Packing, driving to the airport and waiting in security lines is about half the battle in air travel, but the average air traveler still must survive the next several hours cramped in a tin can seated between the likes of Hulk Hogan and Mama Cass. Although, most inconveniences are beyond our control, your flight attendants can be your best allies on your journey.
I’ve always said that my book 99 Ways to Make a Flight Attendant Fly—Off the Handle! is a condensed version. As we all know, sometimes it’s not difficult to tick-off a “stew” (term only permitted to be used by a flight attendant).
I empathize with my passengers because of the stress and inconvenience air travel can bring. Most flight attendants do appreciate their passengers, because it’s their loyalty that ultimately pays our wages. But in our defense, it’s not the one thing a passenger does to set us off, it’s the accumulation of several. That’s when we may reach our breaking point of no return and commit a “Steve Slater” (the flight attendant who grabbed a beer and blew a chute in 2010, causing him to slide into federal fines and early retirement.)
What does this have to do with you as a traveler? You can help us serve you better. And you can do this by following the 99 ways in the first book on the etiquette of air travel.
Most of my suggestions are just plain common sense, but a few passengers tend to leave their brains behind when they are scanned through security (same people who are standing on the left side of the moving walkway or stop at the end of the escalator creating a domino-affect behind them). For my favorite passengers, who are equally irritated by these faux paus of air travel, it may help you to pass my book to that oblivious air traveler next to you!
Here are a few irritations that can slow down the boarding, our service and hinder your safety:
· Stand in the aisle while boarding to fold your jacket as if it were an American flag being presented to a soldier
· Keep your ear phones on when the cart gets to your row for orders and then say “What?” without removing them.
· Smoke in the bathroom.
· Parents, don’t be the adult. Your parental skills do not stop at the airplane door.
· Pretend that your dog is a service animal and then spend most the flight placating it (my worst “pet peeve”).
Buckle up and fly right!
By JoAnn Kuzma Deveny, Flight Attendant Extraordinaire and Author
www.JoAnnDeveny.com/99-ways
99 Ways to Make a Flight Attendant Fly Off the Handle
I’ve always said that my book 99 Ways to Make a Flight Attendant Fly—Off the Handle! is a condensed version. As we all know, sometimes it’s not difficult to tick-off a “stew” (term only permitted to be used by a flight attendant).
I empathize with my passengers because of the stress and inconvenience air travel can bring. Most flight attendants do appreciate their passengers, because it’s their loyalty that ultimately pays our wages. But in our defense, it’s not the one thing a passenger does to set us off, it’s the accumulation of several. That’s when we may reach our breaking point of no return and commit a “Steve Slater” (the flight attendant who grabbed a beer and blew a chute in 2010, causing him to slide into federal fines and early retirement.)
What does this have to do with you as a traveler? You can help us serve you better. And you can do this by following the 99 ways in the first book on the etiquette of air travel.
Most of my suggestions are just plain common sense, but a few passengers tend to leave their brains behind when they are scanned through security (same people who are standing on the left side of the moving walkway or stop at the end of the escalator creating a domino-affect behind them). For my favorite passengers, who are equally irritated by these faux paus of air travel, it may help you to pass my book to that oblivious air traveler next to you!
Here are a few irritations that can slow down the boarding, our service and hinder your safety:
· Stand in the aisle while boarding to fold your jacket as if it were an American flag being presented to a soldier
· Keep your ear phones on when the cart gets to your row for orders and then say “What?” without removing them.
· Smoke in the bathroom.
· Parents, don’t be the adult. Your parental skills do not stop at the airplane door.
· Pretend that your dog is a service animal and then spend most the flight placating it (my worst “pet peeve”).
Buckle up and fly right!
By JoAnn Kuzma Deveny, Flight Attendant Extraordinaire and Author
www.JoAnnDeveny.com/99-ways
99 Ways to Make a Flight Attendant Fly Off the Handle