20 Years at 30,000 Feet: A Flight Attendant Answers Readers’ Questions

As a flight attendant who has been on the job for 20 years, it’s straightforward to take my journey insights as a right — the little suggestions and methods that make the journey smoother.

However after watching so many passengers miss essential occasions this summer season due to airline cancellations and delays, I knew I needed to begin sharing that information. Final month I provided nine tips for surviving travel now, and I used to be stunned by the optimistic response — and the thousands of comments.

After the story printed, I invited readers to ask more questions, of which I acquired a whole lot. I do know, to a few of you, I’ve a curious and mysterious job. It was enjoyable to study what you surprise about, from how we glance so recent after lengthy flights (dim lighting) as to whether or not you must drink the espresso onboard (I don’t, however a lot of the flight attendants do).

Listed below are my solutions to a choice of your questions, a few of which have been calmly edited for size and readability. I hope you get pleasure from them.

I used to be just lately assigned to an exit row as soon as already onboard. I don’t wish to be accountable in an emergency. What occurs if a passenger speaks up about not wanting to take a seat there?

We would like you to talk up. You might have an important job in that row, and we want to have the ability to belief everybody sitting there. We ask everybody within the row if they’re prepared and capable of assist in an evacuation, and being unwilling is completely comprehensible. Nothing unhealthy occurs; you may transfer to every other open seat, or we ask round for somebody to commerce seats with you. There may be all the time somebody who would like the exit row for the additional leg room.

What’s one factor you want all passengers would do on a airplane to make your job simpler?

Acknowledging us as individuals and never treating us as a part of the plane furnishings goes a great distance. It’s demoralizing to welcome individuals aboard flights who look proper by way of us with no response. Smiling, and saying little issues like “please” and “thanks” all the time helps to spice up our spirits. That excellent flight attendant smile is difficult to maintain when everybody round is giving us the stink eye.

What are some issues that passengers do this drive flight attendants loopy?

Don’t contact flight attendants. This must be frequent sense, however by some means it’s not. We don’t prefer to be poked, tapped or grabbed.

The dearth of headphone etiquette drives me nuts. There may be nothing extra annoying than attempting to speak to somebody who’s trying proper at me, and so they don’t care sufficient to pause their film or take their earbuds out. The humorous half is, often I’m asking them what they wish to drink or eat. I give the courtesy of asking 3 times. If I don’t get a response, then I transfer to the subsequent passenger. Right here is the worst half: About three rows later that very same individual will ring their name button and ask why they didn’t get a drink.

In case you fly whereas off obligation, do you let the flight attendants know you’re a flight attendant? Is there a secret handshake or code? Will you get particular remedy?

Sure! There isn’t a secret handshake, we merely say hello and inform them the place we’re sitting. We don’t get particular remedy, other than possibly making a brand new pal or getting a complete can of soda. We let the crew know as a courtesy in case there’s an emergency on board, so that they know the place to go for an additional hand to assist out.

Do you’ve any insider suggestions for fogeys flying with younger toddlers? I’m a single mother and dread every flight I take with my almost-2-year-old.

First, and most essential: Your baby will really feel your nerves. In case you are burdened, they are going to be burdened. Make flying as thrilling as potential for them forward of time. Costume them in a particular new airplane outfit, or purchase a brand new ebook, or a field of crayons. Allow them to have all of the display screen time they need. Obtain and watch a brand new film or sequence. Follow with headphones earlier than the flight so that they know the way they work. Permit them to hold their very own little “on the go” bag, with new airplane actions in it. Allow them to eat or drink one thing on the airplane they aren’t all the time allowed to have, like a cookie, chips or somewhat soda. We don’t all the time have them, however you may all the time ask the crew for these little plastic wings, and tell us if it’s their first flight.

Hold your carry-ons as gentle as potential, and verify the remaining. Pack just a few diapers, a change of garments, some snacks and any treatment. We additionally like if you deliver automobile seats. I do know they’re heavy and arduous to cope with, however most instances small children really feel extra comfy as a result of it’s acquainted, and it boosts them excessive sufficient to see out the window. We like them as a result of they’re safer. It additionally doesn’t harm to allow them to run their power out within the airport earlier than the flight.

I’m terrified to fly since I misplaced mates on the planes of Sept. 11. Turbulence and the sketchy conduct of different passengers doesn’t assist. What would you recommend to calm my nerves?

There may be nothing I can say to calm your nerves after dropping mates on that day. All of us misplaced one thing, however for you it was private. That’s a lot deeper than an irrational concern of flight. All of us have anxieties about flying, even when we’re not really scared. You aren’t alone.

Different passengers can add to all of that, however, for essentially the most half, for those who thoughts your individual enterprise, then different individuals shouldn’t trouble you. Professional issues with passengers are literally few and much between. I don’t prefer to fly as a passenger anymore both; being round individuals on my day without work causes gentle anxieties. So I really feel you. After I fly as a passenger, I’ve began bringing noise-canceling headphones and my pill loaded with motion pictures or exhibits. I begin watching one thing as quickly as I sit down and fake I’m in my front room. I’m instantly engrossed in my present.

In case you are seated subsequent to somebody who’s inflicting you anxiousness, there’s an opportunity an attendant can transfer you if the flight isn’t full. Additionally it is completely affordable to ask a gate agent for those who can sit by a window or aisle earlier than boarding. A glass of wine could assist, too, that will help you calm down and benefit from the flight.

I marvel that, as a flight attendant, you’ve really chosen to be on an airplane for a residing. Do you ever get scared up within the air?

No, I don’t often get scared. Each on occasion one thing startles me, although. I do know each sound and feeling my airplane makes, and after I hear one thing that isn’t fairly proper I get nervous. If I have to, I name the pilots and allow them to know what I heard, and so they verify issues out.

I might all the time moderately be flying than driving. Driving to and from work is the scariest a part of my week. I like being within the sky trying down. The world seems to be so peaceable from above. My workplace window is a pleasant respite from a loopy world of site visitors and chaos. Strive to consider that as a substitute. A few of our flying concern is the dearth of management: We’ve got to place our belief in two individuals up entrance whom we don’t know and might’t see. They undergo lots of coaching to earn that accountability. We take it as a right, however flying actually is a marvel. Attempt to ignore the remaining and luxuriate in having the ability to journey someplace in just a few hours’ time, in comparison with the weeks or months it will have taken our ancestors.

What’s the greatest false impression about your job?

That we’re on airplanes for customer support. We are literally there for security. Earlier than World Battle II, air hostesses had been registered nurses. The requirement to be a nurse ended in the course of the battle as a result of the nurses give up flying to affix the battle efforts. Now, we undergo intense coaching to discover ways to use all the protection tools onboard, and the place it’s on every plane. We prepare on fundamental lifesaving expertise, reminiscent of CPR. We discover ways to evacuate an plane in 90 seconds or much less in case of emergency touchdown on land or in water. We additionally study firefighting, and find out how to cope with safety threats and unruly passengers.

The second greatest false impression is that our job is glamorous. Our days are very lengthy, and our overnights quick. Typically we’re so drained that, as a substitute of having fun with our lengthy layovers by sightseeing, we spend them in our resort rooms in pajamas watching motion pictures. Some nights are unbelievable, although. The craziest half is that one evening I will be sitting by the ocean, sipping prosecco with recent seafood, and the subsequent I will be consuming a four-day-old sandwich in my galley, subsequent to a bathroom, whereas somebody is doing yoga in my face. Being a flight attendant is a lot greater than only a job; it modifications your entire way of life. However I wouldn’t have it every other means.