There is an emergency at 30,000ft. The plane is plummeting to the ground. People are screaming. Those who believe in God are praying to him. Death is just three seconds away. And Charlotte's lipstick has come off and is all over her beautiful white teeth. Nightmare.

Most of us wouldn't be worrying about such details in a life or death situation, but Charlotte has been told from the start of her training with Virgin Atlantic that how your hair and make-up look is important. So naturally, when she goes through a simulated terrifying crash scenario, she wants to ensure that when she crashes to her death she looks fabulous.

The question is: why on earth do airlines still behave like this? Why do they still perpetuate and encourage all the clichés about cabin crew? The recruitment advertising for Virgin for example shows the staff posing on the plane of wing, in a clear breach of health and safety rules, like porn stars with their clothes on, as if they might, just might, be up for it if you asked, and would be good at it as well.

Many of the other clichés about air crew appear to be confirmed by Virgin Atlantic: Up in the Air (ITV, Tuesday, 9pm), which follows new recruits though the training process. It proves that the only two remaining social groups that wear neck scarves are cabin crew and royalty; it also proves that most of the women wear so much make-up they have to declare their faces as hand luggage. It's not their fault – it's the fault of the bosses who force their staff to look this way and they therefore attract only certain types of staff.

Aside from the cabin-crew stereotypes, there were a few interesting facts in a programme which had little of depth to offer, and a couple of shocking ones too. Such as: only the first class seats have air bags – economy passengers just have to clutch a copy of the free in-flight magazine to their face and hope for the best.

There were also some astonishing details about how much it can cost to fit out a new plane: £200,000 for one toilet; £70,000 for one economy chair; £130,000 for a first class seat. And the total cost of one of Virgin's new Dreamliner planes: £192million.

Why is Virgin spending all this money? Because it has to, frankly. The company has been doing slightly better recently, but for three years it was losing huge amounts (last year it was £51m) and part of the reason was its planes were ancient and needed replacing. That is now underway, but, by the looks of Virgin Atlantic: Up in the Air, some of its working practices, such as paying starting salaries of £12,500, are pretty ancient too.

The public image of Virgin Atlantic is different of course: to many, the corporate giant is still seen as an alternative, slightly funky company run by the hippyish Richard Branson. Branson may not have run Virgin Atlantic day to day for ten years, but can you be a hippy and pay your staff £12,500? Can you be a hippy and run a fleet of huge gas-loving aeroplanes that give you a yeti-sized carbon footprint? And can you be a hippy and structure your business in a "simpler, more efficient way" i.e. cut hundreds of jobs?

It is hard to see how, but when Branson does sweep into room, hair like Aslan's and teeth like the front of a Dreamliner, it's easy to forget the pesky facts because he's impressive and charismatic. In the programme, we saw him at a party to celebrate the company's 30th birthday and his staff couldn't wait to kiss him and feel a little bit of stubble burn from the billionaire's beard.

And there was a little fact buried away in the documentary which was possibly the most revealing about Branson and Virgin Atlantic, and it was this: despite all the silly, sexist adverts, and the 6ft 2in air hostesses (5ft 5in if you don't include their hair), people tend to like Branson and they stick around in this company. Partly, this is because there are some perks (free or very cheap flights for staff for instance, including first class if there's room) but I think mainly it's because there's something about Branson's constant, youthful enthusiasm that spreads.

That doesn't mean he's always right. The way forward for the company, he said, was to keep ahead of the crowd, but perhaps he could start with how the cabin crew are trained, how they dress and how they behave, all of which is deeply conservative. I would have thought an old hippy like Richard Branson could spot that, and do something about it.