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!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
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....
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!
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!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
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!
Monday, June 15, 2009
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! :)
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
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
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
Saturday, June 6, 2009
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.
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.
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