Just got done with four days of flying, a turn on Friday and then a three day Saturday, Sunday, Monday. It was a long four days. Your crew can make or break a trip, and sometimes just one flight attendant can set the tone for an entire trip. Unfortunately, that was the case for my turn. For me this is worse than having bad passengers. There’s a chance for better passengers every leg. Sometimes your stuck with a mean flight attendant for four days! I won’t drag this post down with all the details, I’ll just introduce you, you can use your imagination from there.

Our lead flight attendant, I’ll call her FA 1, was a type A personality. It was her way or it was wrong, and she’d freak out if it didn’t go her way. FA 2 showed up to the plane at our scheduled show time, not late, not early, but exactly on time. FA 1 decided that she wanted to commence boarding at show time. Not cool. We have ten minutes between show time and board time because as a crew we need to introduce ourselves and have a crew briefing. We also have the important task of checking all of our emergency equipment. So needless to say FA 1 made us all upset especially FA 2. In her eyes FA 2 was late by being on time. Lets just say it was a long day. She’s been added to my “no fly” list.

No Fly List: Flight Attendants who made my life a living hell while working with them. I will do whatever it takes to avoid flying with them again, i.e. drop or trade trips when I see their name on the crew list.

Notes:

Turn

*I’m pouring my pre-departure drinks and preparing my galley for the service. FA 1 fills the silver tray to deliver the pre-departure drinks to our first class passengers when she notices I pre-mixed a cocktail. By her response, I assume she would rather I placed the bottle of liquor beside the mixer and cup of ice and let the passenger mix their own drink:

“OH LORD!!” “I can’t give anyone a drink that strong! Especially because it’s a woman!”(she now pushes in front of me and grabs said cocktail, throws it in the trash and proceeds to grab a mini and fix things the way she sees fit)

*1E and F are traveling with there two children who are in coach with their nanny. Mom decides she wants to sneak every snack she can to her kids. That’s fine, but, she wants to go back and forth from row 1 to row 28 every 5 minutes. While we’re in the aisle working. She and I need to talk about packing snacks;-)

1F decides he needs something out of his suitcase that’s in the overhead, at the exact time I am rounding the corner with a meal tray for 2A. Instead of hurrying or moving he starts to ask 1E when she plans on getting the zipper fixed on the bag he’s trying to get into. She is getting irritated and not responding to him. He doesn’t give up and starts poking her. I’m still standing with tray. She finally says, “I DON’T KNOW, I’m watching the movie. He asks if she wants her jujubes. She, not hearing what he said, shoos him away more irritated. He asks her again. I’m still standing. He holds candy box in front of her. She realizes he is offering her candy and gushes all over him like he’s her knight in shining armor. He finally moves, I continue on with my service.

*I deliver the tray to 2A, he says, “Nasty.” I say, “excuse me?” He says, “Nasty, nasty.” I realize he has an accent and is saying Nestea as in Nestea, ice tea. Phew.

Three day trip

*first leg we are delayed one hour while waiting for connecting passengers. We waited because even though it wasn’t the same aircraft our flight number was the continuation of the inbound flight. And, since it was the same flight number, it makes it more difficult to just leave without the passengers from the inbound flight because operations would have to change our flight number. Apparently, this becomes a big deal with ATC (air traffic control). Once our passengers arrived, weather started moving in. Thunder and lightning with dime size hail. Two more hours delayed. We were supposed to end our day in New York at 6am. We arrived at 8:30am.

*I’m now in coach, and during boarding a passenger asks me if they may sit in the exit row if there is a seat available once we’ve boarded everyone. A question I normally would say, of course to. I have to say no. The people that are sitting there have paid extra and it wouldn’t be fair to let anyone else sit there at no extra charge. I’m not happy with this new responsibility.

*Also, during boarding the agent send a mom and four children down with all separate seats. All separate middle seats. Grrrrr. I ask the mom if the two oldest kids can sit in there assigned seats. She says yes, but I still need to make three middle seats into a row together. I ask an unaccompanied minor who is seated next to one of there middles if he would please take a middle seat behind us for his aisle. He is very sweet and says yes. Now I’ve got two seats. I sit the mom and two kids in the whole row and tell her that when the window seat passenger arrives to ring the call light. To my amazement, the person I ask to move is traveling with her father who is in the seat next to the middle seat I ask her to take! I couldn’t have planned that any better.

*During the beverage service a passenger was upset that we weren’t serving food. (It was 2am) She grumbled that she paid $200 for an apple juice. I guess the ride from point A to point B was free?

Day two of three day trip:

*lead flight attendant realizes that a passenger on the first class manifest is a guy that used to stalk her. Small world.

*passenger tells flight attendant that she needs to lift her bag for her because she just had shoulder surgery. Flight Attendant says, “Yeah, and I don’t want to have shoulder surgery,” and walks away

*On flight to Vegas I notice a passenger reading a  Suze Orman book. I think she must be going to Vegas for the shows not gambling.

Note to self: Fly more in the winter, take most of the summer off.


Flight Attendant tip: If working a red eye flight and call light goes off, bring a glass of water with you when you answer the call, it’ll save you the trip back.