Trip Report: New York to LA

by Bobby Laurie
on August 19th, 2010
7 Comments

By now I’m sure you’ve heard of Steven Slater. And if you haven’t, where have you been? Steven Slater slid down an aircraft emergency slide to instant fame. The New York based jetBlue flight attendant said that the lack of “civility” in the traveling public led him to do it and that led many folks to question, “is it really that bad?”

My opinion isn’t that it’s a lack of “civility” but a lack of understanding. I believe that passengers forget that we’re on board for their safety and take things we ask them to do like powering off phones, putting bags away, and staying seated, personally. They seem to forget that we are working and we have a job to do. Asking passengers to comply with those rules and regulations is our job, a job in which, we can be fined by the FAA for not enforcing those rules.

Confrontations arise when passengers do what they know they’re not allowed to do. For example, if the seatbelt sign comes on mid-flight the flight attendant makes an announcement much like “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Captain has turned on the fasten seatbelt sign. Please return to seats and ensure your seatbelts are fastened.” Even with the seatbelt sign on, passengers get up. Now, as a passenger you heard on the ground that when the sign is on to stay seated and the flight attendant just reiterated that point when it was in fact illuminated. So.. why did you stand up? The usual response from passengers I remind “just so you know, the seatbelt sign is still on” is “it is? I didn’t know.” Really? how?

It’s said that frustrations such as this led Steven Slater to do what he did (though, yes, I’ve thought about it, every flight attendant does.. but, no, I’d never actually do it). So, in an effort to show you what really happens – below is an actual flight report that I had to fill out for a flight last week. This all happened on board one flight from New York to Los Angeles.

Flight Report -
Lead Flight Attendant: Bobby Laurie
Destination: LAX Departure: JFK

On board from New York to Los Angeles 2F’s seat would not adjust using the seat controls. I tried bringing the seat fully upright using the manual method, which usually fixes the problem, but it didn’t. The passenger was a bit upset that I would have to aid her in adjusting her seat for our 5.5 hour flight. I asked the Captain to contact System Operation Control and give the passenger a partial refund or credit for the inconvenience.

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Two hours into the flight, as we prepared to open the flight deck door for a bathroom break, the passenger seated in 5A made his way to the front galley. The other Flight Attendant and I both informed the passenger to use the restroom in the back. He ignored our request twice. Finally, he turned back and headed to the aft. After the flight deck break was completed the passenger stopped me. He told me that he didn’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to the use the restroom in the front. I explained to him that the pilots were coming out of the flight deck to use the rest room when he attemped to access the front restroom. He said “the pilots should have waited for me.” I informed him that unfortunately, that’s not now it works, and reminded him that though he was seated in business class that didn’t entitle him access to the front restroom. I reiterated my announcement from earlier asking passengers in the main cabin to use the aft restrooms. Again, the passenger said “so what if the pilots were out of the flight deck.. I should still be able to use it. Are you calling me a security risk?” I ended my conversation with the passenger by saying “I never said nor did I make reference to you being a security risk, and, unfortunately, that’s not how it works. When the pilots are out of the flight deck no one is allowed in the front galley, even a first class passenger. If you had tried to use the restroom any other time I would have allowed it.” He responded: “I still don’t understand.” And I left the conversation by saying, “I’m sorry, but those are the rules.”

The passenger seated in 7D, overheard and witnessed my exchange with 5A and offered me his business card following event. He approached me and stated that he would will gladly account for my demeanor and patience with the passenger.

–

We also received a complaint from the passengers seated in 27A/C/D. They were a mom and two children. They were upset when the carts reached their row for initial service about how long it took to be able to order food. The flight attendants who handled the complaint initially explained that we allow passengers to use the restrooms for 10 minutes following the seatbelt sign being turned off before entering the aisle, and further, start service from the front of the cabin aft. Those two factors together created an approximate wait of 30 minutes from the time the seatbelt sign was turned off. The family requested a “comp” from the other flight attendant because they witnessed another passenger receive an alcoholic drink order and assumed they were “comped.” The Flight Attendant denied their request and again explained why there was a wait reaching their row. The flight attendant was unable to offer a comp to appease the passenger due to a lack of inventory.

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Our last and final issue revolves around our catering out of JFK. First class meal trays were not prepared with tray liners. The percentage of fresh food catered was not nearly enough to supply our semi-full flight. The main cabin flight attendants sold out fresh food before they completed their initial cabin service around row 14.

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Combing these factors together and realizing that a lack of food would upset about 84 people (if each of them would have wanted to purchase something) makes our job stressful before we begin to deal with the seatbelt sign, cell phones and onboard baggage.

You may be able to see a bit easier why Steven Slater may have been at his breaking point, but, rest assured, my flight landed safely and with all slides in tact. I worked with a great crew and we handled each situation as it came to the best of our abilities.

Bobby Laurie

Bobby Laurie, author of the book Planely Speaking and television travel correspondent, currently works as a Flight Attendant at a low-cost airline and as a freelance journalist. After graduating from the Pennsylvania College of Technology with a degree in Mass Media Communication, Bobby combined his passion for both journalism and travel by writing about the travel industry through his insider knowledge and personal experiences. You can read Bobby's blog about being a flight attendant and the airline industry by visiting UpUpAndAGay.com.

7 Comments

1 year ago
MHA
Ugh, an undersupplied catering load is a horrific scenario. Passengers are trapped on board for hours with nowhere else to get food. You want to say “Well why didn’t you buy something in the airport?” but of course many passengers don’t have time between flights, or after waiting to get through security, or whatever.

I’ve generally taken advantage of the food for sale on board, as it’s been quite good quality and a good value in my experience. If I came aboard hungry and found there wasn’t enough food for me to buy any, I’d get cranky fast. Not because I’m an entitled prick, but because low blood sugar and confined spaces aren’t a good combination.

1 year ago
MHA
P.S. This is why I always have a few granola bars in my laptop bag beyond the ones I’m giving the cabin crew when I board! I would feel really lame asking for one back.

1 year ago
Joanna
Regarding the first class bathroom situation, in this day and age wouldn’t any passenger do whatever is necessary to ensure the safety of the flight? My goodness, there is a reason those doors are locked now…remember the pilots flying those planes on 9/11 were murdered so the terrorists could gain control up there! So, shame on anyone to not respect the rules. My husband is a pilot, so this hits home a bit for me.

1 year ago
Bobby Laurie
Joanna, isn’t it crazy. You would think anyone, even if you haven’t flown since 9/11, would know that things are different and to expect change.

1 year ago
Mike
Yes, you have to wait when the pilots come out for a break. I can’t believe people don’t know that by now–although people still bring bottles of water and sunscreen to security every day.

I have a friend who is a captain, and the couple of times I’ve managed to be a passenger on one of his flights, I didn’t approach him during his break. I waited and talked to him after the flight landed.

1 year ago
beentheirtwice
After flight deck break you explained to passenger pilots were using restroom, tell passenger that up front so they know why they cant use restroom at that time, takes care of lack of understanding. Why are you still talking about that idiot Steven Slater and his flight attendant air rage,”self entitled flight attendant lashes out at passengers this has got to stop” theirs no excuse for his childish stunt, flight attendants should be embarrassed by him, he’s the poster boy for cant provide safety and customer service to passengers. Everyone I know and myself are surprised he lasted a few years at his latest airline,his type start trouble with passengers that causes all kind’s of problems, if everyone including myself just stopped talking about this unstable train wreck he will fade away.

1 year ago
beentheirtwice
America needs cheap mass public transportation, flying is the safest way to travel,greater risk of car accident on way to airport than being injured while flying on plane, ticket counter ask for picture I.D.,T.S.A. screens for all dangerous contraband,lets give T.S.A. and airport police the credit they deserve for ensuring safe travel for all of us, passengers and flight crews alike, to many times people complain about them, their just doing their job the best they can,it’s a hard and sometimes thankless job and people don’t always show them the respect they deserve, the news had another story about armed robbers preying on people at parking lot of wall mart, and another fast food place was robbed, police say a man who entered before robbers and sat in back was caught on surveillance cameras at other robberies, police think he may be part of the gang and watching the backs of criminals in case someone try’s help out, thats why passengers on planes can jump in if anyone starts trouble, no hard core gangster will ever try this crap on a plane you don’t show your I.D. and then rob the place, and bar room fighters know better than to start trouble,2 dozen passengers would take them down,I read were a pilot said the airport was like a battlefield talk about checking your brain before you enter the airport,this guy is clueless and telling himself something he wants to believe till he really does believe it, did a family of 4 order their food to slow at the pizza hut or a small child walk to slow on the moving sidewalk,the public library is more dangerous than the airport and both are paid for by all of our tax dollars just public buildings no more no less,flight attendants are their for safety just like T.S.A. and have hundreds of passengers to jump in when someone gets out of line, all passengers and flight attendants should be glad that air travel is the safest mass public transportation their is, T.S.A.”they are the best” I.D. checked, how much more can we ask for what’s with all the complaints, enough already let’s get real, we don’t disrespect the cabin crew did a passenger not make eye contact fast enough no one is being disrespectful cant you hear people if their talking and not looking at you, did someone ask twice if you have diet coke so what, passengers that dress bad “tank top sweating like they just left the gym and didn’t shower”we get stuck sitting next to them not you and your the one complaining, it’s just a habit all that complaining, customer service is part of what we paid for when we bought the ticket,it would be nice if someone would respond without COMPLAINING, here I’m complaining wish I didn’t have to It’s the only way to get threw your thick skulls we didn’t cause all your life problems we just bought a airline ticket. dirt cheap too, a friend of mines parents bought a microwave oven in 1975 made by G.E. for $1600 now that oven cost $100 mass produced is why, if G.E. employees complain they took pay cuts and pensions are gone because microwave ovens cost less than they did in 1975 so what who would pay $1600 for one now, airline tickets are less than they were in 1980 because its now mass public transportation and low cost carriers keep prices down thats a REALITY, when a nutcase exits plane with 2 beers after treating passengers with no respect and blames us and other flight attendants cheer and agree with him,it wakes us passengers up to the fact that when you say passengers check their brain at the door before boarding its no longer a funny joke you really don’t give the passengers a chance before we even walk through the door, not all flight attendants but enough that flight attendant air rage has got to stop thats REALITY, we deserve a lot better treatment than that.

Flightster