Private flight attendant spills on ‘cheeky’ perks of luxury travel with family business

A Melbourne flight attendant has revealed the “cheeky” perks and inside secrets of her family’s luxury travel business.

A private flight attendant has pulled back the curtain on the luxury travel industry, sharing the “cheeky” perks and inside secrets of her family’s business.

Melbourne flight attendant Olivia Falls has begun sharing TikTok videos behind the scenes of her day-to-day work at her family’s private travel company, Shortstop Jet Charter.

“Not many people know about how to get into it, they hear private jet and they hear another world,” Ms Falls said.

“But it’s actually very accessible. I mean, we’re out of Essendon Fields (Airport). So, really, anyone can fly private if they wanted to.”

And though her “come to work with me” videos show some of the not-so-glamorous grunt work that makes private flying the luxury it is, she also shows some of the “cheeky” perks of working with the world’s high flyers.

One of her latest clips brings her followers on a quick morning trip from Essendon Fields Airport to Sydney and back again – a day’s work done “all before 12pm”.

The preparation for the 7.15am chartered flight starts at 6am, when she arrives at the hangar with her father, Shortstop pilot Mick Falls Jnr.

The 25-year-old flight attendant takes her followers for a tour through the lounge, hangar, and inside the luxurious wood and cream leather cabin of the private jet as they prepared for take off.

Olivia Falls works as a private flight attendant. Picture: TikTok

The 25-year-old works in the family charter business. Picture; Instagram

She replaces water bottles on the plane, checks bathroom stock, and arranges “fresh catering” for the four passengers flying to Sydney – a part of the gig, she admits, is not her favourite.

“I’m not a cook, I can make it look good, but I’m no cook,” Ms Falls laughed.

“And there are a lot of moving parts with food. You have to make sure it turns up on time – whether your passenger arrives on time, early, late – and it has to be right, fresh, all of that.”

And, on this flight, she had to do it all again for six more passengers returning to Sydney.

But, she says, it’s a minor nuisance for all the upsides of working in private travel – like a “cheeky” $100 tip – and with her family business.

She admits the least favourite part of the job is handling catering. Picture: TikTok.

But there are plenty of ‘cheeky’ benefits to working with high flyers. Picture: TikTok

“Ms Falls said chartering a Shortstop flight from Melbourne to Sydney would cost between “$10,000 and $12,000 per hour”.

“But that can vary if they’ll need another flight attendant, special catering. So many factors go into it,” she said. “Do they want to do a multi-stop trip? Are we staying with them overnight?”

“But anyone can call up and ask for a quote, it’s up to them whether they book with us.”

The Falls’ have chartered all sorts of people around Australia and the world since Mike Falls Snr, Ms Falls grandfather, founded Shortstop Jet Charter in 1984.

That makes the company is one of the longest continuously operating jet charter company in Australia.

“And Grandpa, he still flies as well. I think he’s one of the oldest pilots in Australia,” Ms Falls said.

Mike Falls Jnr flies the planes and runs the company his father founded in 1984. Picture: TikTok.

Ms Falls trained with Qantas and joined her family business in 2023. Picture: Instagram.

In 2019, the 25-year-old graduated flight attendant training at Qantas, but quickly realised despite her love for flying, the commercial side was not for her. She left before the pandemic hit, and she joined Shortstop this year.

“Private flying is similar but pretty different. You’re flying with less people, more important people, and flights are tailored to the client,” she said

“And if they’re late, we wait for them. If they’re early, we get things moving faster. We’re ready when they are.”

As for the VIP’s, Ms Falls refused to spill the beans – “there’s a reason it’s called private travel”.

“What I can say is we fly all sorts of people. We’ve had triple-A list celebrities, to B-grade celebrities, to influencers and everyone in between,” she said.

“It’s very common for us to do corporate flying, politicians, mining executives. We’ve even done hospital organ transfers very late at night.”

Even her bosses have remained tight lipped – only admitting to ferrying some “rock superstars”, but refusing to name names, to The Age.

Mike Jnr told the paper that he transported three dogs and their owners from Melbourne home to Guangzhou, China, in 2020. A trip that cost about $250,000.

Ms Falls said 90 per cent of their travel, though is domestic – including chartered trips to King Island in its exclusive DC-3: better known as ‘Melbourne’s Gooney Bird’.

Ms Falls’ other TikToks, show a day working “on the ground” and another tracks a three-day chartered trip to Brisbane.

And despite the sometimes hectic demands or wild schedule, she says the benefits of work win every time.

“I love getting to fly all the time, seeing all sorts of places, meeting all sorts of people. It’s like a little family of people you meet at each airport,” she said.

“And there’s so much history, just in our hangar, even working with Dad and Grandpa.

“It’s amazing.”

She was also amazed by how many people were interested in the videos, even after a week of filming, and were “asking questions about flying, the planes, even talking about their memories with Dad and Grandpa, all of it”.

Originally published as Private flight attendant spills on ‘cheeky’ perks of luxury travel with family business