Posted on 01/07/2013 3:08:11 AM PST by servo1969
Ever wonder what your flight attendant really thinks of you? What they’d tell you if they had the nerve? Or weren’t afraid of being fired? What deep, dark secrets would they reveal about their jobs?
I have a number of friends who work as flight attendants. One of them recently retired after 20 years flying for the most storied name in commercial aviation, while others work for less glamorous domestic U.S. airlines. I asked them what they’d tell their passengers if they could tell them anything at all, or what secrets they’d reveal only if granted complete anonymity. All I can say is that these people do not represent every single flight attendant in the skies, so if you’re a flight attendant yourself, please hold your fire and don’t shoot the messenger. But I didn’t make this stuff up. What you read here may shock you, or make you laugh, I’m not sure which.
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4. If a flight is late, the airline might have to pay us overtime. If the flight is going to be late anyway, we’ve been known to delay it even further in order make sure overtime kicks in, which on our airline means up to double the hourly pay. We might find some minor defect in the aircraft or use some other ruse to make up for the money we don’t get paid waiting for take off.
-snip-
15. We really don’t like children. Not just your children, children period. Why do you think we chose a career where we spend half our lives away from home?
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
All of which is why they they don’t get paid that much and have to wait for wheels up to punch in their time cards.
It could be a myth anyway, but the article seemed to account for your comment about the pay clock — they specifically said they were trying to “make up” for the pay they do NOT get while waiting for the delay.
So I assumed that while they got zero pay during the delay, that their overtime was based on total hours they had to be available, rather than the hours they got paid, so they might get kicked to “overtime pay” if they had already been “on job” more than 8 hours, even if 2 of those hours were unpaid waiting for the plane to depart.
I don’t know if that is the case or not; I’m just noting that the claim was different than the one you refuted.
#18: Your fly is open
#19: You've got toothpaste on your nose
#20: I see you just had tabouli for lunch
#21: Your pants are too short
#22: Your socks are mismatched......
It’s a shame that the term “flight attendant” has replaced “steward” or “stewardess,” terms that connoted authority and responsibility. “Flight attendant” is akin to “gas station attendant.”
The way pay is calculated is rather complex, and the rules change from company to company; the rules for flight attendants are usually different than for pilots. For pilots it is generally a combination of flight time (block to block), duty time (show time until block in time) and total time away from base. But I can tell you that the flight attendants have virtually no control over flight time. Pilots don’t have that much control either. On an eight hour flight, pilots might be able to alter the time +/- 20 min. Pilots do not go into holding patterns for fun, and ATC determines where in the sequence you fit in. They generally decide speed and routes.
I know that neither pilots nor flight attendants (where I work) get overtime pay during delays. The Airline management may have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night.
You forgot one!
23.You are hot and I want to meet you in the lavatory! lol
24. A baby tinkled on your seat last flight.
That’s not from liking kids, that’s from liking their own hearing. I don’t like kids but I’ve picked up friends kids that were getting ready to blowup, just to avoid the damage. A quiet baby in your arms is always better than a screaming baby anywhere.
With today’s Union fight attendant, who cares?
Given how obnoxious most passengers are and how ridiculous the TSA rules are and how many ATC delays there are the flight attendants I come in contact with are pretty much saints. This list is actually pretty tame. the real one is probably a lot worse.
You speak the truth. For a short hop, I usually suck it up and take Southwest and pay the hundred extra to board first and grab one of the slightly roomier exit rows. However, we found ourselves flying from Portland, OR, to Philly (on US Airways) for business in October and November. That’s an all-day trek and totally worth the upgrade to first class. The stress level was noticeably eased. So, new rule - short hops, Southwest. Cross-country never-ending days - upgrade. And we never seem to get any snarkiness from FA’s. Guess I’m just cool like that. ;^)
All institutions have cultures. Some of them are poisonous and when that happens to a business or corporation, they are not long for this world. Sounds like the poison airlines need some competition to help them out of business.
My philosophy is the opposite. If you give me $100, I’ll stand for the entire flight. A seat for 5 hours isn’t worth $20 an hour to me, much less a “roomier seat”.
I look at flight travel as a necessary evil, and my goal is to get it over with as quickly as possible, and as cheaply as possible.
But I appreciate those who are willing to pay extra for things like special seats, because that makes it easier for the airlines to charge me less, just to get that last row filled up.
I would pay extra to avoid a stopover, but that’s because my time is worth money to me, plus that is one less takeoff and landing, and therefore a lot less hassle and chance for death or losing my luggage.
Airline travel is the most stressful part of my vacations; this from a man who usually loads his wife and two kids into a PRIUS and drives around the country on multi-week vacations that involve staying in single hotel rooms.
One of my friends recently started dating a Cathay Pacific flight attendant. She has to travel non-rev on US carriers to come from the West Coast to see him. She expressed utter disbelief at the quality of individuals US airlines hire as flight attendants. None of them would last five minutes working for any Asian airline.
And you would be wrong.
As a salaried employee, currently working about 80 hours a week, that is my job. It is what I have to do, at least for another month or so. But it is what it is. I might gripe to my wife, but not going to gripe to my co-workers
I do agree with you that this article is poorly written in that it purports to speak for all airline personnel, and I know that isn't the case. I worked in direct patient care for 15 years, and I was good at it because I understand what people need, especially in a medical setting. Customer service is customer service, and I am sure to let them know when it is good. I never have issues with flight attendants, because I am considerate of what they do and the pressures they are under. I am a customer, but that doesn't stop me from trying to make their lives easier.
I didn’t get the impression they were salaried, but got paid when the wheels were off the ground. I hope you have a good salary! :)
That would distract the pilots from their crossword puzzles.
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You mean the pilot that’s not sleeping.
They pay me well. And because they do that, I am bound and determined to make sure they get their money’s worth.
I view it as my responsibility to hold up my end of the capitalistic bargain. Got in at 0700 this morning, leaving now. Been this way since the middle of December, got another month of this lousy work schedule. But I am married to a great woman who understands and gives me the room to do what needs doing. I have a sign on my office wall that is titled “21 Suggestions for Success”, and the number one reason at the top of the list is: “Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.”
Boy, ain’t that the truth. I know the poster sounds corny, but...I guess it is what you get from it...suggestion number 21 is: “Don’t do anything that wouldn’t make your mom proud.”
I am a lucky guy. I have a great job with great people, it has meaning, I chart my own workday, it is extremely challenging and often stressful (don’t like that, but hey...four out of five is not a bad thing) But I didn’t always have this job.
I am not the most talented or smartest guy, but I do try to adhere to suggestion number three: “Give people more than they expect, and do it cheerfully.”
I have approached even the menial ones the same way. Do the best you can, provide the best product or service, be professional, and things take care of themselves.
If I were a flight attendant, I would do that job as best I could, and probably not stay a basic flight attendant forever. And sure, I would probably poke fun and gripe about various passengers, pilots, etc. and make fun of them in the galley like all the other attendants do.
But in business mode, it is all business, putting on the face, getting the uniform in order, and treating the customers, even the rude ones as if they were the sole reason I got out of bed in the morning.
Because you just can’t fake good service. It either is...or it isn’t. And when push comes to shove...those people, the pilots, and anyone else I come in contact with in my professional bubble, are the reason I collect a pay check to buy my kid the GI-Joe with the kung-fu grip under the roof that keeps the rain off my head and is heated by the heating oil I buy from our local dealer!
Hahaha...listen to me. Spending a little chunk of my scarce, free time on FR at the end of the day with my coat on, but...it is why I come back to FR. It gives me a chance to communicate in a way I don’t have the option to in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts! Well, home to wifey...:)
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