Do You Have What it Takes to be a Flight Attendant?

by Martha Edwards on

When I was growing up, I had high career aspirations — literally. I wanted nothing more than to be a flight attendant. With my dad being a pilot, flying was always highly exalted around our house and I found that, like him, I was happiest in the air. I don’t know why I never considered being a pilot … something in the child version of myself would rather pour drinks in the air than be at the helm. And all these years later, I still get a hankering for a career change as the excitement of take-off gets the best of me. Not to mention the lure of free flights.

Most people think that being a flight attendant is the cushiest job in the world, but I beg to differ. I have several friends who work for Westjet, and while they like the travel perks and flexibility of the job, their jobs aren’t all sunshine and roses — for one, they have to clean the plane after every flight and I’ll spare you the details but let’s just say it’s not pretty. They also spend countless hours in safety training and are tested every year — with the promise of dismissal if they fail. Sounds harsh, but it sure makes me feel safe. Then there’s the lack of a normal schedule, the chance of working every holiday — it’s definitely a trade-off.

Still interested? Here’s an insider’s look into the job from Fly Away Cafe.

Runway in Sao Paulo Too Short? Too Wet?

by Iva Skoch on

Almost 200 passengers are suspected dead after the TAM airlines Airbus-320 (en route to Sao Paulo from Porto Alegre in southern Brazil) skidded on the rain-slicked runway in Sao Paulo and slammed into a gas station and TAM building yesterday, USA Today reports.

This is apparently the second major airline disaster in Brazil within a year. In September, 154 died when a Gol Aerolinhas Inteligentes SA Boeing 737 and an executive jet collided over the Amazon rain forest.

There have been questions about the country’s underfunded air traffic control systems, deficient radar system and the airlines’ ability to cope with a surge in travelers. Also, the length of the runway at Sao Paulo’s airport has been repeatedly criticized for being too short (it is 6,365 feet, compared with a 7,003-foot runway at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, which accommodates similar planes) and two planes slipped off it in rainy weather just a day earlier, though no one was injured in either incident.

Plus, yesterday in Colombia, a passenger plane skidded off a wet runway and into the Caribbean Sea.

Seriously, if a wet runway is all it takes, I am worried.

Ultra Cheap Airfares May Be A Thing Of The Past in Europe

by Martha Edwards on

Those 1P (or better yet — FREE!) airfares you can find in England aboard Ryanair or some similar budget carrier sure are exciting after the exorbitant prices we’ve been paying ever since Air Travel became an industry. But they’re a bit deceptive, don’t you think? You don’t ever actually pay 1p. For example, I booked a flight for ???20 and when all was said and done, it ended up being ???60. And that’s before any excess baggage surcharges.

The Office of Fair Trading thinks these ultra-low prices are deceptive too, and they’ve ordered airlines to start being more upfront about their pricing. This means they’ll have to start padding their prices with the cost of non-optional fixed extras like fuel surcharges and air passenger taxes. And if they don’t comply, they’ll find themselves in court.

In all honesty, I don’t mind the low-low air fares, even if it is shady marketing. At least it makes me feel like I’m getting a deal, even if It’s only for the few precious moments before I click that dreaded ‘Calculate’ button.

Southwest uses Ant Colonies to Expedite Airport Traffic

by Neil Woodburn on

When Southwest Airlines began experiencing a logjam at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, they turned to Mother Nature to help them out.

More specifically, they turned to a colony of ants.

According to a fascinating article in National Geographic, the US airliner studied the concept of “swarm behavior” amongst ant colonies to better manage the multitude of planes, runways, and gates at Sky Harbor.

Ants, and other swarming insects, have spent 140 million years developing and honing group behavior to levels of extraordinary efficiency. The basic concept is that the colony acts as a whole, relying upon “countless interactions between individual ants, each of which is following simple rules of thumb.” The collective interaction creates a synergistic organism which functions in a truly organized, effective and economical manner.

To take advantage of such a system, Southwest implemented a computer program in which planes searching for open gates acted in the same manner as ants searching for direction from the colony. The result was much faster gate arrivals and less time on the tarmac.

Now, if only Southwest can figure out a more efficient way to load up their planes. Hmm… I’ll bet there’s something to be learned from dozens of food-bearing ants squeezing through a narrow hole in a perfectly synchronized manner…

(thanks Marilyn)

Airline Hackers: Inside the World of Mileage Running

by Justin Glow on

Wired has a great article up on their website called We Love to Fly and It Shows: Inside the World of Mileage Running. They gave writer Dave Demerjian $500 to stretch into as many free miles as possible using the least amount of money. The results?

“I’ll leave Boston on a Tuesday at 6 a.m. and arrive in Las Vegas 13 hours later, making stops in Washington D.C., San Diego and San Francisco. After a six-hour layover in the City of Sin, I’ll board the midnight red-eye for Chicago, then fly back through Washington D.C. before finally arriving in Boston at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. [… M]y run will yield 6,356. And the whole thing costs just $275.80.”

Flying for the sake of generating frequent flier miles –I love it. But what’s the point? On one hand, it’s a way to generate free tickets and maintain “elite” status among the airlines, which often yields first-class options and upgrades. On the other hand, it’s a puzzle — a game. “Assembling a mileage run means deciphering complex fare rules and pulling together information from up to a dozen websites,” notes Demerjian. “It’s an achievement that tickles the same satisfying problem-solving centers of the brain as a Sudoku puzzle, and always ends in the deep-rooted human thrills of travel and flight.”

Even if you don’t want to be an airline hacker yourself, the article offers up plenty of tips on how you can hunt down the cheapest deals on flights using a myriad of online tools. Have a look.

We Love to Fly and It Shows: Inside the World of Mileage Running [via]