My View from 30,000 Feet: training

training

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Dear Passenger,

Have you seen the news this summer? It’s been bumpy up here at 30,000 feet and people are getting hurt!

A flight from London (LHR) to Los Angeles (LAX) diverted to Montreal (YUL). Five passengers and one Flight Attendant were injured. The Flight Attendant had to have surgery on a compound fracture of her leg. According to the news report:

“The woman's bone was reportedly sticking out of her leg for approximately four hours before the plane was able to land."

Yeah, I just put that visual in your head...

A short hop from Reno (RNO) to Boise (BOI) on a regional jet this summer had another Flight Attendant get injured.

Turbulence gave a New York (LGA) to Palm Beach (PBI) Flight Attendant a broken back earlier this Spring.

And last week, a jumbo jet from Washington (IAD) to Los Angeles (LAX) diverted to Denver after turbulence injured 30 people.

So, speaking for Flight Attendants everywhere, what’s with not wearing your seatbelt on an airplane? What makes putting it on so difficult? And, why won’t you stay seated while the seatbelt sign is on? Do you have more information than the Captain does?

If you listen to Air Traffic Control you'll hear pilots reporting to the Controller how smooth or bumpy the air is-and that is relayed to pilots about to fly in that area. Armed with that information, the Captain may decide that it is safest for if you sit down and buckle up. This is the only way to securely attach you to the airplane-which is the safest for you.

Ding! He turns on the seatbelt sign and makes an announcement for you to strap in. Flight Attendants will perform a safety check, walking down the aisles with our heads turning left to right-like watching a tennis match- as we look at your laps and remind you to fasten your seatbelt.

Sometimes, the Captain also requests that the Flight Attendants take their seats. He knows it will be unsafe for us to be up.

So, we scurry to our ~~ironing boards~~ jumpseats, strap in, and stay there until the Captain lets us know it is safe for us to get up and resume our duties.

So, why in the heck are you getting up, struggling to hold on to the back of the seats as you attempt to make it down the aisle of the bouncing plane, to the lavatory? Can't it wait? When you make it to the lav area, one of us politely says “The Captain has the seatbelt sign on, please take your seat.” And, you reply, “Can I just go to the bathroom?”

What am I supposed to say? “No, you can’t go pee!” or “Of course!” I am not your mother, nor a “seat-belt nazi.” I cannot determine whether or not you will be injured if you decide to use the lavatory.

I usually just say the same thing I said before, “The Captain has the seatbelt sign on, please take your seat.” And, I just look at you, expressionless. I know, I know—I’m a bitch in your eyes when I say that.

Here are some comments taken from an online bulletin board that is only for Flight Attendants. Some of it’s not pretty—it’s a place where we can say what we want without fear of repercussion—and we do.

wetravel:

“I sure am tired of being the Seatbelt Nazi. Rather than the FAA checking to see if we use the right verbiage for the exit rows and constantly scrutinizing everything that we do, why don't they do a crack down on passengers that disobey crew member instructions. Maybe…if word got out that you could get a ticket for not observing posted signs, placards and crewmember instructions, some of this blatant disregard would cease."

Shuttle Diva:

“With regards to our own safety...I want everyone to know that the reason I was injured was due to being unable to get buckled in quickly enough because a passenger was standing in front of the jumpseat waiting for the toilet. The whole event happened in no more than 15 seconds. I was thrown out of my jumpseat and flipped like a pancake, landing on my back. If I had been able to get into my jumpseat quicker (i.e. having the area clear of that passenger standing in front of it), I would have been buckled in already & not thrown off the seat. So, from now on, I WILL be adamant about not having any passengers standing either in the galley or near the jumpseat. If they are waiting for the toilet ... whether or not the seatbelt sign is on ... they will have to stand in the aisle forward of the side facing lav. My injury could have been a LOT worse than just a bruised hip, pulled neck muscle and slight concussion. None of us need to be out of work due to an occupational injury. Turbulence is serious stuff. “

Steve in the Sky:

“I am very glad to hear that the crewmembers on the LAX flight were not injured. However, the problem with passengers not listening to us is not going to change anytime soon, unless the FAA does start fining people for noncompliance with the seatbelt sign.”

G-man:

“I am not a seatbelt Nazi or a Potty Czar myself. I remind people seat belt sign is on and they should be seated. However, under no circumstance do I allow any passenger to stand near my jumpseat if that sign is on.”

Fran:

“I always lock the lav door that's located in front of my jumpseat whenever the seat-belt sign is illuminated. Frankly, I would love to leave it permanently locked during the summer as turbulence is a given. I actually had a passenger tell me recently that he was not going to return to his seat until he used the lav. And this was after the captain told us to be seated within 10 min. as he was expecting turbulence. What the hell are we supposed to do with that?!

Lisa:

"Yes, if I have been told to sit by the cockpit, I will lock the lav in front of me. I will also tell the people who ignore the seat belt sign and my request to be seated to wait outside the galley area. One smiled and ignored me, to which I said, "Just go forward of the galley then, so if you fall, you will land on your baby (which she was holding) and not ME."

You can see that we take turbulence seriously, but ultimately, you make your own decisions. Please buckle up, and perhaps enjoy the SkyMall magazine while you wait!

Fondly,

Blondie

One thing cool about the company I fly for--I am qualified to work any of the aircraft we operate, anywhere in the world. My least favorite is the Boeing 757--too many passengers and not enough Flight Attendants. My favorite plane to work is a 767. I just like the smaller size. My second favorite to work is this one- the 777. The one I am showing you is configured with 12 seats in First Class, 49 in ~~Bitter~~ Business Class and 197 in ~~the Village~~ Coach.

These First Class seats lie flat--those are pillows and blankets in the seats. Usually, a Senior Mama will bid to work the First Class galley--it's a very easy position to work. Only 12 passengers to tend to, and most will sleep after the meal. And, on an International flight, one of the First Class seats is the pilots' crew rest seat--so, there is one less passengers to worry about.

This is half the galley in Business. The person that works the Business galley does a lot of work. She coordinates the whole she-bang: drinks, hot towels, linens, ~~hot nuts~~ cocktail snacks, wines, entrees, and dessert cart. On an International flight, there will be a second service, which is usually not as intense as the first one. All of this for 49 people.

Those aluminum boxes are called "carrier boxes". Each one contains something different. One might have the coffee service items, another will have linens or glassware, another will have orange juice and coffee creamers and lemons and limes. A couple will have bags of ice, with tiles of dry ice on top. On the wall in the Business galley you can see the "cork puller" which is used to open bottles of wine. (Now, though, most of the wine comes with screw caps.)

The carts, under the counter top, also each have something different. Two of them are beverage carts, with soda, beer, wines and liquor and glassware. A couple of them have the basic trays for dinner--preset with a salad, appetizer, wine glass and silverware. All the "aisle" person has to do is place the hot entree of choice onto the preset tray and place in on the passenger's table. A couple more of the carts have the trays for the second meal service, which is done just before landing.

Coach seating

Our seats in Coach have individual monitors and there is a variety of programming--sure helps pass the time on a long flight.

This is the galley back in Coach. Once again, the same sort of things as in the other two galleys--just 5 times as much! And, the service isn't really even nice--we have to do it quickly--just a drink, another drink, chicken or pasta, coffee, that's really it. And we do that 197 times for the first service, Later, the second meal service is more like a drink, slap a continental breakfast on your tray, then a "thanks for flying with us!"

The Coach galley is U shaped, with this being the 4th wall. Carts and carrier boxes all over the place!

Lavatory in front of the 4L jumpseat.

Here is my favorite thing about some of our 777s: the Lower Lobe Crew Rest. Located below the passenger cabin, in the crossaisle in the Economy cabin, most of our passengers never see us descend down the stairs between meal services.

This is my friend, Remle, going downstairs of the Crew Rest area. (These pictures were from training.)

Once below, there are six bunks with fresh linens for each crew person. There is a curtain on each of the bunks that pull closed for privacy. Inside the bunk is an air vent, a light, and an audio jack to listen to the inflight entertainment. There is also safety equipment down there, an escape hatch, and we have all memorized very specific instructions on how to fight a fire should one occur down there.

I usually change into yoga pants and a comfy shirt so I can really relax and not have my uniform so wrinkled when I go back to work after a break.

These two bunks are configured behind and under the stairs.

My friend, Keelan, who is now Chicago (ORD) based.

Finally, a cool tidbit about the Crew Rest area on a 747: it is located way up in the tail of the aircraft and you get there by climbing a spiral staircase behind a door at the very back of the Coach cabin. (Okay, it's a very skinny spiral staircase--don't get any visions of granduer here--after all, it's an airline I'm talking about!) It looks similar to this Crew Rest, but has an additional two La-Z-Boy type recliners in there.)

Blondie

Here is a picture of me pinning on Cherie's Flight Attendant wings last week. It was a nice ceremony, complete with tears and cake! Cherie is the quintessential Flight Attendant--smart, pretty, poised, graceful, elegant and can tell a mean off-color joke!

(By the way, I am very proud of how perfect the back of my hair looks! It happens--once a decade!)

Buckle up, y'all!

Tour of a Boeing 777

Graduation from Stewardess College

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