Azafato

[fglorca]

Does the word 'azafato' exist? I can't find it in the dictionary and have never heard it used, only 'azafata'.

Thank you.

[Rusty]

Del DPD:

azafato -ta. ‘Persona que atiende a los pasajeros en un avión u otro medio de transporte’ y ‘persona contratada para dar información y ayudar a los participantes de congresos, exposiciones, etc., o que asiste al presentador y al público en un programa de televisión’. Al ser labores tradicionalmente desempeñadas por mujeres, hasta no hace mucho solo existía la forma femenina azafata; dado que hoy también las realizan hombres, se ha creado, y es plenamente válido, el masculino azafato: «Trabajaba como azafato en la tienda del pabellón de Arabia Saudí» (País [Esp.] 30.10.02). Para referirse al auxiliar de vuelo se emplea en gran parte de América el término aeromozo (→ aeromozo). En México y algunos países del área centroamericana se llama edecán al auxiliar de congresos o exposiciones (→ edecán).
Diccionario panhispánico de dudas ©2005
Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados Saludos

It looks like people prefer auxiliar de vuelo, used for both sexes.
A search on the various terms produces:

auxiliar de vuelo (346,000 hits)
azafato (229,000 hits)
aeromozo (15,200 hits)

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Azafato" sounds terrible to me, but if the dictionary accepts it, must be right. I agree with Rusty that "auxiliar de vuelo" and "aeromozo" are more frequent, but "sobrecargo" is the word I hear the most (and aplies unchanged for both sexes too). =)

[Rusty]

Some sources say 'sobrecargo' is only the 'jefe' of the 'auxiliares de vuelo'.

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Azafato in Spain souds all right ! It´s a term that people use very frequently . Lately, it´s true that on the internet or academies that offer courses, they use the term auxiliares de vuelo, because in the past there were only azafatas, it was rare to find an azafato, but out of lazyness, I say azafato because is quicker to say it. Aeromozo is Southamerican Spanish, in Spain it sounds funny because mozo or moza is an old-fashioned word that means boy or girl.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Mozo" means servant too. That is why it's used for plane service. I will just add that some people find it pejorative.

@Rusty: Maybe it's only in Mexico where "sobrecargo" is any flight attendant. Someone close to me didn't have a chief position and she called herself anyone of her colleagues "sobrecargos". (I hope that was not a private joke between them and I learnt it wrong.)

[Rusty]

@AdA: 'sobrecargo' is certainly used as you said-being the equivalent of 'auxiliar de vuelo'. I was just citing what I had read elsewhere.
And, if you look at the second entry in the DRAE, you'll find 'Tripulante de avión que tiene a su cargo supervisar diversas funciones auxiliares'.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

*phew!*
Thanks

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Sobrecargo in Spain is the boss of flightattendants