Where the Heck Am I?!?

On the way to the airport this morning, my phone rang at 5AM San Diego time...it was Crew Scheduling, calling to tell me that when I arrive in DEN I am to go to my next assignment - a flight to BNA - Nashville, TN! I haven't been there since Thanksgiving Day!

The crew is crazy. I've flown with the first officer before and I've met one of the flight attendants before, but I don't think I've flown with her. The CPT is great - she writes a quick note on one of her business cards, and then we give it (along with a piece of chocolate) to each of the frequent fliers. What a great idea! I think more pilots should do that. The two other flight attendants are nuts. They're probably in their 30s or 40s and both are single. They're a bit out of my league ... there was dancing in the galleys and a game called "Who Will You Do?" Let's just say that I'm a bit too old...sad, I know. They also told everyone that it was my birthday, so as they deplaned, I got wished "Happy Birthday" over and over. It's funny, but it's not really fair to the passengers. I just hope that none of them are on tomorrow's flight - just in case it's my birthday again!

The hotel, the Millennium Maxwell House is outstanding! There's all kinds of giveaway goodies (emery board, shoe shine stuff, shampoo, conditioner, soaps, comb, razor, etc.) which I've started putting in plastic baggies and taking home - one of these days, I'll drop all my baggies off at the Battered Women's Shelter. There's also a robe and slippers, chocolates on my pillow, and a small box of Milano cookies! All for free. And most importantly, they give you a Goo Goo Cluster when you check in, along with a small bottle of Dasani water. I can hardly wait to go to sleep in the bed - it looks so comfy!

I was planning on going with everyone to dinner tonight in downtown Nashville - but no one was in the lobby at the appointed time. So, either I heard the time wrong or they changed it and I didn't hear. That's okay. It's very cold outside, and my coat is in my closet at home! Also, my clothes are not really conducive to going to a nice place. So I think I'll just order room service ... I've been having trouble staying awake since we got here, so I think I'll just go to bed early!!!

We have an early shuttle back to the airport in the morning - 4:45AM. Yikes!

What a Riot!

Our flight to San Diego was rather uneventful...but my co-workers were great! Fabian (my classmate) and Chris are definitely "team players" and we enjoyed working together.

While on the shuttle to the hotel, it came out that I had a boyfriend in San Diego from 30 years ago...and that I used to hang out at a place called "Crystal T's Emporium" - a dance club. Well, the conversation took many turns for the worse - I have never laughed so hard on a hotel shuttle! The American Airlines flight deck crew probably thought that we hit the bottle already.

After getting settled in the hotel, the CPT, First Officer and I went out to dinner at a German Microbrewery place - the crab cake was out of this world, as was the Apple dessert. OMG. We had good conversation, and tomorrow 5AM is going to come real early (that's the time the shuttle bus will take us back to the airport!!!).

Short Flight on the Couch

I checked in for the couch just before noon, and was told that I am heading to San Diego for the night! I even get to go with one of my classmates, Fabian!

There's No Place Like Home (Except When it Snows)

The PHX turn was a lot of fun - the other crewmembers had just gotten back from the end of an overnight in ATL (Atlanta), which was their 3rd night away from DEN. So they were all ready to go home!

I especially liked the flight attendants - Gloria and Judy. What great attitudes! They were happy, helpful to the passengers, friendly, and really into the "we're a team" thinking. They were also about my age. We talked about how important it is to always stay positive and keep away from the naysayers...in fact, one of them mentioned that she was tired of the new FAs just out of college who moan and groan in the crewroom about how they don't like their company, or they don't like the job, or whatever. She suggested that maybe a prerequisite of being a flight attendant should be that you should have held down a 9 to 5 office job for at least a year! That way you'll fully appreciate the easiness of this job, as well as the generous benefits given to us by Frontier!

We were a bit late leaving DEN and then a bit late flying back. Can you believe that we were #22 in line to take off when we were in PHX? The weather was fine - no storms - evidently, PHX is a real hotspot on President's Day weekend!!!

I'm off Sunday and Monday, and then I hope to be back in the air for the next five days...!

Another Night, Another Hotel Room

After a great day in Chicago, and a fairly good flight back to DEN (I only spilled a little bit of cranapple juice on a passenger...honest!), I checked in with crew scheduling and found out that I had a report time tomorrow morning at 7:20AM.

Seeing as how the key to my "crash pad" is back at home in COS, I decided to drive over to "hotel row" by the main headquarters of Frontier. I stopped at Red Roof Inn first, and fortunately, they have an airline rate! So here I sit - I'm doing a turn to PHX (Phoenix) tomorrow and should be back in DEN by around 1PM. The big question, of course, is whether or not I'll be released after that trip!

Stay tuned...

Fun Time in the Windy City

My cousin, Randy, picked me up in the late morning - our first stop was at a Polish grocery store where we enjoyed a lunch from their self-serve buffet. Delicious!

Next up, we headed over to McCormick Place and visited the Chicago Car Show - the largest car show in the entire USA. How about that?

I really liked the Nissan 350Z (pictured below)...but will instead seriously look at the Pontiac G6 as my "4-Seater sports car.

And I think Randy looks great in the Cadillac sportscar!

After doing a bit of dreaming, we headed back to my hotel, and on the way there, we got a call from Randy's sister, Jacki, who was at a nearby Lithuanian restaurant! So we stopped over for a quick bite to eat (DELICIOUS), and a bit of conversation before I had to head back to the hotel and get ready to fly back to DEN tonight.

What a fun day!

Back on the Road

It was fun getting back in the air!

I was assigned the B position for this trip, so that meant lower passenger interaction and a lot more work...but I remembered what to do and how to do it! Yippee! My brain power is intact.

We did have a run-in (no pun intended) with one passenger. He was a tall man who seemed to have trouble keeping his body out of the aisle. As I passed by him once, my butt/hip brushed his shoulder which was several inches into the aisle. Well...you would have thought that I sliced him with a knife! Then later as we were serving drinks, my partner hit his knee/foot because again, it was in the aisle. Well, let's just say...he was very vocal and not in a good way. He dropped the f-bomb and the s-bomb. My partner felt horrible, but I told her not to worry about it - the guy is a drama queen (and a vulgar one, at that)!

Our flight to Chicago was half-full (unlike our Tuscon flights - they were full), so it was a nice break. I don't think any of the other crew members were planning on doing anything today, but I am looking forward to hanging out with my cousin.

What a Great Company!!!

Last night, I ended up doing a turn to Los Angeles...didn't know that I was going until I stepped on the plane to pre-board. The originally assigned FA was coming in late from Nashville, so they put me in his place to try and keep the plane on time. I got back to DEN around 10:30PM and spent the night at the Geyer's house...one problem though...I didn't have their key! It was on my other key ring that is at home! I realized this when I was a couple blocks from their house, and it was 11:30PM. Luckily, Herb said he was already up when he answered the phone...! I felt so bad!

I left this morning before they were up. I'm driving Jen's car because mine is in the shop, and her car was covered in ICE and snow. And no where was there an ice scraper! I did the best I could with what I had at hand, and drove to the closest service station to buy a scraper. I had to report to the Pepsi Center by 7:30AM, and I just made it!

There was a press conference with the CEO of Frontier, the governor of CO, and the mayors of Colorado Springs and Aspen, as well as about 100 or so Frontier employees. The big announcement is that Frontier was starting service to Colorado Springs, Aspen, Grand Junction and Durango, as well as Bozeman, MT, Missoula, MT, Fargo, ND, and Jackson Hole, WY! All those cities will be serviced by Lynx Aviation, our subsidiary.



To celebrate, we formed a big heart in the lobby of the Pepsi Center, using red, pink, and white balloons - atttached to each balloon was a voucher for a free ticket on Frontier Airlines. After posing for photos, we each took several balloons/vouchers and went to downtown Denver where we gave them away to unsuspecting people! The sent the ABC cameraman with me to film me handing out the vouchers, wishing people a Happy Valentine's Day from Frontier, etc. It was so much fun! I ended up having to ride with the cameraman in his vehicle, when I realized that I had drained Jen's battery by leaving the lights on! Those Infinitis don't have the automatic shut-off of headlights like Subaru does!!!



Anyway, after I played good samaritan in downtown Denver, he took me back to Jen's car and gave me a much-needed jumpstart!

I am now back in the crewroom - I've been assigned a turn to Tuscon, AZ this afternoon, and then I'll be on the late night flight to Chicago. I have called my cousin, and we'll hang out in Chicago tomorrow...I don't leave until the late afternoon to come back to Denver.

Back on the Couch Again

Ahhhhh. It is good to be back among the hustle/bustle of the crewroom...so far all I've had to do is pre-board a flight to Tuscon, and even then we didn't do that! The crew showed up right before the passengers started boarding!

I've caught up with a few classmates, done some reading, updated my flight manuals, reviewed my mail. Doesn't sound like much, but it's a lot of fun!

Tomorrow morning I am taking part in an advertising promotion for Frontier...so I may stay the night in Denver tonight to save myself the drive to/from COS. However, I have heard that lots of snow is expected here in DEN tonight...and wouldn't you know it, my car is in the shop! It seems that it needs a lot of maintenance type things - Happy Valentine's Day to me! There's nothing more warm and fuzzy than knowing your car won't break down on the highway!!! In the meantime, I'm driving Jen's car...It should be fun to see how it handles the snow!

Healthy, Not-so-Wealthy, and Wise!

I get to go back to work tomorrow! Yippee and halleluiah!

I aggressively bid for a couple trips, but knew I would not be picked (I have four duty days, and the trips were three days each). Instead, I got the Noon-6PM CPD (couch potato duty) shift. It will be so good to be back on the line and in the crewroom. I've missed it!

Tomorrow, there is a celebration in the Frontier hangar to welcome the new Airbus 320 - I would like to attend it, but I doubt that I will be allowed to leave the concourse. But that's okay - I am sure that I will see the new plane soon - it is being put on the DEN-DCA (Washington, DC) line for most flights, as well as a couple turns to LAS (Las Vegas).