Air Force One flight attendants: A few good men (and women)

by Jamie Rhein on

When I think of Air Force One flight attendants, I tend to drift towards images from the movie “Air Force One” where Harrison Ford plays the U.S. President. Things did not bode too well for that crew.

In real life, Air Force One attendants don’t find themselves in a battle of wills with terrorists, but juggling a myriad of duties designed to make airplane trips comfortable and welcoming for the important government officials who use the plane to wing around the globe on official government business. Sometimes, this might be the President; sometimes, it’s not. You might be serving up a breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks to Vice President Dick Cheney or Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, or whoever else is important enough to get a ride.

Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article that gives an in depth look at what happens on board and behind the scenes from a flight attendant’s vantage point.

If you’re a bit Martha Stewartish, it helps. One attendant’s highlight was making sugar cookies shaped like Texas. It’s not that easy. Frankly, I’d try New Mexico or Colorado. Those are more rectangular. These Texas shaped treats were offered to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Bush Senior who loved them. I should hope so. The woman who made them screwed up the first batch and made them again at home.

Besides cookie baking, you need to plan meals, shop for the groceries, cook the meals, serve the meals, clean up after the meals, and somewhere in the midst of this, load and unload suitcases. Before you head off the plane at the end of a shift, carpet sweeping is another must-do. Just thinking about that makes me tired. I’d be awful.

So what are the perks? Traveling around the world for one thing. The pay isn’t bad either. $40,000 is the starting salary. This is more than people start out making on commercial flights. The work load sounds a bit easier than what Skybus crews have to do. At least you’re not walking up and down the aisles trying to sell stuff. “Mr. President, can I interest you in a cinnamon bun? How about a Clif bar? A fresh mint?”

If being an attendant is something you’d be interested in, there’s a possibility that the 89th Airlift Wing, (under which Air Force one is part of) is hiring. You might not work on Air Force One, though. There are 16 other luxury planes that also fly dignitaries from here to there. Finding people who fit the profile of what the wing wants is not easy. Keeping your mouth shut about where you’re going and what happens on board is one requirement. One hitch, I think, is that you have to be enlisted in the Air Force. That’s what my understanding is after reading the article. Regardless of whether one wants to do a job like this one, this is a look at one of those professions people often don’t know exist.

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Latin American airlines rock! Can we have them here?

by Iva Skoch on

It has been so refreshing to fly those little regional airlines in Latin America in the last couple of weeks. I have taken 4 regional flights so far and I love how well it has worked for me. Granted, the planes look about 50 years old, while the pilots look about 20, but they do seem to know what they are doing.

I appreciate that they operate like trains, without any of that insane ticket pricing structure we have all reluctantly gotten used to: “The air ticket you looked up yesterday for $250? Um, that will be $600 today. Why? Just because. Check back tomorrow, it might come down again. Umm, why?”

I have forgotten how nice it is to walk up to a counter and buy an air ticket for a flight that takes off 30 minutes from now. I did exactly that a few of days ago in Panama City. I walked up to an Aeroperlas counter and bought a one way ticket to Bocas del Toro for $70. If I bought the ticket 2 weeks before or 6 months prior, it would have still been $70. I love that – first come, first serve. Makes budgeting for travel much easier. Even better – if you miss the flight (which I did on one ocassion), they will issue you a new ticket to the same, or different, destination at no extra cost. How cool is that?

Try the same thing in the US or Europe, even with those so-called budget airlines, sometimes. They will charge you $2000 for a $200 ticket if you want to fly the same day. Changes? Yeah, right. The airlines would rather have the seat empty than charge something sensible. I remember taking a course on airline pricing structure in college and I remember that the overly complicated way air ticket pricing is set didn’t make any sense to me then. Clearly, it still doesn’t.

Yet another terribly depressing airline tale

by Jerry Guo on

I just came across an almost-unbelievable story of how downright mean US airlines have gotten. Customer service stateside simply can’t compare to the elegance of Singapore Air or even the straightforwardness of EasyJet and Ryanair. The front-page Washington Post story tells the sad tale of a 78-year-old woman who was forced to take a 3-leg flight on three separate airlines to catch a cruise she spent 10 years saving for.

Of course, one of the connecting flights was delayed. Her subsequent flight was full, as was the next one, and the next one. At this point, a passenger who had gotten a seat offered it up for her, but Northwest Airlines refused. The kicker: they also refused to let her use a corporate phone to call home.

More fiascos ensued. The cruiseline, Princess Cruises, was also to blame for keeping her $2,500 and when one of the airlines, United, finally refunded her money, it went to Princess! Even the government thinks this is all too much. “Princess is adding insult to injury,” a FTC spokesman was quoted saying.

What has the travel industry come to when everyone’s squeezing a 78-year-old woman for all she’s worth?

The perfect forum for airline conspiracy theorists: PPrUne

by Grant Martin on

If you ever want to read some great airline conspiracy theories rumors over your smoke break, check out the Professional Pilots rUmor network or PPrUne.

This forum is home to a community of airline enthusiasts and professionals alike and you’ll find a great deal of data about any sort of mishap or news in the aviation world discussed among their threads.

It’s also kind of creepy finding out a pilot’s interpretation of some of the hijinks that the airlines downplay. As metafilter blogs, initial reports of “vibration in the No. 2 engine” by the FAA were later decrypted as “uncontained engine failure” by the community. It’s great that when Dateline NBC and 60 Minutes aren’t out there scaring our pants off, PPrUne can step in and do the job when needed.

I mostly tease. The PPrUne has always been a great resource for me when I need to learn more about the happenings among the airline folk, and I love their members dearly. Make sure you take the posts with a grain of salt though; as the forum title states, it is the Professional Pilots Rumor Network. Think hard about the statistics of airline safety and performance before you fly (pun!) off the handle and put your aluminum helmet on.

More codes from Virgin America: Fly a friend for free!

by Grant Martin on

The battle the transcontinental market continues. Earlier, I mentioned that Virgin America (VX) released a coupon code for 25% off flights. In their latest marketing ploy, tickets are now buy one get one free with the coupon code DIGGNATION. Restrictions obviously apply, but if if you tinker around with their search engine you should be able to find some competitive prices for you and a favorite friend to get across the country.

As usual, don’t assume that just because you used a coupon code that you’re getting the best deal. Make sure you plug your same itinerary into Kayak, Jetblue and Southwest to make sure that VX isn’t inflating their prices.

Book before the end of the day on December 7th to take advantage of the offer. Check Virgin’s promo page for term’s and conditions.