I discovered, quite by accident, that the comic Caroline Reid is bringing her “Hostess to the Stars” Pam Ann to the US in October. I searched through the site, used the search function, and couldn’t find anything on your site about this. I just got my tickets for her Los Angeles show. I’m sharing this with you – not trying to sell tickets. I just thought many of my fellow flight attendants and your readers would want to know of the tour. (maybe I’ll catch you at the LA show) I’ve included some tour information and a link.
US dates: Oct. 10 – Boston, Oct.11 – Chicago, Oct.13 – Denver, Oct.15 – Los Angeles, Oct.17/18 – San Francisco, Oct.20 – Dallas, Oct.21 – Houston, Oct.23/24 – Miami, Oct.25 – Atlanta, Oct.26 – Washington DC, and Oct.28 – New York (In November, she will touring the UK. Dates, locations, and tickets through the website above.)
Dear Jack,
I have to tell you, I read the first line of your email and immediately stopped reading and started clicking my way over to Pam Ann’s web site. Sorry, it had to be done, and time was crucial. I wanted good seats! Three minutes and $130 later, I was the proud owner of two tickets to the show, a show I’ve been dying to see forever now. I haven’t been this excited about a comedian in years!
Of course then I went back to yahoo and finished reading your email. All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you, Jack, for reminding me about Pam Ann’s tour! I can not believe I’d forgotten all about it because I was just looking up her show dates a few months ago!
For those of you who have no idea who we’re talking about (shame on you!), Pam Ann is an air hostess who mixes drag, camp, and glamour on stage while emphasizing quirks of various airlines around the world in hilarious skits. Performances cater to airline employees and frequent travelers whom she often times includes directly in her shows. Though I love her show, I really don’t want to actually be apart of the show, because that kind of stresses me out – unless of course she needs someone to work the other side of the cart during Cabin Service, my all time favorite skit. Check it out…
Oh you better believe I’ll be touching trolley, touching galley, hopping, and looking oh so busy busy busy, without serving anyone at all, as I reenact the scene above on my next flight. I can’t help it. In fact, I’ve been doing the same routine around the house all day long – touching kitchen counter, touching dining room table, and making meaningless hand signals – ever since I got your email, Jack! The husband, of course, just keeps shaking his head as he watches me not getting anything done at all. He just doesn’t get it. So glad there’s people like you!
As soon as I saw that long Seattle layover on the bid sheet, I knew I had to have it. I can’t even remember the last time I had a whole day anywhere, let alone a layover with enough time to eat, sleep AND shower! This layover, I knew, would be like the good old days when flying was fun, which is why, I’m sure, several of my colleagues laughed when I told them I had bid for it.
“You’re going to need at least twenty years seniority to hold that!” three different flight attendants informed me.
Undeterred, and with only fourteen years at the airline, I bid for it anyway. Not only did I hold it, I held the princess position – coach aisle! As soon as bids were finalized I sent out a tweet to announce the big news. Two seconds later someone tweeted back, “Want to meet for breakfast?”
The invitation came from mommy blogger extraordinaire, Debbie, of Deliciousbaby.com. If you have kids and love to travel, but would rather skip the Disney vacation, do yourself a favor and check out her blog. She makes traveling with kids enjoyable and easy.
And that’s how the layover began. I met Debbie, as well as two of her three adorable kids, for breakfast at Belle Epicurean, a charming spot known for their freshly baked pastries and buns. As I sat outside waiting for Debbie to arrive, I couldn’t help but notice all the people popping in and out before heading off to work. Not that I was surprised, considering I’d done a little research early that morning and knew the place was going to be great. I also knew exactly what to order – a potato rosemary brioche bun ($3.89). It did not disappoint. Of course the coffee was fantastic, as well. The company, even better!
Everest, a bright four year-old, has a passion for trains, so he could not hide his excitement when I asked about his favorite thing to do in Seattle. If not for him, I wouldn’t have known about the ride on the rail to Sea-Tac airport starting in December. After Everest told me all about the underground train system, he offered to take me on a little tour…
After the train tour, we made a quick stop at Daiso, a Japanese dollar store, where I could have spent the entire day just staring at everything inside the store. There was so much to look at! Thank goodness Everest was there to help pick out a few items for my three year-old son, because I was quite overwhelmed. And I had no idea that mini soy sauce bottles could make a good toy. But Everest assured me they would. Guess what, he was right! My son not only loved the tiny squirt bottles, he spent half an hour playing with them – along with everything else that somehow, I don’t know how, ended up in my basket….
Bento box (for school lunches)
Glow in the dark bracelets
Animal / number stickers (for our long flight to Hawaii next week)
Kids apron (to protect clothing while cooking and painting)
Fire truck spoon and police car fork
plastic cups (to make Play-Doh cupcakes)
Star cutter (to make pancakes and eggs a little more exciting)
Because Everest had to get going to space camp later on in the afternoon, we said our goodbyes and I walked down to Pikes Place Market. You can not visit Seattle without visiting the market and grabbing a cup of clam chowder, which is exactly what I did after wandering around and taking in the hustle and bustle on the waterfront. If you’re looking for something else to do, try jumping on the ferry to Bainbridge Island. I highly recommend the 35 minute scenic ferry ride. Just don’t forget your camera. You’ll want to photograph all that beauty surrounding you.
In case you can’t tell, travel, for me, is all about finding great places to eat. When I mentioned on Facebook I’d be laying over in Seattle, Flo, a flight attendant on my crew, reminded me that Bob, the singing pilot, had recommended the restaurant Black Bottle a few months ago. We decided to check it out.
Now Bob isn’t like most pilots, he’s got style. I’m not just talking about his layover outfit. Which is why I knew I wouldn’t end up at a sports bar, like so many pilots do. That said, I was a bit shocked to find that not only does Bob have great taste in food (at affordable prices) he appreciates a cool modern vibe. The food is served family style. Flo and I shared bacon lemon scallops and frizzled kale ($12), roasted vegetables verjus ($9), and fresh arugula, tomato, and pesto flatbread ($8). After that amazing meal, it is I, not just Bob, who highly recommends the Black Bottle next time you’re in Seattle.
Like all good things, the layover came to an end, and before I knew it we were flying back to New York. I can’t wait to bid for the trip again! Maybe, just maybe, I’ll actually hold it – 20 years seniority or not.
Before I share the list – 20 ways to use a maxi-pad in flight, I first must explain
how this post even came to be. I don’t want you to think I spend my time sitting around thinking about maxi pads. Trust me, there’s a method to the madness.
So there I sat at La Guardia airport in New York inside flight service operations, relaxing in a beat up, reclining chair, not watching the weather channel on the screen in front of me. I’d been sitting there for hours due to the fact it was my turn to serve standby. For those of you who aren’t familiar with airline lingo,standby is a term used when flight attendants on reserve are required to spend three to six hours, depending on the airline, at the airport just sitting around and waiting to be called out to work a flight in case someone doesn’t show up at the last minute. At my airline, this happens once or twice every reserve month.
On that particular day Sean sat in the recliner beside me. He’d been cracking me up since the moment I’d sat down. Now I’ve written about Sean in the past. In fact, he was the lead flight attendant, the one in charge, in the Galley Gossip post about a child who had gotten lost in first class. At some point our conversation turned serious and Sean shared a story about a medical emergency that forced him to become quite resourceful and do something that impressed me greatly. He used a maxi pad as a bandaid.
“You’re brilliant, Sean. You really are. I would have never thought of doing something like that,” I said, and that’s when it hit me, “hey, we should make a list of all the different ways we could use a maxi pad in flight!” We didn’t make the list, but we did laugh about it.
Flash forward three months later. On a flight to Los Angeles, I walked into the galley, looked up, and saw it – a maxi pad shoved between two ceiling panels. It was there to soak up condensation that would otherwise drip on me. Right then and there I knew I had to make the list, and with the help of my crew, flight attendants who never cease to amaze me, we came up with 20 unique ways to use a maxi pad in flight.
The day after the list was created a passenger on our flight back to New York stepped into the galley, held out a white sleeve, and in a British accent asked, “Do you have anything I can use to get this off of me?” Red lint covered her white cotton blouse. “It’s from the blanket!”
“I’m sorry,” said one of my coworkers. “There’s nothing we can really do…except give you a few wet paper towels to wipe it off.”
“But I’ve got somewhere important to be when I get off this flight and I can’t go looking like this!” she exclaimed, shaking both arms at us.
If we hadn’t made the list the day before, I would have never thought of using a maxi-pad as a lint brush, which means I would have never said, “Well…there is something we can use…” I nodded my head in the direction of the lavatory, smiling mischievously.
Heather, one of my colleagues, explained to the passenger that a strip of tape on the back of a maxi pad could be used to remove the lint- that is if she didn’t mind patting herself down with it. The passenger just nodded and then disappeared into the lav.
Two minutes later the passenger spun around in the galley and sang, “It worked! Thank you so very much.”
20 WAYS TO USE A MAXI-PAD IN FLIGHT…
Headrest
Oven mitts
Light shade
Condensation absorbent.
Towel
Mop
Bag handle
Hair remover
Band aid
Tape
Arm rest
Eye mask
Lint brush
Curtain holder
Shoe insole
Cool compress
Beer koozie
Coffee filter
Post-it note
YOU TELL ME!
That’s right, this is your chance to channel your inner flight attendant and come up with an interesting way to use a maxi-pad. Just leave a comment below and I’ll choose the best idea. May the best wanna-be flight attendant win!
And just when you think you’re done with a post, you go to flickr.com to search for photos to go along with your bizarre post and find this…
So heather. Tell me your opinion on this. Today I flew home from visiting my bubby in Boca and I was reminded of one of my biggest flight attendant pet peeves. The flight attendant working in first class, while addressing passengers to take drink orders and when checking in during the flight, asked..”what do you need” ? A call light would ring, she’d saunter out of the galley and bark, “what do you need”? I dunno why, but this bothers me. I think it’s borderline rude. It makes me feel like she feels bothered by the passengers.?. What do you think?
R.F.
P.S. These flights to MIA were not nearly as eventful as the last, but there was a man who boarded on his phone and freaked out because the boarding music was too loud. He lunged into the galley and requested it to be turned off. When it was, he sat in his seat and spoke louder than the music. Ahhhh!!! some people!
Dear R.F
There’s a reason I avoid the New York – Miami route! There’s always something out of the ordinary happening on that flight. Which is why I’m not at all surprised by the passenger’s request to turn down the boarding music so he could talk on his phone. Recently I was flagged down during the safety video because someone thought it was too loud and wondered if I could shut it off – shut it off! The video! The one that goes over what to do in case of an emergency! Because he’d seen it already.
That’s not all. Years ago on another flight I had a celebrity on board who happened to be traveling in first class with her infant son. She rang the flight attendant call light and said, “Do you think you can ask the Captain not to make anymore announcements. My son is sleeping.”
It was true, her son was sleeping, so I smiled, nodded, and walked straight to the cockpit. Oh how I couldn’t wait to relay that message and see the look on the Captain’s face.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being a flight attendant it’s that we live in a me-me-me world. People are too quick to judge and lack empathy. I’m not just talking about passengers, I’m talking about flight attendants, too. Rarely do people take a step back in order to see the big picture. We’re all just so busy going, going, going that we’re unable to grasp anything other than what affects us personally.
Now I wasn’t on your flight, R. F., so I have no idea whether your flight attendant was rude or just not as articulate as you would have liked There’s a difference, ya know. But I understand what you’re getting at because there have been times I’ve found the request, “Give me Coke!” jarring. I’ve felt the same way about passengers who try to get my attention by tugging on my elbow or saying, “Pssst! Pssst! Pssst!” Then I remind myself that some people really don’t know any better. Doesn’t make them rude, mean, or stupid, it just means I have a lot to be thankful for. It sounds like you do, too.
While I agree with you that the phrase, “What do you need?” does come off rough and abrupt, keep in mind that a call light rang and she answered it – perhaps to the best of her ability. A request was made and she delivered it, whether or not she could have delivered it with a little more finesse is something we’ll never know. But she did do her job, regardless of the particular words used.
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Photo courtesy of Rkob (legs), lamazone (flight attendants)
came across your blog recently and I wanted to introduce you to our web site www.NonRevCheckin.com just in case you were not aware of it already. Our web site is really the first of its kind allowing Non Rev travelers to see flight schedules and more importantly, flight loads on over 130 airlines around the world. We obtain data from Sabre® global distribution system; interpret that date thru our complex formulas to put seat availability in to 1 of 5 easy to understand categories. Members who use our web site can search flights all over the world to plan their Non Rev travels or commutes. Once a member chooses the flight(s) they wish to Non Rev on, they can set up mobile and email alerts to keep them apprised of the latest loads. Since flight loads are quite dynamic and can change often before departure, it is important to keep informed of the latest loads. With our service, our members can easily choose to set up alerts from 24 hours up to 1 hour before departure thus keeping them updated while they go about their normal activities.
Sincerely,
Brad
Dear Brad,
I haven’t had a chance to log in and check it out, but why use your site opposed to the one I normally use?
Heather
PS – Where were you last month? That’s actually me in the video (below) using my laptop to check passengers loads from Chicago to New York.
Dear Heather,
I am not sure what site you normally use, so I will have to give some general answers.
1. Most airline employee web sites only allow you to look up flight loads on your airline. For example, if you work for US Airways, you can look up your loads but you don’t have access to any other airline.
2. Following number one, who flies the same city pair you trying fly on? Our site allows you to see over 170 airlines around the world that fly that route. With that information at your finger tips you can choose the best option for you to non rev on. It might fit a better departure/arrival time for you or it might be a better load. Wouldn’t you rather fly on an empty airplane flown by another airline than be stuck in last row middle seat for a 5 or more hour flight? One of the most important rules to non reving is having back up plans.
3. Once again, I don’t know what source you use, but many airline employees and retirees do not have access to a “quality” web site for a source. Even their company’s web site may be antiquated and or very slow. Most airlines do not spend money, time or other resources on providing the top notch employee non rev web sites.
4. With our system you can sign up for alerts to your cell phone and email. Let me give an example of how this is beneficial. You and your family are going to be flying from LAX to HNL in two days. The loads look OK right now but we know that could change in the next 48 hours. Now you can check your company web site or call your company reservations every so often to learn the latest loads or sign up for alerts on our web site and you will automatically get sent a text message at times you want before departure. This allows you to now not to have to be in front of a computer or call a reservations line to get the latest loads. We do all the work for you. Go about your normal activities such as shopping, golfing or just hanging at the beach on your way back from HNL. Maybe an earlier flight now looks better or maybe the loads got really bad and there is no since in even trying to non rev until the next day so you might as well stay on the beach. Commuters love the web site. When they are doing their last leg inbound for work, they turn on their phone when they can, and the alerts pop saying which flight looks the best to get home. There might be two flights that leave about the same time on different airlines and they can make a quick informed decision before running to the right gate. Even if they are jump seating, most prefer or need a seat in the back of the plane.
5. Why other sites are inferior to ours:
Have not been redesigned in ages so what does that say for the quality?
Only 3 categories (smiley faces) while we have 5 easy to understand categories.
Can not sign up for alerts. The only way to get updated info is to get back on the web site.
No customer service.
No listing phone numbers. We list Non Rev phone numbers next to every flight so if you need to call to list, you have easy access.
6. Non user friendly log in. You have to find/remember you companies log in. With our system you create your own profile.
One stop source for weather, hotels, rental cars, cruises, destination information and other information.
Zed calculator.
Hope this helps explain a little more of what we do.
Brad
Dear Brad,
Awesome web site! Nonrevs around the world are going to love it. Thanks for sharing. But…even though I am able to check loads on several different airlines, I’m unable to check on all airlines. What’s the deal?
Heather
Dear Heather,
There are a few airlines that do not participate with Sabre supplying enough data for us to determine loads. For those airlines we only show schedules. We do however provide passenger seat availability for over 130 airlines around the world. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask