As the Spring Festival travel rush approaches, flight attendants for China Southern Airlines are getting busier and busier with the increasing number of passengers.

Joost Zeijlmans, Ismay Sanne Van Boven, Nicolaj Zevenberg, Commeren Tessa and Speelman Tamara Desiree all come from the Netherlands and have been serving as flight attendants for Southern Chinese Airlines for five to seven years.

Dutch flight attendants who work at China Southern Airlines during the Spring Festival travel rush pose for a group photo. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

According to Joost, the most difficult part of the job lies in the difference between Chinese and Western cultures. He used food as an example, saying that Westerners tend to finish one dish and then start on another, whereas Chinese passengers are accustomed to eating all their dishes at once. In order to avoid misunderstandings due to cultural differences, Joost chats with Chinese flight attendants before each flight, striving to improve the quality of flight services.

For expats, it can be annoying to hear others talking loudly in public. After working at China Southern Airlines and talking more with Chinese passengers, Joost found that her passengers' manner of speech is actually meant to express their excitement and happiness.

For example, when passengers return home for Spring Festival, they are often very excited and express this through speech, she said.

Flight attendants give an interview. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

To offer passengers a more warm and festive atmosphere, attendants decorated the passenger cabin with special Chinese knots, red lanterns and paper cuttings.

"We also prepared special Spring Festival gifts for children who are flying with their family members," said Joost.