Please Don't....

I see this happen more than I would like to and I am sure the passengers around me would agree. Please don't change the baby in the seat. There are changing tables in at least one lavatory on board any given aircraft. Would you change a child in the middle of an aisle in Wal-Mart? I don't think anyone will disagree with me. This is one of the most unpleasant things you can do to anyone traveling experience.

I had a young woman recently do this on board one of my flights. I saw it coming. I could just tell she was about to do it. I played it off as I came down the aisle. Hi, if you would like there are changing tables located in the lavatories in the rear of the aircraft. "Oh no she said, he is much to large for a changing table." Oh, I said as I continued down the aisle. I could not help but wonder what could make an adult think that it is ok to change your child in a seat on an airplane. Not only how unsanitary it is but also there are too many pedophiles and craziness every where around us. Can a person really be okay with exposing their child to the general public?

As I am standing in the galley having lunch she brings her child's dirty diaper and ask me to take it. Huh is my expression as I begin to wonder why would the dirty diaper not go in the trash can in the lavatory where one is suppose to change their child? I stood there in disbelief as I reached for a trash bag to give her. And before I could breath in, I opened the galley trash can for her to dispose of her child's dirty diaper. As the diaper left her hands, their was a grin on her face and I reciprocated with one. As soon as she left the galley a frown was on my face. Not just because of what had happened but because I now had to throw my half eaten lunch in the trash with the diaper. I could not eat for the remainder of the flight. Since then I only eat in the corner of the aircraft on my uncomfortable jump seat.

Can a person really be okay with exposing their child to the general public? I do not have children and I am unable to relate to a mother in this situation. Am I overreacting? Is this ok on board an aircraft?

What I would like for everyone to take away from this story is how we should be considerate of one another when traveling. It is a small space that we all must share. Think of others and lets all try to make every flight as comfortable as we can for everyone on board and not just ourselves. I would love to hear from everyone who reads this.

Smooches from the jumpseat,
Stewardess1908

No Thanks....

He locks eyes with her as she ask him if he would like a beverage. The biggest smile crossed his face and words never left his mouth. She repeats the question once more and he snaps out of his daze and replies with a coke please. She leans over to place the item on his tray table and he whispers in her ear, "May I have your number or better yet, can I give you mine?" She acts as though she never heard his request and continues down the aisle. Once service is complete and she passes by for trash, he tries his approach again. "Excuse me", he says with a folded napkin in his hands. She takes the napkin and places it in the trash bag. She did notice that he had wrote his number on the napkin but she does not bat an eye and continues down the aisle. He cringes as the napkin falls into the trash bag. Damn, he thinks to himself she is really tripping. Of course no man goes down without a fight and he was determined to get this young woman's' attention one way or another. He strikes once more while deplaning the aircraft. The gentleman approaches the flight attendant and before he can get the first word out of his mouth, she replied "No, thank you and I don't think your wife would approve. I saw her drop you off at curbside check in as I entered the airport this morning. Her ring is beautiful and your kids are gorgeous." He was shocked at her response and embarrassment was all over his face. The flight attendant looks into his eyes and says with a smile, " Your bags can be claimed at carousel 8 and have a great day!"

Keep it movin Mister!

Smooches from the jumpseat,

Stewardess1908

A Career Like No Other

I recently celebrated my five year anniversary as a Flight Attendant. I started to recall flight attendant training, the friends that have come and gone and the hard times. When I began to reflect on the hard times, I had to ask myself "Why am I still here?" Humm...Considering all the drawbacks of this job I must admit there are two things that keep me around year after year. The non-revenue flight benefits and the flexible work schedule.

Non-revenue travel is just what you need when the budget is tight or a last minute visit out of town is needed. Stand by travel is not the greatest but it is free or well reduced on may airlines.

My greatest asset here is the flexible schedule. I pick and chose when I want to work or not work. I schedule work around my life and not my life around work! No holidays or weekends for me. My seniority allows me this privilege. There are always opportunities to take a leave of absence during the fall months. If I want to be at home more, then I can build my schedule to do so. If I want to make a little more money, I can work more flights. It is all up to me!

In the beginning, I must admit it was trying but now I am happy and in love with my career as a Flight Attendant!

Smooches from the jumpseat,
Stewardess1908

The Morning After.....

It is the morning after a nice layover in Las Vegas. I had a 5 am. wake up but I had just touched the pillow a little after 1 am. Interesting is the word to describe how I feel. My eye lids are half open and my eyes are glazed over. I am moving slow. I feel like I look sleep. No make up on of course. Heels are in my flight bag and I am walking around in my service shoes. Why am I so tried?

I attended happy hour, went shopping and gambled until the wee hours of the morning here in Vegas. Happy hour was great and the drinks were good. Much needed after a long day of flying. The approach into Vegas was the worst I had ever experienced. The wind caused many aircrafts including us to miss our approach for landing. So we had to swing around and were successful on our second attempt.

I always find some good deals at the Premium Outlet Mall. There is almost every designer you can think of there. I was only able to pick up a few items in the amount of time I had to shop. Followed up shopping with a trip to the nearby casino. I have started to learn the game of blackjack and I did ok. I did not end up playing as much as I had planned which is good because I saved myself some money. I was so tried after this full day of hanging out in Vegas.

My service smile was a little limp and my patience was not as long at work the next day but I survived!

Smooches from the jumpseat,

Stewardess1908

CRACK BERRY…. A FLIGHT ATTENDANT NECCESSITY

I smile as I began this insert. This one little piece of equipment allows me to keep it together. There is no way I could travel around without it. Between checking emails, sending text messages, viewing important documents and having my calendar at my fingertips are just a few of the many things that this device allows me to do. I am in constant contact so I am not bombarded when I return home from a trip. I cannot depend on hotels to provided complimentary Internet service for my laptop. Many nights I am so tired when I reach that the hotel that logging into a computer will not happen. My crack berry allows me to accomplish so much in between flights. I have negotiated real estate contracts from my phone! The other agents have no idea since so many of us conduct business from our phones. So if you are like me and you need to stay in constant contact while traveling, you have got to have this device.

Smooches from the jumpseat,

Stewardess 1908

My Life’s Fallen Pieces…

Relationships suffer in this industry and it takes a strong person to hold it down in our lives. There are many divorces and broken homes around me. Every day I meet the pilot that pays spousal and child support and is just frustrated with life and where he is. I think this is many of us. We bring our flight bags as well as our personal life frustrations to work with us. The unhappiness and stress in some of our lives is just out of control. The flight attendant that has the attitude nine out of ten times is frustrated about something that has nothing to do with me and you. To be away from home and not be able to clear the air with a love one has to be painful. Yes, there are phone calls, email and text messaging but sometimes two people need to talk to one another face to face so more than words can be shared. The need of a hug and the removal of a tear can release something that a phone call can never do.

Our personal lives suffer. There is no way to sugar coat it. You have to try really hard and put in a lot of time. A phone call may not happen every day from a loved one. Our entire day is scheduled and when a flight is delayed or a change occurs it throws everything off balance. There are so many rules and regulations that cover our rest period and how long we can fly each day. We have no control when we enter the terminal.

We are paid to be away from home, family and friends. When we are home no money is being made. This industry does have its ups and downs and this is just one of them. I would personally love to be home Saturday for lunch with my girlfriends and a nice dinner date or even a night on the town. I would love to see my mother every Mother’s Day but that will not happen. It’s just a balancing act that can cause stress, strain and devastation to any relationship if we are not careful.

Now I pose the hard question to myself: “Would I trade this career?” No, I would not. I know I am not the best with placing phone calls on the road or remembering those special days. As long as I have my crack berry, I can try and pull it together. LOL! I am not upset and I do not regret my career choice. I can just try my best to communicate with my family and friends more often.

P.S. If you have ever wondered why so many pilots and flight attendants date and marry one another, this is why……

Smooches from the jumpseat,

Stewardess1908

What Day is it???: Week of June 21st - 28th

My life will be crazy this week. Whenever I go out on the road and have not prepared my house or personal life, it can get out of control.

Sunday: I flew back into Atlanta because I had an early report time for work Monday morning. I made it home about 8pm but had much needed real estate business to catch up on. Meet a good friend for a quick bite to discuss a client and bring a very important item to her. Well of course I left it at home on the sofa right where I almost left my purse. While en route to meet her, I realized I needed to get gas because I had no desire to leave my house any earlier than necessary to get to work and plus I would not have made it to meet her. I was on empty. You tend to forget how much gas is in your car when you leave it sitting for days. So it is always catching me off guard or I am too tired to stop anywhere and I just pray as I coast home from work. I completed real estate business about 11:30 p.m. Then I remembered I needed to complete bidding for my schedule next month. This is very important! I then had a desire to do something personal for me, so I downloaded a song for my ipod. I have to keep my ipod with fresh music to help keep me sane while away. I officially got into the bed at 1 a.m.

Monday: 4 a.m. wake up to get ready to began a two day trip with a great crew. I sent out a text to let her know that I was bringing my swimsuit just in case she was debating to pack one or not. I get to work around 6 a.m. and I fly around until 2:30 p.m. Check into the hotel and set up shop in my room. I get dressed and relax for a moment before heading out. I have a 5:30 a.m. limo pickup for our ride back to the airport.

Tuesday: 4:30 a.m. wake up to start flying at 6 a.m. I will fly until after 8 p.m. I will get home around 9:30 p.m. and unpack and repack my flight bag because I have another two day trip that starts around 7:30 a.m. Dinner may not happen on a night like this. According to my blackberry I have a conference call tonite for my service organization.

Wednesday: 5:50 a.m. wake up most likely. I will fly until 3 p.m. local time but to my body it will be 6 p.m. eastern.

Thursday: 5 a.m. wake up call most likely. I will fly until 2:30 p.m. Make it home around 4 p.m. I will need to wash clothes, clean house and shampoo hair.

Friday: I am FREE from duty! I have been out of town all week so I am forced to do all errands today. My wake up may not be as early as the other mornings this week but I can not lay around all day. Car has to be serviced, renew tag, check and read mail and pay bills.

Saturday: I report back to work around 5:30 p.m. and work until 2 a.m. I will be gone for another two days.

This career will make you become some what organized if you are not already. Your life becomes a big whirlwind at times. You can go days without speaking with friends or family. I can admit that I used less than 300 minutes of my cellphone plan last month. My rollover balance is in the thousands. I have had to look at the day of the week on my birth control just to know what day it is. LOL! It really does get crazy.

This week I will keep going and going and going. From the looks of things next week will not be much better.

Smooches from the jumpseat,

Stewardess1908

Baggage Claim and the Jumpseat

Flight Attendants love to talk and gossip about the people, company and each other other but what we seem to talk about more than anything else is ourselves. Yes, I have said it out loud. I don't know if we just enjoy hearing ourselves talk or could it be that we are lonely. Who knows why you are seating next to me (a complete stranger/co worker) and telling me about all about your baggage.

I have been referring to the jumpseat for years as baggage claim. Every time the seat is pulled down and the seatbelts are secured you feel the need to SHARE. I hear about your life's mishaps and stories. You never share with me the good stuff going on in your life. Most of the time you are telling me about your issues. It is times like these that I wish the airline would misplace your bags! LOL! You have told me about your husband, kids, mother, father, supervisor, scheduling, sister, brother, aunt and uncle all in three days. I now have a new friend and if my memory serves me right your seniority is all I recall because you are senior to me and chose to work the best position.

Because of our new and special bond, I will not breath a word to anyone about what you have told me about the married older Captain that is sleeping with the young new hire flight attendant that commutes out of New York and how she surprisingly picked up this trip when our gay male flight attendant got sick on our layover in Las Vegas. You did tell me how he really got drunk on our 18 hour layover with some new friends he met that put a date rape drug in his drink and how he does not want it to get back to his male captain boyfriend that no one knows is gay. And how our female First Officer made a pass at him(the gay male flight attendant) because she did not realize that he was gay and they slept together on our layover in Los Angeles the night before and the gay male flight attendant is so worried that it will get back to his Captain boyfriend because the female First Officer knows him. And you almost made me fall off my jumpseat when you told me that both you and the female first officer had a three sum with the same Captain whom no one knows is gay on your last trip!

Girl all I can say is yall are all going to burn in HELL! LMAO...

Smooches from the jumpseat,

Stewardess1908

YES, THE TOLIET DOES FLUSH!

As I seat on the jumpseat every flight I am sure to get a number of questions, but the most interesting and the most asked is about the damn lavatory. LOL! What amazes me the most is the look I am sure you see on my face when you ask me these question. I am sorry but I can not figure out how you can not figure it out on your own. Is it because I am sitting nearby or do you just want to interrupt my reading assignment? I am curious. Is there a hidden camera onboard but then I remember the TSA sweep of the aircraft that just took place so that scratches that thought. So today I would like to cover the most reveling questions, thoughts and answers for all to understand how to use the bathroom/restroom/lavatory or what ever you would like to call it.

Before we began I would like to give you a hint.... Reading truely is fundamental even onboard an aircraft. If you ever get the opportunity to look around after you have put your items in the overhead bin and have taken the correct seat, you should just sit there and look around. There are instructions on every door, button, window and wall. Also look above your head, in your seatback pocket and even under your seat. We have even taken the liberty of demonstrating how many things onboard the aircraft operate. So why would we fall short on the lavatory and not leave you any writings on the walls or doors??? Trust me we didn't!

"Is someone in here?" Lesson 1: Occupied, red and green all mean something when it appears on the doors and the wall.

"How do I lock the door?" Lesson 2: Step inside and read the sign/placard. Your privacy is very important to us.

"I can't get the toilet to flush!" Lesson 3: You must press the button that says FLUSH or the picture that corresponds.

"Why in the hell did you leave out of the lavatory and not flush the toilet?" Lesson 4: Be courteous to your flight crew and other passengers. No one would like to smell or see what you had for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack 1,2 or 3. Please refer to Lesson #3 if that does apply.

"Where can I put this dirty diaper?" Lesson 5: Besides the seatback pocket or under the seat try the lavatory. It has a trash can.

"Where is the light?" Lesson 6: We failed you as a passenger and forgot to include this sign/placard. So I will tell you with a straight face this answer, "upon locking the door it will come on".

"Wow it is small in there." Lesson 7: Yeah we don't need you getting comfortable in there more than you already have. The seat was sold to you. Not any area around you were included.

"How do you turn the water on?" Lesson 8: Try the blue and red knobs they tend to release water when it is available.

"I could not get the water out of the sink?" Lesson 9: Push the button inbetween the red and blue knobs we found in lesson 8. I agree you may have to use a little force and the water may not move as fast as you would like but its moving.

"Oops! I did not mean to push that button." Lesson 10: OK, just press it again and Oops, I am sorry that I busted in on you. Its just that pushing that button means that you need our help but cute butt. I needed a pick me upper.

LOL! I hope you all find this as entertaining as I do each and every flight.

Smooches from the jumpseat,

Stewardess1908

The Joys of My Life.... No Husband or Kids!

After traveling here to Dallas, TX for a family members wedding, I have been posed with the same question over and over again even from those that did my nails at the salon today when they realized I was not the bride to be. Are you really ready to know what the hell is bugging me??? "When are you getting married?" Well let me check my calendar and discuss it over with Prince Charming and get back to you with an invitation about three months before the ceremony! LOL! Do not get me wrong I am not upset about the question but more so about how the deer in headlights stare takes over as I provide my well thought out and pleasant response.

I am comfortable and enjoying where I am currently in my life. I am a flight attendant, real estate agent, student and devoted member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. I live a very active life and I am selfish. Yes, I must admit I am a bit selfish with my time and money. I have chosen not to buy diapers and instead purchase birth control pills. I chose not to buy milk over evenings out with my friends. I chose not to save up for a college fund and save up for vacations around the world. I have no limitations outside of funds. I have the most flexible job in the world as a flight attendant so getting time off is never an issue. When I chose to jet set and it interferes with my real estate duties, I team up with another agent to get the transaction closed for a price I am willing to pay. I am just not ready, willing and able to give up my time and money!

Am I not suppose to enjoy the fruits of my labor and the choices I have made in my life? I am enjoying where I am. Trust me, when the next phase comes along I will be just as thrilled and accepting of it as I am in this phase. Many people feel as though all single people are depressed and lonely because they are not tied in a knot to someone special. I do not agree. Most of us date and/or have companions. So we are not lonely we are just not hitched yet and that is OK. Look at Oprah. She is a very successful and powerful woman. Her lack of a husband and children have not hindered her. She has a companion, family, friends and pets that keep her busy.

So I share all this with you to say, don't assume anything about single people or those of us without any kids. Some of us are happy and living full lives. We enjoy where we are and we most importantly love who we are. There are some singles who do not enjoy this phase of life and I wish they would enjoy what God has in front of them right now instead of what is not. We miss so much that life has to offer when we do not live in the moment. The moments are here for a reason. Embrace your moments just like I will continue to embrace these.

Smooches from the jumpseat,

Stewardess1908