I am a Flight Attendant who would prefer to be a stewardess, because they had all the glamour. The role of flight attendant has changed, but there is always a minimum of 2 of you up there. Now we do double the work with half the crew. Those were the days when the Captains & F/O were courteous & didn't demand respect, they were respected due to their actions and their attitudes. This unfortunatly is not unique to the airline industry, it has alas made it's way into many aspects of society. Pilots, mechanics, ramp, Customer Service & cabin crew were respectful and considerate to each other & to the people who were there for a service which they paid for. Now we are constantly standing at the front of aircraft & trying to say hello as harried PAX roll over our feet with their "imitation" TravelPro while they hit us with the bag they are slinging over their shoulder & talking on their phone. Then as they proceed to roll down the aisle bumping every other person's head with their bag, they get to the first available bin, shove their bag in half-way, look around to see if anyone notices that it won't fit & try to slink away to their seat 20 rows away with the empty bin above their seat. Yet there is always someone who says to me, "thank you for making that guy move his bag to his seat". Humanity has yet to fail me. Perhaps I should be more jaded.
My biggest champions have been my fellow crew. I always have a water bottle on each pilot's seat, & gen decs & crew decs on the captain's seat. There is always a call to the front before I start my service to ensure their needs are met before I get into the critical part of my service, and I follow the break with an estimate of how long I expect to be in a critical phase of flight for me and my crew. As cabin crew we can eat, drink & pee at our leisure. Our pilot's post 9/11 cannot. If I think it's time for coffee or a bathroom break, I think of you first. I hear F/A's say why do the pilots always call right when I'm ready to start eating my crew meal? Don't they know I've been working all this time & I haven't even had a chance to eat!?! Guess what? NO they don't!! They have been locked in a cubicle. A quick phone call "Hey guys I wanted to check on you to see if you need anything before I sit down & eat my crew meal" works wonders.
I get an 18000 ding to tell me when critical phases of flights are for the pilots. Consider a courtesy call to the pilots as an 18000 ding.
My point is, we all need to be kinder to everyone & be more considerate to all no matter what sense of importance we feel we have.
On that note, the Captain on this flight has had a long history of cancelling flights & causing delays. Customer Service knows when they see his name on the crew dec it's a 50/50 chance the flight will not go, or will go the next day. This Captain has a number of F/O who have placed him on their NoFly list, and everyone knows to be on egg shells around him. Yes, I have flown with him, no I am not a dinousaur (nor do I hope to be called one even when I'm 60 & still flying
) Sorry, I have a wonderful husband who makes great money, but I really love what I do! I do love the flying & have fun with my PAX (I even married one)
I know the Purser & she is well respected by all and I am not surprised that the crew & F/O's backed her. We are taught for security purposes to minimize the number of times the door is opened and the amount of time the door is opened. It is not unheard of for the pilots to ask for us to slip things under the door because they do understand the time it involves to set up the necessary barriers & gather crew to open the door. We jokingly refer to it as the ATM. (Change for Duty Free & drinks) Perhaps we are overly cautious here at United, but for us it is difficult to put the memory of 9/11 behind us. Those of you who champion the youth & beauty of asian carriers forget we are the ones who were in the trenches when the world changed.