Tucson with Fadia, Kelly and a Mustang Convertible

Since I last wrote, I had a couple days off and then a Detroit turn on Friday. When I got back and called crew scheduling to sign out, they told me that I would be going to Tucson the next day...they said I'd be "deadheading" (in uniform, but riding as a passenger) to Tucson on Saturday morning and then working the morning flight home on Sunday morning. When I checked my schedule, I saw that I was FINALLY flying with one of my classmates, Kelly, and another of the reserve flight attendants, my friend Fadia! SCORE! Now THIS is why I became a flight attendant...to have fun with friends on layovers in nice places!

This morning we all met at DIA, had a leisurely flight to TUS and then went to the rental car desk to wheel and deal ourselves into a good deal for a car. We ended up with a white Mustang Convertible with a GPS system. FUN FUN FUN!!!

Me and Kelly with our Mustang convertible!

Kelly and Fadia eating cactus in Tombstone, AZ

We decided to take the car, set the GPS for Tombstone, AZ and go!

Of course, we had to attend one of the gunfighting shows. Kelly and Fadia are patiently awaiting the start of the Six Gun show - complete with $2 margaritas!

Here's 'Bat Masterson,' our MC, telling us about some of the scenarios we were going to see.

and 'Bat Masterson' looking sexy...

and a picture of me with part of the cast (I'm blowing the smoke off my gun and not trying to shoot myself in the head, just in case you were wondering...).

After the show, we headed down the street to the Bird Cage Theater where this gentleman was pointing out all the gunshot holes in the walls, ceiling and pictures in the lobby of the theater.

It was called the "Bird Cage" theater because the "ladies of the evening" entertained their guests in small rooms overlooking the theater, sort of like small bird cages.

Downstairs, there was the gambling parlour.

Here's a picture of me and Kelly hanging out in the gambling parlour.

In one of the girl's rooms next to the gambling parlour, you could photograph a mirror and see one of the girls in the mirror...

A lot of people were dressed up in period costumes...

...and some other costumes that we didn't quite understand.

Kelly found a nice looking guy to hang out with.

Before this picture was taken, I had gone over to this guy and leaned in as Fadia and Kelly took my picture giving him a kiss on the cheek. What I didn't know, was that a cowboy one door down was watching, and he "activated" this guy as I was kissing him - his arms and legs started moving, scaring the "poop" out of me!

Next up, we headed to the Boothill Grave Yard where we wandered around the grave markers as we read the circumstances of some of the deaths. I found these markers particularily interesting...

On the way back to Tucson, we decided to take the "scenic route" - and we enjoyed the scenery changes. It was interesting to see how the vegetation changed every so often, from cactus to trees to a combo of both. It was fun driving with the top down, but as that sun went down, we got a bit chilly and had to put the top up.

We used the GPS to find a Mexican restaurant on the way back to town, but the directions for the first restaurant we picked led us to a residential neighborhood! Then the next two or three restaurants that we tried were all fast-food Mexican Restaurants with drive-through windows. That wasn't quite what we were looking for. Finally, we found a nice place that had awesome enchiladas that I enjoyed very much!

Finally, it was time to head back to the hotel...but first, we had to figure out how to turn on the headlights of the car!!! We looked and looked and looked. We figured that if we could figure out how to put the top down, we should be able to figure out how to turn on the headlights...after we figured that out, we had to figure out how to open the gas tank, and then how to turn the map lights off! It all sounds so simple, but it was a challenge for us poor flight attendants just out for a good time in a fun car! We finally dropped the car off at the airport and walked to our nearby hotel - on the way there, I just had to take one more picture...

People Say the Darndest Things . . .

I got the Noon to 6PM shift on the couch at DIA on Sunday, and got to experience some lovely winter driving conditions on the way home. My usual 1 hour 40 minute commute turned into 2 1/2 hours as I enjoyed slippin' and slidin' my way back to Colorado Springs.

At 5:30AM on Monday, my phone rang and rang - I had no clue what was singing to me (it was playing "They're coming to take me away, ha ha, they're coming to take me away, ho ho, he he, ha ha, to the funny farm, where life is beautiful all the time..."). It was my cell phone! But before I could get my act together, our home phone rang waking Greg up. Oops. Anyway, it was crew scheduling assigning me to yet another trip.

This new trip (a Dallas turn and a LaGuardia overnight) brought me up to 91 hours for the month...and anything over 82 hours is overtime! Woo hoo! I'm not sure why I'm being loaded with hours while there are some co-workers who have worked only 52 hours. Go figure.

My trips went well, the crews were very nice, but the LGA overnight was entirely TOO SHORT! I would have loved to have seen Jen, but it was pretty much impossible when I was on the ground only 9 hours, and I needed to sleep for at least 7 of those hours!

But I did shake my head in amazement at some of the comments I received from passengers this morning.

One in particular still sticks in my mind...I had finished serving beverages and taking the food cart through the entire cabin. As I was walking through doing the second beverage service, passenger 3E asked me if I was ever going to offer her a sandwich. I told her that I had already brought the food cart through the cabin, and that she did not say she wanted anything. Then she said to me "You didn't ask me! You served the people next to me, but you didn't ask me!" Again, as it happens every once in awhile, I was dumbfounded and didn't really know what to say. So I apologized and told her that I was sorry, but there were not any sandwiches left. Then I moved on to bigger and better things. I suppose she expected me to ask every single person whether they wanted food, just the way that I offer beverages. But I have found that all I need to do is make the announcement that I'm coming through the cabin, what I have on the cart, and to have their credit cards ready. Then as I walk through the cabin, those interested will flag me down, usually waving their credit card.

There was one other passenger who I wanted to slap upside the head... We left LGA a bit late (which is very usual for LGA, but especially so today because it was rainy). The closer we got to Denver, we realized that the passengers connecting to the Salt Lake City flight needed to be let off the aircraft first. I made an announcement and the captain made an announcement. There were only 3 people going to SLC, so it should have been very straightforward. But this large group of people from the back came rushing to the front of the aircraft, led by a little old lady. I asked her if she was going on to SLC and she said no. She did tell me that she had a bus to catch, though, and must be on her way. Shame on her! I told her that 49 other people on the aircraft had planes to catch, and that we were trying to help the SLC passengers get to their flight. Tsk tsk.

But what I guess I forgot was that for those two little old ladies, it was "all about THEM." Fortunately, for every little old lady with a bad attitude, there are 20 other passengers who are as sweet and kind as can be.

Days "Off Duty" Are Delightful!

Before I get into my most recent days off, I'll share a few pictures from Frontier's Emergence Celebration that was held at the Wings Over the Rockies Museum on Thursday, 10/15/09. It was an awesome celebration!

The purpose was to celebrate the fact that on 10/1/09, Frontier Airlines emerged from 17 months in bankruptcy! We're the first airline to do that in approximately 10 years. What a feat! What was even cooler, was that our creditors were the ones who picked up the tab for this party! Just goes to show how well everyone worked together to keep us afloat!

During the evening, there was a video presentation, where we all sang along to the new Frontier commercial "We're Still the One," as well as listen to speeches by Sean Menke our CEO (and new Chief Marketing Officer at Republic Airways Holdings, Inc.) and our new CEO Bryan Bedford. As a show of appreciation, Sean's name and his wife's name were painted on plane #204 as a thank you for all the hard work he did leading us through the bankruptcy process.

During the evening, I roamed around and visited with classmates - Renate and LuEllen are pictured above with me. I also visited all the food stations, sampling delicious snacks, each with their own "theme."

I was also very happy to see a lot of furloughed flight attendants there. Ben (pictured above with Renate) was one of them - I sure hope that they are recalled SOON. We need them.

Greg drove up from Colorado Springs for the evening (the event being held at an airplane museum peaked his interest), and he had a chance to see some of my classmates for the first time since graduation two years ago, and was able to put names with faces.

Back to my days off...

This is the view from the 2nd floor balcony at my sister's townhouse in Leonardtown, MD. I'd sit there in the evening while I tried to catch up on my email (the Verizon signal was really weak on the first floor where I'd sit and visit with my Mom). Off in the distance is Breton Bay, a beautiful body of water within walking distance of the townhouse.

The townhouse is located in a small community - it's their temporary home while they try and decide where to live next. Mom lives on the first floor and has her own bath and patio, and Diane and her family occupy the top two floors. There's even an elevator that they can use when they need to move heavy items around or are too lazy to take the stairs!

And, of course, since Diane's favorite holiday is Halloween, she just HAD to let everyone know that she's in town! You are looking at spider webs stretched across the front of their unit, as well as ghosts flying around from the balcony. She's being very stifled this year...most of her Halloween decorations are back in VA in a storage container. Just wait until next year...hopefully, they'll be settled into a new home with lots of land, and the infamous Svihla Graveyard will live once again.

I got to hang out with Mom in "Mom's World" - she's got a nice set-up, complete with a fridge and a microwave. She keeps her freezer stocked with ice cream and her fridge stocked with sodas for Matthew and Natalie when they get home from school. It's really nice to see Matthew hanging out with Mom while he does his homework at her kitchen table. I think Mom really enjoys that.

Mark is much closer to work now (when he's in country), and he's able to be home a lot more. He even made dinner on my last night! Blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs. Delicious!

On one of the days, I drove Mom down to Larry & Brenda's office in Poquoson, VA - it took us 3 hours by local roads, but it was a very nice drive. Larry took me on a tour of his office building (the last time I saw it, it was under construction), we met all their dogs, and then we went to lunch at a delicious German restaurant.

Mom was especially happy to see Larry - he's recently had some serious health issues, so it was good to see that he was looking better.

And, Larry being Larry, he continued to call me "Bony," a nickname he assigned to me many many years ago. Back then, it bothered me, but now I'll take it as a compliment!!!

They have three dogs at the moment - their newest is Lulu, a shelter rescue. She seemed to be black lab and pitbull mix.

Then there's Bosco, a German Shepard mix who is also a rescue.

And Jasmine - who loves to pose for pictures!

They're good dogs, and seem to really enjoy being around Larry's patients. After lunch, Mom and I headed back to MD, so that Larry and Brenda could head home so Larry could rest.

While I was hanging out at Diane's home, we went to look at pieces of land that were available in a subdivision, and we also looked at model homes, floor plans for other model homes, and did a lot of dreaming, planning, and even put down a deposit to hold a lot for them! Woo hoo! They are going to have so much fun planning out what they want - including a detached garage for Mark's first wife, and a mother-in-law apartment for Mom. It's going to be an exciting time for all of them.

On my last night in town, Diane and Mark took me to "Fat Boy's Bar" - an interesting experience, for sure. Lots of playing pool, drinking beer and listening to live music. And the interesting thing is, is that the age group was pretty much around my generation!

Diane was very accommodating by picking me up and dropping me off at Washington National Reagan airport...approximately the same distance from her new place as my home is from DIA. It was a great visit, and I hope to be able to spend some time with them again in the near future.

75 Hours and Counting...

When I finished the Las Vegas turn yesterday, I was assigned to a Dallas overnight. The original crew was stuck in San Diego because there was a "marine layer" over the airport which prevented all take-offs and landings for a couple days in a row. So the flight I was assigned to was delayed at least an hour while crew scheduling tried to reassign flight attendants. I ended up getting to fly with one of my classmates - Hawaii Kelly, and another of my friends - Fadia. The CPT was nuts and the FO fed off of the CPT's nuttiness. It made for a fun trip.

It's interesting to watch the dynamics of people being presented with the inconvenience of a late flight. While I was standing at the gate, a woman came up to the gate agent and told him that the plane delay was "totally unacceptable" and that she was traveling with two children, and they had timed their trip so that the children would sleep on the plane. But now "all that was ruined." She wanted food vouchers, she wanted the plane to leave immediately, she said that she can't believe that "weather in San Diego is affecting our flight to Dallas being late." She expected that "the weather in Bangkok would probably affect our flight next." What an idiot.

Fortunately, the gate agents were very forthcoming with information in the gate area, and told them that all the flight attendants were coming in off of other flights just so that we could take off and get to Dallas on a timely basis. So as people came onto the plane, they thanked me for pitching in and helping out! Some asked when my day had started, and I told them 4AM - it was now almost 3PM and my day wouldn't be finished for another couple hours. Most were very appreciative.

Our flight back to Denver this morning left at o'darkearly. And the passengers found a whole 'nother reason to be upset. Tons and tons of carry-on bags were brought on board. Before everyone had boarded, we had run out of overhead space and the rest of the roller bags had to be checked. As passengers came on board, they saw open bins and started complaining to me. But the spaces that were left were too small for roller bags...but that didn't matter to them. THEY wanted THEIR bag in the overhead. They are lucky that I had nothing to do with their baggage tickets...I would send their bags on to LGA, with or without them!!!

I think the solution to all this is to start charging for carry-on bags and let checked bags be free! Think of it...everyone is allowed one small complimentary bag - one that will fit UNDER the seat. Anyone bringing a bag that is too large for the space under the seat will be charged a $20 fee. Maybe even more. That would eliminate the extra time needed to board the planes. People would come on to the plane, go to their seat, and place their bag under their seat.

Instead, they come onboard, get stuck at the front of the plane, have to readjust their carry-ons so they can fit down the aisle, then they bash people in the heads with the shoulder tote or backpack they're wearing as they walk down the aisle, and don't get to see the scowls and sneers from the people they attack. When they finally reach their row, they throw one bag on their seat, then search for a flight attendant saying "my bag is too heavy for me to lift, you need to do it for me" or "I have an injured shoulder, so you need to lift my bag" or some such thing. After they struggle to get their bag stowed, they decide they need to use the lavatory before we departure, so they push their way to the back then push their way back to their seat. Then they settle into their aisle seat, and get pissed off when their window and middle seat passengers arrive - requiring them to get up again. Bummer.

Anyway, we got back to Denver safely at around 7:40AM. The CPT and FO had to do a turn to San Diego and then they'd be done. Fadia called crew scheduling and got assigned to that same turn. When I called crew scheduling, they looked at the 75 hours I had already worked this month and released me to my days off...!!! Yippee!!! I told the crew scheduler that I loved her. Kelly got released for the day also, but she's still on duty for a few more days. She's expecting "a call" tomorrow.

I've now got FIVE WHOLE DAYS off. I'm flying to DCA tomorrow, and my sister Diane will be picking me up at the airport and driving me to her new home in Maryland. I'll stay there with her and her family, and my Mom, until I have to fly back to Denver on Saturday morning. It'll be fun to hang out in their townhouse, and maybe do a bit of exploring in their new neighborhood.

Minnie Appleless

The overnight in Tucson went very well - the CPT neglected to call the hotel to come pick us up...but the hotel is only a short walk away. So we hoofed it, checked in, and settled in for a good night's sleep. I ate dinner right before I went to bed. DO NOT DO THAT. I had a horrible dream right before I woke up, and my face had what looked like long scratches on one cheek - but they were indentations from one of the seams in the pillow, I guess. Sheesh. No more bedtime snack for me!

Today we returned to Denver, then did a trip to Minneapolis. Things went real well. On my return flight to Denver, there was a guy in the fourth row aisle seat who did not know how to fasten his seatbelt. He also was holding on very tight to a latched box. He also looked a bit middle eastern. Hmmmmmm. At one point, I struck up a conversation with him, asking him what was in the really cool box - he opened it, and instead of it being the bomb that I feared, it was a video camera, a camera and some accessories. Whew! Crisis averted. The guy also had the sweetest southern accent! Boy...I pegged that one totally wrong! On his way off the aircraft, he thanked me for being so nice...if only he knew.

Our flight to Minneapolis wasn't quite as exciting, but I did get to try out the "crying kid hint" that a previous flight attendant shared with me. There was this 12 month old wailing at the top of her lungs - her parents shared with me that they had been traveling for 38 hours - from Australia! Poor kid. No wonder she was so unhappy! So I handed her a plastic cup, making a really big deal about it. Before I knew it she had forgotten all about being cranky and fussy, and she relaxed enough that she finally fell asleep!

Four-fifths of the crew decided to hang out in the bar watching the USC vs ND college football game, and at first I wasn't going to go. But then I thought, what the heck, and I went down and joined them. As we talked, I realized that Jason, the First Officer, was one and the same guy that I had an indepth discussion with a few weeks back, and he ended up telling me that "I make his head explode." So we continued on with the discussion. I am trying to understand his point of view, but just can't quite "get it." And, as usual, there was another wedding reception going on, but I didn't make as much of an effort to try and crash the party...the 5:05AM van is going to come pretty early and I need to hop in bed and get to sleep!

The captain, Bob, had gone out earlier on a "date" with an old friend that he hadn't seen in a long time. We watched from the bar window as he got into her SUV and shook her hand before they drove off to dinner. He said it was an old friend, but I teased him when he came back and said that it appeared to be a Match.com first date, and not the old friend that he insisted it was.

Nonetheless, it was a fun evening. We fly back to Denver in the morning and then we do a turn to Vegas. Last week, the passengers slept on the way there and the crowd was pretty subdued on the way back, too. So it might be a pretty easy day. However, I wonder if they'll send me home like they did last week and let me have a quiet day with no assignments on Monday...keep your fingers crossed for me!

Here we go again...

I had Tuesday and Wednesday off. I don't remember much of what I did, except for reuniting with a friend that I hadn't talked to for about 18 months or so. It was good to see her again - I had missed her.

On Thursday, I had recurrent training at the General Office. It went well - it's always good to be reminded of things that you should be doing...and afterwards, I went to our company's Emergence Party. What did we emerge from? Bankruptcy! So about 6 or 8 of our creditors threw us a party! We are one amazing animal. We are the only airline that has emerged from bankruptcy in the recent past! The party was well attended by over a 1000 people. It was held in an airplane hangar on Lowry AFB which is now an airplane museum. Greg even came up for the event! It was an awesome event. I'll post some pictures when I'm not so tired...

And...of course, I got called last night by crew scheduling and told that I was going on a DCA turn today. And when I got back, I found out that I'm going to Tucson tonight and Minneapolis tomorrow night. Didn't I just do this trip?!?

My DCA turn went well - we were on the Airbus 320, so there were four flight attendants. We were on Mustang Sally, aircraft 203...and the aft flight attendants were helpless. Their coffeemaker is screwy, and has no place to put the coffee filter, so it has to be placed inside the pot during the brewing process. The B flight attendant didn't want to do that, so she had me make coffee for the entire plane. That would have been fine, but I had horrible luck with one of my machines - I would turn it on, it would act like it was brewing coffee, and then it'd turn off. But the pot would be empty. Argghhhh. And then, of course, I had all four pots filled with regular coffee and then someone would request decaf. Argghhhh.

I survived. I'm now on the couch in the crewroom seriously thinking about taking a quick nap before heading to my next flight...I am really excited about going to Tucson again - it was so beautiful! But I really would like to be staying longer, and maybe being there during daytime.

My CPT just came around looking for me...so now it's time to go!

The Handshake

Our flight from MSP to DEN was quiet. Very quiet. Practically everyone was asleep...The couple in seats 1D and E were laughing at me during the safety demonstration, and I just had to stop and ask them, "Why?!?" Well, it seems they enjoy my "Carol Merrill hands" (one of Barker's Beauties from "The Price is Right") when I was pointing out the red and white overhead signs as well as the closest exits. The company had asked us to be animated and to smile when we do the safety demonstration so that we grab people's attention, so I added the "Carol Merrill" hands...and I've had several people commenting favorably about them. I guess I've gotten their attention!

Our "victory lap" was a turn to Las Vegas - it wasn't the crowd from last Friday night, but they were still fairly excited. There were couples going to Vegas to get hitched, and there were couples who were recently wed and were going on their honeymoon. Lots of nice people to talk to. But I was getting tired. Very tired. Our show time that morning was 5AM, which was 4AM Denver time...so I needed a pick-me-up...

I got it in the form of Frontier's CEO Sean Menke - the man who pulled our company out of bankruptcy! He was on my LAS to DEN flight with three of his buddies...oh boy, oh boy! When he walked on the plane, I put out my hand and said "Welcome aboard, I'm Susan. Thank you for all you've done for our company." I tried very hard to just be myself and have fun with it all...but it's kind of unnerving. Of course, one of the coffee pots decided to overflow after the coffee bag broke, and grounds and coffee were pouring on the counter and tray. I kept my cool, like the professional that I am, and kept right on going.

As I was driving home yesterday afternoon, Greg had warned me about the icy conditions in Colorado Springs. I didn't really know what he was talking about, because it was cloudy and sunny in Denver...but when I hit Monument Pass, it was like a line was drawn across the top of the pass. On the north side, things were beautiful fall colors but on the south side of the line everything was ICE. Fortunately, the roads were clear. When I got to my home, it was like a fairy wonderland. But it was also overcast and dark...a perfect day to cuddle up on the sofa and nap - which is just what I did.

Today, though, the sun is out and it is brilliant! I had to go outside to take a few photos of the shiny ice in the trees and on the grass. Unfortunately, our maple tree had several branches broken by the weight of the ice, but now all the ice is gone...

A few of the aspen trees and evergreens in the front yard.

A close-up of the grass in the backyard.

Our poor maple in the backyard.

Another view of the maple in the backyard, surrounded by icy grass.

I am on duty today until midnight - 12 hours to go...but so far, so good. And that's good. I started writing this post over an hour ago, stopped in the middle and leaned back in my office chair, and slept for at least a half hour! Now I'm awake again, and it's time to finish this and head off to the grocery store. I have Tuesday and Wednesday off, my annual continuing education class at the headquarters in Denver on Thursday, our Emergence from Bankruptcy Celebration on Thursday night, and then I'm on duty for four days.

An Unhappy Surprise...

Before I get to the topic relating to today's title, I have to say that I STILL haven't seen Tucson in the daylight! We left too early this morning. The passengers were bleary-eyed and sleepy, Rhonda toned down her act a bit to accomodate the different "vibe" we felt in the cabin, and we got back to Denver where we delivered those passengers to their connecting flights.

Fourteen of them stayed with us and continued on to Minneapolis. On this flight, everyone was a bit more awake, so we got back into some silliness. That's always fun! And the time went by so quickly - before I knew it, we had to clean everything up and land! Once on the ground, we had to wait FOREVER for the hotel van - 29 minutes after the CPT first called, the van appeared.

Once we got to the hotel, I rushed upstairs to my room, changed my clothes, and ran back downstairs to join a group of people heading to the Mall of America. I'm not really very fond of that place. It is entirely too large, too many of the stores are duplicates (one on each of the three floors), and it was so very crowded. But I had a purpose - I was going to The Tall Girl Store to see what they had on their summer clearance racks.

As I approached the store, I was shocked. "Store Closing - Everything on Sale" signs were everywhere. What?!?!?!? When I went in, I spoke with a saleslady and she told me that ALL Tall Girl Stores in the U.S.A. were going out of business. Their company (Canadian) was bought by a British company who kept the Canadian stores but is closing ALL the U.S. stores. OMG. Where the heck am I going to shop and actually find clothes that fit?!?! This is so sad.

I found only a few things to purchase, and then decided to head back to the hotel and mope. While I was waiting outside the mall in 35 degree windy weather under a shelter with overhead heaters, I watched a bunch of mall cops arrest two shoplifters - they had "allegedly" stolen things from a Footlocker store (the referee shaking the hand of a cop kind of gave it away). The guy got his stuff back and the two "alleged" shoplifters got a ride in a nice warm cop car to the local station.

When I got back to the hotel, I rode in the elevator with a very nicely dressed couple. I commented on how nice they looked, and they said that their son had just gotten married! I had seen that a table had been set up in the lobby for the placecards for their guests, and I had planned on making one for me so that I could join in on the celebration. But seeing as how my clothes shopping world had been destroyed, I decided to go to Denney's instead and treat myself to my favorite meal - breakfast for dinner. How sad is that?

When I got back after dinner, the bride, groom and bridal party had arrived. Had I been able to purchase a pretty dress at The Tall Girl Shop, I might have been able to get away with grabbing a piece of wedding cake and maybe doing the "Electric Slide" on the dance floor. But since all I had were my jeans and tennis shoes, I retired to my room to take a nap before I went to bed.

It's now almost 10PM here, and I have to catch my van back to the airport at 5AM. I guess I'd better get my buns in bed. But alas, I have no wedding cake to put under my pillow to ensure that I have sweet dreams...

Love Having Fun!

Today was an example of why I love my job...

I woke up in Houston, spent a couple hours with Janel, one of my friends from flight attendant training (and is now an air traffic controller!!!) - we had lunch together and lots of time to talk. I hope to see her again the next time that I am in Houston.

Then I flew back to Denver - no excitement, really...the passengers all slept, drank alcohol, or watched TV.

But then a new crewmember joined the team when we flew to Tucson, and she is a livewire!!! Her name is Rhonda, and she just brings out the silliness of everyone. We had such a fun flight to Tucson - laughing, joking around - the passengers participated, too. The time just flew by, and before I knew it, we were there! Now THAT'S why I do what I do.

I don't believe I've ever been to Tucson before, and I wish I had more than 10 hours here...it's beautiful at the airport - lots of cactus, great temp - I hope I get to come back again soon.

On the Road Again...

I just started another five duty days, and got a call from Crew Scheduling yesterday morning - they gave me a four-day trip. The good news is that I know where I'll be for the next four days! The bad news is that I won't be at home...but that's okay. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I will soon be more in control over my own destiny. Yay!

Yesterday we did a turn to San Francisco - that's always an adventure. Lots of interesting people on board...we had an "air traffic hold" as we were trying to leave and go back to Denver. It seems that the Blue Angels were practicing, and caused our flight to be delayed. Lovely. I love and adore the Blue Angels, but do they really have to practice near a busy airport, inconveniencing a planeful of people who are trying to make their connecting flights in Denver?

We had a delightful young couple on our SFO-DEN flight, who had a young lap child with them. Being young, money is tight, so they purchased an economy ticket (i.e. the cheapest ticket we sell), and accordingly, they could not pick out their seats until 24 hours before the flight. Well, I don't think they even did that. I think they waited until they got to the airport and checked in. They ended up with 3E and 4E. The guy was not the most pleasant guy to be around, and he gave the gate agent a really difficult time. The gate agent tried to get people to swap seats, but they were all Ascent and Summit members who wanted (and have earned) their aisle and window seats.

Here's a lesson...if you really want the good seats or to sit together with your friends/family, spend an extra few bucks to upgrade to a Classic or a Classic Plus ticket! You can pick your seats when you make your reservation, and this situation can be avoided.

When the family came on board, they weren't happy, but they sat in their assigned seats. During our ground delay, the guy talked with his seatmate and found out that he had not been asked to switch by the gate agent, and that he was willing to swap seats. The young guy was pissed! (Personally, I think the guy HAD been asked to switch, but didn't want the young guy to blow up at him.) By that time, we were getting ready to take off, so I told them that they could swap, but they had to wait until we were up in the air and the seatbelt sign was turned off. That's when the young guy let loose with his F-bombs.

I hate this effing airline. They can't do anything effing right. I'm never gonna fly this effing airline again. Etc, etc, etc.

I told him that that kind of language was unacceptable on the aircraft, and that if he didn't get his act under control that I would remove him from the aircraft. He was so nasty. Another flight attendant tried to calm him down by telling him that we had no control over the seating, so that it's unfair to take his frustrations out on us. I called the CPT to ask him to remove the idiot from the plane, and he seemed very hesitant. So I had another flight attendant talk with me and make some sense out of the situation, and we decided to let him stay on, provided that he behaved himself.

Lo and behold, as I was doing the food cart service, he came to the back and apologized to me! Wow. It took a lot of guts to do that. He explained that when his wife and kid are involved in an issue, he goes kind of crazy, and that he knows he needs to stop doing that...he shook my hand and appeared to be very sincere. I think some anger management courses are in his future. Interesting. The passengers around him praised me for sticking to my guns and not letting him get away with the language. And now he was apologizing. I am so glad that he did. One incident like that can put a damper on an entire trip.

Our flight to Houston was over an hour late leaving, so the CPT gave free TV. That kept everyone happy, and we got to Houston about 90 minutes late. Bummer. I had a good night's sleep, and now I'm waiting for my former flight attendant classmate, Janel (who's now an air traffic controller in Houston), to meet me at the hotel for lunch. It's a miserable, rainy, stormy, dreary day in Houston...too bad I can't just crawl back into bed!

The Trip from Hell

Just as I had hoped, I had an awesome 12 HOUR SLEEP in Houston! I think I was a bit tired, and I'm glad that I was able to "catch up" on some sleep (even though the experts say that doing so isn't a good thing - what do they know?!?!). I felt great!

And it's a good thing, cause when we got back to Denver I had to jump off one plane and run to catch another. I was going to Portland, OR again, but this time I got to stay for 12 hours. Well...let's just say that the flight is not one that I'll soon forget. One of our flight attendants fell ill, and things just didn't go entirely the way that they should have. Fortunately, our flight attendant is a lot better now. Thank goodness. I have filed my "Inflight Incident Report," and I guess I'll just wait and see if there are any repercussions down the road.

I don't know what it is about staying overnight in Portland and having a medical emergency on the way there - that's the second time for each. Hmmmm. That leads me to believe that maybe I should stop doing Portland overnights...that wouldn't break my heart. The hotel we stay at is not very nice. The pool is inside, near the main lobby and restaurant. Also, the carpeting by the bathroom door in my room was wet. I threw down two bath towels to soak up the water! If I hadn't been so tired, I would have requested to be moved to a different room.

I'm already at 30 hours for the month, and it is only the 5th. Wow. I'm tired. I've got two days off now, and the second half of my second day will be spent in Denver at our General Office learning about how to support our employees in case of a disaster. It should be very interesting.

In the meantime, I'm trying to wind down from the past two days' experiences...it's almost midnight and I'm just now starting to yawn. Finally!

What Happens in Vegas . . .

We had an awesome flight to Vegas last night. One of my classmates from flight attendant school was also on the crew, so it was fun to catch up with her. The passengers were very "high-spirited." There were at least two or three kids turning 21, bunches of guys, bunches of girls - all heading to Vegas to have a bit of fun. And the fun started on the plane! Everybody was laid back and relaxed, they laughed if I said something funny, it was so much fun!

After we got to our new hotel, I went with the crew to the Hard Rock Hotel and had a lot of fun. We sat at the bar table and did a lot of people watching. I saw girls making out with girls, guys making out with guys, girls pole-dancing in bikinis, cougars on the prowl, and three of my co-workers saw Paris Hilton going into the VIP Club. So they hung out there and got passes to go inside, while the CPT and I held the table at the bar.

After an hour, he and I decided to head back to the hotel, but first we stopped by the VIP Club to see if we could get in. They let me in, but not the CPT (he was wearing shorts) - it was a whole different world in there. Dark, loud, everyone on the dance floor in one large undulating mass. There were booths around the dance floor - I started to walk around, but felt very out of place. Everyone was half my age, and dressed twice as nicely as me. So I gave up looking for my crew and went back to the hotel. I am looking forward to hearing all about it from my crew when we meet in an hour or so to go back to Denver.

I have peeked at my schedule, and have seen that I am flying to Houston tonight with a different crew. It's another 16 hour layover, and THIS TIME I plan on going to bed early and sleeping in late!!! I'm still not caught up on that sleep that I missed.

Epidemic?

My stand-up last night was horrid. (I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.) I say that because I got less than 4 1/2 hours sleep last night, the hotel was creepy (not the nice kind that we're used to), and I'm exhausted again (or should I say still?).

When I called in to crew scheduling to be released this morning, I was told that I was off duty until 7:44PM and that I should expect a call telling me that I am being sent out on another trip...well, that call came a lot earlier than I expected. At 11:34AM, they called and left a message (I knew better than to answer my phone...) that a trip to Vegas just popped up, and that if I wanted it, I could have it. It leaves at 9:10PM tonight - if I didn't take it, they'd still assign it to me and just delay the flight until I got there. Yes...they are THAT desperate for flight attendants. So, seeing as how I'm a team player, and I don't want 136 people to be inconvenienced, I'm shorting my rest time by 34 minutes. Woo hoo!

What is going on?!?!? As of yesterday, Frontier emerged from bankruptcy! *blows on a horn while wearing a party hat* It's been a long journey through the bankruptcy process. And when we emerged, we came out as a fully-owned subsidiary of Republic Airway Holdings, Inc. But for us flight attendants, it's business as usual.

But try and tell that to people in the crewroom. Rumors are running rampant. People are freaking out. The Teamsters union is licking its chops, waiting to pounce. The Frontier FAs are not unionized. Frontier flight attendants successfully fought off union efforts four times in the past 15 years. But now they're planting all kinds of seeds of fear - and the FAs are not using their brains and thinking logically. As a result, one group of FAs - the reserves - is being especially penalized.

It appears that there is either a true epidemic of some illness sweeping through the FA ranks, or possibly the FAs have been told that because of the Republic takeover, they're going to lose all their accumulated sick leave. I have a sneaky feeling that it is the latter.

As a result, FAs are calling in sick right and left. Reserve FAs are being sent out on ridiculous combinations of trips with no sleep, or made to sit on the couch in Denver between flights for up to six hours, just to cover the flights of the FAs who have decided to call in sick. And isn't it interesting that it's gotten worse today? A Friday?

Shame on them. Instead of researching and looking for the truth, they're listening to their union-loving fearmongers and jumping to conclusions. As a result, the reserve FAs are being totally overworked, the crew schedulers are trying to keep the planes staffed but have no FAs to call. One of my FA classmates wrote "F9 will be fenced while seniority list merging is worked out and even afterwards, how would that affect /reduce sick leave that's already been accrued?" People! Listen to reason!

Sheesh. So I am going to Vegas tonight, and I am rejoicing that it is a 16 hour layover at our new hotel - a Hyatt Place. Cause that means I'll be able to get a full night's sleep! No stand-up tonight! And two just popped up on the open time list for tonight.

Believe it or not, I bid on one for tomorrow night just because I know that the hotel in San Francisco is near the airport so it'd be more like 6 hours sleep instead of just 4.

But despite all this nonsense, upheaval, and misuse of human beings, the passengers continue to tell us how happy they are we made it through bankruptcy, how wonderful the we are to the passengers, and how they can tell that we love our jobs! THAT makes it all worthwhile.

Quadruple Whammy!

Since I last wrote, I finished up my Orlando overnight, followed that with a 10 hour overnight in Las Vegas, and then a turn to Milwaukee. Then I got two days off...or so I thought...

At 6:30PM on Wednesday night, I was sitting at my computer minding my own business. I was also unpacked and doing laundry. I was to go back on duty at midnight. WRONG. I got a call from crew scheduling, "junior manning" me - this is a little technique they use to make you work on your day off (if you are dumb enough to answer the phone or if you forget to tell them you'd been drinking (even if you hadn't)).

Not only was it a junior assignment, it was also a short-call (less than two hours notice), as well as a stand-up (where you spend less than 6 hours at a hotel). I got 4 1/2 hours sleep last night - and I'm headed to the couch as soon as I finish this post.

To top it all off, we also had a "medical" situation...and the paramedics met our plane at the gate in Portland. I hope our passenger was alright.

But I'm saving the best news of all for last...I guess I did such a great job, that they gave me ANOTHER stand-up for tonight! Lucky me! I am so exhausted...I could fall asleep right this moment...