On Friday, I had a modified C couch sit, meaning that I had to report at 2PM instead of the usual 4PM. When I arrived, crew scheduling told me that I (and the other two couch-sitters - including my buddy, Dennis, who makes flying so much fun!) had an overnight in New York! Only problem - we wouldn't arrive until 1:30AM. No big deal. AND we were deadheading home on the 5:30PM flight, meaning we didn't have to work it...just sit and sleep! Woo hoo!
Of course, I immediately contacted Jen to see what she was doing on Saturday - she and James had plans to attend the "Beauty and the Beast Sing-a-Long" movie at the AMC theater in Times Square at Noon. So guess what I did? First I went to the apartment to play with Liza - she's such a cutie patootie! Then on to the theater!
The girls sitting next to me were celebrating a 20th birthday, so they were pumped. When the movie FINALLY started, we had so much fun singing along. And guess what I sang all the way back to the hotel? "A Whole New World!" Ahhhhhhh.
And I have made a decision. It is MUCH HARDER to sit on a plane as a passenger than it is to work that flight. I tried to sleep the entire way back to Denver...didn't quite work, but I tried.
A few hours after I got back home in COS, before I went to bed, I happened to notice that I scored an actual FOUR-DAY trip! I wasn't going to have to sit at home and wait for that doggone phone to ring! Yay! So I called crew scheduling to let them know that I had seen the trip, and I went to bed. One of the only problems is that I was starting to feel sick. Bummer. So I made sure that I had my Zicam, Tylenol, Sudafed, and ibuprophen...and off I went!
First up, I had a turn to Nashville - I was happy because I was flying with my buddy, Bruce! Yay! We always have a lot of laughs. Next up, we had an overnight in Salt Lake City. Bruce was planning on having Mexican for lunch the next day, and I was planning on joining him. BUT...I had a horrible night of sleep, and I was sick, sick, sick with a bad cold when I woke up. I stuck with my medication routine, slept most of the day, and Bruce offered to bring back a Mexican meal for me! What a sweetheart!
I rallied enough to do well on our flight back to Denver, which was about an hour and a half late due to San Francisco airport traffic issues. The passengers weren't thrilled, and of course, they were worried about their connections. I think a few might have had to be rescheduled, but most may have made them. There were a couple 20-something guys who complimented me on how nice I was, and that I'm the best flight attendant they've ever flown with. So I kindly asked them to "put it in writing!" Ha ha.
The sad thing is that Bruce left the trip, and wasn't going with us to Dayton for the night. And after he left, things started going downhill quickly. We were already late, so the crowd was restless. The scouts brought on our first passenger and her hubby - she was unable to walk and needed to be assisted by an aisle chair. As soon and they got her and her husband settled in their seats, she starts throwing up. A lot! The scouts were still there and were able to catch most of it, but the C flight attendant brought them more bags, and when she did, she ran forward to where I was, trying really hard not to barf. She ended up running off the aircraft. In the meantime, more passengers were boarding, and I called the gate and told them to stop boarding!
The CPT told us to decide what we wanted to do. We unanimously decided to get her off the plane - supposedly she had just spent time with her grandson, who brought home some germs. Her husband assured me that she had nothing else left in her body. But she looked so white and sickly. AND they did not want to get off. So we called the paramedic - he agreed that she shouldn't go to DAY, but she signed a waiver saying she was still flying. Well...that didn't fly with me, or with the passengers sitting around her that told me that she needed to get off! What's a girl to do? So I told the Gate Supervisor that the other passengers were concerned and complaining.
The woman's daughter and son-in-law were brought down the jetway, and as soon as the paramedic left, we brought the son on board. He got off literally one second later and said, "They're getting off." Halleluiah! I felt bad for them, but relieved for me and the rest of the passengers.
There was one guy sitting in the row behind them, and he was nasty nasty nasty to me. Mostly because, when the sick woman was still on board, the husband handed me a large bag filled with BARF. I am not allowed to handle that without taking precautions (it is infectious waste), so I told him "One moment" as I went up front to get some plastic gloves. When I got back, the nasty guy behind them had grabbed the bag and taken it to the flight attendant at the back of the plane - she wouldn't touch it, either! She told him to place it in the lavatory trash can. But he was mad at me the entire flight, and let me know it. His bad karma will definitely catch up to him in life.
However, it wasn't all bad. We had a soldier on board who was returning home after being away for 10 months. I announced that he was on board and that he was HOME after we landed, and everyone clapped for him. His mom was the ramp supervisor for Frontier, and she was waiting for him to arrive. So when we got to the gate, and the agent opened the plane's door, I just stepped aside as the mom ran in and hugged her son! The other flight attendant and I just burst out crying, and everyone started clapping again. It still gives me goosebumps!
A great ending to a long day...
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