Tanya Hutchinson has always wanted to be in an airplane safety video. So when the Los Angeles-based flight attendant heard that United Airlines was casting for one, she was eager to audition.
“I submitted a tape, and then when I got the callback on my birthday from United, they were like, ‘Congratulations!’” she tells PEOPLE. “I’m thinking I got the part in the safety video. I was thrilled. And they said, ‘You’re going to be in a Disney movie.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, what?!’”
“I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” said Hutchinson, who appears in a brief airplane scene in The Devil Wears Prada 2 alongside Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Stanley Tucci.
Hutchinson plays a flight attendant who must inform Streep’s character, the prickly Miranda Priestly, that champagne isn’t served in economy. The longtime flight attendant says people make demands like that in real life “all the time.”
“I want to go, ‘This is an airplane, not a restaurant.’”
When Hutchinson heard she was going to be in a movie, she wanted to tell everyone, but she had to keep her lips sealed.
“There’s an NDA, so you can’t disclose anything. That was kind of hard, because you want to automatically start calling and telling everybody,” she said.
On set, the flight attendant was soaking it all in. She says she learned a lot from being around the legendary actors.
“We see them on the screen. We don’t get that they have a 5 a.m. call, and we may not get to that scene until like noon or one,” said Hutchinson. “You just see that they’re regular people like you are, and very nice and want you to feel comfortable. But they’re so iconic that there’s this nervousness where your heart’s just pounding.”
Decades ago, Hutchinson gave up her job as a flight attendant for another airline to get married and have children. After raising her childrkidsen, she returned to the profession with United a decade ago.
“I put all my kids through college, and then I thought, ‘What do I do with this life?’ And there was an opportunity. And to be honest with you, I thought I might be too old,” said Hutchinson, who has five adult children and two grandchildren. “But because United is so diverse, and they really look beyond the surface of things and go to the heart of the matter, I think that’s why I’m here. They felt my authenticity.”
Hutchinson says not being able to take photos while filming the movie gave her a rare chance to be present in the moment.
“As a mom with young kids, I was always capturing the moment. A lot of pictures I was never in, because you’re always kind of documenting what happened,” said Hutchinson.
“Not being able to take a photo gave me the opportunity to live that moment, and it’s something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. And I ended up on the big screen with credits!”
If you’ve seen The Devil Wears Prada 2, you already know that United does not serve champagne in economy, but Hutchinson has plenty of other useful tips for travelers.
“Check your bags before you come on board. If you can’t lift them, don’t bring them on board. It’s a new day and time, and what you have in those bags is so heavy and they can cause injuries,” said Hutchinson.
“Stay hydrated. Bring some snacks. One of my tips: bring some protein shakes, one that you can just put in a bottle of water and shake it up and drink.”
She also has a tip for passengers who want to make sure they smell good.
“Don’t wear perfume. Just take a good bath, that’s all you need. You don’t need all the colognes that the men wear and then they hug you, and then your uniform reeks with that same cologne for the rest of the day,” Hutchinson says with a laugh. “A lot of people have allergies, so leave the perfume at home or when you’re off the flight.”
The self-proclaimed “senior mama” says being a flight attendant has given her the opportunity to travel to places she couldn’t otherwise afford, like Hong Kong, where she spent five days in January.
“I was in London when Harry and and Meghan had their baby, and I was able to go to the palace and get on the BBC News, because they heard I was from California, and wanted to know how did I feel about them having dual citizenship for the baby, and what would I name the baby,” she recalls with a laugh.
Though she warns “it sounds corny,” Hutchinson says that her favorite place to travel is into “the hearts of her passengers.”
“It’s the people on the plane and the people that I meet at those destinations that changes the way that I think,” said Hutchinson.
“Being on an airplane is like inviting people into my home. You want them to be comfortable, you give them something to drink, you serve them food, and you have great conversation.”