mama said knock you out

On my flight to Kansas City last week we had an entire UFC ultimate cage fighting team.

These boys were not a joke. They were all humongous and burley and muscely. One had a full black eye and another was missing part of his ear... Mike Tyson?

I would DARE a terrorist to try something. It would be a terrorist's worst nightmare. I've never felt safter on a flight... well, except for the flight with 50 nuns!

fun times with ground delays

so we'resitting at the jetbridge waiting to head to the runway to take off to go to Denver. pilots get a call that there's a ground stop due to weather. at least 45 min. joy.

so im bored to death and am trying to make the pax happy so i bring around a tray of waters to offer to people.

i pass this kid and he's sitting next to a big yellow bag thats in the shape of a baby kyak. we're going to Denver so i assume its some sort of hiking equipment. i casually ask him whats in the case... little did i know i was opening pandora's box.

so he lights up and gets really excited. he opens it up and pulls out a beautiful violin. i clapped and went "oooohhhh, its gorgeous!" i then started to continue up the aisle and i hear it. da duh da duh da duh da duh da duhhhh" pink panther theme. he's bopping behind me playing pink panther on his violin.

it was kind of cute, for about 8 seconds. cute until he proceed to follow me up to the galley. he played pink pather for literally 10 minutes straight up and down the aisle.

maybe he was flirting. maybe he was showing off. maybe he just really liked pink panther.

you never know what will happen during a ground stop...

layover in lauderdale

so i am early for my flight to baltimore and i am in ft. lauderdale chillin on E councourse.

i am currently sitting next to a lady blaring spanish ballads from her laptop while watching the lyrics scroll across the screen (youtube style) and is loudly singing along. "nuevo contigooooo"

hilarious.

kids! on a plane

Aside from the occasional chubby, whiny brat wearing glittery mouse ears on their way home from Disney (gah, Orlando flights are the worst) I really love kids on the plane. There are lots in the summer from what I hear from the other flight attendants. Some go to camp, go visit grandma, or are with their family going on a trip... usually to Disney haha.

On my very first trip these kids kept sticking notes in my pocket that said things like "I like your smile" and "you are the best flight attendant." It was really sweet.

Last week these precious little girls, all around the same age with matching pink shirts and beads dangling from their braids each hugged me around my knees on the way out of the plane. They latched onto me for about 5 seconds each and yelled BYE! as loud as they could. It was the cutest thing.

Today this geeky little boy in thick glasses, PSP in hand, literally tried to squeeze past the cart. I was handing a drink to this lady and I literally feel something up against my butt. I turn around and look down and its this kid trying to squeeze by. I was like, "sweetheart, no way you can fit." He was like "I neeeeeeed to get to row 29!!" it was so funny, I think he was getting another game from his brother or something.

08/01:
So I am on a flight to Richmond and its a normal flight... all of the sudden I feel something rubbing all up and down my leg. I look down and notice this tiny little hand feeling up my entire leg. It was this precious little boy saying "oooo prettyyyyyy." I guess my panty hose are soft??? it was kind of cute/a little weird.

02/22/10
I had a sweet little 6 year old UM (unaccompanied minor) on my flight today and she rang the flight attendant call button to ask me "if we were higher than heaven." CUTE!


kids are crazy and fun. And shockingly, no screaming hysteric babies yet. knock on wood!

and so it begins...

oh pilots... and so it begins.

So my bff's boyfriend, Andy, was in the airport last week for his flight to Dallas. I had just gotten in from Indy and was headed to the crew lounge when I learned via facebook that he was in the airport. Naturally, I wanted to meet up with him! We decided to meet on A Concourse (a little foreign to me since I usually am on C and D) So I ride up the escalator and start looking around for Andy. As I'm rolling around the food court looking for him, this young pilot walks up to me and says "hey, you look lost." I smiled and relied, "oh, I'm just looking for my friend." Without hesitation the pilot said "well I think you found him." gggaahhhhhh typical pilot one liner. I'm sure there will be more to follow!

update: I got my first pilot note! About a week ago I was preboarding (just preflighting the plane and boarding passengers until the real crew got to the plane, it helps keep flights on time if a connecting plane is late) anyway, I was on the plane for less than 15 minutes, but enough time to offer the flight deck water. The first officer joking said he needed a bottle of water, a gin and tonic, his laptop, and a set of golf clubs. I laughed and said, a hybrid? (golf term for those non-golfers out there) Then the real crew arrived and I peaced out. Little did I know, I had left my announcement book on board. When I checked my mailbox the next day, my book was there with a note inside. It had the pilots name and phone number and beneath it said, how about that hybrid? hhahahaha. i guess for a note it was pretty cute, but I honestly could not pick this guy out in a lineup. I wouldn't have remembered his name if it were not written on the note, but for sure don't remember what he looks like! ha!

update: 07/25
Im on my flight from Orlando to Buffalo and this youngish guy gets on the plane and smiles big at me. He then looks at me really seriously and said "Im really scared." I gave him a sympathetic smile and then he asked, "Will you hold my hand?" hahahaha
then later when I was walking through making sure everyone had their seatbelt on, he stopped me and pointed to an empty seat next to him and said, "look, I even saved you a seat. Sure you wont hold my hand?" gahhhhh

update: 07/25
On my last leg from Orlando back to Atlanta we had a big group of soccer players. score! Very cute, young (early 20's) guys who were all pumped up because they had just finished a tournament earlier that day. So they are all boarding the plane and a group of them look at me, then look at each other and then in unison start singing that new Sean Kingston song..." Somebody call 911- shorty fire burring up the dance floor! woahhh!" it was hilarious. Its the first time Ive been sing to on a plane. :)

Later that flight, I got a note passed to me from a passenger. It said "Kate, do you have a boyfriend?" I laughed and just nodded yes (just to avoid any awkwardness!) it was funny!

oh boys....

3 weeks and 22,000 miles

so its been exactly 3 weeks since i graduated from flight attendant school and i literally have not had enough time on the reserve couch to update the blog. Its a good thing in a way, at least I haven't been bored! Also, I am currently writing on my new baby laptop. It is the most precious looking thing ever. It is about half the size of my big laptop and weighs about 1/10th as much. The blackberry is good for mobile google and facebook, but not good for blogs, so here I am.

So I have already flown 22,000 miles+ in 3 short weeks, that's almost around the world once. crazy. Word in the lounge is that crew scheduling takes half of the reserves and flies them endlessly and the other half just sits forever, then they switch them up. Obviously, I'm in the non-sit group... I don't think I've sat more than 5 hours total in the lounge. I'd rather be flying than sitting anyway.

So I'll leave out the boring stuff and get right to my fun flights.

My first real trip was wonderful! Laura, a friend from my f/a class was one of my crew members on a 4 day trip. We had a blast. One overnight in Milwaukee and one in Baltimore. Thats only 2 cities you may notice, and 3 nights on the trip... well one of our nights was a redeye to and from LAX. Pretty tiring, but the easiest flight I've had. Basically the entire plane was asleep and the pilots let me sit up in the cockpit (for minimum 45 minutes) and I saw the most beautiful sunrise. Definitely worth the lack of sleep.

On our 23 hour Baltimore layover, the other 2 flight attendants and I took the train down to Washington D.C. and saw the city. I've only been to D.C. once before, and I really enjoyed my second trip. I was so happy we took advantage of a cool layover.

I had a few more random trip and day turns (meaning I get back to ATL the same day, like a "turnaround"). Everyone has been really sweet and patient with me, being a new girl and all.

My next overnight was on the 4th of July in Minneapolis... well, St. Paul. One of those. We landed around 4 p.m. so we had plenty of time to take the subway bus to downtown to see fireworks. There was a huge festival called A Taste Of Minnesota with tons of food vendors and live music and fair rides. It was really fun. We walked around and ate and watched really pretty fireworks from a big bridge over like Minnetonka. It was a little ironic because the only other time I have ever been to Minnesota was watching fireworks over lake Minnetonka.

My next layover was an overnight in Orlando on July 6th, so I woke up in mickey town on my birthday. It wasn't bad though because I just slept in and went to the pool and chilled. I got home pretty late that night, but my friends and I celebrated the big 2-3 the next night. I had the 8th and 9th off so I got to have a little party time. :)

Now I'm "flying the couch" as they say... waiting for a trip to any city!

welcome aboard!

its official! I was pinned with my flight attendant wings yesterday! It was so sweet and everyone was so glad to be done with training. My mom and nana came to watch and took some sweet pictures.


My OE (operating experience) flights are to Tampa on the 717 and then to San Francisco on the 737. I am very excited/a little nervous since it will be my first time actually working the entire flight. A check flight attendant will be with me making sure i am doing everything correctly and to be there in case i have questions.

I am confident that I will do a good job! Now all i need to do is get my dress hemmed and show up Monday!

the home stretch

lots to catch up on.

Sunday I had my FAM(familiarization flight). Basically it is meant for us to observe and get a little hands on training after we've learned all of the procedure and know what to look for. We have our big OE (Operating Experience) coming up and that is the big deal when we actually work the flights for real and a senior mama checks us off and shadows us the whole time.

So, I get to Hartsfield-Jackson around 6:40 Sunday morning and got my boarding pass and went through security with no problem. As I stroll up to gate C3, my classmate who is riding with me is pretty much freaking out. I got to the gate around 7:05 (our flight is at 8:15). When he asked why I was so late, I didn't realize he was under the impression that we had to be at the gate at least 2 hours early. I assured him that he must have misheard that because there is no logical reason to ever be at the gate more than 45 minutes early (the VERY earliest a plan can board).

I am not an early bird. at all. not a chance i would be at the gate 2 hours early. never. it wont happen.

So we board the flight and there are literally 26 people on board, 9 of who are crew members flying non-rev. So my classmate and I sit in the exit row after chatting with the flight deck and the f/a's on board (super sweet p.s.) We watched and took notes and talked some more. Then, they let us do the in-flight service. It consists of drinks, snacks, and refills. Also getting anything else like earphones or alcoholic drinks. Since the flight was at 8:15 a.m., we didn't sell any drinks, but I did get some really good practice working the cart. Its a little tricky getting the brake in place and judging how much fizz a coke will produce, but its fun and easy. Luckily, since the flight was so empty, we were not rushed at all. Usually the f/a's work at a really fast pace to be sure they take care of everyone. We took our sweet time though and that helped me not to be nervous.

We got to Newark and had about 25 minutes for a turnaround. I had just enough time to look out of the window at the terminal to see NYC and make a quick phone call. Then, we boarded the 717 and flew back to Atlanta.

It was cool to see everything fall into place and see how everything works all together. When that plane is on the ground there are about a million thing going on. My airline is huge on leaving and arriving on time, so the f/a's have to corral people to their seats and get the safety demos done quick. Its all about timing.

It was also great to see everyone in uniform! So cute! I can't wait to get mine in 3 days! :)

BEND OVER! HEADS DOWN! STAY DOWN!

Its the middle of week 3 and we just finished land and water evacuation drills. I actually enjoyed the drills because we were in the mock cabin and actually go to practice hands-on. Luckily, I am naturally loud and stay calm easily so I did well during the drills. :)

Another part of our emergency evacuation lesson was watching detailed videos of crash landings and aborted takeoffs. We also watched several videos of planes getting struck by lighting and severe turbulence... awesome.

although very scary, it is actually statistically safer to fly than walk across the street... I'll keep telling myself that when the aircraft starts shaking violently. gahhhhh

half way finished!

We are officially finished with week 2 of training meaning we are half way finished! yay!

Yesterday, we had an eaaarrrllllyy morning. We had to meet at the training center at 0430, meaning I had to wake up at 0300!! I don't think I have ever woken up that early in my entire life. I was surprisingly pretty chipper for being exhausted...

We had a wonderful tour of a Boeing 717 and 737. I was SO pleased with the condition of the planes. Not that I was expecting them to be falling apart or anything, but they were beautiful! So new and nice and clean and pretty!

One of our instructors, Lindsey, told the class a story about how important it is to be attentive to the passengers. She said one time, a single mother with 2 children boarded the airplane and she could just tell that the woman was stressed out and having a hard time. Lindsay went up to her to offer help and to let the woman know that she was there if she needed anything. She found out that the woman was on her way to a funeral and the kids were tired and fussy and hungry. After helping the lady (bringing extra juice, holding one of the kids while she went to the bathroom, being there to hear her story) the woman called her over one last time. With tears in her eyes, she thanked Lindsey for being there. In an otherwise miserable situation, having the flight attendant's help made her trip so much easier.

Hearing that story was so encouraging to me. For the most part, almost everyone will ignore the flight attendants and sit quietly during their trips; but every once in a while, we can really touch someone and help.

I am maybe a little sappy, but I am looking forward to being a bright light in someones otherwise dark sad day.

ace!

100 on my second test! whoop.

everyone was freaking out about the test, but i think most of the class passed! we are learning a lot of new info, so that is alllll building up to the FINAL. yikes

square or oblong scarf, that is the question

So today my class had corporate orientation; we learned all about employee benefits and different company policies. I am SO excited because my benefits are baller. I fly for free on my airline and for free on about 6 others (and almost free on about 12 others). I also get around 60% off a ton of hotels and 75% off Hertz rental cars. Its awesome. Also, both of my parents fly for free and I get a companion (my brother has been begging me to give him my pass). I also get 12 buddy passes a year (they cost about $40 each, but that really is not bad).

We also had our uniform fittings today! I was presently surprised of the cuteness of the uniforms. I got one dress (obv.) and a skirt/blouse/vest set. Both are pretty feminine and flattering! I am excited. We also ordered 2 neck scarves, an apron, a winter trench coat and a rolling luggage bag.

Big test tomorrow so I am off to study...

1 down, 3 to go!

week one of training is finally over!


I have learned soooo much, but there is still LOTS to learn.


This week was primarily classroom lectures with the exception of some simulations and exercises. For the most part, all of the material is new to me, so I am genuinely interested. At times, however, I catch myself yawning and looking at the clock every 5 minutes! But, our instructor has assured us that week one is the worst and things start picking up from here on out!



A new class of flight attendants graduated today and got their wings! They were so excited and look amazing in the uniforms! It was a great little motivator to get us through our long day.

Our second big test is next Tuesday and I think my class is going to try to get together and study this weekend. I am going out of town for a friends birthday, but I am hoping they will call and invite me!

My class is so fun! I really like all of the girls; there are several really sweet women who are maternal to the younger ones. The boys are hilarious. They were especially funny during security training today...


Today, a big time martial arts/ex cop/ex military/chuck norris taught our class of dainty tiny girls and prissy boys how to take down terrorists in the cabin aisle. Needless to say, I was not the best, but I really held my own! 5'3 didn't help me against the gigantic dummy, but i smacked the heck out of that thing. It was cool though because we practiced getting out of our jump seats quickly and getting into the position to fight the bad guys. Those rowdy passengers better watch out...


more flight school details to follow!

not as strong as I thought...

Wednesday (04/29) morning I was scheduled to drive over to a clinic in Hapeville to do my HPE(Human Performance Evaluation) I also had to have a physical to make sure I am healthy enough to fly...

So I get there bright and early (8 a.m.!) and fill out all of my paperwork and proceed with the physical. Blood pressure, height, weight, heartrate etc. Everything was in tact! Next is the HPE part.

I enter a room with lots of exercise machines and weights. I think it is primarily used for physical therapy. So I begin my test by having to pass through a narrow walkway (I guess to make sure my hips aren't too big for the aisle?!?!) and luckily, I made it. It was a close call though :) I then had a series to tests where I had to pull a heavy bar from different angles and weights. No problem. I then had to hold onto a bar and touch the floor without bending my knees to test my arm length... that was a little tricky. I don't have the longest limbs so it was a little stretch.

Then the fun part. I had to lift a 40 lb. box over my head, walk across the room and put onto a high shelf (which I could barely touch anyway). It was a little tricky and I kind of balanced it on my head for a minute, but I did it without much problem.

Next I had to push 100 lbs on a wooden sleigh thing across the room and scoot it backwards 5 times... easy! Then he asks me to do the same to another sleigh... with 250 lbs on it!

This is no exaggeration... I put my hands on the bar and push my arms forward. Instead of the sleigh moving, my body is just propelled backwards. I then lean all of my weight forward... no movement at all. I dig my toes into the carpet and kick my legs backwards to get some momentum and still not a budge. I nervously giggle at the nurse and he just looks at me. So after a few awkward seconds of me grunting and huffing and puffing, the sleigh finally starts moving forward. I slowly push it across the room and then catch my breath.

I thought that part was hard. I put my hands on the bar again to pull back and again, it didn't budge... I lean all of my weight backwards and am basically horizontal leaning holding onto the sleigh. It literally felt like it was attached to the wall and I was dangling from the bar. Finally after sweating and grunting again, I finally inch it back to its stating point.

The nurse scribbles some notes and I again, awkwardly giggle and shrug my shoulders. Oh well...

So I get a call yesterday that I have passed my background check and thank goodness the nurse felt pity for me and passed my HPE!

I officially begin training May 25! I am so glad I can start that late because I'll be out of town for a couple of days and I am going to my friend Elizabeth's wedding on the 23rd. I need a little vacay in between graduation and training. yay!

yay! i'm going to be a flight attendant!

my goal is to keep this blog as both a journal of my many destinations, but also as a way for friends and family to learn all about my adventures.

i applied for the flight attendant position on friday, april 17. i attended an informational session/first round interview on wednesday morning. of approximately 65 people in the session, 15 were asked to stay. i had my second (face-to-face) interview later that day. shortly after i left, i received a call to come in for another interview.

today, i had my third and final interview. about 8 of us from the group were selected. everyone is so friendly and lovely... i am so excited to start!

formal FA (abbreviation from now on for flight attendant) training for me begins May 25, 2009.

the process was and will be very fast paced, so i am still in a whirlwind. luckliy, i can't sit still for too long anyway so this will be good for me!