In the beginning...

I was chatting with a friend and co-worker the other day, about how we vowed that we would never become one of those flight attendants...

I remember thinking to myself when I first got my wings, I was really going to make a difference in my passengers travel expearience.  I didn't want to be one of those seemingly cold and indifferent flight attendants that everyone complains about.  I wanted to make everyone happy, and glad that they were on my plane.  My friend and I agreed that we had the same dream.  So what happeneds when reality hits?

The truth is, you can not please everyone.  Sometimes you can't please anyone, no matter how hard you try, especially passengers.  One can go out of their way to please someone, only to be slapped in the face with ingradititude so long before they realize that all their hard work is in vain.  Getting blamed for weather delays, yelled at for this that and the other, threatened, over worked and under paid, and sleep deprivation takes its toll. 

I asked my friend how long her "new flight attendant feeling" lasted.  She told me right up untill the first passenger yelled at her for something trivial that she had no control over.  That's pretty much the same feeling from most flight attendants that I talk to.

A hard lesson that I have learned is that you do not have to give every inch of your soul, to make someone happy.  Besides getting done with work on-time with no delays, the greatest joy for me is seeing someone walking towards me to leave with a smile on their face.  Knowing that I made someone smile is the best.  Working with as many new hire flight attendants as I have recently, I have been reminded of when I started flying almost six years ago.  I see the look in their eyes and the joy in their voices because they are flying.  It keeps me in perspective to why I am still here...

FAN MAIL

Hi love your  Journal logs about your Job I know your from Chicago and I'll be traveling to Chicago in late March I was wondering if you could tell me does it snow at that time in chicago or is it nice weather at that time keep those Journal logs going there great                                                              Littlelull    

 

Thanks littlelull for reading my blog.  

March is a tricky time of year for weather in Chicago.  I think in late March you should expearience some nicer weather.   It's an amazing time of year when we Chicagoans emerge from hibernation after a long cold winter.

Other than watching the weather channel before you come out here, I would strongly suggest that you pack to dress in layers.  I always take a sweater or jean jacket with me, whether or not I need it when I step outside my door, because you never know.  The closer you get to the lake, the more the weather is affected by it.  

Even with all of that, spring time is a wonderful time to be in Chicago, whether on business or pleasure.  Fly safe, and I hope that you have a wonderful time in my home city!

Thanksgiving travel tips

Here are some tips that might come in handy if you are planning to fly for the holidays!

I have noticed non-seasoned travelers putting more undue stress on themselves then they have to.  Here are some things to keep in mind the next time that you fly.

Saving Time With Check-in: 

Most airlines allow you to check in online and print out your boarding passes from home, for domestic flights.  This saves you from having to wait in line at the ticket counter, and if you don't have any checked bags you can go straight to the security check point. 

If you DO have checked bags, I would suggest that you use the skycap, if available.  For about $2 a bag, plus a small tip, you can check your luggage at the curb, and not have to mess with dragging them thru long lines.  But with most smaller airports, like the ones that I fly into, long lines don't seem to be a problem.

Don't have access to a computer?  Use the self service machienes.  The advantage in using the self-service machienes is that you can choose where you want to sit!

 

Getting Thru the Security Checkpoint:

Please visit www.tsa.gov for an up to date list of items that you can not have in your carryon or checked luggage.  For example, lighters, lighters lighters!

You must remove your shoes to have them x-rayed, so make sure that you wear shoes that can be taken on and off easily.

Put all loose change, wallets, belts, chewing gum, keys, in your carry-on instead of your pockets, untill you get thru the check point.  Not only does this save you time, but it also keeps you from loosing your treasures.

Keep your boarding pass and ID ready, you'll have to show it several times before you get to where you need to go.

Also, on a side note, CREW MEMBERS and other airport employees, are allowed to go to the front of the line.  You can't go anywhere without us, and the extra 30 seconds it takes me to clear security in front of you, will not make you miss your flight.

 

Traveling Smart:

If you are traveling on a legacy carrier this year, you might want to bring your own travel pillow and blanket.  To cut costs, some AAirlines have done away with pillows and blankets completely.

Also we are getting into the winter season which means that de-icing the aircraft is possible.  This could mean some waiting time.  So pack a bottle of water, and some snacks in case you encounter some delays during your journey.

Also I suggest that one always packs in their carry-on: a bottle of water, snacks, band-aids, pain reliever, lotion, any special medication that you need, pillow and blanket, and some reading material.  Having these things with you will make your trip alot smoother.

Also if you choose to bargain shop for your airfare this year, be wary of cheap fares that cause you to use 2 or more different airlines to get where you need to go.  Each airline is only responsible to get you from A to B, and if you miss your connection to another airline, you are pretty much on your own.  Also keep in mind that if you are going from one airline to another, that you will have quite a walk.  In most airports, each airline is seperated in different ends.  Also pay attention to connection times.  Try to aviod a 30 minute connection, especially this time of year.  It's better in the long run not to have to run a marathon to get to your next gate!

 

Good luck and have a safe holiday!

Back and better than ever...

Folks, I appologize for the inconvience, I expect to be updating this journal shortly...

 

I just got my laptop back from Dell...  I will spare you the details about THAT drama!  If you buy an extended warranty from them, make sure it's the IN HOME service!  Now I am back, and better than ever...  Well, maybe the same. 

Things have been crazy the past few weeks.  I had to have emergency oral surgery on the 4th.  All that I have to say is, don't wait around, take care of your teeth.  Neglect with only cause you more problems in the long run.

For those of you who were concerned about me living in a gang infested neighborhood, fear no more... We moved into our new apartment on the 5th in the Lakeview area.  Luckily we hired movers, especially after my ordeal with the oral surgen the day before.  That's the best money that I have ever spent!  Four hours later, we had everything in our new place.  I now live in a 3 bedroom apartment, on the third floor, with NO BARS on my windows, and everything WORKS!!!   Ahhhhh....  It's the simpler things, like a working sink, that make it all worth while.

I am also stuck working on the Embraer this month, so that I could have Thanksgiving off.  Little good it does me, because all the flights to RDU are full, and with my company taking most of the flying to and from there, home for the holiday is pretty much hopeless.  You can't jumpseat, if there is no jumpseat on the plane. 

 

Gold Wing Diva Goes to Washington!

I am off to Washington DC on Wednesday to Lobby on Capitol Hill, to fight to keep the Wright Amendment the way it is for Dallas Love Field.

 

In a nutshell, the Wright Amendment states that Southwest Airlines, can only fly from Love Field to the adjoining states of Texas.  SWA wants to appeal this so that they can expand their operation out of Love Field to compete with the rest of the Airlines who fly out of DFW.

We're not saying that we don't want SWA to continue to expand.  They are more than welcome to get slots at DFW, instead of DAL!

SWA already has a monopoly in DAL, why can't they expand more flying out of their other hubs, like HOU?

I am stepping down from my soap box for now.  I will give a full report of my first trip to capitol hill when I return!

Hmmmm.... VIVA the VIVI Awards!

 

Looks like yours truly has been nominated for

best travel journal!

 

Good luck to all of the other nominees of the 2005 VIVI awards!

Flight Attendant News around the world....

Alitalia cancels 138 flights before strike

ROME (AP) — Italy's state airline Alitalia canceled 138 flights ahead of a planned four-hour protest Saturday by cabin crews, the carrier said.

Flight attendants are expected to walk off their jobs between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. Rome time on Saturday, forcing the airline to cancel 74 international and 64 domestic flights, Alitalia said in a statement.

Unions called the strike because they claim Alitalia is not respecting parts of a recent contract deal it signed with flight attendants, said Giorgio Conti, an official at the Fit-Cisl union. One of the issues is the airline's decision to remove cots for flight attendants on long-range flights, he said.

Other unions are also preparing to stage a 48-hour nationwide transport strike on Sunday, threatening to idle trains, buses and planes across the country.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.    

 

Flight attendants outraged over Jodie Foster film

Wed Sep 28, 9:30 PM ET (from Yahoo! news)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Labor unions representing most of the nation's 90,000 flight attendants have urged their members to boycott a new Jodie Foster film that portrays a flight attendant and a U.S. air marshal as terrorists

They said that casting cabin crew members as villains in the movie "Flightplan" was irresponsible in light of heightened security concerns since the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which suicide hijackers used airliners as guided missiles.

The Walt Disney Co. film, which was the No. 1 release at the North American box office last weekend, stars Foster as an airline passenger who awakens from an in-flight nap to find her young daughter missing. It turns out that one of the flight attendants aboard is involvedin a terrorist plot hatched by the plane's air marshal.

A union statement issued on Tuesday also complained that other flight attendants in the film are shown as being "rude, unhelpful and uncaring."

"This depiction of flight attendants is an outrage," said Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) International President Patricia Friend. "Flight attendants continue to be the first line of defense on an aircraft and put their lives on the line day after day for the safety of passengers."

An AFA spokeswoman in Washington said the unions worry that moviegoers will take away impressions that will make it more difficult for flight attendants to "earn the trust and respect of passengers."

"It's just so irresponsible," the spokeswoman, Corey Caldwell, told Reuters on Wednesday.

She said the portrayal of airline cabin crew members as evil-doers adds further insult to long-standing Hollywood stereotypes that have depicted flight attendants as sexualized bubble heads or as harsh, humorless disciplinarians.

A Disney spokesman said that in making "Flightplan," which grossed nearly $25 million last weekend, "there was absolutely no intention on the part of the studio or filmmakers to create anything but a great action thriller."

"We are confident the public will be able to discern the difference between fiction and the incredible job real-life flight attendants do on a daily basis," the spokesman said.

The AFA called for the boycott along with two sister unions -- the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) and the Transport Workers Union Local 556, which represent cabin crew members from American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, respectively. The three unions together represent 80,000 of the 90,000 flight attendants who work for U.S. carriers.

Reuters/VNU

 

Northwest to lay off 1,400 flight attendants

Cutbacks announced one week after carrier files for bankruptcy protection

 

Updated: 1:52 p.m. ET Sept. 21, 2005

MINNEAPOLIS - Northwest Airlines Corp. will lay off 1,400 flight attendants between Oct. 31 and January 2006, the bankrupt carrier told its flight attendants on Wednesday.

The layoffs will begin with 900 furloughs on Oct. 31, the memo said, including 480 in Detroit, Northwest's largest hub, and 355 in Minneapolis, according to a memo by a Northwest vice president for in-flight services that was provided by the Professional Flight Attendants Association.

The pilot's union said last week that 400 pilots will be laid off in coming months Northwest said when it filed for Chapter 11 protection last week that it would furlough more workers.

 

Flight attendants may change unions

Some at NWA want new representation

September 26, 2005

BY JEWEL GOPWANI
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

The flight attendants at Northwest Airlines Inc. have an important choice to make in coming weeks.

Choice of unions Professional Flight Attendants Association

9,700 members.

Formed in 2003.

Represents only Northwest Airlines flight attendants.

Ousted the Teamsters to represent Northwest employees in 2003.

No major affiliations with other unions, but shares the same legal firm as the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association.

Association of Flight Attendants

46,000 members at 22 airlines; trying to organize Delta and Northwest flight attendants.

Formed in 1945

Part of the Communications Workers of America, which has more than 700,000 members.

Affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

Just as their employer is asking for massive wage and job cuts, there is a push among flight attendants to switch unions.

Some flight attendants are campaigning to leave the 2-year-old independent Professional Flight Attendants Association and join the Association of Flight Attendants, a decades-old union whose members and connections span the airline business.

"I don't think that our current union is prepared for the struggle that we have ahead of us," said David Barrow-West, a Northwest flight attendant for 28 years, who is leading the drive to collect enough signatures that would force a vote to choose between the two unions.

The PFAA, which represents 9,700 Northwest flight attendants, including more than 3,500 based at Detroit Metro Airport, contends that although it is young, the group is up to the job of negotiating with Northwest and must focus on talks instead of internal strife.

The conflict within the PFAA underscores the divisions within the U.S. labor movement that have already been tested by declining numbers, a bruised economy and corporations demanding more from workers.

Few industries feel the economic burden like the airline business. Battered by rising jet fuel prices and competition from smaller, more efficient carriers that keeps fares low, Northwest has lost $683 million during the first half of the year and expects to be down by more than $1 billion by the end of this month.

The Eagan, Minn.-based carrier is among four major airlines that are restructuring through bankruptcy, where a key target is labor costs, including wages, jobs and pensions.

Days after Northwest filed for bankruptcy the airline said it will cut 400 pilots in the next eight months and 1,400 flight attendants by January, including at least 480 jobs based at Metro Airport.

The airline, which carries the majority of passengers using Metro, wants another $195 millio in annual concessions from its flight attendants and in recent weeks has suggested outsourcing flight attendants' work on international flights as a way to cut costs.

These challenges make the call for new union representation troubling, said Peter Fiske, a member of the PFAA's executive board.

"At a time when we need to remain focused, build solidarity and have unity and deal with the business at hand, we have this raid," he said.

But Barrow-West argues the timing is equally crucial for those who want the AFA -- part of the Communications Workers of America and affiliated with the AFL-CIO -- to represent Northwest flight attendants.

"They're stronger. They're healthier. They're bigger. They have more resources. They have experience," said Barrow-West, a 50-year-old Hillsborough, N.C., resident who was a union leader when the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represented the flight attendants. In 2003, the PFAA ousted the Teamsters as the flight attendants' union. Barrow-West asked the Teamsters to represent Northwest flight attendants again recently, but the union declined.

With the challenges that the flight attendants face, the lack of confidence that some of them have in their current union is natural, said John Budd, professor of human resources at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

That uncertainty is acute for flight attendants who watched Northwest replace 4,400 union mechanics when they went on strike Aug. 20 after refusing to take pay cuts of at least 25% and slash nearly half of their workforce.

The flight attendants worry they're next, especially after training some of their own replacements -- hired to fill in for sympathy strikers -- during the weeks before the mechanics strike.

But the doubt also illustrates a conflict in the nation's labor movement.

This summer four unions, including the Teamsters, defected from the AFL-CIO, peeling away about a third of the AFL-CIO's 13 million members.

"The question is: Are bigger unions, better unions?" said Gary Chaison, professor of management at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

In 2003, the answer was no for flight attendants who chose the independent PFAA over the Teamsters.

"We switched to PFAA so we could have autonomy," said John Frame, a 42-year-old flight attendant from Livonia. "You don't midstream decide to throw out everything you've worked for with one organization that has only had 24 months on the property."

But James Gray, a 26-year-old flight attendant from Ferndale, wants to be a part of a larger union after watching the fiercely independent Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association garner little union support during its strike.

Gray said that's when he realized: "Wait, this could really happen to me. There's no one watching out for us."

Organizing drives typically take months, so the AFA may have to be especially quick.

To switch unions, the AFA would need to give signed cards from more than half of the PFAA's members to the National Mediation Board, which would conduct a vote.

Corey Caldwell, spokeswoman for the AFA, wouldn't say how many Northwest flight attendants have turned in cards calling for a vote. But she said the response is overwhelming.

The group must also meet the timetable of the airline and the bankruptcy court. Both have indicated they want to waste no time to restructure the airline.

In the end, it might not matter which union represents the flight attendants.

"The environment is just so negative that it's not really clear that just finding a different union is going to be enough to overwhelm the price of fuel, bankruptcy and the ability to replace striking workers," said management professor Budd.

Contact JEWEL GOPWANI at 313-223-4550 or gopwani@freepress.com.

From USA TODAY

Fuel costs may ground more flights, says AA CEO

 

American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey warned Thursday that the soaring costs of jet fuel could force his airline to cancel even more flights this fall. "It's been an extraordinary price increase," Arpey is quoted as saying by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (free registration) about the rise of jet-fuel costs. "As an industry, we're going to have to figure out how to pass that cost on to our customers, which so far we haven't been able to do." American has already trimmed 15 flights from its schedule, saying fuel costs made them too expensive to operate. Meanwhile, Arpey could also be getting ready to push workers for additional cost cuts, reports The Dallas Morning News (free registration).

The paper notes that Arpey didn't actually use the word "concession" during his Thursday speech, but says he suggested AA can't survive in its current financial condition. "We have been, in my mind, continuously restructuring the company for many years now, and we're going to have to continuously reconstruct the company going forward, and we need labor to be our partner in that process," Arpey said. "We're going to work together to find our way out of this situation." Arpey also repeated earlier calls for the government to cut fees and taxes levied on airlines, according to The Associated Press. Some of those fees are added directly to travelers' fares, but cutting the fees could allow the struggling airlines to use that as a de-facto fare increase.

From the USA TODAY

Cockpit door glitch quietly fixed

 

SEATTLE (AP) — The Northwest Airlines maintenance mechanic standing inside the Airbus A330 pressed the microphone button on his handheld radio and heard an unexpected noise: the sound of the airplane's newly secured high-tech cockpit door operating.

A glitch in the door's security technology had allowed radio interference from the walkie-talkie to scramble the electronics inside the door's locking mechanism.

The incident, in Minneapolis in December 2003, prompted a yearslong, secretive engineering effort to fix a glitch in some cockpit doors that were fortified following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, The Seattle Times reported in Thursday editions.

The glitch affected about 400 A330s and A340s made by Airbus SAS. About six months later, Chicago-based Boeing Co. learned from airline customers that it had the same problem with about 1,700 jets, the newspaper said.

Boeing said it had fixed all its jets by last month. Airbus spokeswoman Mary Anne Greczyn told The Times last week that the fix is "nearly completed" on all of that company's affected jets worldwide.

Officials from both airplane makers say there was no immediate danger to the flying public. The mechanic who inadvertently triggered the lock needed to be standing in one precise spot, and the walkie-talkie needed to be tuned to a specific frequency with a certain signal strength for the glitch to occur.

"It's an extraordinarily limited issue," Greczyn said.

Four months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the FAA began requiring that cockpit doors be strengthened on all jets flying in the United States. The mandate was especially difficult because the doors had to be strong enough to withstand bullets yet also capable of bursting open if there was a sudden loss of cabin pressure.

Also, airlines had just 15 months to upgrade thousands of airplanes.

Boeing and Airbus both used a Fullerton, Calif., supplier, Adams Rite Aerospace, for their door-locking mechanisms. Both aircraft makers said the supplier passed early certification tests and interference requirements. Executives with Adams Rite did not return The Times' calls for comment. The company also declined to comment to The Associated Press.

Both plane makers used doors that are secured with aluminum rods activated by an electronic signal. Rapid decompression would also unlock the door.

Following discovery of the glitch, Boeing said it has provided a manual bolt that could be used as a backup. Airbus said a mechanical backup has been designed for its planes as well, available to customers to use at their discretion.

Rumors.... Rumors... Wanna hear what I heard?

I just heard that UNITED is now hiring flight attendants if you are a Chicago resident....

 

Is there any truth to this rumor?  I would like to hear from anyone who flies for United about what it's really like over there now.  You know, not the fairytail that they will tell during the interview, the truth from one flight attendant to another.

As most of you already know, my dream is to be an international flight attendant.  The chance to be able to fly international trips right out of initial training is almost too good to pass up.  Even if I would have to give up getting weekends, holidays off and being on reserve forever.

Thanks for your help...

YIKES.... Like forever and a day...

Taking a break with a much needed vacation this week, and what do I wind up doing?  I get to help my boyfriend move all of his piles of stuff into my tiny little apartment!  So instead of taking it easy this week, I have to sort through his stuff and try to mix it together with mine as to not make my my....  ooops I mean OUR apartment not look like a rummage sale.  Easier said than done.

To top things all off, his siamese cat does not get along with my cats at all.  So there is an all out war of the fur balls in progress, which really starts to heat up nightly at about 3am.  I have lost 4 pairs of shoes, some uniform pieces, and some new clothes in the process as well.  The talley so far has reached over $200.00  All in the name of territory marking...

I can't wait to go back to work so that I can RELAX!!!!!!!!

From the LA times, August 6, 2005

I recieved this article in an e-mail and I thought that it might be of interest to the rest of you. 

Heroes who pass out snacks - LA Times  

 By Meghan Daum  

August 6, 2005  

TO ANYONE WHO'S ever smirked, snapped, whined, yelled or (you know who you are) thrown things at a flight attendant, let's consider this: Last Tuesday, the cabin crew of Air France Flight 358 evacuated all 297 passengers after a crash landing in Toronto. They did this in less than two minutes. Moments later, the plane burst into flames.  

I know what you're thinking: "If they can get 300 people off in under two minutes, why does it take 45 minutes to board a plane?" As in all things air travel-related, the lame jokes abound. ("I tried to jump down the slide, but they stopped me because the seat-belt sign was on!")   But maybe seeing 10 flight attendants save about 300 lives in less time than it took to watch the safety demonstration will put an end to the jokes. It's been a long time coming. Somehow, passengers have been lulled into thinking that flight attendants are there primarily to serve as waiters and arbiters of luggage space. But accidents have a way of reducing inconveniences like
pillow shortages and paltry snacks to shamefully petty concerns.  

Several years ago, while researching a magazine article about the "secret world of flight attendants," I spent a week at the flight attendant training school of a major airline. Granted, this was three years before 9/11, back when the combination of dreary mundanity and diminishing leg room had left people with about as much respect for air travel as they had for pre-owned Yugos. "Air rage" was the coinage of the day, and incidents of violence against airline personnel had risen dramatically.  

I visited the school because I was a smug young journalist working for a smug glossy magazine and I was hoping for some salacious details about a profession that had fascinated the public since the early days of commercial flight. Since airline industry deregulation in 1978, the archetypal sex-kitten stewardess made famous by books such as the 1960s-era "Coffee, Tea or Me" had devolved into a haggard assortment of short-tempered corporate drones. The heyday of air travel, when flight attendants were required to be female, slim, unmarried and possessed of the uncanny ability to cook eggs to order during turbulence, was long gone.  

But my assignment was doomed. The courses I observed had less to do with applying makeup and charming businessmen than with something far less sensational: safety.   The drills went on and on and on. We practiced verbal instructions until we could recite them like Beatles lyrics. We rehearsed procedures until every exit door and window, every inflatable slide and alarm bell felt as familiar as the dashboard controls on a car we'd owned for a decade.  

I can still remember the sensation of opening the hatch of the exit window in the cabin simulator. I can still hear the siren and the exact wording of the evacuation commands for the slides. "Keep your feet together, jump into the slide," the students yelled until they were hoarse. I watched as they learned how to inflate rafts. I ran around the simulator with them as they enacted crash after crash, knowing full well that no matter how intensive the training, nothing but focus and sheer guts would see them through the real thing.  

Among the other things I learned about flight attendants was that their starting salaries could be as low as $15,000 a year. They regularly have to work 14-hour days but are often paid for only eight hours. Most have to buy their own uniforms for hundreds of dollars. That means they often have only one, which they have to wash out in hotel sinks.   (This is the sad fact that noone realizes) -h.

Air France rightfully praised the crew of Flight 358 for its
professionalism. But it's the flying public that needs to recognize such contributions. Airline deregulation, which slashed prices along with amenities, legroom and salaries, caused many of us to forget our manners.  Then Sept. 11 introduced a narrative that suggested the fates of airliners lay in the hands of passengers, whether terrorists or heroes.  

But, as we learned on Tuesday, accidents still occur and we still rely on those who are trained to protect us from potentially tragic outcomes. On airplanes, it so happens that these are the same people who pass out the inedible food and tell us when our bags won't fit overhead. But we've seen they can do a lot more than that. Let's be polite.

 
MEGHAN DAUM is an essayist and novelist in Los Angeles.

A disturbing development in my work safety...

TSA Proposal Questioned By Flight Attendants
 
 By Sara Kehaulani Goo
 
  The nation's largest flight attendants union yesterday questioned a federal government proposal to end the ban on knives, ice picks and razor blades on board commercial airplanes.
 
 "As the front-line personnel with little or no effective security training or means of self defense, such weapons could prove fatal to our members," Patricia A. Friend, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said in a letter to Edmund S. "Kip" Hawley, the new leader of the Transportation Security Administration. "They may not assist in breaking through a flightdeck door, but they could definitely lead to the deaths of flight attendants and passengers."
 
 The TSA is reviewing security procedures at the nation's airports to determine whether they protect against current terrorist threats. An internal TSA document last week detailed proposals that focus on protecting the nation from an inflight suicide bombing attack and suggested that certain categories of passengers, such as high-ranking government officials and airline crews, could be exempt from security screening. The proposals also included a possible end to the ban on certain items allowed in carry-on luggage.
 
 A TSA spokeswoman said the proposals would not reduce the level of security at airports, adding that no final decisions have been made. "The approach is about focusing the limited resources TSA has where the threat is the greatest," spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said. "The challenge here is to look at security through the lens of threat vulnerability and consequence. The suggestions that are being considered are part of a larger effort to challenge the measures we have in place to help us improve security."
 
 The flight attendants, whose union represents 46,000 members, said that easing the ban on some prohibited items could pose a safety risk on board the aircraft and lead to incidents that terrorize passengers even if they do not involve a hijacking.
 
 "Even a plane that is attacked and results in only a few deaths would seriously jeopardize the progress we have all made in restoring confidence of the flying public," Friend said in her letter. "We urge you to reconsider allowing such dangerous items -- which have no place in thecabin of an aircraft in the first place -- to be introduced into our workplace."
 
 The TSA's proposals come at a time when Congress is cutting the number of federal airport screeners and as security experts increasingly believe that U.S. airliners are adequately protected from another Sept. 11-style hijacking because of reinforced cockpit doors, air marshals and more vigilant passengers.
 
 Yesterday, the pilots union said it agreed with many of the TSA's new proposals and welcomed the review. "We applaud the fact the TSA is taking the time to review their procedures and their screening process," said Bob Hesselbein, who serves as head of security at the Air Line Pilots Association, the union representing 64,000 U.S. airline pilots.
 
 Hesselbein suggested that security screeners could be more effective if they were trained to do more than search for scissors and Swiss Army knives of innocent travelers.

One heck of a week...

From running late, check rides, weather and mechanicals, is there anything else that can go wrong this week?

 

Ok, ever have one of those days that you shouldn't have gotten out of bed?  Well this whole weekend has been like that for me.

It all started out Thursday on my way to work, I was rummaging thru my bag for something, listening to my IPOD.  (I had just turned it on, and it was on full blast)  This older women who could have doubled for Tammy Fae's mother informs me that I have to turn my volume down.  I nod and continue to rummage through my bag to find what I was looking for, then turn my volume down.  I guess I wasn't fast enough for her liking because she glared at me, got up in a huff and moved to another seat.

I finally get to the airport, running a tad bit behind.  I race to my gate and meet up with my crew and get everything ready for our flight to Omaha.  We get to Omaha and someone informs me that she is an inflight manager from LGA, and she just gave us a checkride.  AHHHHH!!  I am sparing the details, THAT is a whole other story.  Our flight back to Chicago and then to Cleveland was uneventful...

The next day we were supposed to do a flight from Cleveland to Dallas at 1pm.  Well the flight got pushed back untill 4pm because the plane had a mechanical in Dallas.  Luckily we were still at the hotel.  When we finally get to Dallas, weather delays have backed up the entire airport.  We were an hour late going from Dallas to Little Rock.  Ohhhhhh....  And I had a precious on that flight too, who thought that all 4'10" of him was the neatest thing since sliced bread and decided to hit on me.  So I sat in the back and listened to the passengers around me making fun of him.

Yesterday afternoon, we get to the airport to find that our flight had down graded.  YEA!!!  I am the senior flight attendant, so I got to deadhead!  After spending 45 min trying to get ahold of Crew Scheduling to let them know that I didn't want to work the flight...(there was a problem with the phone systems)

We get to Dallas, and had a 2 hour break before goingto Oklahoma City.  I look in the computer to find that our next airplane was already there!  Could it be that we were ACTUALLY going to get to our overnight on time?  I spoke too soon.  The gate agent called to put a hold on the flight to wait for some connecting passengers who were running late.  We get everyone on board, close up and push back. Then we have a mechanical issue that needs to be looked at.  when the Mechanics FINALLY get to us, it turns out to be just a circut breaker that needed to be reset.  Now we are off on our merry way, only an hour behind schedule!

Now I have only one flight back to Chicago today.   With everything else that has gone wrong this trip I am wondering what kind of hell fire and brimstone that I will have to endure before I make it back home!

 

And last but not least.... from USAToday.com

This is what happens when you use the "B-word" on an airplane even though you may only be joking...

 

Written threat found on Southwest Airlines plane

 

HOUSTON (AP) — A written threat was found Friday on a Southwest Airlines flight, prompting authorities to unload the airplane away from the terminal after it landed at Houston, officials said.

Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said a passenger found a threatening note and informed a flight attendant. She didn't have other details about the note.

The plane had taken off from Dallas around 11:30 a.m. and was originally scheduled to head to Corpus Christi after the stop in Houston.

TSA, along with Houston police, are planning to question passengers at an isolated area of the airport, she said.

No injuries were reported and no one was in custody related to the note, said Roger Smith, a spokesman for the City of Houston Aviation Department. Police, fire and medical authorities on the scene as a precaution.

The 136 passengers and five crew members got off the plane at an isolated end of the airfield. They were being checked by Southwest Airlines and airport security, Smith said.

"Without infringing on their rights, Southwest is making some type of check as the passengers leave," Smith said.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Striking in the air.... More USAToday.com

Judge dismisses flight attendant complaint against Northwest

 

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge threw out a complaint by flight attendants who said Northwest Airlines was improperly training their replacements in case they strike.

The Professional Flight Attendants Association union had claimed that Northwest was changing their contract and creating a security risk by training replacement workers who had not been promised a job.

The union said trainees usually are promised a job as long as they finish training. It wanted a temporary restraining order to stop the training, which began July 30.

U.S. District Court Judge David S. Doty ruled on Friday that the dispute was minor. Under federal labor law, that means it can be decided by an arbitrator.

"We are pleased that the federal district court agrees that this is a matter to be addressed under our collective bargaining agreement with the PFAA," Northwest said in a written statement. It said training of the flight attendants would continue.

Northwest began training the flight attendants out of fear that PFAA flight attendants would refuse to cross a mechanic picket line.

Northwest's mechanics can strike after 12:01 a.m. ET on Aug. 20 if they don't reach a deal with the airline. Talks are currently stalled.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.   Posted 8/3/2005 8:24 AM

Strike looks less likely at AA than at NWA:

 In a vote this week, flight attendants at American subsidiary American Eagle authorized union leaders to call for a strike if they can't reach a new deal with management. But despite the strike vote, at least one union official says a work stoppage is not imminent. "The strike vote was called to show that the flight attendants want a contract, so that doesn't necessarily mean they want to strike," Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants union, tells the Abilene Reporter-News (free registration). And, since no strike date has been set, Caldwell says any possible strike would likely be at least "a few" months away. Still, attendants at American Eagle are frustrated. "We're basically tired of being complimented for our hard work," says Reggie Salas, the president of the American Eagle flight attendants' association. "We're not being compensated for it." Still, things at AA's American Eagle look much better than the current situation at Northwest. With relations already chilly with the company's management, mechanics there broke off contracts negotiations yesterday. That comes just about two weeks before an Aug. 20 strike date at Northwest, The Associated Press reports. Posted 9:45 a.m.

Tunis air jet crashes... 13 killed(from USAtoday.com)

Tunis Air jet crashes off Sicily's coast, 13 killed

 

PALERMO, Sicily (AP) — A Tunisian airliner that reportedly lost engine power Saturday plunged into the choppy Mediterranean while trying to make an emergency landing in Sicily, and at least 13 people were killed, officials said. At least three of the 39 people on board were missing. A French ATR-42 twin-propeller jetliner. Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Images

Some of the 23 survivors clung to the wings and fuselage of the Tuninter airline ATR-72 as they screamed to rescuers. The wreckage was battered by 10-foot waves and strong currents, delaying rescuers' arrival.

"Some people were on the wing, screaming, yelling for help," said Filippo Morgante, an official with the Palermo fire department, which sent boats out for the rescue.

"Others were on the fuselage, and some were trapped inside the plane. Some weren't wearing lifejackets. Maybe they didn't have the time to put them on."

The pilot and co-pilot survived.

The plane went down about 10 miles off Cape Gallo on Sicily's north coast, near Palermo's Falcone-Borsellino airport, authorities said. As divers searched for victims, bits of the passengers' luggage bobbed by: a black flip-flop, a book and a carryon bag resembling a picnic cooler.

The rescue operation went into the night, as fire boat crews and coast guard ships searched for the missing. The Italian news agency Apcom, quoting unidentified Palermo mortuary officials, said three bodies were later recovered, raising the death toll to 16, but that report could not immediately be confirmed.

In Tunisia, Tuninter CEO Moncef Zouari told a news conference that 13 people died, three were missing and 23 survived.

At Palermo's Giaccone Polyclinic, where the bodies were brought, coroner Paolo Procacciati told The Associated Press the victims included nine women, three men and a young girl.

The twin-propeller plane, operated by an affiliate of Tunisair, departed Bari, Italy, for the Tunisian resort of Djerba, which is popular with Italian vacationers.

The pilot radioed Rome airport aviation officials at 3:24 p.m. to report engine trouble and ask permission to make an emergency landing in Palermo, said Nicoletta Tommessile, a spokeswoman for ENAV, Italy's air safety agency.

Sixteen minutes later, the pilot told tower officials: "We're ditching in the sea," Tommessile said.

Waves as high as 10 feet and strong winds rocked the fuselage, Palermo port authority official Paolo Maioli said.

"The rescuers had to struggle against the wind, so the rescue times suffered a delay of at least 10 minutes in bringing help," Maioli said.

He said it took rescuers 40 minutes to arrive in their boats.

Fire department diver Salvatore Milazzo said the front end and tail of the plane had broken off when he arrived. Looking shaken and exhausted, he said divers pulled four bodies from the water — including a crew member in uniform — while police and coast guard boats recovered more.

"We freed a body which was trapped inside" the fuselage, Milazzo said, but it was unclear if he was referring to a victim or survivor.

SKY TG24 TV said the pilot survived and told ENAV officials that the engines lost power, but Tommessile said she could not immediately confirm that.

The pilot and co-pilot were among the survivors, said Giuseppe Ganci, a doctor at Palermo's Civic Hospital. He told the TV network that X-rays performed on the co-pilot found no major injuries, while the pilot had a neck injury.

Earlier, ENAV spokesman Adalberto Pellegrino said the aircraft was apparently intact when it hit the water.

Palermo Prosecutor Piero Grasso, who was at Palermo's port as survivors and bodies were being taken off rescue ships, said authorities ruled out terrorism.

Hours later, the tail broke off from the main wreckage, rescuers said. A large piece of the blue-painted fuselage was tossed by the choppy seas and kept afloat by a yellowflotation device attached to one end by divers.

Tunisian officials said all the passengers were Italian, and SKY TG24 said most were from the Puglia region in the heel of the boot-shaped Italian peninsula.

Palermo port official Vincenzo Pace told SKY TG24 that some bodies were found several miles from the wreckage after apparently being carried away by the current.

"The divers have confirmed that there are no bodies inside" the wreckage, Pace said.

Italian prosecutors will investigate any possible criminal cause, such as negligence, which might have forced the plane down. ENAV also was investigating.

Nine survivors were in serious condition, said Capt. Giuseppe Averna of the Italian border police's sea division.

Five survivors, including a young girl, were taken to Villa Sofia hospital, emergency room doctor Giuseppe Pumilia said. Many of the survivors were reported to be in shock, and others suffered broken bones, cuts and bruises, doctors said.

The ATR-72, which was built in France, has a two-person crew and seats up to 74 passengers. Its maiden flight was in 1988.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

FAN comment(S) of the week!!

Is this guy for REAL???

 

Dear Gold Wing Diva,

I love your journal and the insights you give. I am a 51 yr old male and I have adored flight attendants (female) since I was 7 years old. I flew across the country severaL times in the early 1960's, those sharp ladies that flew for TWA were very good to me on those flights. I still think the flight attendants make commercial aviation a pleasure (in part because it's nice to look at attractive women during during the flight), but also the pleasant conversation they give. Keep up the journal, I look forward to it! Sincerely, Dan

Comment from marsbarmartian3 - 7/24/05 6:20 PM

 

There are also alot of my attractive MALE co-workers out there who are just as pleasant and hard working as I am!  And didn't anyone ever tell you it's NOT polite to stare at people?  That has to be my biggest pet peeve when I am working, is passengers (especially men) STARING AT ME, and watching every single move that I make.  It makes me feel like I am a caged animal in a zoo...

 

Dear Gold Wing Diva,

For whatever it is worth, I adore female flight attendants and I think it is "oh so cool" that in an emergency flight attendants would rescue me!! Keep up the journal. Sincerely, Dan
Comment from marsbarmartian3 - 8/3/05 11:08 PM

 

So Dan are you saying that it wouldn't be "oh so cool" if one of my MALE co-workers pulled your day dreaming self out of a burning airplane instead?  Wake up and smell the instant coffee honey, male flight attendants can do just as good a job as any female flight attendant can.

Little something funny that I found!

From USATODAY.com

Didn't we learn anything from the Little Rock crash back in 1999???

 

Passenger jet burns after skidding off Toronto runway

TORONTO (AP) — A passenger jetliner carrying about 200 people erupted in flames Tuesday after skidding off a runway while landing in a fierce thunderstorm at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. Black smoke billowed into the air as the wreck burned. Air France passenger jetliner skids off runway at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, Tuesday. Image from television, via AP

A Toronto radio station said some passengers were seen climbing from the plane, and that most of the others had been safely evacuated. (Video: Coverage of crash)

Police said the plane was an Air France A340 from Paris that was trying to land at Canada's busiest airport when it ran into trouble. There was a storm — with lightning and strong wind gusts — in the area at the time.

Police spokeswoman Diane Cossitt said she heard over police scanners that the passengers and crew were evacuated. "That is my understanding from what I've heard but I've got no confirmation one way or the other," she said.

Toronto Fire Services Capt. David Sheen told CNN that he understood some casualties had been taken to hospitals but had no information or their condition. (Graphic: Crash of Air France 358)

AM 680, an all-news station, reported live from the scene that there were two explosions on the plane. The station quoted a police official on the nearby freeway as saying two groups of passengers had been evacuated from the jet.

AM 680 also said some passengers could be seen climbing from the plane and that emergency workers said most of 252 people on board were safe.

The report could not immediately be confirmed.

<IMG height=1 src="http://images.usatoday.com/_common/_images/clear.gif" width=10 border=0 \>      

Toronto's William Osler hospital was placed on "code orange" to prepare for injuries, according to MSNBC.

A row of emergency vehicles lined up behind the wreck, and a fire truck sprayed the flames with water. A government transportation highway camera recorded the burning plane, and the footage was broadcast live on television in Canada and the United States.

A portion of the plane's wing could be seen jutting from the trees as smoke and flames poured from the middle of its broken fuselage. At one point, another huge plume of smoke emerged from the wreckage, but it wasn't clear whether it was from an explosion.

The flaming ruin was next to the four-lane Highway 401, and some cars and trucks stopped on the roadway after the crash.

Corey Marks told CNN he was at the side of the highway when he watched the Air France plane touch down and crash.

"It was around 4 o'clock, it was getting really dark, and all of a sudden lightning was happening, a lot of rain was coming down," Marks said. "This plane ... came in on the runway, hits the runway nice. Everything looked good, sounds good and all of a sudden we heard the engines backing up. ... He went straight into the valley and cracked in half."

CNN reported the flight was Air France Flight 358, which was scheduled to arrive in Toronto at about 4 p.m. from Charles de Gaulle International Airport near Paris.

"They made an approach in weather that was worse than what they anticipated," John Wiley, a retired Airbus pilot in Toronto, told CNN.

Environment Canada, the Canadian national weather service, had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the city of Toronto earlier in the afternoon. The warning noted that a rapidly developing thunderstorm was moving south into the area at 3:45 pm, which threatened the area with large hail, torrential downpours and wind gusts of up to 60 mph.

Thunderstorms create the possibility of wind shear, the sudden, dangerous air currents that can dash an airplane to the ground as it takes off or lands.

Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport handles over 28 million passengers a year. Located 17 miles west of Toronto in the town of Mississauga, it has three terminals. Air France operates out of Terminal 3.

The last major jumbo jet crash in North America was on Nov. 12, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 587 lost part of its tail and plummeted into a New York City neighborhood, killing 265 people. Safety investigators concluded that the crash was caused by the pilot moving the rudder too aggressively.

Paris-based Air France-KLM Group is the world's largest airline in terms of revenue. It is the product of the French flagship airline's acquisition last year of Dutch carrier KLM. For the year ended in March, the company earned $443 million on revenues of $24.1 billion.

Air France-KLM operates a fleet of 375 planes and flies 1,800 daily flights, according to the company's Web site. In the last fiscal year, it carried 43.7 million passengers to 84 countries around the globe.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

VACATION!!!!!

AAhhhhhhhhhhh....  Vacation....  I am on vacation.

 

For the weekend of the fourth, I went with my boy friend to meet his parents up in northern Michigan.  ROAD TRIP!  It was relaxing not to  have to deal with anything to do with an airport or plane.  Fishing, walking, four-wheeling, star gazing, seems to agree with me.

On the 12th and 13th I will be in Dallas, doing union work.  Union work is something that I really enjoy doing, so it doesn't feel like working to me...

On the 21st I will be going to Florida with my boy friend for the weekend for my 28th birthday!  This will be his first expearience non-reving with me, so it should be interesting.  He has used buddy passes before from a friend of his, so he assures me that he is an expert. 

Then I finally have to go back to work on the 25th at 7am!  OUCH!!!  Des Moines and Atlanta here I come!!!!!!!!!!

FAN Comment of the week!!!

(FROM Did I mention that I hate weather?)

 

OMG I can so relate to that feeling of shut up, sit down and wait, I can't change the GD weather and ORD can't function if there is a raindrop or snowdrop on the field.

2 years ago I had to get back to MSN for a funeral right after the 1st of the year. LAX was jammed with Rose Bowl fans going back to DTW and I was flying UA. There was a snowstorm in ORD and everything was on a ground hold here. We had some great help from the CSA at the check in desk and since I grew up Non Revving on the great Travel with Anxiety airline I just figured we'd wait it out.

We were delayed 3 hours boarding at LAX making us miss our connection on UX to MSN. Finally departed ORD at 2300 and met the family members who had sat at MSN waiting for us for 4 hours. But we made it, and we did what we had to do and flew home safely. I am not shy about going to a gate with an earlier flight and seeing if you can get out on that, The seat is paid for one way or another if it's on that flight or the scheduled one.

I hope the storms abate and you have blue skies and good flights for a while.

magickann
Comment from magickann - 6/14/05 1:16 PM

Shameless Promotion...

 

I just got this movie today in my mailbox.  I have heard  mixed reviews from my coworkers.  I think for those of you out there who want to know what it is REALLY like to be a flight attendant whether out of curiosity or because you want to become a flight attendant, this is the movie for you.  Finally a movie made about flight attendants by a flight attendants.  This is the only movie that gives a realistic view of what our JOB is really like!

CHECK IT OUT!!!!!!

Did I ever mention that I hate weather???

"We appologize for any inconvience the weather may have caused, and we appreciate your patientence ladies and gentlemen..."

 

"We appricate your patience."  What it really means is, thanks for not vocallizing how you REALLY feel, causing a riot on the aircraft and trying to kill the flight attendants, because YOU have a connection to make!

I am sure most of you have heard that more than once on an airplane.  Being stuck on the ground in an airplane because of weather is never fun.  (Especailly NOT for the cabin crew, let me tell you!)  Being held on the ground because of weather brings up all sorts of problems:

1. Frustrated passengers who demand to be taken back to the gate, even though that's impossible.

2. Frustrated passengers who demand that you rebook them on the next flight, even though YOU know that their connection will be delayed.  (I do not have the training to rebook or change anyone's reservation, I pass out coke and pretzels and preform CPR)

3. Frustrated business travelers who travel as much as the crew does, who just wants to act out and make a fool out of themselves.

4. Frustrated once a year travelers who have been planning their dream vacation for ever, and now YOU'VE ruined it because there is a major thunder storm over O'hare.

Traveling is stressful enough without having to throw weather into the mix.  I think my next entry will be how to survive a weather delay on the ground.

News from around the Industry....

2 Men Arrested Allegedly Trying To Board Plane With Guns

Men Allegedly Posing As Police Officers

POSTED: 4:38 pm EDT May 20, 2005

UPDATED: 6:56 pm EDT May 20, 2005

PHILADELPHIA -- Two people were arrested Thursday night for allegedly trying to board a plane with guns at airport.

NBC 10 News has learned, and the FBI has confirmed that the men were just one step away from boarding an American Airlines flight sometime after 8 p.m. Thursday.  Sources told NBC 10 News that Timothy Robinson, of Philadelphia, and Steven Lundy, of Roselle, N.J, cleared the first checkpoint and were headed toward the airplane when an American Airlines representative looked at their paperwork and saw that the men were posing as police officers. The representative felt uncomfortable because she didn't think that they were really police officers, so she called the police department.

FBI agents said that the two men showed airport officials fake badges and fake police identification cards to clear security with the loaded handguns. They also filled out paperwork claiming that they were private police. Authorities said one gun was a 357 Magnum and the second gun was a 9 mm.

The Transportation and Safety Administration launched an investigation and the FBI arrested both men.

Robinson and Lundy were taken to the federal building in downtown Philadelphia. Friday and were arraigned on charges connected to posing as police officers and attempting to board an airplane with firearms.

The investigation is continuing.

Copyright 2005 by NBC10.com

 

Picking Up Open Time...

Picking up 32 hours of extra time this month seemed like a good idea, untill I had to get up at 5:30am on my day off to start the trip on the 12th of May...

Not only did I have to get up early on a day off, but I had to work a three day trip on my least favourite airplane the EMBRAER. 

There are some of our flight attendants who prefer working alone.  They like having complete control and running their own show.  I am not one of those flight attendants.  I work better with someone else as part of a team.

The trip went ok, once I got used to flying on the EMB again.  It went thru Dallas the second day, so I was lucky enough to avoid the weather that Chicago was still having on Thursday.  Now I am back at home, and happy to be here, if only for a Sunday. 

My boyfriend wasn't thrilled that I was working six days in a row but he understands that the more that I work, that the more that I get paid.  He also knows that I love what I do.

Though I should have paid more attention to the callender when I was picking up trips. Not only did I pick up a trip an entire weekend trip, but it's also during Memorial Day Weekend.  I know that it's going to be a nightmare...

Update from 2 weeks ago..

So no unruly children or their parents for that matter on the 11th of May, just some unpredictable weather...

Wednesday morning we arrived into O'Hare from Grand Rapids racing a major thunder storm.  No sooner did we arrive and unload the passengers, did the sky darken and start to rumble.  We were supposed to do another round trip to Grand Rapids at 7am, but we didn't leave the gate untill almost 9am.  Once we got back to Grand rapids, we were stuck on the ground on the runway for almost an hour and a half with a full boat of passengers. 

Now one would think that this would make for a difficult situation, but here comes the kicker...  Because we were stuck on the ground for so long on the runway, the tower in GRR had 10 pepperoni pizzas delivered out to our airplane for all of the passengers.  Yes that's right pepperoni pizzas!  This was the first time in my career that I have had to do a meal service.  In spite of the delay, the passengers were extremely patient and kind while we were on the ground.

I think that we didn't even get back to ORD untill 12:45pm, over three hours late.  So instead of getting done at 2pm, we didn't even get back to O'Hare from Omaha untill 4:30 pm, well past the time I should have been at home watching TV in my PJ's.

Random Acts Of Passive Agressive Behavior...

Being a flight attendant and being passive agressive seems to go hand in hand...  Don't let the smile fool you!  Here are some of my random confessions of girls behaving badly.

 

The following is an old joke, but a good one:

Q: How does a flight attendant say F*** you?

A: "I'll be right back!"

I seem to say, "I'll be right back," quite frequently lately...  Being passive agressive seems to creep into your soul when you are a flight attendant.  I don't personally condoan this type of bahaviour, but sometimes I let things slip without thinking...

***Monday evening Enid and I were working our last flight of the day into White Plains, NY.  I don't know what it is about these passengers that makes them think that they are God's gift to humanity, but their pretention and blatent arrogence annoys me to no end. 

We were in the middle of the beverage service, and Enid was making her way towards the back of the plane.  I was finished in my section, so I started to move the cart to where she was.  Mind you the cart weighs about 90 plus pounds, and is difficult to manuver down the isle dodging knees by ones self.  I accidently ramed it into the armrest of an exit row passenger, and by the look that she gave me, if looks could kill I would have been dead. 

I appologized profusely, and she accepted my appology.  She then went to inform me to move the cart moved away from her seat because she didn't want anything spilled on her.  (whatever I have a job to do, that was more important than her game of solitare!!!)  Blowing her comment off, I continued to help Enid serve the last few passengers, and only scooted the cart forward about 5 inches which meant that I was pouring drinks right next to the top of her head. 

When we were finished, I started pulling out the open cans and placing them on top of the cart to refill drinks on the way back up the cabin.  "OOPPPS...."  I exclaimed as I spilled some tomato juice on top of my cart by mistake.  I never seen someone move so fast in my life as she did to avoid the tomato juice that she thought I was about to spill on her!  When she glared at me, I just rolled my eyes as we pulled the cart back up to the front of the airplane...

***The next morning the flight out of White Plains, I had this family of three sitting in the bulk head row.  The mother was clutching her purse to her lap, when I opened up the over head bin and offered to put it in for her.  After much resistance she handed it to me saying, "Please be careful, where you touch it, I don't YOU want to get it dirty.....  It's REALLY expensive!"  After I had gently placed her precious purse in the over head bin and closed it, I let out a fake sneeze and wiped my nose with my hands and continued to close the rest of the overhead bins.  She didn't want anything from me during the beverage service.

***Wednesday we were working one of our last flights into Omaha.  Enid asks this passenger, who could be a double for Britney Spears husband what he wanted to drink.  After going back and forth several times, "What do you have?" "Well, what do you want?"  He decided on Sprite AND water. 

As soon as she moved past his row, the little punk was shaking his empty glass in the isle at me, demanding a refill.  Mind you I was at row 5 behind the cart, and he was seated at row 10.  I said, "NO!" "Are you serious?" he retorted.  "WE still have other passengers to take care of SIR!  And we will be refilling on the way back up."  I replied as we moved the cart past him.  We seemed to have both forgot to refill his glass as we made our way back up the isle, even though he kept trying to get our attention and make eye contact.  Come to find out, he was just another airline employee traveling on us, and should have known how to behave better.

 

Hope you enjoyed my week more than I did!

An extra fan comment to enjoy...

... where in 'cack-a-lack' are your parents from ..?  I spent time in G'boro, Lauringburg, and in Wilson ... it is my favourite state, and I have promised myself I will be buried there ...
Comment from markonit - 3/28/05 3:13 PM

 

My family lives in Sanford, NC which is closer to RDU than GSO.  They seem to like it, but it is way too rural for my tastes.  My two brothers, their families, my parents and my grandmother, all live within five miles of eachother.

Why do they call "cack-a-lack"?

 

 

Something funny that a friend sent me today!!!!

Comment of the Week...

Can you by any chance say what airline you work for, i think it would be interesting to know, if not thats okay too, i dont want you to end up like QoS(queen of the sky)
Comment from flyinonmy747 - 5/2/05 9:40 PM

 

I am sorry but I cannot comment on what regional airline that I work for. 

Though more than several of my coworkers read my BLOG on a regular basis, and both my manager and union reps are aware that I am writing about my day to day work life.  I have been adivsed, by my union, not to talk about that topic.  As well as post any kind of pictures of myself in uniform whether on the aircraft or off...

Thanks for reading, and keep checking in there are more wacky aventures to come!

The Thing About Child Safety...

Most parents would never dream of letting their children sit in a car without being belted in...  So why should being on board an aircraft be any different?

 

The following is a true story...  I know that alot of my regular readers out there are mothers of young children, so I would love to hear your feed back on this situation.

Monday, Enid and I were working a flight to Dayton, OH.  We had this mother who had a 3 year old child who was being fussy.  So she proceeded to hold him on her lap for take off.  FAA mandates that any child age 2 years and older must occupy, and be seatbelted in their own seat for taxi, take-off and landing.  Enid and I had to tell the woman 3 different times, during taxi to put her son in his own seat, before she glared at Enid, while she threw her crying son in his seat.  Yes, that's what I said, threw!  Now I understand that her son was scared and crying, but it doesn't excuse his mother from the rules that everyone else has to follow.  I am not a mother, but I know that parenting isn't easy. 

Here are some things to consider:

When traveling by car, do you take your seatbelt off as you are turning onto your street?

Do you ride around in your car with your infant in your arms?

Do you make your children wear their seat belts, when they are in the car?

Do you let your children run around inside your car?

Do you argue with a police officer, if you get pulled over?

Then why do people have such a hard time doing the same thing on an airplane?

The rules that the FAA madates that me and my coworkers ensure that passengers follow is for everyone's safety, especially you and your children... 

I understand that plane tickets can be expensive, especailly for a family of 4 or 5.  The FAA does allow children under the age of two to be a lap child, and travel for free.  How much is a child's safety worth?  In an emergency, even a minor one like let's say the landing gear won't come down.  The force of impact upon landing will make it impossible for you to keep your arms around your child.  I am a firm believer that all children regardless of age should occupy a seat in an approved child restaint device, just like travel by car. 

I WANT YOUR NAME!!!!

This month has been trying enough on my patients...  That is untill this morning in Des Moines, where it went over the top.

As I have said many times before, I am not a morning person.  Throw in reduced rest on top of that, well....  I am pretty much a walking navy blue zombie.  There isn't enough Mountian Dew on the plane that can revive me from this state. 

Passenger walks on board my plane this morning and mumbles something about noone taking her ticket.  I look down at her boarding pass, and see that she has electronic printed on the bottom.  I assumed that she was talking about that, so I said, "You're fine, you have and electronic ticket."  Then she sat down.

Come to find out what really happened is that she just walked DOWN the jet bridge while the gate agent's back was turned or something, without him running her boarding pass in the EGR.  She was physically on the airplane, but the computer system didn't think that she was.  After the gate agents made several calls in the gate area, they took them off of the list, and pulled her bags aside.  It would have been caught right away if my #2 flight attendant had counted the passengers correctly rather than just matching the count to what the gate agent had.  So up comes the missing passenger from her seat with her boarding passes stating that there was NOONE at the gate, so she just walked down the jet bridge. 

The agent takes the stubbs of her boarding pass, and asks her why she JUST went down the jet bridge.  She then points to me and said that she told ME, but I did nothing.  So now everything is MY fault, and the other flight attendant is NO help because he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut.  So we sit her back down, the agent was going to put her back on the flight in the computer, and have the ramp quickly reload her bags. 

After the safety demo, I do my compliance check.  I make my way through the plane, and there's the other flight attendant talking to the woman, and she is very upset, demanding my name.  Here is my other flight attendant telling the woman over and over again....  "WELL YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE JUST WALKED DOWN THE JET BRIDGE WITHOUT SOMEONE THERE!!!!"  Not even listening to the women who was upset that her bags may or may not make it to her destination.  Granted it wasn't a very smart move on the woman's part, just walking down a jet bridge, but that's beside the point.  Not only NOW is everything MY fault because I  allegedly REFUSED to help her when she claimed to have come to me for assistance, now she was pissed off because of what the other flight attendant was telling her, and is threatening to write us up.  That is something that I take very seriously regardless of who's right or wrong.   

It is now time for us to take our seats for take off, so I was going to have to let this poor woman sit and get more and more angry untill we got up in the air.  I knew that I would have to put my fatigue aside and put myself in this woman's shoes and come up with an appology.  To put insult to injury after we got in the air, as the other flight attendant was walking forward to the galley to help me get things ready for the beverage service, he informs me that he talked to the woman AGAIN, restating what he had already said!  I was livid.  I told him not to say another word to her, that I was going to have to undo the dammage that he had already done...

To make a long story short, after we had completed the beverage service, I went back to the woman and kneeled down in front of her, an appologized for not being more alert, and addressing the situation.  I also explained that the only excuse that I had for being absent minded was the 4 hours sleep that I was able to get last nite.  Being tired shouldn't be an excuse, but it does effect how I am able to handle situations.  Suprisingly she accepted my appology, and said that she would be upset if her bags didn't get there when she did.  I then told her that she had every right to be concerned and upset.  I appologized again, and her face started to soften.  Whether or not she will write a complaint letter remains to be seen, but now I have to fill out a report to cover my behind, just in case....

I hope that May will be a better month, at least I will be working with someone else whom works harder than Ido!

Blah........

I am sorry that I have been lacking on my entries.  It's hard to be inspired to be whitty and write about my boring life, when noone seems to e-mail or comment anymore...

 

 

Comment of the Week...

That is great that you enjoy your job. Most people have jobs that they can't stand, so it's really wonderful that you have fun at your job. Do you ever get tired of flying all around though?
Comment from danyalesmith01 - 3/21/05 5:31 PM

 

Yes of course I get tired of my job at times.  There are days that the last thing that I want to do, is put on my uniform, makeup, wings, and smile. 

There are some days that I work up to 5 or 6 flights.  That makes for a long day.  Sleeping in a different hotel more nights than I sleep at home.  Living my life out of a 22 inch roller board isn't easy, but it has taught me to relish and value the simple things. 

Eating food while it is still hot, sleeping in my own bed, and wearing normal clothes are all things that normal 9 to 5 people take or granted.  I don't get a lunch break, so I am always grabing food on the go.  It may have been hot when i bought it, but not when I get a spare minute to eat it.  Eating a hot meal that I MADE myself...  Well that makes for utter heaven!

But do I get tired of flying around all day?  No, it's in my blood.  I have never been a nine to five person.  Every flight is different, and I never know what to expect from the people who step on board my plane.  Since most Americans spend a majority of their time working, to find a career that I have a passion for far out weighs the minor inconviences that may pop up time to time.

It comes down to the million dollar question that your High School councilor may have asked...  "What would you do if you had a million dollars?"  I would travel.

Another voice about connections...

Connections -- unfortunately most connection times are set by the airlines' own computers and it can be difficult or impossible to arrange a trip without short connects.  I prefer 60 minutes, too, but it just doesn't always work out that way.

This is true to a point, but depending on the fare rules of the price that you are paying, you do have SOME flexablity for the flights that you are able to take.

What a lot of people don't realize is that a 30 minute connection gives you only 15 minutes to get to the gate.  At any point after 15 minutes prior to the scheduled departure standbys can be processed (i.e. your unoccupied seat goes to someone else) and the door is closed (and they are unlikely to reopen it for you!).

This is SOOOOO true.  I have preached about this time and time again.  It is very rare that a flight will be reopened for you if you can't make it to you connecting gate on time!

Sometimes when I'm going to a strange airport I print out maps of the concourses, which often help.  The major airline magazines (which they invite you to take with you) usually have those maps in them somewhere, too.

This is something that I do on a regular basis as well.  I went to Boston a month ago and I was meeting a friend of mine on his layover.  He works for another airline, and I had to find out where is airline was located.  Printing out a map of the entire airport was helpful.  Come to find out, I had to go clear to the other side of the airport.  If you do a google search of the airport name, each airport has their own website with maps, and terminal information.

Thanks for the great tips!!!

Comment from backtonorway - 3/28/05 8:14 PM

A good piece of information...

Most airlines have dropped the free baggage weight limit from 88lbs to 50lbs total.

I don't recall a free 88# limit ever. For the 2 airlines I fly regularly (Northwest and Delta) the checked bag limit for coach passengers is 2 bags up to 50 pounds each on domestic itineraries. International itineraries are controlled by tariffs, e.g. for trips between the U.S. & Europe the limit is 2 bags up to 70 pounds each. I can't find any evidence that any major carriers have recently dropped below these limits. If you fly at least 25K miles/year, chances are that your airline will allow greater limits, e.g. my wife & I both can check 2 bags up to 70 pounds each on Northwest (and a 3rd when we are upgraded to FC). We usually just travel with carryon rollaboards these days. I can't imagine even approaching the limits on checked baggage but some people must do it! Comment from backtonorway - 3/28/05 8:03 PM

This is a good piece of information, thank you for taking the time to inform. 

Though a majority of my readers who asked for my travel advice, never travel 25,000 miles a year, nor do they make trips to Europe in first class.  There are different standards for premium and top tier passengers, that's a given.  I was giving general information for those who may only travel to and from grandma's house every couple of years, that they may need to be aware of.  There are alot of my readers who have small children, so it's pretty much impossible to just carry on.

When I started flying FIVE years ago, the checked baggage limit was 88 pounds total, because I had to make sure that my baggage that I brought to training did not weigh more than 88 pounds.  With belt tightening and increased fuel prices, airlines reduced the check baggage limit.  Before the reduction there was a variance from airline to airline for domestic checked luggage.  From what I observed now, it's pretty much standard.

Doing the Non-rev Gamble.....

I went home to North Carolina to visit my family for Easter weekend.  I don't mind sitting in coach anymore, now that I no longer have to pay a service charge.

 

Spring Break has SPRUNG! (Traveling Tips Part #3)

Spring break is here.  What better time then to pass on more of my traveling tips to make traveling this spring break and on to summer easier for those who do not live in an airport like I do.

In my last traveling tips entry:

Tips part two (dated 1/10/05 in my journal archives)

I focused on getting through security without a hassle.  The Trasportation Security Administration has added some new prohibited items to the already lengthy list that you cannot bring into the airport.  For an up to date list, visit: Transportation Security Administration.  This website has a wealth of information for those of you who travel seasonally.  For example, as of April 15, 2005 lighters will no longer be allowed in carry-ons.

Most airlines have dropped the free baggage weight limit from 88lbs to 50lbs total.  That's not each bag, that's both checked bags.  So to avoid an additional fee for packing too much stuff that you don't need, planning is key.  Also pack important things in your carry-on in the unlikly event that you get stranded in an airport on your way to your dream vacation.

Some smart things to pack in your carry on could be:  Toiletries, asprin, band-aids, bottle of water, snacks (most airlines still do not provide inflight meals), any medication that you need to take, a book, magazines or other things to occupy time, EAR PLUGS, neck pillow, eye mask, lotion (to keep your skin hydrated), spare change of undies, hairbrush, just to name a few.  These are only to give you some ideas to think about.  An hour layover in Chicago, could turn into all day.  Being prepared for the unexpected will reduce stress, and make your life alot easier.

 

Also, if you are traveling with children, elderly, or do not travel enough to be familiar with airports, keep that in mind when you are booking your reservation.  Thirty minutes is not enough time to connect from one plane to another, when you have children and bags to contend with.  If possible, I suggest that a minimum of 60 minutes.  Especially at busy airports like, Chicago, Boston, New York, Atlanta... basically any major hub that you connect thru.  Once again, thinking ahead will save you time, and make your trip alot less stressful.

Now sit back relax and enjoy your trip...  Make sure to bring me back something good!