Long Day!

Today, I sat the couch at DIA from 12 Noon until 6PM. I didn't do much until around 5PM when I was asked to preboard a flight to Portland - the crew showed up around 5:55PM. As I was leaving the plane, my phone rang - it was crew scheduling sending me on a trip to Nashville for the night!

I love our hotel in Nashville. Nice, large rooms. Goo Goo Clusters when we check in. Comfortable beds. Our van will take us back to the airport at 2PM tomorrow, so I have a nice long layover. I'll probably go out for a long walk tomorrow morning.

The flight out here went well...though it seemed like the passengers were especially needy. I'm not sure why. I was surprised that some Mennonite kids were so rude - ringing their call button a few times for fun, demanding drinks without waiting their turn, etc. But another kid (who I think was with them) complimented me on his way off the plane, telling me that I was a really good flight attendant!

I also had what I thought was going to be a challenge with an elderly gentleman - he didn't like that I asked him to hold on to his coat until I got all the roller bags up. He was not happy with me. But I ended up not needing the space, and I placed his coat back up there, after making him say "please." We joked around during the boarding process, and during the safety demo I pointed two fingers to my eyes, and then pointed the fingers to him - letting him know that I was watching him. He asked for a comment card, as well as my name and employee number so that he could tell my boss to give me a raise. We'll see if he follows through...

Well...it's after midnight here, so I guess I should think about going to bed. We will fly back to Denver in the afternoon, then we'll do a turn to San Francisco. And then I'll be back in Denver sometime before midnight tomorrow.

Christmas Day

Last night I collected assorted meds from crew members - Nighttime TheraFlu, Daytime TheraFlu and Zicam nasal spray. I tried the Zicam and the Nighttime TheraFlu, but they backfired on me...I'm one of those people who feel wired after taking those meds! So my 21 hour layover in Dallas during which I thought I'd get lots and lots of sleep, turned into a night of tossing, turning, and daydreams. It was not very restful.

We left the hotel at 12:45PM and took a full flight back to Denver. Before getting on the plane, though, I called crew scheduling to give them a "heads up" that I was going to be calling in sick after I returned to Denver, and would not be going on the Omaha turn. They didn't give me any hassle (thank goodness...cause I was feeling pretty bad at that point). So I got to be at home at 5PM instead of 11PM - we had a nice Christmas dinner as a family, opened presents, and now Greg is playing Jen's Wii Guitar Hero III. Tomorrow morning we'll have our traditional banana pancakes (one day later than normal).

It's been a nice day. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve in Dallas

Ah...the life of a reserve flight attendant. Holiday? What's a holiday? (I really shouldn't complain, though, since I did not go anywhere on Thanksgiving...)

I purposely did not bid on any available jobs yesterday on the board, with hopes of "flying under the radar" and not getting picked for a trip. But...that did not work. I was assigned to a 0615 show time this morning for a turn to Kansas City and a Dallas overnight. That's not so bad, but it's the turn to Omaha tomorrow afternoon that stinks - we have a 2 hour sit in Denver first, then return to Denver at around 9PM. Yuck.

But the worst thing is, I am starting to not feel well...the old sore throat/sinus/etc. Part of me wants to call in sick for the Omaha turn, but I don't want them not to believe me. So I guess I'll sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning...

I am really looking forward to going home for Christmas day, even if it's at 11PM or so!!!

Sunny Sunday

My Friday night drive from the airport back to home did not go as smoothly as I had hoped! It took almost 4 hours!!! By the time I realized that I-25 southbound was closed up ahead, it was too late to get off before I hit the backup. So I creeped and inched along (in perfectly good weather) until I reached County Line Road at the top of Monument Hill. Then I followed the traffic as we made a big detour. Our informative newspaper "The Gazette" did not mention this closure in Saturday's paper, so I am not exactly certain as to what happened on I-25. However, I did hear a rumor of a jacknifed semi...

I had planned on being home for a few hours before heading to the COS airport to pick up Jen...instead, I was home for less than an hour. But it was just enough time to eat some dinner, load the boys into the car, and head to the airport!

Yesterday, we hung out on the sofa most of the day - didn't even get dressed until 5PM!!! Can you tell that Greg isn't around? He went to the cabin on Friday evening, so we're having a "girl's weekend." Today, Jen has some things that she wants me to do, so I am not sure what my schedule will be.

I am off duty until 12/24 at 12:01AM...and then I have two days on duty. I am hoping that since I have only 2 days that scheduling will forget about me...and that we'll be able to have our Christmas at it's "normal" time. If not, we will postpone our family Christmas celebration until 12/26.

In the meantime, I am ready...the tree is up and decorated! The presents are all bought (I still have a few to wrap...) and life is good!

It Was Meant to Be...

We had a very smooth flight back to DEN this morning from Tampa...however, the passengers weren't thrilled when they arrived at the airport and were told that their flight was delayed about 45 minutes or so because the "crew needed to get their rest." Unfortunately, the passengers don't think WHY we may need our rest. They just assume we stayed out too late the night before from partying...not quite.

Anyway, I let anyone who asked know that we got in around 12:30AM and that it was a long day yesterday. Most everyone I told had some sympathy.

Unfortunately, the flight attendants with me weren't too happy today. Just tired, I guess. So I kept to myself at the front of the plane and just hung out. At the end of the flight, I started to walk towards the crewroom as I called crew scheduling, and ended up turning around and going right back to the plane that I had just gotten off of. I was needed to help pre-board a flight to Chicago.

So I did my thing, telling people not to put their coats in the overhead until after all the roller bags were put up there...and the flight attendant assigned to that flight showed up. I gathered my bags, and started walking up the jetway back to the terminal and I heard someone yell out "SUZIE!"

I stopped dead in my tracks...it was my first cousin, Jacki! She was on her way from her home outside of San Francisco to Chicago! I would have loved to have worked her flight so we could visit more. ButI realized that there was a reason why I got assigned to pre-board that flight - to see Jacki! It was meant to be.

Since that pre-boarding, I was assigned to the couch until 4:57PM...and then I can go home for my FOUR DAYS OFF! Woo hoo! Jen left LaGuardia this afternoon and is on her way to Dallas. Unfortunately, her flight left late, so she has missed her connecting flight to Colorado Springs. But being the good Mommy that I am, I called American Airlines (I bought her ticket with credit card miles) and rebooked her connecting flight. She'll be home at around 9:40PM. Yay! Let the festivities begin!

Like a Bat Outta Hell...

My phone rang at 8:32AM. It was crew scheduling telling me I had to be at DIA by 10:32AM for a 10:55AM roundtrip to San Antonio. Then they called again and told me that they were adding on a Tampa overnight to the trip. So I threw everything together, got it into the car and took off - this time I had decided to change into my uniform at the airport to save some time.

After I parked and got onto the shuttle bus to the airport, my phone rang again. This time crew scheduling was telling me to go directly to Gate 28 because they couldn't find anyone to help preboard the flight. I told her that I still had to stop and change into my uniform, and that I'd be there as soon as humanly possible. I had about 7 minutes to spare when I "officially" called in to say that I had arrived.

The crew to/from San Antonio was very nice, and that portion of the day went by very quickly. Then I went to find my crew for the Tampa overnight - the arriving plane was late, and we ended up being two hours delayed because of insufficient oxygen in the flight deck. So the passengers got free TV, which made them happy, but I ran out of sandwiches and salads at row 10. Bummer. I sold all but 8 snacks on my snack cart...and I could have sold a lot more. This group was really needy.

There was a little boy screaming his head off. Passengers were complaining, but what could I do? I asked the parents if I could help, but the kid was just out of control. Red face, wide open mouth, tears...it was almost unbearable. Finally, he fell asleep, and the parents commenced drinking. You could tell that they had had enough. (So had the rest of the plane.)

So now it's almost 2AM here in Tampa, we have to catch our shuttle back to the airport at 8:40AM. I should be sleeping. In fact, that's what I am going to do. It's been a VERY long day for me.

Enjoying Home

I returned from Kansas City on Monday - and it was COLD in Denver...luckily, my car started! I had Tuesday off, and today I sat the couch at the airport from 0600 to Noon...it was relatively quiet, except for the bird flying around the crewroom. I decided that if I heard "There's a bird in here!" one more time, I was going to scream!!! Ummmmmmm. Ummmmmmm. Breathe deeply. Focus on your belly button. Ummmmmmm. Ummmmmmm.

I saw my first "guinea pig" in my pseudo-matchmaking attempts - and he's actually dating someone now! He called out my name, and I went over to where he and his girlfriend were standing. He got furloughed from Frontier, and is now flying corporate jets. And he's dating a Frontier flight attendant - who is very similar in looks and personality to the girl that I was trying to get him to call! I congratulated him for finally getting off his butt and dating, and told both of them that I am happy that they found each other. And they looked so happy together!

Nice Surprise!

Last night I was hanging out in my room, and my cell phone rang. It was one of my flight attendant friends, Kelly K, and she was calling from the hotel restaurant! It turns out that she flew in earlier in the morning and was leaving very early this morning...

It was so nice being able to spend time "catching up!"

Going in Circles...

The Kansas City Airport Hilton Hotel is such a nice hotel. Quiet, clean, modern. So much so, that I came back for a second night in a row! Well...that isn't quite the reason...we left this morning at 6:15AM to go back to the airport to fly to Cancun again! Then we picked up a planeload of people and returned to Kansas City just a little while ago. It's getting cold and blustery outside, and rumor has it that a storm is coming soon, complete with snow and ice - we're supposed to fly out tomorrow...I sure hope we can! Cause we're going back to Denver and then I have Tuesday off!

My "thought" for today is...why do people automatically assume that you know an alcohol's first name? On this morning's flight from Kansas City to Cancun we had a wedding party of 48 people. Most of them were very very nice (they could be recognized by the light blue shirts that they were wearing - the bride and groom had the same shirts in white), but there was one not-so-nice part of their group who snipped at me that she wanted a "crown and diet" or a "captain and diet."

I'd like to make a couple comments on this. First of all, we tell the passengers quite a few times to refer to page 88 in the Wild Blue Yonder magazine to see our beverage selection, which she obviously didn't do. And second of all, she spoke so softly that I practically had to put my ear in her face (she was in a middle seat), and acted totally annoyed with me when I did so. Lastly, she was huffing a puffing when I told her we did not have "crown" or "captain" (whoever the heck they were)...jeez. What does she think we are? A liquor store?!?! Ha ha ha ha!

I am so glad that I've got a good crew. It's really making this trip fun. On the van ride to the hotel this afternoon, we realized that our A flight attendant looks (and sounds) exactly like Rita Rudner with red hair. What a profound realization. Tomorrow, on our last flight together, I will have to introduce her as Rita's sister...

Muy bien, gracias!

Today, we flew from Salt Lake City to...no, not Denver...to Cancun! And we were on the ground for about an hour. Unfortunately, we were at a remote site at the airport so we couldn't get off and do some duty free shopping. (Sorry, Jen! I was going to look at the perfumes...)

It was on the next flight, from Cancun to Kansas City, that got a little weird...there was a good-lookin' guy in 11C. Tall, cute, with beautiful piercing eyes. Fadia was in love. I kept trying to get her to "make her move," but she couldn't. She was too chicken. I wasn't too chicken, and was going to do it for her, but I was afraid that I'd give him Jen's name/number instead! Anyway, we had a lot of fun kidding Fadia...it made the time go by faster.

So now I'm in a fantastic hotel in Kansas City. I came into the room, put my jammies on, warmed up my dinner, and called it a night. We get to come back to our same rooms tomorrow night after we do a turn to Cancun again. It won't be as long of a day, because KC is closer to Cancun than SLC.

It's been a long, tough day...time to think about going to bed.

Finally!

The phone FINALLY rang this morning! It was crew scheduling giving me 3 1/2 hours notice that I was taking a four-day trip. Yay! I had time to pack my lunch bag, take a shower, dress, leisurely drive to Denver, and have a little chat with an Inflight Manager at the airport (more about that later).

I'll be with this same crew for all four days - cause we won't be back in Denver until Monday! Thank goodness it's an easy-going crew...no Senior Mamas!!! I have flown with Fadia before - she's very positive and nice...thank goodness!

Today was really easy - we took a one-hour flight to Salt Lake City, UT and are at a Red Lion spending the night. The hotel is within walking distance of Temple Square and The Gateway shopping district. I started out after lunch and came back when the lights were being turned on - very, very pretty. I took the following pictures at Temple Square:

As I mentioned before, I spoke with a manager for a little while to get advice as to what to do, if anything, about the Senior Mamas that I recently flew with. It was so uncomfortable, and it shouldn't have to be that way.

She suggested that I contact a member of the Peer Advisory Committee - tell the member my story, the names of the other flight attendants, and request that I remain anonymous. The manager agreed that it is very important to make the announcements the way they are written, and that it's critical to follow Frontier's rules to avoid FAA fines. Since I had attempted to discuss these issues with the Senior Mamas without success, she feels that they might need a bit of counsel by another flight attendant - no manager involvement at this point.

The manager also told me that management has attempted in the past to educate the senior people as to the importance of keeping up with the changes in procedures, BUT the seniors weren't thrilled with being told how to do their job. I guess you CAN'T teach old dogs new tricks.

Waitin' by the Phone

A friend at Frontier posted a status update on Facebook yesterday saying that she's hasn't sat and waited by the phone since she got married...that is such a true statement! I thought those days were over! This is my first of six duty days in a row. All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go.

I had a nice two days off - finished all my Christmas shopping (except for maybe Greg...he is SO HARD to buy for), mailed the out-of-town packages last night. It's a good feeling of accomplishment.

Today I am going to tackle the Christmas decorations...

Celebrity?

Well...I said that I was going to include "celebrities" that I met on the plane. This guy, Ted, gave each of us his card on a recent flight. I went to the website that it listed www.60milemen.org and came up with the following:

MR. MARCH: Ted, 42, is a Surgical Technologist for a major health care system in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. His passion for the 3-Day is only equaled by his love of history. he is an avid historical re-creationist, and volunteers for the cast of several Renaissance Festivals in North Texas.

I walk for all the men and women that I have come into contact with in my 20+ years in surgery, in the hope that one day we will never again perform another mastectomy. I walk for my adopted "military mom" who is a survivor of multiple diagnoses, and for the Navy Chief that - with her successful battle - showed me what courage and leadership truly are. Most of all, I walk so that one day nobody will have to lose another family member to this disease.

Uncomfortable Flight

On Saturday evening, I got a "courtesy call" from crew scheduling letting me know that I had a 0725 show time at DIA on Sunday for a turn to Ft. Lauderdale - around 8 hours of flying in one day. I was fairly happy until I saw that I would be flying with a couple "senior mamas" (women who have been with the company forever). I decided, though, that there are some really great senior mamas out there, and maybe these are a couple of them. NOT!

Let me start out by saying that both these ladies were very, very nice. The problem I had with them is that they do things their own way, and not the way I was taught. Again, it was the old "They teach you one thing in class, but this is how it really works." I've been around long enough to know that the way they teach us works just fine, as long as you pull your heads out of your behinds and be open to change.

Anyway, it started going bad very quickly...during the safety demo (I was in the middle of the plane) the B attendant skipped the entire intro section! That totally threw me off! There I was waiting for her to introduce us by name to the passengers, and she's already fastening the seatbelts! I looked really, really stupid. AND we had 11 non-rev gate agents on board, going down to take a cruise to the Bahamas, so they witnessed my ineptitude. Argghhh. After the demo, I told B that she really threw me off with her announcement - she told me she likes it this way...she feels it is stupid to introduce us before they've fastened their seatbelts. Huh?!?! She also told me that she was sure that I would let her know all the things that she is doing wrong...

Well...things went from bad to worse. Announcements skipped important pieces of info, some were made by A when it should have been C. On the return flight, a passenger started yelling at me regarding bags in the overhead (he later apologized), and the A closed the airplane door before I had briefed the exit row (a big no-no). They said a limited beverage service wasn't necessary, they let passengers on the plane while I was still cleaning it - lots more happened, but bottom line was NO ONE WAS LISTENING TO ME.

I tried to let both the A and B know that the reason I follow the rules is because that's what we're SUPPOSED to do, AND that the FAA is really cracking down on us to make sure we comply (and I'm not going to pay a fine because someone else won't follow the rules) - but I got "oh...it doesn't matter who says what," "people make mistakes...we're only human," "safety is what matters (I agree), so it is not important if we don't wear the uniform correctly," etc.

It was SO FRUSTRATING. I finally just shut up and did my job the way I was taught. These are our senior people...they are supposed to be setting a good example. Ha! I think I'm going to chat with my manager and get some tips on how to handle this situation a bit better in the future.

Disappointed...

I had a great crew and great flights to/from ABQ and Detroit! But on our return from Detroit this morning, the CPT called us to let us know that the Milwaukee flight had been cancelled. I had hoped that they would keep me on the San Diego turn tomorrow, but nope...I have no assignment. *sad face*

I am disappointed for a few reasons. 1) That Frontier actually cancelled a flight. That is not good. 2) That my flying days and per diem were cut short, and 3) I think one of my friends was going to be on my flight from San Diego to Denver tomorrow. Oh well. Life goes on.

The CPT was a crack-up. During the safety demonstration, I was saying, "to open your seatbelt, you pull on the top of the buckle," and getting ready to say the next part when I heard this loud (male voice) "DUHHHHH!" I cracked up. He denied doing it, but I know it was him. So as I was leaving the crewroom today to go home, I walked behind where he was sitting at the computer and said "DUHHHHHH!" and snuck away.

Good times.

Called to Duty!

I got assigned to the couch this morning from 6AM until Noon. I checked in at around 5:45AM and was immediately sent to a gate to fly a turn to Chicago Midway. The first passenger hadn't even come on board, and the "missing flight attendant" showed up, and I was sent back to the sofa. As a "consolation" prize, crew scheduling clocked me in at 5:30AM...I would have liked to have stayed on that trip - they were spending tonight in San Francisco!

We had one preboard while on duty today - but again, before we brought on any passengers, the "real" crew showed up.

Other than that, it was a quiet morning. I finished "Twilight" and am looking forward to reading the second book in the series. I also read a magazine or two...when noon came, I decided to take my chances and drive home. It's snowing a bit here, and now that it's dark, the roads are freezing. I don't have to worry until tomorrow morning - I aggressively bid for a 3-day trip to Detroit and Milwaukee, and actually got it. I have to be at the airport at 10:30AM tomorrow. I sure hope the roads are clear when I leave at around 8AM. Maybe I'll just put studded snow tires on my car!!!

Wednesday's "Wrambling"

Today is day 1 of 5 days of duty. I bid for yesterday off (so I could stay home and work on projects without having to worry that I'd be called away) and was not one of the chosen few. So I am bidding for tomorrow off, as well as for the only 4-day trip on the board (Omaha, Las Vegas, and Indianapolis). I'll know if I got anything in a few hours.

In the meantime, I'll bring up an issue or two that I have been thinking about...

Babies on Airplanes

- Why is it that parents bring their babies on board and immediately ask us for milk? Or juice? Or food for their baby? Do they normally travel with nothing for the child to drink or eat? By the way, we very rarely have milk onboard the aircraft, and if we do, it is for the cereal which we sell during the food service.
- Why don't parents bring a pacifier, a boob, or a bottle for the baby to suck on during take-off and landing, instead of letting the kid scream and be in pain?
- Why do the gate agents put families with babies in the very last row in the window seat?

Older Children on Airplanes

- Why don't the parents bring a new toy or coloring book or such for the kid to play with while we are in the air? Instead, they let the kid destroy the inflight magazine, the Skymall magazine, and the indestructible Safety Information Card.
- Why don't the parents gather their bags and things as others are deplaning, and when their row is open, they're ready to deplane? Instead, they wait until everyone is off the plane, except the flight attendants, and then take their time as they gather their things, not even noticing that the flight attendants need to hurry off the plane to their next flight (or rush to the bus to go home).
- Why don't the parents at least attempt to clean up the mess that their kid makes during the flight? I've seen entire rows trashed with all kinds of smashed cookies, spilled juice, squashed fruit, torn out pages, etc. Aren't these parents embarrassed?
- Why do parents allow their kids to kick the seats in front of them, pull on the passenger's hair, etc.?

Just the other day, a couple with three kids (twin boys and an infant) boarded my flight - and immediately, one of the twins started screaming bloody murder because his Dad didn't let him have the window seat. So I calmly went over to their row, leaned down real low and said to the little boy "We don't allow crying on Frontier! We're the happy airline!" and then walked away. That kid didn't make one cry for the rest of the flight!

I know that these are some of the mysteries of life. But if I can train just one new parent, that'll be one less aircraft with 136 unhappy passengers.

I have spoken.