After flight attendant school with my new company, I went straight to my new base.  Luckily I was based only four hours away from my home.  Going to my new base, I thought my company would help me with a place to live.  I soon learned that was not their job.  The base had only been open for one month and nobody had established a crash pad.  When I got to Fort Lauderdale, many people offered me a place to stay a night or so once they learned I was living out of my car.  I would also go to my cousin’s house about an hour and a half away a couple nights a week.

In the beginning of your career you are on Hot Reserve, starting at 5:30 am and sometimes nights ran late, probably the roughest time of your flight attendant career.  I learned which parking lots were monitored by cops and which weren’t.  I had a pretty good routine of switching parking lots throughout the days and nights.  After about a month of this, a very wonderful real estate agent helped me find an apartment.  About two weeks after I moved in, crash pad announcements popped up everywhere.  That’s the luck!

I learned some very important lessons:

1.    Have friends and family everywhere you could possibly be based as you won’t find out where you are being based until after training.

2.    If you don’t have friends or family everywhere, then make sure you have enough money to support yourself properly for a month at the least.  It will take a while for funds to start rolling your way.

3.       Make friends fast with other crew members of your company, other companies, and always the ground crews.  They will always lend a helping hand when and if they can.  Also, use your resources: the gate and ticket agents all usually live in that area and can hook you up with crash pads they know of, people who would know of crash pads, and other ways to cut costs.

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I remember meeting a few smokers during my time in flight attendant school and I always had to ask what they planned to do on those long flights to Australia and Japan if they ever dared to take them. The answers were usually the same:

“I’ll just use nicotine patches,” or, “I’ll quit by then.”

I do remember this one girl, Kimberly, whose answer nearly caused me to spit out the Starbucks I was drinking.

“I’ll just smoke in the bathroom,” she said.

“But it’s a federal offense Kimberly,” I replied.

“Only if you get caught.”

I thought she was surely joking.

I forgot about Kimberly after starting my flight attendant career, but one particular passenger reminded me of her one night.

I was on a long nine hour flight to Argentina, when I spotted a passenger nervously feeling around his pockets. Whatever it was he was looking for he must have found, because after a few nerve racking seconds he suddenly became calm, and headed for the bathroom. I didn’t believe it at first but my nose doesn’t lie. When he came out I exchanged a few strong words with him and warned him about the consequences of his actions. There was no cigarette to be found but it was completely apparent what he had done.

I had to spend the next hour writing up a report on the whole situation, so please don’t smoke on airplanes.

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It’s getting to resemble a bad “B” movie up here. Thirty-two thousand feet above the ground and there are animals running free in the cabin.

We had a dog in First Class get loose. He sniffs out the pussy cat in coach, and all heck broke loose.

When we were in Flight Attendant School we covered the rules and regulations regarding Cabin Pets.

Each airline has its own policy relating to pets. The one rule that is universal is that pets must stay in their pet carriers.

In our Flight Attendant Careers we see something new and unbelievable more than one will ever realize.

People just don’t want to keep their pets inside the travel case. We hear every kind of rational. “Ms. Puddy is thirsty and needs a drink, Mr. Bowser isn’t used to being confined, Charles the Chimp is well trained, he won’t bother anyone.”

On this particular flight, Mr. Bowser not only was let out of the bag, he flew the coop. Dog runs free, meets Ms. Puddy, on Puddy’s owners lap. Barking, hissing and screaming, we had it all!

All I could wonder was if I opened the overhead bins are there chickens to get loose?

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One advantage of choosing a Flight Attendant Career is that it’s hard to get bored with your schedule.  You can be up at 4:00 a.m. one week and then have 5 days off to catch up on errands, your rest or time with your family.  You can work a short trip — one half day, or a long one — overnight for 3 days.

Yes, there are repetitive aspects to being a flight attendant, but taking a shower, brushing your teeth and buckling your seat belt are repetitive too!  Sometimes you’ll be required, or you’ll request, working on holidays. Requesting holidays can mean extra pay as well.

Another nice advantage of a less-than-normal schedule is that you’ll wake up in different cities throughout the year, eat exotic food, see sights you wouldn’t normally see in your home city and meet new people.

Going to the same job 5 days a week would make most people wish for a Flight Attendant Career.  And, you aren’t alone in what is sometimes an unpredictable schedule.  The friends you’ll make in Flight Attendant School are all in the same situation and you’ll be able to use

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Be prepared for anything!  This is something you don’t always learn in Flight Attendant School.  Even if you think that you are going out and coming right back, always pack at least one pair of undergarments in your flight bag.  Why?  Just in case you don’t make it back to “point A” like you planned.

I learned this lesson the hard way early in my Flight Attendant Career.  I was sitting on Reserve and had been assigned to fly from Ft. Lauderdale to Tallahassee and back.  However, when I reached Tallahassee my Captain said Crew Scheduling was trying to get a hold of me.  They told me that they were transferring me to another Flight Attendant’s three day trip.

The crew was just starting day one, and all I had with me was my flight bag and the clothes on my back.  Luckily, the hotel we stayed at the second night had a Wal-Mart next door, and the previous hotel had toiletries to hand out.  Ignoring my very well worn uniform, I was okay.

From then on I ALWAYS packed a RON bag.  In my bag were at least a spare uniform, sandals, tennis shoes, a t-shirt, jeans, shorts, sweater, swim suit, and a couple pairs of socks, and other undergarments.  Not forgetting my toiletries and a Squish (pillow) just in case.

Better safe than sorry became my new motto.  You never know what the weather is really going to do, nor can you ever be sure where you are going to end up.  Nothing is ever certain until you’re at the hotel and past your legal hours of fly time!

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Why did I choose a flight attendant career? The answer probably comes as no surprise, the free flights of course. It was the most popular answer in flight attendant school and even the instructors made jokes about it.

Free flights are great of course, but it is only one of the many perks of pursuing a flight attendant career. My personal favorite perk was free hotel stays in-between flights. There was nothing better than getting paid to essentially be on vacation. It wasn’t all fun and games, (there were plenty of days where the business far outweighed the pleasure) but today I’m going to focus on the fun part of being a flight attendant.

Usually when you’re called in to work on a holiday you cringe at the thought, especially when that holiday is New Years. I, on the other hand, jumped for joy and immediately started packing my winter clothes. I was headed to New York, a dream of mine ever since the first time I watched that magical ball drop on Times Square.

Usually when you have a layover between flights the airline will place you in a hotel close to the airport, but I was fortunate enough to be ’stuck’ in New York for twenty-four hours so my crew members and I got a free stay in Times Square, and we got paid for it.

Needless to say it was one of the best New Years I’ve ever experienced. So why should you choose a flight attendant career? Because it might make your dreams come true.

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Pilots have to be alert at all times, and sometimes they need that extra kick to keep them going. There’s nothing like a cup of joe to keep you up, and it’s up to me to provide it. One late night, I was bringing coffee to the cockpit. As I stepped inside, my foot got snagged on the door and I fell forward, watching in slow motion as the coffee flew from my hands and splattered on the control panel next to me. Even in flight attendant school, I couldn’t have imagined making such a mistake. My eyes were wide with horror. The copilot flung around in his chair and I could see that his eyes were as wide as mine.

“Oh my God,” he said, “Now let’s try not to panic,” and turning to the pilot, “Jim, this is bad. It’s all shot.”

“Who the hell hired that guy?” snapped the pilot, with fear in his voice. “Oh crap. I’m losing altitude. We lost an engine…no, two!”

I stood there in shock as I watched the two pilots try and save the plane. I thought it was the end of my flight attendant career.

I finally managed to stammer out a “What can I do?” when the copilot turned to me and started laughing hysterically. The pilot joined in, and I was absolutely baffled.

“It’s protected from stuff like that,” was all Jim could muster between laughing fits.

“You should have seen yourself!”

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Are you creative?  You need to be.  I feel like I am a survivalist after my two year flight attendant career.  An interesting character in the story of flying is the hotels you stay in.  Although you may think microwaves are common place in hotels, the likelihood of you having a microwave in your room or down in the lobby is slim to none.

You will soon become a master at cooking with a coffee pot.  Now, I never washed in a coffee pot, but I have heard many stories from flight attendant school and from other flight attendants and pilots about people who wash items like socks and ties in their coffee pot.  For this reason I ALWAYS wash the coffee pots before I cook/make coffee with it.  If they wash in it, who knows what else that pot can be used for!

My favorite dish was Ramen Noodles.  You put water in the reservoir and the noodles in the pot.  Turn it on and voila, the boiling hot water cooks the noodles almost perfectly.  As a side-note, always clean the coffee filters too as you don’t want an extra coffee flavor in your food!  Unless, of course, you love coffee and it’s too early in the morning.  Ravioli, condensed soups, instant mashed potatoes and food that you generally warm on your stove in a pot do real well.  Bon Appétit!

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Seat belt rules, descriptions of the levels of turbulence, and how to react are some of the things we learn in Flight Attendant School.

Sometimes we have time to meet with the Flight Deck to discuss the type of emergency we are in. We talk about our signals from the Captain that may indicate us to have the passengers get into a brace position. We talk about the time we have to get ready for the emergency. We get ready to prepare the Cabin for our emergency. This scenario is called a Planned Emergency Scenario.

Sometimes we will get the bells and we don’t have time to prepare. If possible we get to our jump seats and if we are lucky have a briefing from our seats from the Flight Deck. This is called an Unplanned Emergency Scenario.

Today our flight was a bit bumpy. We had gone through each level of turbulence that we had learned about in Flight Attendant School.

Level One is called Mild Turbulence. We basically make sure that each passenger has their seat belt on, the bell rang once.

Level Two is called Moderate Turbulence. The Flight Deck chimes the Flight Attendants and informs us about the potential for Moderate Turbulence ahead. This means to immediately stow all carts, secure the galley, check the passengers and get secured in our jump seats.

Level Three is called Severe Turbulence. Again, we all hope for the warning from the Flight deck. Severe Turbulence means that all hell is about to break loose.

However if we hit Clear Air Turbulence, there is usually not a warning. The severity can be any level that I have shared; this is the worst scenario possible.

Passengers and Flight Crews have been severely injured from this phenomenon.

We were lucky on this flight. The Captain had warned us about a series of storms ahead. We prepared our Cabin, and secured our Galleys. We checked on our Passengers and secured ourselves into our jump-seats.

The passengers were visibly nervous as we rocked and rolled. We were on a 737 and there wasn’t a partition that separated us from the passengers. We could clearly see their white knuckles.

I tried to break up their fear by announcing that we would soon be demonstrating how to use the little white bags in the seat pouch in front of them. Then we got whacked.

Imagine the Jolly Green Giant trying to kick the door in. That was the sound we heard. Then the cabin went dark.

When the lights came back on all of our passengers starred at us waiting for a reaction. I grabbed the microphone, looked at those pitifully scared faces and guaranteed them that they were not going to see us flinch.

I shared with them that, yes that was lightening that struck us. That everything seems to be fine, except that their hair seemed to be standing straight up, (which of course it wasn’t). Ninety per cent of them raised their hands to their hair to comb it down.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  This was the first I had seen anything like this in my entire Flight Attendant Career.

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Fairly early in my flight attendant career I had the chance to meet big time Vegas magician Criss Angel. It was a very exciting moment for me, and a very awkward one for him I’m sure. The whole conversation sort of went like this:

“Hello sir, would you like anything to drink?”

“No I’m fine, but thank you,” he said. I leaned in a little after his response and lowered my voice.

“You’re Criss Angel aren’t you?” he threw me this half smile like he was thinking, oh God I hope she doesn’t ask me to do a trick. “So can you do a little magic trick for me?” I asked.

He pulled his hat down over his face, prompting the pretty girl sitting next to him to let out a polite giggle. “No, I’m sorry but I can’t really do that right now,” he responded.

I was totally bummed, but he totally made it up to me. Right before he got off the plane he invited me to see his show. I gave him my name and had two free front row tickets waiting at will-call that night. That was one perk they never mentioned during flight attendant school!

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