Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Coffee, Tea or Back Pain?

A few posts ago we talked about butts in our faces when traveling on airplanes. Just like passengers, flight attendants have their issues too.

The next time you board a plane with a big, lumpy bag and wonder why an attendant isn’t racing to stuff it into the overhead compartment, it has nothing to do with laziness. Most attendants aren’t insured for any injury that could result from heavy lifting. However, they will help a person who is obviously too small or frail to handle their bag.

Flight attendants call some carry on bags ‘drag on’ because of their size and weight. They suggest that you take out what you need during the flight before you get on the plane, this way you’re not holding up boarding while you fumble through your bag. (This also causes ‘butt-in-your-face’ syndrome.)

Don’t expect an attendant to thank you for pushing the button. While it’s not always possible and easy to move around the cabin, a visit to the galley is greatly appreciated, especially after they’ve just finished serving and taking a much needed break.

When offered a custom form to fill out some passengers get an odd surge of patriotism and exclaim, “But I’m an American!” Take it easy; even a Martian would have to fill out the form. Just say, ‘thank you’ and take it.

One flight attendant explained, “I’ve learned to be more patient. A lot of people don’t know how to travel because they don’t do much of it.” Even with all of his years of flying he never realized how difficult traveling with babies was until his niece had one. “I’m especially patient with parents.”

The next time you're flying high, take the high road all the way.







3 comments:

The Flying Pinto said...

Thanks from a flight attendant....and mom who travel with her 2 year old....great post: )

Yvonne&Yvettetiquette said...

yi..it's in their contracts to not lift passengers bags. (ocassionally someone will)

Yvonne&Yvettetiquette said...

I promise to be patient and not take on big bags on m next flight.