Last week I let you all in on the crazy behind the scenes madness that our operations employees deal with on a daily basis. And that THIS summer has been particularly tough.
Before I dig into the nuances and subtle delirium that is INFLIGHT. I would like to first take a brief stop by our flight deck, or the cockpit. When you board a typical narrow body aircraft and look to your left, you’ll no doubt see our “engine room,” if you will. On occasion you’ll see a pilot or two sitting up there working through their pre-flight check lists, checking equipment, or even shoving a burger in their mouth because they had exactly 10 minutes to get to their next flight. As a general rule, these guys are agreeable enough. But they have considerable responsibility and stress, which at times, can force Captain Cranky Pants can show up on occasion. Having been married to a pilot once upon a millennium, I recognize this at its onset and generally advise the rest of my crew to simply steer clear. With the amount of weather and pilot shortages most of the major airlines have endured this summer, pilots are sometimes required to alter their trip schedules and even been forced to turn their sweet little 2-day trip into an ugly 4-day trip that crew scheduling unceremoniously pulled from the left corner of Hell. Enter, Captain Cranky Pants again… and I, as purser, generally give him a wide berth, as much food as I can scrape together after service is complete, and as frequent potty visits as he wants… no questions asked. Summer flying, as I stated before is historically rough on crews. But this summer, well let’s just say, our grumpy pilots have a lot of company… our illustrious Inflight Crews!
Inflight is situated last on this survey of summer flying because it gets the “shaft” more than any work group in the industry. This isn’t any specific “company” …it is the work group itself. More often than not, these hard-working men and women are required to work long and difficult hours. Our contract is generally the last to be negotiated. Fortunately, as of lately, pay isn’t as much the problem with contract negotiations, but work rules tend to be a real issue. As such, enter horrific summer storms that sweep across the nation and affect the crew status at multiple bases. It’s bad enough that the more senior flight attendants are forced into flying on days and trips that they have earned the right NOT to have to work, but these poor reserve flight attendants are called into work flights that put them into fatigued states of being. Let’s take a quick look at Bethany. Bethany is a relatively new flight attendant. She has wanted to be a flight attendant since she was 6 years old when she took her first flight on a family vacation. At 22, she is now with one of the best airlines in the country and her career is right on track. The first six months is always a tough adjustment, but here she is “on call” … or “ready reserve” as we call it. Storms have hit the Chicago and Newark areas affecting the staffing at all stations as crew scheduling attempts to maneuver crews around the storms and send more crews to places where they are desperately needed. Our max “scheduled” duty day is 13 hours. However, during irregular operations, we can be forced to work up to 15 hours a day. Bethany probably woke up that day around saaaay… 8am’ish (let’s keep that in the back of our minds, shall we?) so she could shower, just in case scheduling called her early. She gets called at 1pm to go to the Denver airport and sit “standby” at 4pm which means she is standing by at the airport in case she is needed at the last minute. She accepts her assignment, does as she is told, and reports for duty at 4pm. But the second she checks in, scheduling assigns her a trip and sends her to go to Seattle where she will be scheduled to sit in the airport for 3 hours, work the late flight to Anchorage, then turn around and work the REDEYE back to Denver. Bethany and her crew, are “scheduled” to return to DEN at 5am (13 hours…right?) At this point, Bethany has been up approximately 20 hours. The flight is delayed in Anchorage 2 ½ more hours (she is now up to 14 ½ hours of duty time and on 22 ½ hours without any sleep). The gate agents rush to shut the door before the flight crew “times out” … Remember those summer storms?? Well, the flight from Anchorage to Denver has now been diverted around storms and an hour of flight time has now been added to an already long flight. The crew is well past their maximum allowed duty time and poor Bethany is looking at close to 24 hours without any sleep. The sad thing is that Bethany is granted only 12 hours to recover before crew scheduling is calling her back out into the summer madness again.
Understanding what flight crews go through is the first step in reacting kindly when they give instructions on the planes. Additionally, please keep in mind, if they ask you to do something, or won’t “let” you do something you feel you should be allowed to do, please understand, they are not making up the rules as they go along, the last thing flight attendants want is confrontation. They are merely enforcing the rules the company, or the federal government has asked of them. They are simply doing their job … as are you when your company asks you to do something others do not like.
Once, I was on my hands and knees looking under the seats for an item an elderly passenger had dropped onto the floor. Another passenger walked by and asked what I was looking for… exasperated I just looked at the man and replied, “I’m looking for all the glamour I was promised in training.”
Keep fighting the good fight my Inflight Soldiers… and stay safe out there!
Donna Fera
AuthorDonna Fera‘s writing invites readers to explore unknown worlds alongside courageous heroes as they face thrilling challenges and uncover hidden secrets. With a Bachelor of Arts in History and Anthropology from University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Donna is able to take her readers on amazing journeys that draw upon her background in research and learning practices. Combined with her experience in the airline industry and special projects, Donna creates stories that captivate readers with their combination of organizational detail and customer service resolution. Join Donna on this remarkable journey!
