EVERY FLIGHT ATTENDANT HAS A STORY...
Most of the stories have to do with some kind of assignment that turned from the normal to the out of the ordinary; something like deadheading to an assignment, laying over, and then deadheading back--for more than just one leg or two. Or maybe sometime they got "lost" in the system and the crew desk didn't locate them for a couple of days while they just enjoyed laying around a hotel until they were "found". I've heard some stories where FA's ended up flying just a fraction of the assigned hours and still got paid for the whole trip. In short, anything that would make a flight attendant hearing it wish she'd had an experience like it.
I used to tell Louis about these incidents and wonder aloud why nothing like THAT ever happened to me. It seems like the crew desk always knows where I am, and for every flight that gets cancelled or changed for some other crew, MY flight is always the one right before or right after the cancelled one. So, my crew ends up with the excess passengers who are stuffed onto an already full flight.
A few years ago I had "kind of" an amazing--for me--assignment that ended up where I flew only nine hours out of 25, had a day room, got out of a cross-country LAXIAD flight, deadheaded when some plane had a mechanical, and spent 25 hours in San Francisco--but at the hotel I requested instead of having to go downtown. When I got home from that trip and told Louis what had happened he said," Well, now YOU have a story." But as the years have rolled on, it has lost its luster and everyone else's experiences sound better than mine once again.
Until last week.....I got a call at 4:30 AM for a 9:05 AM check in to begin a four-day trip. I didn't have to be the purser, it was all on an airbus and one 757 which is a treat after working on those new 737 900's, and there was a long layover scheduled in Fort Lauderdale. I wasn't too keen on that since I had a layover there duringSpring Break a couple of years ago. The whole place--beach, boardwalk, hotel, eateries, etc.--were full of students there for a riotous good time. I hadn't enjoyed it.
However, this ID noted that after a very looooong first day DENDFW, DFWEWR, EWRFLL over eight hours of flight time all on the same plane, our layover would be 22 hours at a Marriott Resort Hotel in Pompano Beach. Woop-de-doo! That meant NOTHING to me. Still didn't when we got there because by then it was late at night and the drive from the airport had been about 30 minutes. The room was exceptionally clean and crisp, as were all the acoutrements. It looked like it had probably been remodeled recently. But it was dark and I couldn't see anything around the place. Every time I saw some strip mall or shopping center while we were driving there, we kept going further down the road which would be much too far for even ME to walk the next morning. Oh, did I mention the desk clerk said the breakfast in the hotel restaurant 6 AM to 11AM was free for United people? I decided that even though I was so tired and had planned to sleep a solid eight hours, the waffles were calling my name. I love hotel breakfast buffet waffles. I planned to get there about nine AM.
The breakfast buffet was worth the entire trip! I have never seen such huge serving platters (gorgeous white crockery ones) filled with fresh strawberries, blueberries, black berries, raspberries, pineapple chunks, melon cubes, and sweet smelling oranges. There was also all the regular stuff for a breakfast buffet including scrambled eggs, tasty strips of bacon cooked just right, and all the pastries, yogurt, cereal, etc. you could want. But....the waffles and pancakes weren't part of the buffet. They were cooked to order, so there was a charge associated with them. I decided I could get my fill of that beautiful fruit and all the rest and skip the waffles this time. And, the orange juice was freshly squeezed, with a sprig of mint and an orange slice over the rim of the frosty glass. Food fit for a king! I even had the option of sitting out on the beach restaurant's lanai where it was just a walk through the gate to the private beach right on the water. I opted to stay inside. (You know how much I am not too keen on the beach and the water.)
Then I went out walking. It was pretty much touristy stuff, but I had fun looking at everything and buying postcards. Then it was back to the hotel for a much needed shower as the temp was in the 80's with humidity, of course. I had the rest of the afternoon to read, snooze, write postcards--all of which I did out on my own little balcony with a pleasant view of the water, almost a picture postcard view in itself! Since our limo pick-up wasn't until after seven that night, I'd had almost 12 golden hours to myself. Life doesn't get much better than that.
Wait...it does! We got to the airport only to find out that everyone who had been scheduled to fly to Newark on our flight had been put on the Continental metal flight which left an hour before ours did. We had ZERO passengers in First Class and ZERO passengers in the Economy Cabin. So, the three of us sat in the First Class seats, ate the First Class food, and acted like passengers for the three hours up to Newark. LIFE CAN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THAT!
And that's MY flight attendant story which elicits oohs and aahs from other FA's when I share it. LIFE IS INDEED GOOD!
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