After being "NUMBER LAST" on the list of flight attendants for the majority of flights I have worked over the past nearly 20 years, I have now moved to the number one spot on most of the flights in the past year. And not moved slowly but surely. My number has JUMPED in a giant leap!
Senior people in front of me are not retiring. Naw! They are still sticking around, for sure, while they can triple dip and still get their choices of where and when they want to work.
I think it is because United has been hiring so many new people in the last several months. In fact, the other day I was number one in seniority again. Our extra had been flying since last April, but the other two were in the same class which graduated just before Christmas. They started flying January 1, 2020, and were notching only their THIRD trip on their flight attendant belt.
It gave me pause. Not only did I have NOTHING in common with these young women who are the ages of my older grand girls, but they have NO EXPERIENCE on the line. If there were any kind of emergency or irregular operation, they would be looking to ME for direction. Scary! Help! I'm certainly not there...yet. I'm still looking at the more senior flight attendants for direction every time I fly.
On a flight last year sometime, as we met for our briefing with cockpit and crew, the captain asked us to go around the circle and tell what our seniority was. Collectively, it was pretty high. He said he could breathe a sigh of relief then, knowing that there were people who would be able to handle anything that came up. Apparently his trip, previous to that one, was staffed by workers who had all been hired less than a year before--First Officer included.
Now I'm often experiencing the same unsure apprehension that captain was feeling. And I have concluded...
THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE!
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