Spanish flight attendants produce nude calendar to publicize bankruptcy

by Laurel Miller on

When the going gets tough, the tough get…naked.

The cabin crew of Air Comet, a Spanish airline, have come up with a creative way to draw attention to the company’s recent bankruptcy: a nude calendar. Air Comet isn’t the first European airline to have pulled this kind of stunt; Ryanair and Viva Aerobus have also produced more SFW versions.

Through saucy photos that lend further credence to the “sexy stew” image, the female flight attendants are hoping to generate publicity about the 600-cabin crew members’ nine months of lost wages. They also hope to earn enough to fund their legal battle against Air Comet.

Photo spreads feature the fetching flight attendants in various flight-related poses, including one of a nude woman stretched across a jet engine, clad only in an emergency flotation vest.

This is not the first time Air Comet’s “air hostesses” have used their bodies to political effect. Last February, one woman conducted a naked interview in which she vented her anger at the company’s president. How very…Euro.

[Via www.eturbonews.com]

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Passenger uses SkyMall to block air vent

by Mike Barish on

Airplanes are notoriously cold. That’s why everyone is eager to find the blankets and airlines are looking to make money off of them. But what do you do when the temperature in the plane is so low that you can’t possibly relax? If you’re on a plane that doesn’t allow you to close your the air vent above you, you’re typically out of luck. Recently, however, one passenger used some ingenuity, chutzpah and an airplane staple to remedy the situation on his own.

My friend Colin McCabe was flying to Austin earlier this month to attend the SXSW festival. His particular Delta flight was chilly. Or, as he put it, “meat locker cold.” The air vent was right over his head and could not be adjusted. He attempted to warm himself with a (free) blanket for 20 minutes to no avail. He notified the flight attendant of his discomfort and was told that there was nothing that she could do to adjust the temperature. Essentially, he was on his own.

That’s when the idea hit him. He grabbed the nearby SkyMall catalog, wedged it in the vent and completely blocked the flow of air raining down from above. He quickly became comfortable as the temperature by his seat increased. He had saved himself from the icy torment and cemented himself as a legend in the SkyMall Monday pantheon.

Sadly, the fix was temporary. The flight attendant told him that he had to remove the catalog as it was a “fire hazard.” Once again, he was besieged by gusts of frigid air as he flew south towards Texas.

Despite his thwarted attempt, we salute Colin for his quick-thinking (and for taking the photo above to share his experience).

Have you ever been so cold on a plane that you were at your wits’ end? What did you do to warm up? Share your tales of arctic airplanes in the comments.

Photo by Colin McCabe via Flickr.

Two billion reasons why you pay to check bags

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Or, you could call it “2 billion reasons why flight attendants shouldn’t get raises.” It works both ways.

The labor debacle at British Airways reminds us of the perpetual stupidity turmoil that has come to characterize the airline industry. Not to pick on BA, but the strike shows how disconnected the flight attendants are from the nuts and bolts of the business, and it translates across the pond. Yet, passengers are in a similar state of denial, feeling wronged by the airlines as they are nickled and dimed for “amenities” such as checking luggage. With the latest data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, it’s pretty obvious that airlines need to bring in some more money, and it has to come from somewhere.

In the United States last year, 769.9 million travelers set foot on planes (departing from, arriving to or completely domestic), a decline of 5.3 percent from recession-stained 2008 and off 8.2 percent from 2007, when 832.2 million passengers flew the friendly skies. This was the first time the number of fliers fell below the 800 million mark since 2004, in which 763.7 million passengers boarded planes. Think about it: 2009 is basically 2004. The airline industry has lost five years of growth.Meanwhile, fewer people were paying less for tickets, with the average fare falling $30 from 2007 to 2009 – settling at around $315. The increase in demand led to the shedding of around 700,000 flights from 2008 to 2009.

In all, this dynamic cost the U.S. airline industry approximately $2 billion … and that doesn’t include financial losses elsewhere. Fewer customers spending less led to a profound decline in revenue, and the airlines need to find a way to get it back. They’ve been able to close the gap, in part, through the ancillary fees we’ve all grown to hate. Every time you pay to check a bag, eat an unsatisfying sandwich or grab a little more leg room, you’re helping to keep these guys in business.

Of course, this would be a lot easier if the airlines would do their part. Price increases are frustrating when you see striking employees looking for more in a market where their salaries are effectively unsustainable. And with some flight attendants willing to subject themselves to interviews with 18 airlines in order to land a job, it’s pretty clear that demand is sufficiently high to make pay raises not only unnecessary but irresponsible.

So, it’s time for both sides of this equation to accept reality.

Passengers: you’ll be paying for extras. The airlines need it right now, and the beauty of momentum is that they’ll keep charging us for everything imaginable even when the economy recovers, because they aren’t going to slash a revenue stream that’s paying off.

Flight attendants: raises? Look at the economics of the situation. If passengers are paying more for the same service and demand is high for a shrinking number of positions, there’s no reason to pay them. With revenue in the tank and an aggregate net loss of $4.6 billion for 11 U.S. airlines last year, there’s no money for raises … unless there’s a new way to extract blood from a stone, of course.

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Galley Gossip: Flight attendant revokes travel privileges from husband

by Heather Poole on
Dear Heather,

Someone I know was requested by his wife to meet him in another state due to a medical emergency on her part. She had been working out of the country. As a retired airline employee, she had flight benefits, which she used to book her husband a flight. As soon as he landed, instead of finding his ailing wife, he was served with notice she was filing for divorce. Once he flew back home, she yanked the flight benefit, leaving him unable to afford to fly back to the far away state to defend his property rights in the divorce. Just wondered if you thought the airlines would frown upon using flight benefits to lure someone into a state under false pretense.

K

Dear K,

Now that is some evil shhh….you-know-what! Wow. Just when you think you’ve heard it all, something like this happens. I feel for your friend, I really do. I can’t believe his soon to be ex lied about being sick in order to get him where she wanted him. Unfortunately for your friend, the retired flight attendant had every right to revoke his travel benefits. I know I would! I’ll get to that in a moment.
While the airline, I’m sure, would frown upon an ex employee using their travel privileges to do such a thing, it’s highly doubtful the airline will take action right away – if even at all. Only because there are two sides to every story and this is a marriage dispute, not a work related issue, involving an EX employee who can’t be reprimanded or fired. Anyway, it’s all he said-she said at this point. What right does the airline have getting involved? What right do we even have judging? (Yet judge we will!) Remember there’s a reason they’re getting a divorce in the first place. Not that it’s any of our business, but it probably has something to do with the fact they weren’t even living together in the same country when the papers were served, which explains why this question about her traveling benefits came to be.

The flight attendant lied. That wasn’t nice. In fact, it was pretty evil. But people do lie, especially those involved in nasty divorce battles. It sounds to me like your friend isn’t angry that his wife lied, but that he lost his right to travel. I’ll be honest with you, I don’t understand how divorces work so I can’t comment on his right to defend himself in another country. What I can tell you is flight attendants are responsible for the behavior of those traveling on their buddy passes. This is why flight attendants don’t just hand them over to anyone! If her soon to be ex husband were to misbehave on a flight and get written up by another airline employee, the retired flight attendant could very well lose her travel benefits forever! I wouldn’t chance it. Those are her passes. She earned them. She has every right to decide who gets to use them regardless of what’s going on in the marriage.

Do you believe in karma? I do. So if this retired flight attendant is as bad as you believe her to be, I’m sure she’ll get hers in the end. Until then, let the divorce judge decide. Just my two cents…

Thanks for writing

Heather

Photo courtesy of DCMaster

Galley Gossip: Flight attendant is sent to prison for sexy texting

by Heather Poole on

Recently someone said to me, “I travel on international flights all the time to visit family and I’ve noticed that the women who work for the airlines are getting older. Is this okay?”

Is this okay? Is this okay! I couldn’t decide whether to laugh or throw whatever was in my hand at the time. Instead I took a deep breath and replied, “Of course it’s okay! Women age. So do passengers.”

I mean really!

After it hit me that the man was probably a foreigner and not used to the ways of airlines in the U.S., I added, “I plan on being one of those flight attendants who use the beverage cart as a walker. Because in the United States flight attendants are allowed to age. We’re also allowed to gain weight, get married, and have children.”

Crazy, I know!

Wanna know what else flight attendants are allowed to do? Send sexy text messages. It’s true! Not that I’m a sexy text-er or anything, but if I wanted to send a sexy text I could, and I could do so without worrying about getting sent to prison for three months. Ya see here in the good ole US of A life is pretty darn nice. Especially if you’re a flight attendant.

What in the world am I talking about? In case you haven’t heard, an Emirates flight attendant and supervisor were recently sent to prison for three months for sending sexy text messages to each other. MSNBC reported that “the pair were convicted of ‘coercion to commit sin’ over messages and were initially sentenced to six months in jail”

Gulp.

MSNBC also reported that there is grave concern about the rapid growing population of foreigners in the deeply conservative area which may be threatening their social and religious identity.

So how did the sexy texts even come to light? The husband of the flight attendant. He’s been battling her for a divorce since 2007. I guess it only makes sense he would turn her in so she could be sent to jail.

Nice, eh?

Flight attendants aren’t the only ones getting thrown into the slammer for sexually related activity. “a British pair caught kissing in public in Dubai is appealing a month-long jail sentence handed down after an Emirati mother complained her child had seen their indiscretion,” Cynthia Johnston, the MSNBC correspondent covering the case, wrote in the article Airline workers face 3 months in jail over texts. Then she goes on to discuss three more cases involving British couples either going to prison or narrowly escaping prison for similar actions.

When I mentioned this story to Bob, the singing pilot, he asked, “What is considered a sexually explicit text in that part of the world?”

Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not so sure I even want to know.

Photos courtesy of Telstar Logistics and Jrodmanjr