Stereotype Passengers?

Today I did a turn to Salt Lake City and then a leg to Los Angeles...where I am now for the night. My hotel room overlooks a couple runways at LAX, and I've spent the afternoon in an easy chair looking out the window, watching planes take off and land. I didn't have the energy for much else!!!

I had to leave our cabin in Breckenridge at 3AM to drive to DIA - I wasn't sure how long it'd take me, so I left fairly early...and now I'm exhausted! We have an early van tomorrow - so it'll be bedtime for me fairly soon. But first, a few thoughts.

The more I fly, the more I see that different destinations have specific types of passengers on the flights...today's Los Angeles passengers kept up the stereotype of being fairly needy. I say that, because:

1. As the "C" flight attendant (in the middle of the cabin), I was the MC for an exciting game of "Seating Shuffle!" Families came on board with boarding passes seating them in middle seats, and of course, they all wanted to sit together. Then the married couple, who you'd think would enjoy a break from each other for 2 hours and 5 minutes, wanted their seats shuffled so that they could sit next to each other and look adoringly into each other's eyes. I think I satisfied all the contestants, and those that shuffled for me were awarded with free TV.

2. There were lots of "Call Button Ringers" on today's flight. And if they didn't ring their bell, they tugged at my jacket, called out "Susan!" and sometimes waved their hands. They wanted "mixed drinks" - not the alcoholic versions...but instead two soft drinks mixed in one cup. They wanted to know how to buckle in a car seat that had no straps to hold the child in. They wanted pillows and blankets. They wanted to give me trash as I was serving drinks. They wanted drinks when I was collecting trash. They wanted me to identify the body of water that we just flew over. It was an interesting flight.

3. The seat belt sign doesn't apply to them. We had a rash of passengers that just couldn't hold it. One was a little girl who was taken to the lav during the flight by her Mom, but she freaked out and wouldn't go. Then when we landed early and were waiting for our gate to open up, the little girl just had to go! So Mom and daughter got up, while we were on an active taxiway - they saw another passenger do it, so they did it too! We had to call the CPT and let him know. They returned to their seats, and then right as the CPT started moving the plane, the Mom with the little girl got up AGAIN. So we had to call the CPT and he had to stop the plane. We made an announcement, and this time it wasn't as nice...I think this Mom should investigate using Pull-ups when taking her daughter on a plane.

But...even though a lot of weirdness happened on the plane, it made the time go by quickly! So, I'd like to thank my LAX passengers for keeping me amused!

Fully Owned Subsidiary of Republic Airways?

A couple days ago, we got word from our CEO that Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. has made an offer to purchase Frontier Airlines and Lynx Airlines as fully owned subsidiaries of their holding company. They've even got a cool video that has been posted on their website...http://www.rjet.com/video-cos-win-lg.html which has photos of Frontier jets.

All this, of course, is dependent on no other entity coming forward at the bankruptcy auction in July and offering a larger amount of money. So our future is not yet set.

If this sale goes through, we don't know what's going to happen. Republic does not fly our type of jets, so one would assume that they will need to keep the flight crews intact, and most of their flights are on the eastern half of the country. But we have no idea what the future holds...our CEO will be holding a Town Hall tomorrow and maybe give us more insight as to our future.

All kinds of rumors are flying, and for that reason, I'm glad I've got days off until Saturday. Then, I'm sure I'll hear all kinds of stuff in the crewroom and in the galleys on the plane.

And then yesterday, it was announced that Republic Airways Holdings, Inc. is also buying Midwest Express airlines! This is all going to be very interesting...

So keep your fingers crossed for me...and for the future of our airline!

Vacation days, Sick leave, and Days off...

I just used my four vacation days (you only get four if you take medical leave for blood clots and a broken wrist and a COLA during 2008), and boy...they went fast! I'm now using three days of sick leave to cover the three weekend duty days that I had yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Jen's surgery was moved to this past Friday (the surgeon was in Europe until Tuesday night - the original surgery was scheduled for Wednesday), the last day of my vacation. It was a "textbook surgery," according to the surgeon, and I am assuming that Jen is having a "textbook recovery." Pain, swelling, discoloration. She has vowed never to get any further elective surgery (I'll remind her of this when she tells me she wants a boob job).

Since I was scheduled to work Sat/Sun/Mon, I got in touch with an Inflight Manager and Crew Scheduling, and told them that I would be taking these days off to be with my daughter. Greg has a big jet event this weekend and wouldn't be around, and the surgeon required that someone be with her for at least the first 24 hours after surgery. I encountered no problems getting those days off as sick leave.

Starting on Tuesday, I have three days off and then I'll be on duty again for another three days. We'll play it by ear, but I think Jen will be fine by the time those days roll around, and I'll be off to some nice hotel in Canton/Akron or Detroit!

I just got my schedule for July - I had hoped to get a long weekend off in mid-July so that Greg and I could travel to Vermont for an annual BBQ party given by two of his dental school friends...but trying to get a weekend off when you are 18 from the bottom is like pulling teeth. I've tried close to 30 different trade requests, and have been turned down - and that's just to get that Saturday off! Oh well...it doesn't look like I'll be going.

At first glance, all these gyrations and disappointments can get me down. But I've learned not to dwell on them and just let them go. Sure, I'd like to go to the party. But how much quality time would we really be able to spend with our friends? Maybe it'd be better to just go and visit them at their home in CT for a long weekend during another time of the year, when people are more willing to trade weekend days.

One thing that I have learned to do is look at the trade board on a regular basis - if there are some days off that I can trade with someone else to help them out, I will. I even did this when I was at the top of the reserve list and got weekend days off (in the very distant past, and hopefully in the near future!!!). Why not help one another through these difficult times? Those that lord over others that they've earned their weekend days because they're senior, but then sit at home doing nothing but pick their noses, should be ashamed of themselves.

But I will now take my July schedule, try and fit in some fun things to do (not ALL fun things happen on weekends), and maybe see a few friends or family members in the process!

The Anatomy of a Reserve

A reserve has to wake up at a moment's notice when that cell phone rings at 0400.

A reserve has their suitcase packed and ready to go, their lunchbox packed for the number of days left on reserve, and their tote bag stuffed with a book, maybe a laptop and, of course, their Flight Attendant Manual.

A reserve's uniform is ready to jump into right before they run out the door - pants, shoes, underwear, shirt, jacket and ID badges - hung by the door. A separate supply of toiletries and cosmetics are kept in the main floor bathroom so the rest of the family isn't awakened in the middle of the night.

A reserve has the pleasure of having six hours of "Airport Appreciation Time" at least one or twice during a block of duty days - during that time, a reserve can nap, read, watch movies, update their Flight Attendant Manual, catch up on Must Reads and F9 University courses, and maybe even pre-board a plane or babysit a through flight until the crew shows up. This is also a good time to visit with fellow classmates who might also be appreciating the airport!

A reserve usually doesn't know what they're going to do, when they're going to do it, and where they're going to do it until they actually start doing it! It's a very last minute kind of job. There are a couple opportunities to get a little control...reserves can bid for their days off for the following month, but what you end up with depends strongly where you are on the seniority list. And there's also aggressive bidding, which has dramatically increased a bottom-of-the-list reserve's chances of picking up a trip by being a "first-come, first-serve" kind of program. You just need to be at the computer at 1300 MDT with your fingers at the ready.

A reserve has to be ready for the unexpected - when we're done with a trip or "airport appreciation time," we have to call Crew Scheduling to get released. Sometimes we hear those magic words, "You are released to your" 10 hours rest, days off, or vacation days. Sometimes, you get told "Report to gate XX immediately - they are holding the plane for you for a turn to Cancun (or LaGuardia or Washington, DC)."

A reserve gets to listen to those not on reserve tell them about how they had it even worse than we do - 90 minute call-outs instead of the current two-hour call-out, no pay for "airport appreciation time," etc. But when you ask them how long they were actually on reserve or how many times they actually had "airport appreciation time" you usually hear anything from "I was only on reserve for a month, and I never even had 'airport appreciation time'!" to "Oh, I was on reserve for about a year..." I haven't heard anyone say that they've been on longer than the current batch of reserves (20 months for my class and 24 months for the class ahead of me).

A reserve gets to listen (and sometimes participate) in the bashing of the airline by those senior to them. Sometimes it's so obvious that the senior FA is miserably unhappy, and it comes across to the passengers. You just want to take those FAs aside and say, "If you hate your job that much, why don't you leave?" That would make the senior FA happy, and we'd be happy, too, climbing up that seniority ladder! These are also the FAs who like to make the announcements their own way, not caring that what they're saying may not be what the airline wants the passengers to hear.

A reserve gets to listen to (and sometimes participate in) the lovefest that takes place when you fly with senior FAs that absolutely LOVE their jobs and plan to keep them until the day that they die. These FAs are usually the ones that feel it's important to follow the rules, the dresscode and they make the announcements the way that the airline has asked them to. Trips like this just "click" and it's a great feeling to be a part of a team that worked well together!

A reserve stays because they KNOW that one of these days they will be able to taste that delicious fruit - a line of their very own. Where they have a say in where they go, when they go, and how long they'll be gone...it's a bright, shining light at the end of the tunnel. Well worth the wait from what I've heard!

Aggressive Reserve

As a reserve flight attendant, we have very little input into what, where, and when we work.

Each month, we put in "a bid" asking for specific days off for the following month, or specific days that we want to work, how many days in a row we want to work, etc. I've limited my bids to asking for specific days off. But...being 18 from the bottom shows in my bid result as long as I ask for weekdays off. But...if I ask for a weekend off, all bets are off. That's what happened this month. I have four vacation days and I tried to get a few days tacked onto the end, but, you guessed it. They are weekend days. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but Jen is having outpatient surgery on the last day of vacation, and I'd like to be home to care for her after surgery. But I guess that's what sick leave and/or FMLA is for.

Once my schedule is published, I have the ability to trade reserve days with other reserve flight attendants. I periodically browse the "trade board" to see who wants to trade days. If someone's request works with my schedule, I will trade. Sometimes, I look at all the reserve awards and go to specific flight attendants to ask for a trade if it's a situation where I need a day off. Most of the time I can find someone who is willing to trade.

After we've gotten our schedule set, the next thing we do is wonder what the heck we'll be doing each day. It's becoming increasingly harder and harder to sit at home and wonder if "the call" was going to come calling us into work. So any chance we get to set our own schedule, we'll take! For example, we have a thing called aggressive bidding. Each day, at 1PM, all the unassigned trips for the next day are "put up for bid" - the first person who bids for a trip (with certain restrictions), gets it. That's how I got the trip that I am currently on.

And it's a good one. First night was in Minneapolis, tonight is Canton/Akron, tomorrow night is Chicago and then we have a Chicago turn on Sunday morning. I will still have one day of duty on Monday, but I hope that they don't use me, just like they didn't use me this past Tuesday...

Something that's really nice on this trip is that the hotels are either Hiltons or Marriotts. Nice! I am so spoiled now...I don't know how I'll ever enjoy Days Inn or Econolodges ever again.

Our crew changes a lot during the trip - only one flight attendant and I are on the entire trip. We had one CPT and FO for Minneapolis, now we're on our second set. We'll have another set for the Chicago overnight, and yet another for the Chicago turn! I much prefer sticking together for several nights/turns - that way you get to know their preferences and are able to work well together. The way that it is, though, surely keeps me on my toes!

I Love Kids...But...

My flight from Houston to Denver had at least SIX children in the first two rows. Two unaccompanied minors (UM) who were each 9 years old, a mom with a lap child and another son, and a 4 year old girl and her baby sister. One of the UMs was an angel - didn't ask for a thing - was content watching his TV and playing his video games. The other UM was a handful. He loved to talk loudly, he loved going to the bathroom every chance he could get, and he loved to spill his cereal (with milk) onto the seat next to him - fortunately, the mom with the lap child (who were sitting in that seat) were in the lavatory at the time.

The lap child like to make a noise (like a honking goose or some such thing) every three minutes. He would not sit still. His older brother did better, but there was always a constant chatter going on. The two little girls in row 2 were doing well until the older one started screaming! I turned around and looked at her, putting my finger to my lips, saying "shhhhhhh." Well then she burst out crying!!! I ended up having a little talk with her about using inside voices, how people are sleeping, etc. and gave her a little smiley face pin to make her smile. Whew!

My next flight had 5 infants on board - 4 of which were in the first four rows of the aircraft. Three of the 4 in the front were fine, but one of them screamed the entire flight. The poor guy in the same row came to me asking why parents nowadays don't drug their kids for flights like in the old days!?!?! The mom was obviously tired, and let the kid just scream. And there was one kid in the back who was just as bad - after they left, we found peanut butter Girl Scout cookies ground into the carpet! How disgusting! Why do parents let those things happen?

On the final flight of this trip, I told the gate agent that we weren't allowing any children on board, but obviously, she didn't listen to me. In my front row there were three kids with their parents. Fortunately, the young baby girl and the middle boy were fine. The older boy was just darn cute. He wore glasses, loved to tell me that he knows all about airports, and just loved to talk. At the end of the flight, he kept telling me "When I see you again when I fly, I'm going to tell you hello!" And then his younger brother would mimic him and tell me the same thing. It was a cute way to end the night.

It was after midnight when I called crew scheduling to be released for the night. When I asked what Tuesday looked like, they told me that I was 3rd on the list of 1-day reservists. Fortunately, they never called me today! Nonetheless, I spent the night in Denver, had a nice, relaxing morning and gradually worked my way down the highway towards Colorado Springs. I got home at around 5PM or so and still hadn't received a call. It was good that I didn't get called in, but it sure would have been nice if I didn't have to stress about wondering whether or not they were going to call. One of these days, that will no longer be one of my worries...!

To Houston and Beyond!

I spent Saturday on the couch again, but this time NOTHING happened. No pre-boardings, no babysitting through flights, no trips. However, I did get assigned a two-day trip for Sunday.

The crew that I'm with will be on through tonight when we end the trip back in Denver - so that's always a good thing. One of the flight attendants is very senior - she's very sweet and she's very animated when she makes her announcements. The other flight attendant comes across as very blunt and/or negative...and yes, she's a bit more negative than I like, but she's also pretty funny to listen to. I'm learning to take what she says with a grain of salt.

The first part of the trip was a turn to Boise - including almost a two-hour sit in Boise before we headed back to Denver. Amazingly enough, that two-hour sit went by in a flash. The fun began as we returned from Boise - I had an unaccompanied minor (yes...amazingly enough only one!) on this trip, and I was all ready to hand her off to the gate agent when the door was opened. But the gate agent refused to take her, and she was rude about it, too!

That was the beginning of a horrid experience with that woman. By the time we finally closed the door (late, I might add) to go to Houston, she had screwed up multiple passengers' seats, messed up tagging the few bags that were oversized and just had a really poor attitude. I've worked with so many gate agents who are efficient, caring team players, that one like this woman really stands out. Fortunately, I was able to get everyone on board into a seat, the bags made it to Houston (I hope).

We were rewarded for all the confusion by checking into our classy hotel...and a few of us met for a quick glass of wine before going to bed. It was a nice way to unwind from the stresses of the day. The beds are awesome, the rooms quiet - just a nice place to relax and hang out.

I got to meet my friend, Fr. Desmond, for lunch - we caught up like it was old times. I think he had gone back and figured out that it had been five years since we had last seen each other. Probably true - it's nice that he's the type of friend that we can just pick up where we left off. Obviously, I would have liked to have stayed longer and gotten to see his wife, kids and maybe even his new GRANDSON (!), but that wasn't in the cards for this trip. Maybe next time.

That's one of the perks of this job that I love...quick visits with friends and family...now we're off to DEN in a couple hours, we'll do a Seattle turn, and return to DEN around midnight. The million dollar question is...do I stay in Denver for the night or do I drive home? I have duty on Tuesday and they've been using everyone a lot...it sure would be nice to be able to go home and not be called!

If only I could see what the future (or at least the next day) holds!

Oh What a Flight!

My flight to Nashville turned out to be quite the event...before we even left the ground!

First off, my Cashless Cabin Device (what I use for credit card sales for snacks) would not accept my card - I tried everything to get it to work. Finally, the CPT offered to call and get me a new one. But by the time the guy showed up (in the middle of chaos), I had gotten it to work by...get this...blowing on the sensor! Go figure!

Next, a nice looking guy gets on board. I welcome him on board and ask how he's doing. He looked at me and said, "Not so well. I just came from Vegas." That's when I noticed an alcohol smell and his bloodshot eyes. I notified the C flight attendant, who confirmed what I saw/smelled and said that he had a seat in the exit row. The CPT (who had the patience of a saint), got a supervisor to take the guy off the plane and speak with him. He did not detect alcohol on his breath (only on his clothes), and said that he seemed fine - only tired - but that he did not think he was intoxicated. We all agreed to let him stay on the plane, but to move to a different row. It turns out that his parents and brother were also on board...I was afraid that there was going to be a confrontation as they deplaned, but instead the Dad thanked us for teaching his sons "a lesson about drinking" and his Mom thanked us for not overdramatizing the situation as well as for the lesson. I spoke with the guy during the flight - he was 21. He saw Jen's picture and thought she was really cute! Too bad he lives in Nashville.

Just as we were getting the suspected drunk resettled on the aircraft, I noticed that passenger 1D was not looking well - very pale and moaning. I quickly alerted the supervisor before he left the aircraft, as well as the CPT (God Bless Him). As I got the woman's information, the CPT called our medical service. She did not want to get off the plane, but our medical service insisted that she deplane and get evaluated by the paramedics before she flew. I felt bad for her, but I was also glad that she left - I did not want a medical emergency at 30,000 feet!

Whew! Fortunately, the return flight wasn't nearly as eventful...at least until we were getting ready to land. At a time when the CPT would normally lower the landing gear, the plane started ascending and accelerating. Hmmmmm. Passengers in the front row were looking at me for clues as to what had just happened. Fortunately, the CPT got on the intercom and explained that a storm was centered right over the airport and that we were going to circle around and try landing again. The same thing happened again. The CPT then let everyone know that the storm was moving north, but still hadn't gotten out of the way. On our third try, we made it! Yahoo! After everyone deplaned, the CPT told us that at one point, about ten bolts of lightening shot across the sky in front of him, there was hail everywhere and the winds were strong. He said the plane ahead of us went into the fray, but he decided to circle around. Good decision.

When I got back on the ground and called crew scheduling, they told me that I was flying the couch again from Noon until 6PM. By this time, I was too exhausted to even consider driving home and then coming back less than 12 hours later, so I stayed at my "home away from home" in Denver with my friends. Such a Godsend! After a good night's sleep, I am now ready to face DAY TWO of reserve!

Is it Friday Already?!?!

I'm not sure what happened to this week...

I think my last post was on Monday night, from my hotel in Salt Lake City. Well, since then I've been back to Denver, spent Tuesday night in Detroit (wonderful Marriott hotel beds!!!), returned to Denver on Wednesday and then did a turn to Tucson before returning to Colorado Springs.

The flight attendant crew I flew with was wonderful! Our CPT and FO were different for each pairing, but they were all really easy to work with.

The most fun was my trip from DTW to DEN - first off, right after we finished the safety demo, the young guy in 15F asked the C if it was too late to get off the plane. When C asked why, he said "I just realized that I am in love, and I shouldn't leave!" Awwwwww. How romantic! But, not practical in the airline industry. The three mid-aged flight attendants paid special attention to him during the flight, ensuring that his heart stayed whole...one of us even assured him that "absence makes the heart grow fonder." Awwwwwww.

The other chuckle I got was from 4C. She was an elderly lady on the flight that was only 1/2 full, and I told her that she could move to a different row if she wanted to, so that both she and 4A could have their own rows. When she moved across the aisle, I told her "Oh...not there! That side of the plane doesn't go to Denver!" She looked at me and said "Ok! I wasn't sure!" and moved to 3C. Then I giggled and told her that, "No...4D will go to Denver." She replied, "Well, I'm never sure where to sit, because I'm not sure which seats go where." Huh?!?! Ok, then.

It's now Friday, and I got assigned to the Noon to 6PM shift on the couch. But when I checked in, they told me that they are down to "bare bones" and I will probably be assigned something during the shift. True to their word, the crewroom phone rang and it was for me...I am now doing a turn to Nashville! I have a feeling that this is going to be a busy weekend!

Back in the Saddle Again!

I picked up a three-day trip that started at 0600 this morning - the first turn was to Salt Lake City and then I have an overnight in Salt Lake City. I was so excited when I saw my crew...my friend, Michael was on our turn! Yay! It's been awhile since I had flown with him, but we get along really well and work well together. So that made the turn very pleasurable.

On the return to DEN, I saw a passenger placing his large garment bag and smaller suitcase in the overhead bin above row 5, and then he proceeded to go to row 17. I was A, so I decided to let it go until I had row 1 passengers without a place to put their bags. At that point, I took down his two bags and brought them back to him in row 17. At first, he acted like he had no clue those were his bags, but when I told him that I saw him putting them up there, he could not deny it. He wasn't happy with me, but the row 1 passengers were. Tee hee hee! That is one of my perverse pleasures in this job!

We got a new C for the overnight to Salt Lake City, and she fits right in with me and the B as far as doing our jobs, getting the work done correctly, and being pleasant to each other and the passengers! We make a good team! The CPT and FO are also very nice, and it makes this trip that much more enjoyable. However, tomorrow when we return to DEN, we get a new CPT and FO for our trip to Detroit. Hopefully, they'll be just as nice!

One of the perks of this job is that we can get together with friends when we lay over in their city - tonight I was able to have dinner with Todd, my daughter's former ballroom dance teacher. We had an enjoyable couple of hours catching up, talking, walking, eating - having a really nice time. The next time I'm in town at the same time that he is available, we're going to see if the hotel has an empty room with a dance floor, and Todd and I are going to start working on some ballroom dances together! There's a couple Michael Buble songs that I'm dying to dance to, and those are what we'll use! How much fun is that!?!?!

Cool! I just heard this very loud jet sound flying overhead (my first thought was that it was a plane getting ready to crash into the city)...but it was a 747 with 4 fighter jets - I just called Greg to ask him why this was, and he said it could have been Air Force One. Very interesting...(if so, doesn't that man every stay home?).