Well until May when I go back to my normal flying schedule (normal...did I just call my schedule normal? ha) I can use that line. But for the rest of the month- I have to let them call me on my reserve days.
Being on reserve-I can be sent all over our flying system to fly with any crew. Sometimes its really a ton of fun & other times it can be dreadful. As schedule/line holders, we assume our Reserve/replacement Flight Attendant is brand new. Sometimes I go along with it...and at the end of the trip inform them that I'm not a newbie, but thanks for the tips!
There's so much I could write about but I'll hone in on how my co-worker's attitude affects passengers. Bottom line.... young (okay only 2 years younger than me), thinks they are owed something in life, doesn't understand the importance of customer service, thinks that unless you are mean that passengers will not comply, and was impossible to feel at ease around. Hit every nerve with me....which is tough to do. I love to have fun on my trips and hate it when I have to pull teeth to get along with the other Flight Attendant because the passengers can see it.
The trip was mostly an easy trip, but had few issues that would've been non-issues had I been working with any other crew:
- Day1: Alcoholics. During my pre-departure cabin check I asked 2 men to turn off their phones & noticed an intense alcohol odor. That triggers to me to be alert, but I'm sure they'll be fine. My coworker served them alcohol-no bigge. They were quiet all flight....but when I picked up their trash I held the bag open and he dropped it on the other side of the bag and it was a big to do to get the trash & put it in the bag. Still- they weren't beligerent, but did appear to be intoxicated. I don't like over-serving people when they get to this point because even though they are fine on my flight they will be someone else's problem & I don't wish that upon anyone. So I mentioned to my coworker my observations and said "It's up to you if you want to serve them again." My co-FA's response stunned me "Again...why wouldn't I serve them? They aren't doing anything wrong." So I just repeated "Its up to you. I just wanted to make you aware of what I observed. You are working the galley, & you are senior to me. It's up to you when they ask." I have a feeling if something had gone wrong- had they become rowdy and crazy drunks, that I would've been at fault for not speaking up. It's called communication- you communicate issues & potential issues with each other so you can prepare mentally the possible outcome.
- Day1: 2Hr Flight with 20 passengers after a 30min delay And my co-worker decided to take the first 30 minutes of the flight (instead of the delayed boarding) to eat dinner. We usually conduct service within the first 15 minutes of reaching 10,000'. I decided to just do the service by hand and let my co-FA eat. It was only 20 people & half were sleeping. "It's a 2hr flight what are you in a hurry for?" I just said "It's not a big deal, go ahead & eat. I've got it. We were late boarding & I just thought it'd be nice to give everyone a drink earlier in the flight since some may have had to run just to catch the flight."
- Day2: Early morning flights with less than 30 passengers on both flights. This time, I was the GalleyGirl. Since my co-worker made a huge fuss about not bringing out the cart for 20 people last night, I set it up this morning for our 30 people (seriously wtf?! btw) and was asked why bother with the cart for 30 people........seriously?!
- Day3: Tarmac Delay=1HR....I was working the Front again. A woman boarded and when I asked her "How are you this morning." She told me she wasn't so great because her mother was having emergency surgery and she hoped her flights were all ontime so she could make it. You can imagine her concern over this 1hr delay into her first connection. My coworker said to me, "Not our problem. What does she think we can do about it. I don't know why you told everyone to feel free to ask us questions when there's nothing we can do." Stunned...I told my co-worker to take a seat and I'd be happy to help ease the stress of our passengers. For the woman trying to get to her mother- I suggested to her that if she missed her first connection to ask if she could be rebooked to a city 1hr driving distance away from her original destination, looked up the flight schedules on my Blackberry & wrote down the info for her so she could provide that option to the agents. The woman was so grateful- I didn't fix it for her, but I took the time to care. Another passengers said "You know, we appreciated your attempt to help us. I know there's nothing anyone could do, but the fact that you offered your professional advice & took the time to explain things means a lot to me. Thank you."
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