Flightster

Flying High for the Holidays

• by Bobby Laurie
• on November 25th, 2010
• 6 Comments

As you pack your last sweater, make your final arrangements and head to the airport this holiday season your flight crews are saying “good-bye” to their families and heading to work.

One of the first bits of information passed along to flight attendant hopefuls is “be prepared to work holidays.” Working a holiday comes with the job. People need to travel to visit their family for the season, and someone has to get them there safely.

Of course, the more senior you become as a flight attendant, the better your chances are of actually holding a holiday off, but believe it or not there are actually some perks to working through a holiday.

For me, working a holiday can be an interesting adventure. For the most part the folks who are traveling haven’t traveled in a few years or months and are only doing so to get to their celebration. These travelers are always the most interesting to talk to. Everyone has a different story to tell and celebrates the same holiday differently. After our general service duties are completed on board, talking to the passengers in line for the restroom or hanging out in the back galley can stimulate amazing conversation. Learning about different cultures and traditions and getting to know my passengers on a level different then just “flight attendant and passenger” helps to keep the mood light and promotes general friendliness.

Usually everyone traveling during this time is in a good mood, spirits are high and smiles happen more often than a normal week. Travelers also have more of a willingness to help each other out rather than the normal “fend for yourself” attitude. These emotions and spirits make working flights around the holidays more fun, entertaining, and relaxing (at least for flight crews).

Flight Attendants and Pilots are in the unique position to be a apart of all of their passengers’ holiday. Each and every person on board will most likely talk about their trip to their family once they arrive. Whether it be good, bad, or indifferent they are spending a part of their holiday with you and their flight becomes part of their whole holiday experience. That isn’t something that should be taken lightly.

Working in the airline industry you quickly learn that a holiday is just a “day.” More often than not, flight crews celebrate holidays with their families a week or so prior to the actual “day.” By doing so we still get to enjoy the season with our families and can still help connect you with your family.

Airlines usually offer a benefit to flight crews to promote working on a holiday. My airline, for example, offers our crews time and a half pay for flying on a holiday. That’s quite the incentive. Imagine working Thanksgiving and earning a bit of extra money to do your Christmas shopping with or use it toward a splurge you’ve been saving up for. The extra money goes a long way.

Some airlines offer their crews the ability to celebrate the holidays together as well. Since I’ve worked for my airline on every holiday the company provides special meals for our flight crews. On Thanksgiving for example, each crewmember received turkey with cranberry sauce, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. The food was boarded on board every flight and even catered to our ground personnel. I spent this Thanksgiving in-flight with my crew from New York to Los Angeles. After our service was completed I popped the meals into the oven, plated them, and ate “dinner” with my work family. Luckily for me, my flight landed at 10am, and I was able to make it home to celebrate there as well. I got the best of both worlds this year.

For Christmas this year I also plan on both working and celebrating on my own but I’m doing something a bit different. When I submitted my monthly preferences that build my December work schedule I bid for flights which would allow me to layover in New York City for upwards of 24 hours on Christmas. My family still lives in New York and with a layover of that length I’ll be able to work my flight into New York (when most flights are full), be at my parents house with my family and then work my flight back to the West coast (when flights are even fuller) after the holiday. By doing so, I get to spend time with my family, save on plane tickets home and get paid time and half for all of it.

The flexibility of being a flight attendant is what attracts people to this profession. And though on paper working holidays seems like a downfall that isn’t necessarily always the case.

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.