Is it Saturday Already?!?

Lots has happened since I flew the couch on Wednesday.

On Thursday afternoon, one of my classmates, Venica, and I were assigned to "shadow" the Crew Services Department and the Crew Scheduling Department at our headquarters near the airport in Denver. What a great adventure that was! With crew services, they looked at our "bids" for May to see if what we submitted was correct, they gave us pointers for when we will "hold a line" (i.e. not be on reserve any longer), etc. Since we were both in the "smart class," we had already figured a lot of things out! But we did pick up a nugget or two (new pieces of info).

Then came Crew Scheduling...they're located "in the fishbowl" inside the headquarters (a room with a wall of windows facing the lobby) - along with all the operations people that run the airline...it was a room with about 20 or so people in it - amazing to see. We got to see what happens after aggressive bidding closes at 3PM, how those bids are handled and jobs assigned, how the unassigned jobs are assigned, and how people are selected to "fly the couch" or, as we told them, get assigned to CPD (couch potato duty).

These activities today helped to clear up a bunch of "rumors" that we have heard, and now we are armed with the correct info so that we can help "spread the truth!" Before we left, I made sure to tell them that I didn't want any more calls at 4AM telling me that I had a showtime of 6AM...so instead, that night, they called me at 10PM to tell me that I had a showtime of 6AM! Those guys...they surely have a sense of humor!!!

But they weren't kidding...someone had called in sick for a turn to Cancun for Friday. So I rushed Kikko over to the dogsitter's house (Greg did not get on the Thursday afternoon flight to DCA - there were 16 non-revs fighting for 8 seats, and we're not real high on the seniority list. But I got him a hotel room near the airport, and he was able to get on the Friday morning flight!!!), then I grabbed a few hours sleep before leaving the house at 3:45AM.

My flight was with a couple "senior mamas" - those who have been with the company 10+ years. Let's just say that not everything was done the way that I was taught, and when I made a comment to one of them, she said something along the lines of "well it changes every year, so we all kind of just do what we want." Hmmmm. I hope my attitude doesn't change to that when I've been there 10+ years!

Anyway, the flights were Apple Vacations charters - the group going to Cancun were ready and raring to go and the group coming back were sunburned, tired, and NOT ready and raring to come home! There were lots of nice people onboard and I enjoyed chatting with them.

The one thing that I DIDN'T do, was look outside when we were on the ground in Cancun. I could feel that it was warm, and I could tell that it was sunny...I just didn't want to be held responsible for my actions if I looked outside, ran to the back of the plane and exited via the air stairs, and ran around on the tarmac screaming like a banshee, hoping that they'd let me stay in Cancun. Something tells me that if I did stay, it'd be a room without windows, but with a lot of padding!

I got home around 6:30PM or so, picked up Kikko at the dogsitter's house, had a good night's sleep (first on the couch and then in bed), and now I don't want to do a thing! But I must!!! I am back on duty tomorrow for SIX DAYS in a row (see what happens when you arrange your schedule to take several days off at one time?!?!).