Thursday, December 30, 2010

Yummy yummy for the tum-tum-tummy!

I am still sitting on that luxurious bed in my hotel in Orange County, CA - but I did get off it long enough to take a hotel van ride to Trader Joe's and back! I had to look around, but I finally found my Multiseed Soy Crackers - 35 crackers = 110 calories. You can't beat that!

I just got a call from the Captain - we are leaving the hotel at 3PM instead of 2PM. The plane coming in from Denver just left. It was delayed about an hour due to the blowing snow and ice in Denver. But they are now off the ground and on their way!

This is such a nice hotel - we're in the suites section, so we have a bon-bon sofa, a cocktail table, a small eating table with two chairs, a small fridge, sink, microwave, desk, armoire with a tv in it! There's also a nice jetted tub in the bathroom...I have to remember to bring my sea salts with me...

This has been a great morning - and now I've got time for a quick nap!!!

California Dreamin'

As I write this, I am sitting on my luxurious bed in Orange County, CA. I will soon be getting up and heading to Trader Joe's to pick up my favorite soy cracker in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD! We're leaving this afternoon and heading back to Denver...and then on to Kansas City tonight! Provided, of course, that the "blizzard" that is on its way doesn't change those plans. We'll see! After the east coast getting slammed, I feel that Denver is overdue for a blizzard.

My v-file at work (my folder in a filing cabinet - we each have one) had several holiday greetings from my fellow flight attendants, a cute little "glow in the dark" hand sanitizer, and a yummy bag of holiday snacks! But...it was missing some trinkets that a fellow FA left there for me that he had picked up in DAY. So sad. A few months ago another friend left a NYC MetroCard in my v-file, and it was gone before I got there. And just a couple weeks ago, a fellow FA found a hole in her plastic bag of food that she had placed in the crewroom refrigerator - some of it had been taken. Really? I'm thinking that we all need to contemplate the following quote - "Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one's looking." I wish we could weed out the bad ones and then we'll all be one big happy, HONEST family again!  :)  A girl can dream, can't she?

Last night's flight to Orange County was interesting. Great crew. Weird passengers. One guy came on and I asked him, "How are you doing this evening?" and he replied, "Not well at all. I have the flu and I've already thrown up a couple times." Really? Is he kidding me? I told him that he shouldn't be flying if he's ill - I'm fully expecting to get the flu in a mere 3 days from now.  :(  And, of course, those will be my days off. Butthead. I told the Captain about this guy, and he wanted him off. So we set the wheels in motion. A gate supervisor came on board just a few minutes before departure, and when I told him what was going on, he told me that he can't remove a passenger from the aircraft for being sick. WHAT?!?!?! Excuse me? He spoke with the Captain, who was just as upset as I was, and then spoke with the passenger. Get this...the passenger tells the supervisor that he is a DOCTOR and he'll be alright. A DOCTOR? With no brain, obviously. I gave the supervisor a mask to give to the passenger, and asked him to tell the passenger to wear it during the entire flight. And did he? Nope. I think some passengers check their brains at the security checkpoint.

Towards the end of the flight we had some severe turbulence, and not everyone was in their seats (the seatbelt sign had just been turned on for our initial descent). I saw one older lady in the aisle and passengers around her were holding on to her. When I got back to her, she requested a bandaid...she had bruised her hand somehow during the turbulence, and a small cut was bleeding. She was a sweet thing. So I bandaged her up and sent her on her way. The Captain had not seen/heard that that turbulence was coming, so he called back to us after it happened to make sure that we were all okay. I think my feet did leave the floor at one point, but I was fine, as were my co-workers. And this was over CALIFORNIA, not nearing Denver as it usually is.

One of my co-workers this flight is Tui - the really nice FA from the "Undercover Boss" episode. He is very involved in our new "Culture Club" - trying to get that "family feeling" back for all of our airlines that are now one. It's a long road, because we each have our own planes, our own work rules, and our own pay scales. We also stay in different quality hotels (though I hear that is changing), and we have different uniforms. I was so glad to hear that E.C. (one of my classmates) is involved in the group! I have high hopes that the group will head in the right direction. To announce the group, the marketing department created a video about "Why We Fly" and it perfectly described me. I would post it here, but it is on a company website and can't be shared.

I guess I'd better get moving, make some breakfast, and head over to Trader Joe's!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Random Thoughts

I have learned that a 4-day trip with early show times is hard. The same with an early couch sit one day, a 3-day trip with early show times, followed by a DCA turn with an early show time. That's what I did last week!

This week, I started out with the Noon-6PM couch. And now I'm on a 4-day trip with show times that are pretty early - except for today's. I have to be downstairs for the van to the Detroit airport by 5:15AM, which is 3:15AM Denver time. OUCH. But after flying back to Denver, I will be flying on to Ft. Lauderdale. Nice, huh? I lucked into that trip.

It's been interesting around the crewroom. The company is using a new scheduling program, and January was the first month. Tons of flight attendants are angry because their schedules aren't what they wanted. But if you listen closely, those same flight attendants will admit that they DID NOT do the online video training, nor did they attend one of the training classes. Hmmmm. Sounds to me like they got what they deserved! I have no sympathy. At least they got a line. There are 6 low seniority flight attendants who actually got lines this month - some of them didn't even know it until I told them on Facebook! Lucky ducks!

For the first time in our company's history, we received a Christmas bonus! Yay! But there were still unhappy people - it wasn't enough, why did they have to take taxes out, how come I only got half, etc. etc. Can't people be happy about their good fortune?

Since it's the holidays, I've been wearing my "holiday" apron when I do service. Years ago, someone got me a snowman apron from Old Navy. So I wore it for the first time last week - the passengers love it! It's a fun way to celebrate!

There are lots and lots of unaccompanied minors on our planes. The flight coming in from Ft. Lauderdale had seven and we had three. Tis the season. But it's so sad when it's a little 5 year old...the older ones know how the game is played, and they know what they're entitled to and how to go about getting it.  :) 

Since I am starting to fall asleep as I type this, I guess I'd better take advantage of the situation and call it a night...4:30AM will be here before I know it!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Exhaustion

I got to sit the couch on Sunday from 6AM until 2PM - at least crew scheduling told me that I was staying late early on during my shift. I slept for 2 hours when I got there at 5:30AM, ate a McDonald's sausage McMuffin with egg, walked around the concourse for awhile, visited with friends, slept another 1 1/2 hours, and then it was time to go home!

The fun began when I got called later that day. Crew scheduling assigned me to a nice 3-day trip starting early the next morning. But when I looked at my destinations, I realized that I'd be flying coast-to-coast two days in a row!

I started out in Denver and did a round-trip to Portland, OR with one crew. Going there, the overheads were filled with suitcases, bags and coats, and the seats were filled with passengers. On the way back, the seats were still filled, but they carried much less onboard. I love those kinds of flights! When we returned to Denver, the rest of the crew was done for the day, but I stayed on board waiting for my next crew that was coming in from Minneapolis. One of the flight attendants was my good friend, Jenn! It's always nice to be able to fly with your friends - it doesn't happen often enough!

But the sad thing is that we flew to New York's LaGuardia, and I had to leave on a 7:20AM van to go to the airport with yet another crew! Meantime, my current crew didn't have to leave until early in the afternoon. Bummer! But after flying coast-to-coast, I sure earned a good night's sleep!

On today's flight, I returned to Denver, lost two flight attendants, and then gained another two - and on we went to Seattle for the night! Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for the company, we had only 80 passengers on a 162-seat plane. Sad, but I needed the break! On the flight from LaGuardia to Denver, I spoke with a young woman who seemed very interested in becoming a flight attendant! She was on my next flight to Seattle, too, and I got her email address so that I could correspond with her and let her know when Frontier starts hiring again (if ever).

There was also a guy from NYC who had a fun time teasing me and the other flight attendants about us being from Colorado - and after talking to him and giving him a can of soda and seconds, what does he do? Get up and go to the bathroom before we reach the gate - at a time when the Captain would have to NOT move the plane because someone was out of their seat. Of all people...  :(

I also met a woman on the last flight who told me that she used to be a flight attendant many years ago. And next she told me that, "...way back then they used to weigh us every week. Obviously, they don't do that any longer." Hmmmmm. I think I should be offended!

Then I had a couple try and take advantage of Frontier. Our company policy is to give free TV to any soldier, in uniform or not, as long as they present a military ID. The husband said that his wife had not yet gotten her TV. It wasn't indicated on my paperwork that she was supposed to get it, and I asked them to show me a receipt. They couldn't, but then she mentioned how she was in the military. She showed me an ID card, but kept her fingers covering part of the card. Interesting. It didn't look like the typical ID card, so I asked to take a closer look. Well...she is a contractor for the Army - in other words, she works at the commissary! I told her that she is NOT a member of the military - she insisted that she was! I then told her that my hubby had been in the military for five years, and that she is NOT a soldier. Her husband later apologized me for the "misunderstanding." Shame on them. Here we are doing something nice for our service members, and she decides to take advantage and tries to pass herself off as something she's not. Tsk tsk tsk. Bad karma will follow them.

We got to Seattle and headed to the hotel in 40 degree temps - after sitting in the room for a little while and sipping a caffeine-free Diet Coke (my afternoon drink of choice), I decided it was time to head downstairs to the bar for my bowl of New England Clam Chowder. YUMMY. It was SO DELICIOUS. I could have had another bowl. Nice.

Now it's time to start winding down. I'm exhausted after flying coast-to-coast two days in a row. Tomorrow I fly back to Denver - and wonder what I'll end up doing. I am still on duty on Thursday, so they could give me a two-day trip. But I won't know until after I return to Denver. This is one of the bad sides of being on reserve...not knowing what the future holds.

Speaking of which, a rumor I heard has been confirmed by a reliable source. I was told that Frontier does not plan on hiring any flight attendants in 2011. I am so very bummed. I had been told in October that we'd be hiring early next year, and that there was hope for me to get off reserve. But today's rumor conversation blows that out of the water. What do I do now? Continue the life of a reserve flight attendant? Quit and get my life back? I just don't know. I don't want to leave, but I really wish I had more control over my life. What to do? What to do?

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

In the Nick of Time...

Just when I was starting to melt down, due to the stress of everyday life and being on reserve for 3+ years, I get handed the golden egg - a 15.5 hour layover in Orange County, CA! This is one of the nicest hotels that we stay at, there are palm trees, and the weather is nice. Not to mention the Trader Joe's and In-N-Out within 3 miles!

Originally, I had hoped to see my daughter's future mother-in-law, but she was tied up with work - imagine that. Tied up on a weekday with work! Then I realized that my BFF from my Chicago days lives within 5 minutes of the hotel...so I gave her a call and left a message. She called back and hopes that her work schedule allows her to get together for brunch! These SoCal ladies sure work alot!!!

So it's now after midnight, I'm sure, and I made the mistake of turning on the TV...and there's Taye Diggs dancing in "How Stella Got Her Groove Back." Mighty fine! But I'm going to have to turn it off and go to sleep!

I am off duty for three days after I get home...and then the stretches of five and six duty days at a time start. Let the holidays begin!