates. “They must be a person with confidence, authority, reliability, and maturity who makes the right decisions and safely gets them from point A to B.” Apparently, a clean-shaven face can convey that more.
Lufthansa Allows a Well-Groomed Beard
And what about Lufthansa? TRAVELBOOK asked a flight attendant working there. She wishes to remain anonymous. There is no beard ban at the airline—instead, the rule is that a beard, if present, must be well-groomed.