flyingwithicloud

[flyingwithicloud]

New Year--New City!

December was officially my last month living in New York City. I spent Christmas in New York and had a small celebration with some of my classmates from flight attendant training. It was a little disappointing to be away from my friends and family during Christmas, but I was also grateful to have made friends from training that I could spend the holiday with. This job can be a little lonely sometimes, which is why I believe it’s super important to have a support group. I’m so thankful for the group of friends that I made from training. Of course, I still have my old friends from back home, but it’s also nice to have friends in the airline industry who fully and truly understand and relate to the non-glamorous behind-the-scenes life of a flight attendant. 

Thankfully, I was able to spend New Year’s Eve and New Year at home with my family. Surprisingly, I actually had a trip my last week of December. I wasn’t scheduled to leave New York until actual New Year day because my trip was ending New Year’s Eve. Somehow, I ended up getting back early, so I hauled ass home to my apartment to pack up everything I brought with me to New York, went back to the airport in time to check my bags in, made it onto my flight, and off I went to OKC. It felt so liberating leaving behind La Guardia Airport. I had 5 whole days off to “move”. 

My new based is now Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. I got an apartment in Dallas, so I can finally have a relatively stable life and a solid home to come back to after work. The life of a flight attendant is pretty much on-the go, but I no longer have to fly to and from home to get to a sad set up of a temporary home that no one considered home or finally get off at the end of a trip, only to jump on a few more planes and spend 4-5 more hours flying to my real home. 

The great thing about Dallas is that I have so much more friends and family here, which also includes more resources and assistance available to me. My apartment isn’t ready to move in yet, but I have family here so I’m staying with my aunt until it is ready. During my little “move” from OKC to my aunt’s, I realized I forgot my work shoes at my parents. In my morning, just as I was leaving the house to go buy new heels, crew support called me to assign me a 4-day trip. It completely took me by surprising. Never in a million years would crew support have called me bright and early being based in NYC to give me a trip. I barely even worked flights to begin with because of how little flying was going on in the base there!  

Anyways, I ran back inside to pack my bag for a 4-day trip, drove to the store to pick up some new heels, and made it to work even a little earlier than my report time. If I had been in New York, I would not have been able to accomplish that. It would have taken me an hour to get to the closest shoe store or mall and another hour to get to the airport, so I definitely would not make it to work on time. I would have had to call out and receive a penalty then have to use a personal emergency to cover that penalty so I wouldn’t get fired. 

After checking in for work, I ran into one of my classmates while I was walking to my gate. My flight got delayed, but the crew I was working with was super sweet. The trip was a little rought with early show time every morning, but the crew was the best! We went out for dinner every day we ended early. One night, we went to this rooftop restaurant and watched the sunset over dinner. Afterwards, we went to a blues lounge to watch a 94 year old blues artist perform. I think that was the best crew I’ve worked with since I first started this job. 

My temp heels were causing me so much pain that I really thought I was going to become crippled, but I made it through the trip, had a great experience. After my trip, I got off work and went out to dinner with one of my pledge brothers. Just the environment and atmosphere of Dallas versus New York City is so much better for me. I’m so much happier and at ease. Now I don’t have to spend all my free time flying to and from work. I can actually start going on trips during my days off rather than going home to visit my family. 

I’m actually going to Seattle at the end of this week with some friends. Next month, I’m hoping I’ll be able to get off to go to San Francisco with another friend. I have more seniority in Dallas so I also get more flexibility with my work schedule. I’m excited to be living with my new roommate. I’m excited to explore Dallas more and get familiar with the area. I’m excited to start and maintain new relationships with people I wasn’t close to before or recently met. I’m excited to have time for myself. There are just so many things I’m excited for. Dallas is going to be good for me! 

[flyingwithicloud]

Could I see myself living in NY long term?

Someone had asked me a question a few months back and at the time I hadn’t been in New York that long to formulate a full opinion. I hope they didn’t take it as me ignoring them. It just requires me some time to ponder and gather my thoughts sometimes!

Prior to coming to NY for work, I never even considered ever living there. When I was growing up in Oklahoma, it was pretty small-town so I did want to move away to live somewhere exciting during my early adulthood. New York wasn’t a place I had considered. After living in New York for 3 months, I have confirmed that New York is a perhaps a bit too busy for me. I love that it has so much variety and diversity. There are a lot of options in terms of food and things to do. 

However, it’s also a little too noisy and the crowd is a little rough for my liking. I enjoy having my space and quietness. Sometimes I want some peace to wind down. I’m sure you can still come home, light some candles, drink some wine, and put on a movie to relax, but then you’ll also hear someone honking or screaming outside and that just ruins the whole ambiance for me, so no. Definitely not long term. It’s also too busy and fast-paced for me. This past summer when I was in Italy, I realized I actually enjoyed the slow-paced lifestyle. It was carefree and relaxing. I enjoyed the small-town life too, but maybe just in Italy haha. 

[flyingwithicloud]

Lost Purse in LGA

Honestly, I’m a mess of a person. Sometimes I look pretty put together and organized, but in reality, my life is kind of a mess. HOWEVER, if you want something done, I’m your girl, and I’ll get it done correctly and on time, if not early. I just have a problem with forgetting, losing, and damaging my personal belongings often, accidentally catching it on fire, dropping it into hard to reach, you get the issue here. 

Today, I was on ready reserve at the airport from 1pm to 9pm. As usual, I was hanging out in the crew lounge. One of my classmates was here because her first two flights that she was supposed to work got cancelled so she was waiting to work her next flight. I even packed some food that I had cooked earlier, but my classmate wanted to go grab something from the food court. I’m bored out of my mind, so I follow along. I figured I’ll just save my food for dinner and eat lunch with her and this other flight attendant. 

We get lunch, finish, and head back to the crew lounge. We’re full and tired so my classmate and I went to take a nap in the quiet room. I was in there for 3 hours. I slept for 2 hours, woke up, and played on my phone for another hour. It was an hour before my release time, so I figured I should go back to the crew lounge and gather my things. I gathering up my coats and realized “WAIT where is my purse???” 

That’s when it finally hit me that I stupidly left my purse in the food court. I walked back to the food court. Of course, it’s not there! I tried to ask one of the food court cashiers. She didn’t speak much English and couldn’t understand me, so she directed me to another cashier. While this cashier was calling her manager to figure out what department lost items in the food court gets turned into, another lady reported that someone else had left their credit card in the food court. 

I was directed to go speak to the agent in the VIP lounge. When I got there, she told me that general lost and found was sent to baggage claim so she called down there for me. Fortunately for me, someone did turn in my bag, so I made my way outside to terminal and down to baggage claim to retrieve it. 

The bad thing about this situation was if I had truly lost my purse with my wallet, I would have also lost the keys to get back into my apartment and my driver’s license. I was scheduled to fly home to OKC the next day so I really really needed everything in my purse. I also would need my ID in order to get back into the airport terminal. Otherwise, I’d be restricted from entering the airport without my ID, locked out of my apartment, and would have to deal with heaps and heaps of issues.

The crazy thing aside from everything still being in my purse when I retrieved it was that the baggage claim agent had looked up my name in the Delta system, assuming I was a passenger. I wasn’t that day. I was a working flight attendant, but I got really lucky because I had booked a flight for the next morning and I guess when they searched me up, it was after booked my flight so I was in the system. They had my boarding pass printed out for me with all my information and contact taped to my purse, so eventually someone would have contacted me. I am so thankful that this incident turned out well for me because someone could have easily walked away with my purse without anyone questioning them. 

Of course, I didn’t have any cash because I never carry cash, but I had tons of quarters from the $20 bill I broke for laundry so they could have taken that...haha... Plus, my purse and wallet are pretty valuable. I’m so happy there are still good people in the world that turned in my purse! 

[flyingwithicloud]

Trouble in the Sky

Last week, Chicago was hit with a blizzard. This caused quite the damage for flying in the surrounding area. The thing was, the weather was fine in New York so I didn’t even realize there was a blizzard going on in Chicago. Little did I know, this was going to be the worst work-week I have had up to this point.

New York City to Boston:

I had been scheduled to work a roundtrip to Boston and back on Monday. I arrived at the airport early, per usual. I hung out in the crew lounge for a little bit then went to the gate. I met the two pilots that I was going to be working with. Then we found out our flight was going to be delayed for a couple hours. 

Board time comes for the flight. Not even halfway through boarding, I noticed a passenger standing up in the aisle in the and frequently looking at the main cabin door. There was another passenger that had stopped right at door. When a passenger stands in the middle of the plane and another right at the door, blocking entry and exit, you start to get a little concerned as a flight attendant. I just wanted to know what was going on so I left my post in the back to go check on the passenger.

Turns out, her phone had alerted her that the flight was canceled. I walked up to my other flight attendant and repeated the same information to her. She had no idea. She asked the pilots, who also didn’t receive such news. They started making a few phone calls. Then down comes the gate agent on the jet bridge, asking us if the flight was canceled. Right on cue, the pilots received word that the flight has indeed been canceled. 

After that, I was put on ready reserve until 8pm so I start making my way back to the crew lounge. Once I got there, there was a whole bunch of crews whose flights were all delayed or canceled. That was when I actually found out where was bad weather going around. I basically just sat in the crew lounge all day and took a nap in the sleep room until crew support called me for my new assignment.

New York City to Chicago:

I was eventually assigned to work a flight to Chicago departing at 9pm. The crew for that flight was a Chicago-based crew that had been delayed all day and one of the flight attendants called off so I was assigned to replace her. 

Fast forward to boarding for this flight to Chicago. We were all boarded, ready to close the main cabin door, then we got news that the flight was pushed back to 10:45pm. While we waited, the other flight attendant and I clicked really well and I was looking forward to working with her. 

Also in the short amount of time, I quickly learned that the captain was an asshole. That was my first experience with an unpleasant pilot of any sorts He was a straight-up ass, but I’ll give him a little benefit of the doubt since it was their last flight of the day and the last day of their trip. Maybe he was just cranky because he was really looking forward to going home. Regardless, he should not talk to gate agents, flight attendants, or anyone in the manner that he did even if he’s a captain. 

Anyways, 10:45pm comes and the gate agent informs us the flight had just gotten canceled. We had to deplane all the passengers. I had another trip scheduled for the following morning that gotten removed since I was supposed to end up in Chicago that night and get flown back the night morning. I called crew support, who placed me back on regular reserve for the next day. I think I got home around midnight by the time everything was settled. 

I was just getting ready to call it a night when I received an assignment for the next morning. 

NYC to Richmond-Richmond to NYC-NYC to Chicago:

My first flight started as a deadhead to Richmond, Virginia, which is just a flight to get me somewhere so I can work a different flight. When we arrived in Richmond, my crew found out that the flight to New York that we were scheduled to work was delayed for a few hours. 

During this delay, we sat and waited in the airport terminal since it’s not one of our bases so no crew lounge. Closer to time for boarding, this passenger approaches our captain in a rather bold manner to demand our boarding time. Sometimes, this is normal. People get cranky and restless during delays. The problem with this situation was that this passenger held a full cup of beer in his hand, smelled like alcohol, and appeared to be intoxicated. It’s also against federal regulations for us [gate agents, pilots, flight attendants] to allow intoxicated passengers to fly. 

After our captain’s encounter with the intoxicated passenger, he informed the rest of our crew. We were able to interact with the passenger ourselves and all confirmed he indeed appeared to be intoxicated. Our captain tells the head gate agent, who assured us that he would be on top of the issue so our crew boards the plane to prepare for passengers to come on.

Then we see the intoxicated passenger board our plane. The gate agent tried to excuse the situation by stating that the passenger was an important hedge fund manager in New York. In the end, the passenger was removed from the plane because federal regulations are federal regulations, but it was just a headache to deal with. 

The rest of the flight went by smoothly...until descent. If you’re not aware, the back of the plane tends to experience turbulence stronger than the front. I was working the back of the plane for this trip so I sat in the jumpseat in the back. During descent, the turbulence pretty bad that I got shaken for a good 10 minutes. It was like riding a roller coaster. I started getting a little lightheaded and nauseous, but once we landed, I felt fine. 

We had a quick turn and were off to Chicago for our last flight of the night. As it was getting into New York, flying out of New York was pretty bumpy. I felt lightheaded and nauseous, but I really thought I would be fine. Once we started cruising and started preparing for service, I got out of my jumpseat and immediately did not feel stable. I had to take a minute and sit back down. I tried to force myself to set up for service, but that only lasted a few minutes. I attempted to help the other flight attendant prepare her meals for first class service and set up my cart for main cabin service, but had to sit out for some time. Eventually, I threw up in the restroom. I felt better afterwards and pushed myself to complete service with the help of the other flight attendant. 

The flight was nearly over and I had gotten through the worst of it. However, when we landed, we found out that we did not have a hotel ready for us so our crew would have to wait for that to get sorted out. We had already been delayed coming in for several hours due to the first flight so that reduced on rest period. When the hotel situation finally got sorted out, we called the hotel to request the shuttle to pick us up. It turned out the hotel didn’t have a shuttle ready for us. We had to call back and forth several times and also walk back and forth within the airport several times because we were finally picked up and dropped off at the hotel. I think it was around 1am after I finished washing up and prepared for bed. 

Our crew didn’t get must rest that night, but we were all supposed to finish the trip with a deadhead home so we weren’t complaining. Or so we thought...

The next morning, instead of deadheading home as we were anticipating, the other flight attendant and I both received new assignments. I was assigned to work the deadhead to New York that I was supposed to be a passenger on and another flight back to Chicago before I could end my day with a deadhead back to New York. 

I got sick from turbulence at descent from this flight too. I actually threw up while we were taxiing to the gate so I couldn’t make my landing announcements and had to ask the other flight attendant to read the announcement. My pilots were on the flight and a different flight attendant that I had met. My eyes were still watery from throwing up but they were trying to talk. It was embarrassing and I definitely did not want them to see me teary eyed so I tried to hide it and rushed them off the plane. After the left the plane, I felt crippling sick. I honestly did not know if I could work the next flight or not, but we had been delayed leaving Chicago so we had minimal time in between for the next flight. 

I was fortunate that the captain was really understanding and patient with me because I was a hot mess! I tried to tell him how I was doing but I just ended up crying because my eyes were already teary so talking some more just made it worse. He told me not to worry and feel pressured or rush even if we do get a delay. He made sure I took some time to have a break. I went to the restroom and threw up. I pulled myself together and assured the captain I can work the last flight. 

Once again, taking off we hit turbulence again. I threw up A LOT in the restroom. I can not tell you how much of a mess I looked. My eyes were watery and my eyeliner was smeared and running. I cleaned myself up and made myself presentable then pushed through by completing my service, went to throw up some more, and finally finally finally ended my work schedule. I had one more flight to fly back to New York, but I really did not want to step foot onto another plane again for awhile. 

I also needed to get back to OKC. I had left my bag in the crew lounge in New York with my line jacket for unveiling and some clothes because I had anticipated on getting back earlier as previously scheduled and then flying back to OKC and joining my pledge sisters for Thanksgiving. After I was rescheduled, my schedule was pushed back so I couldn’t make it to have dinner with them. The flight going back to New York was also the last flight of the day so I wouldn’t be able to get back to OKC that night. I decided that I would just have to do without my line jacket, cancelled my deadhead to NY, and booked a flight straight to OKC from Chicago. The good thing about that last flight was that I didn’t have to work it and I could sleep. 

[flyingwithicloud]

Thanksgiving in New York

As I previously mentioned, the whole week of Thanksgiving I was on reserve, which means I had to be present in New York the entire time. I was scheduled to be off on Black Friday but set to start my next reserve period the following Saturday so that didn’t leave me much time to fly home. This was the first time I spent the holiday away from my family, which was a little sad. 

Given the amount of times I fly in and out of OKC, I really don’t get to spend too much time there. I mainly catch glimpses of my parents and siblings coming and going. This year was the first Thanksgiving after I fully entered adulthood post-college graduate and started a full-time career. I’m sure my aunts and uncles had a lot of questions for me. Some of them would probably even be surprised that I made it as far as I have now, considering the doubts they expressed right before I moved to New York and the anticipation that I would come running back because I couldn’t make it in the aviation world. (If you could see my right now, my eyes just rolled to the back of my head.) 

Honestly, this quality in myself is a pro and a con for me because when people have doubts about my ability, it just fuels me to work harder to prove them wrong, even if I end up overworking myself. 

Aside from letting my relatives hound me with their judgement and questions, I also want to be around during family gatherings to create some memories for my grandparents. Since I moved to New York, my grandma has been in and out of the hospital a few times and my grandpa been getting weaker and weaker for awhile due to old age. 

When I was in college, every time someone in the family got sick or something happened, I wouldn’t find out until after the fact when I come home for the weekend because they didn’t want me to worry and stress. I was only 40 minutes away from home at the time. I can’t imagine what would happen if something were to happen to my grandparents while I was in New York. It’s just so far away from home. 40 minutes versus 4-5 hours is a big difference. 

Now that my cousin is in college, he’s starting to get the same treatment I got. I was the one that told him grandma was in and out of the hospital because no one was telling him. It’s also his first year in college. I had seem him a couple times since moving to New York, but it still wasn’t a lot of time to really hear how he’s been doing. My sister and my other cousin are also at their final year of high school, trying to figure out starting college, so I wanted to be around for that as well. 

It’s just hard being so far away, especially doing nothing when you could be doing something with friends and family at home. 

However, I am thankful that I wasn’t sent to New York alone. Two thirds of my flight attendant training class got based in New York as well. A good handful of us were on reserve during Thanksgiving. This year was the second-coldest Thanksgiving New York has seen in history. It was so cold, I was going to stay in my little crashpad apartment and not do anything. Thankfully for my classmates, they managed to drag me out of the apartment. We met up at one of our other classmate’s apartment, had some dinner, and caught up with one another. It was pretty nice and definitely way better than spending Thanksgiving alone. It was just so damn cold! I was really grateful to be able to spend the holiday with friends while I was away from all my family. 

[flyingwithicloud]

Winter is Coming...

Sorry it’s been awhile. Holiday traveling started with Thanksgiving and it’s been a bit hectic ever since. There are multiple experiences I’ve been wanting to share, but I’ll tell one experience at a time. 

Usually I don’t have any issues flying to OK from NY. A week before Thanksgiving I had to fly back home for an important event. My flight to OKC was fine. The weather was good. I was able to get onto my flights without any issues. 

The next morning, I did my usual routine-try to fly out early in the morning just in case I have issues getting onto flights. My flight from OKC to ATL was good. It was in ATL that I got stuck trying to fly back to NY. Here is where the problem started. It was snowed in New York the day before so that caused a bunch of cancellations, which pushed back flights and left people stranded in different cities overnight. When I was planning my trip to OKC from NY, I knew it was going to snow. I figured it would be fine, since it was snowing the day before I get back. It would melt and things would fall back onto schedule by the time I fly back to NY. I was so wrong. 

I did not make it onto the original flight I had reserved. I got transferred onto the flight after. I had to make my way to a completely different terminal. Once I got there, I sat patiently and waited to see if I would make it onto the flight... I didn’t. 

Then I got the idea. There are more shuttle flights from ORD to LGA then ATL to LGA. They’re also DC ERJ operated by my airline, so that means there’s an extra flight attendant jumpseat in the back for me if I absolutely cannot get on the flight. I canceled the third reservation for ATL-LGA, moved to a different terminal, and once again, waited patiently to see if I could get on. I almost didn’t until the gate agent cleared me to board very last minute because a passenger hadn’t shown up. 

I arrived in Chicago. The airport was huge and beautiful. Nothing like the La Guardia airport. Honestly, thinking about the LGA airport compared to ORD or DEN just makes me sad. Really really sad. JFK is a little better, but I don’t work too many flights out of there. 

I had thought Atlanta was bad, but Chicago was when it really got ugly. There were 5 different flights down the terminal going to NY. All of them delayed. People was NOT happy. I emphasize the “not” because it was a scary scene for a flight attendant, especially if the flight attendant is working those flights knowing all those angry passengers are about to board their plane. 

The flight I reserved was supposed to depart at 9pm, but it was delayed 3 hours so I sat and I waited, listening and observing all the antsy passengers complaining and getting difficult with the gate agents. I felt really bad for them. Right as it was about time to board, it was announced that the flight was cancelled. Oh my goodness. People starting running to the podium. Some of them looked like they were out for blood. Many people were boldly yelling at the gate agents, who were only trying to explain the situation and give out hotel vouchers to make up for the inconveniences, but these people were not stopping to even hear what they had to say. It seemed like they just wanted someone to yell out. Luckily, there was ONE last final flight that was also delayed but still operating, leaving for New York. A majority of the passengers on my flight got put on standby for that flight. Of course, the standby list was 30+ people long. Thankfully, I was spot on with my idea and I was able to ride in the extra jumpseat since I’m a company flight attendant. I made it home at 3am that night, but at least I finally made it into New York for my reserve period the next morning. 

And after all that stress and all that drama, I still ended up not getting called all week long... That’s reserve life for you! 

[flyingwithicloud]

Adjusting to the city

On Thursday, my roommate and I both had work in the morning. I actually didn’t have to report until 10am, while her report time was 7am, but I left for work with her at 4:30am anyways so that I could get an idea how the commute would be when I come home by myself that evening. Even though the sun hadn’t even risen yet, there were also flight attendants and crew members that I saw commuting the work just as we were. We even ran into a flight attendant that my roommate had recently worked a trip with while waiting for the bus. It was nice to see and experience the city in a different light. 

At the end of the day, I took the bus from the airport to the subway. The pilot that I had worked with that day was also waiting for the same bus with me. He tried to help me figure out my way home and I got to know him a little bit. Once I got off the bus, I started getting a little lost because my gps was acting up and couldn’t figure out my location. I didn’t enter through the correct subway that my gps had originally told me to take, but I found a different subway. I also found a different route on the gps to get home. I had to ask for direction once, but that was okay. Eventually, I managed to get home okay. 

Yesterday, on my day off some friends from back home were in the city so I met up with them for dinner. I took an uber to meet them since taking the subway would take too long. It was awfully pricey but worth it. It was really nice to be able to see some familiar faces in this completely new world of New York City! We parted ways after dinner, and I decided to take the subway home. It had been drizzling all day, but at that moment it started to pour while I was walking to the subway. I didn’t mind it at all since I actually enjoy the rain. Plus, I had my rain jacket on so the rain didn’t bother me one bit. While people were running under covers and struggling to share umbrellas, I was content with the day I’ve had. I actually found my way with the gps pretty well this time coming home but asked some locals on directions just to make sure. I rode the subway and a train home from East Village to Kew Gardens. The train was actually quiet and pleasant. It made me miss Italy from all the times I rode the train there. 

The one mishap I ran into was that I didn’t realized I had to get a separate ticket after getting off the subway and connecting onto the train. It was fine because I was able to pay for a ticket on the train. It reminded me of the time in Arezzo when my friends and I were trying to get to La Spezia. We had gotten separated and ended up missing our train while trying to look for each other. Once we did get on the train to La Spezia, my roommate for the summer and I got off a stop too early in the outskirts of La Spezia, while our other classmate stayed on the train. The station we got off at was closing for the night and that was the last train of the day. Luckily for us, a few other people had gotten off at the wrong stop too. There was a family from the UK and a couple from the Netherlands. There was one worker left that helped the family call a taxi. When the taxi came, the rest of us were going to ask if they could call for another car. However, miraculously for us, the taxi that showed up happened to be a 7-passenger van. The only cars we had seen in Italy before that point were tiny cars. Of all the odds, we even encountered people from other English-speaking countries during our misadventure to La Spezia and were able to share our actual adventure in Italy with one another on the ride to town. Thinking back to that, if I managed to figure my way through the many small mishaps in Italy without knowing any Italy, New York City should be just fine!

[flyingwithicloud]

If you could go back would you still be a flight attendant?

I actually just became a flight attendant so I am still one.

[flyingwithicloud]

New Month-New Crashpad

I moved out of my dump of a crashpad today and into a different one. It’s further away from the airport, but I’m only sharing the whole apartment with 4 other people now instead of 8. They’re all flight attendants as well, and one of them is still my friend from training that I was living with at the other crashpad.  I didn’t even get the chance to check this place out before I put down my deposit. I had only seen pictures and spoke to the landlord on the phone, but even through the phone I got pretty good vibes from the landlord. She’s not from New York City either. I felt like we had a pretty good conversation and made a connection through some of the issues I’ve been going through that she also experienced starting out. It’s much cleaner and I feel more comfortable and safe. Next door is a 24-hour market and a laundromat. We’re above a restaurant. There are several other restaurants surrounding us. My roommate and I are also closer to our other classmates from training. I’m honestly so much more at ease and happy just coming here. I cooked for the first time since coming to New York. I even bought decent groceries since I’m positive no one here will steal and eat my food, even food that I had already opened and eaten myself... I really don’t understand why someone would even do that. That happened multiple times at the last place--my food getting eaten. I even bought ice cream to celebrate leaving the other place and moving here! It was a little hectic to be moving on Halloween. There was a lot of traffic getting here. I also wish I could have gone out to see what Halloween is like in New York City, but my roommate and I both have work tomorrow. Regardless, November’s going to be a much better month. Plus, I got all the days off that I request and I’ll get a chance to go home and stay there for a decent amount of days each week, rather than flying in late at night and out the next morning. 

[flyingwithicloud]

Favorite things about NY

Despite all the things I said I didn’t like about living in New York, there are a few things I do like.

I like how the streets are always lit at night. I grew up in the suburbs. When I was younger, every neighbor would turn on their outside lights once it got dark at night and leave it on through the night. The neighborhood looked welcoming and inviting.  I would play with the neighborhood kids until dusk. I could ride my bike home at night and not feel scared. The older I got, the darker and darker our neighborhood got. The neighborhood kids grew up and grew apart. Neighbors came, went, and stopped getting to know one another. My neighbors used to bake cookies and home goods to bring over for my family randomly and during the holidays. My family would do the same and bring over some vegetables from our garden once they were ripe. At some point, the neighbors stopped and my family stopped. Even the street lamp posts stopped being used. The neighbors stopped leaving their porch lights on at night. I started feeling scared within my neighborhood. Now when I drive home to my parents’ at night, the only light shining are the ones from my headlights. There’s a eerie feeling driving through a completely dark area. It feels like no one’s around and you’re all alone, but not in a comforting way. It’s more of a sense that you’re surrounded by darkness with people and things you can’t see. You don’t know what you’re up against. When I came home a few weeks ago, my sister told me that our neighbor across the street had gotten arrested for domestic abuse. That wasn’t something I saw coming. The other neighborhood kids and I used to play with his daughter. We went trick-or-treating at his house. He would say hello to us when he was out for a walk. We would see him taking his grandson to the pool. He was always a good neighbor. It’s scary to think what goes on in the darkness now. I like that the streets of New York stay lit at night. I like that it’s a city that never sleeps, because then you don’t feel entirely alone. Someone else is awake looking out into the streets or rustling around in their home just like you are. People are still walking their dogs down the streets like it’s not even 3am. The short time that I have stayed here, I can tell there is a sense of community within the area. I can hear chatter in the morning when the children are heading to school. In the afternoon, I see neighbors outside on the porch talking to one another. At night, I see people taking walks together. It seems like if you are truly lonely in New York, you could always have the opportunity to meet or interact with someone. 

I like how businesses are more localized than commercialized. In my hometown, I drove to Walmart for everything. In New York, the closest Walmart is an hour drive away by the bus and subway. I hate walking through the cold to go to the store, but on a nice day, I really like that I can take a walk to the store and enjoy the weather. Businesses can have better interactions with their customers when the customers purchasing and using their products are their next door neighbors, their kids’ bus driver, the deli owner across the street. etc. It’s a little harder to outside to feel their way around, adjust, and really tell what is good or isn’t, but when you’re an insider, you know who you’re buying from. You know what you’re getting, like “Yea, Sue’s Deli may have awful sandwiches, but she’s a total sweetheart so I keep coming back,” or “The food stand down the street looks a little questionable, but it’s the best food you’ll find in town.” 

I like that it’s normal to take public transportation and walk around. In my hometown, everyone drives. If people see you walking, they start to question if you’re okay or give you weird looks. Plus things are just so far apart in my town that it you’re walking, there’s something really wrong with the situation because it’s just not an efficient way to get to where you’re going. There aren’t even sidewalks paved for walking either, so you’re walking on the side of the road, which is pretty dangerous. It also reminds me of staying in Italy for the summer. I used to walk everywhere, and I felt relatively safe. I loved staying in Arezzo. I would wake up early, walk to the cafe nearby, grab my coffee and a pastry, then go to class. After class, I would walk to down the street until I reached all the restaurants. I would order a piadina, sit down and eat by myself and it was completely normal. Once I was finished, I would browse through the local shops and stores nearby, maybe even visit the market to buy some fruits and cheese. Then I would walk back to the monastery that was turned into our dormitory and share my fruits and cheese with friends while sipping on wine in the kitchen. I miss Italy a lot, and I really want to go back soon. I could definitely see myself living in Italy and being perfectly content with life.   

I am grateful for the simple things in life that are present here in New York, and I am glad to get the opportunity to be a part of it. 

[flyingwithicloud]

My first crashpad experience

There’s something about an elder woman coming in and taking care of you that makes you want to cry, or just anyone in general taking care of you without asking for anything in return. Truth be told, there’s been a handful of rough times since I first learned about having to move to New York. The number of times I’ve cried since then has been twice, surprisingly. I’ve managed to hold myself together and keep it in for the most part. 

I usually don’t make it public or known when things are hard for me. There’s a level of stubbornness in me that wants to prove I can take care of myself and be independent. Sometimes I do need help, but I’m always hesitant to ask because I just don’t want to be a burden or an inconvenience. 

There was a similar time during my college career when I was also in a pretty good place in life. A lot of people were happy for me and proud of me for achieving the things I did and getting to where I got. I was happy to be in my position at the time and proud of myself too. While people were happy for me, there weren’t a lot of people happy with me. That is I felt kind of alone and isolated like no one could relate to me. 

But then someone did relate to me. A good friend of mine took it upon herself to check up on me one time. She was frank with me and told me that when she was in my position, she had actually felt pretty lonely and isolated, but no one knew. In that instant, I just broke down and the tears just kept rushing out. I had no idea she was feeling like that when she was in my position, and I hadn’t told anyone how I was feeling either. The fact that she took it upon herself to check up on me and take care of me meant a lot to me. 

Even though it’s hard for me to show I’m struggling, I think it’s important to show a little vulnerability so that those who are interested in getting into the industry can fully understand what it entails. I have been looking for a decent place to stay since learning I had to move to New York. It’s been a very difficult search, quite frankly, especially who those are not familiar with living in a big city and the other inconveniences that come from it. However, do keep in mind that not everyone’s experiences are the same. Mine differs greatly from some of my classmates assigned to the same domicile. If you do go into the industry, you could have an entirely different experience than me so don’t let this one experience of mine discourage you!

The week between graduating training and moving to New York, I spent every day looking through multiple crashpad websites, FB renters groups, Trulia, reached out to acquaintances and friends, and messaged several people advertising that they were looking for roommates or someone to take over a lease. I truly did not have a place to live in New York and it was kind of scary. 

That week of in-between passed and I arrived in New York. My first four days, the company had provided a hotel for me, and that was to be the only time that the company will provide housing for me for relocation purposes. I spent some of those four days checking out crashpads and still contacting people looking for roommates. I went to this one crashpad to check out the place and I was pretty horrible by what I saw. It was filthy and disorganized. The kitchen was sticky and messy. There were bunkbeds in the bedrooms and multiple in the living room area. The mattresses were unlined with sheets or any type of protection and had stains on them. The worst part was how utterly disgusting the bathroom was. There was one time in college that I felt like I was living inside a trashcan because of this ongoing issue that one of my roommates caused that one of my pledge sisters let me sleep at her place. I also cried at that time because I was grateful of her for taking me in. Anyways, the level of grossness in this crashpad was a whole different level. The whole time I was touring this crashpad, the landlord was actually on the phone with me, giving me the tour through call. I was trying my best to keep my tone neutral and disgust hidden. She ended our call with “I’m sorry if the place may seem a little messy for you, but this is actually one of the cleaner crashpads you’ll find. They others are typically filthier!” After that tour, I was thinking to myself “What have I gotten myself into?” And so, I spent the remainder of my time in the company-provided hotel until it was the day for me to leave on my IOE (initial operating experience--kind of like my first trip to shadow a flight attendant instructor then show my proficiency). 

For my IOE, I got flown to Denver from La Guardia and I stayed in the nicest hotel room I had ever experienced. It was a four-star hotel with an amazing breakfast set up in the morning. At this point, I was thinking “Okay, this is actually pretty great. I’m kind of homeless, but it’s okay. I’ll figure something out.” I completed my IOE, which was a four-day trip. Every night I stayed in a different hotel provided by the company.  

After my IOE, I flew home for a day, still no luck at finding a place to live in New York. My friend who had graduated training my with me told me about this crashpad she found, which will end up to be my current crashpad for the month. I contacted the landlord immediately and scheduled to move in the next day after I fly back to New York. I know it was dumb of me to sign up for a place I hadn’t even toured or seen, because the last time I did something like that, I regretted my decision and had to stay there for a whole year. However, I was desperate and it was only for the month of October, so I was going to make it work.

This crashpad that I am temporarily residing in is convenient that it is close to the airport. The area is also relatively quaint and peaceful--as peaceful as it can get considering it is New York and there are still always cars honking and people yelling at each other on the streets. I actually enjoy walking to the market and admire the cute little houses down the streets. Many of them are all decorated for Halloween. The leaves have changed colors. The sight is truly fall and I love it!  

What I don’t love is my crashpad. Crashpads are typically just a place that a bunch of airline crewmembers share, but aside from my roommate, everyone else living here are not... It turned out that in the past, there were a lot more crewmembers that lived here. There was also a tenant that wasn’t a crewmember was stealing some of the flight attendant’s stuff while they were away. That tenant was kicked out, but the crew members also stopped living here, so now this place has a few “regular” tenants, myself and my roommate, and different airbnb guests that come in and out. There was also one guy that was staying here for short amount of time that kept stealing food. He eventually got kicked out. Well, I wasn’t here when it all went down, but the story is...he called the cops for something stupid and the cops just laughed at him. Then he had the cops called on him. The cops supposedly came and took him to the psych ward because he would talk to himself in the mirror. Overall, he was just a pretty weird guy. 

The first impression I got from this place had already started bad when I first got here, so that should have been my first red flag. My friend did warn me that it was a little weird because no one else were crewmembers, but once again, we were really desperate considering the super short notice we received to relocate to New York. Anyways, I had contacted the landlord and told him I was interested in renting. He told me he had a room with two beds available that I would be sharing with my friend. Great. At least we would have our own room. Right? Wrong. The day I was supposed to move in, the room that he had told me would be mine and my friend’s had someone else staying on the bottom bunk. He told me to just neatly move all his things out into the living room. I did not want to get into any drama with this guy that I haven’t even met, so I told him “It’s okay. I can still in one of the other empty beds for the night and wait until that guy moves out after you talk to him about it.” I technically still didn’t have my own place to stay that night even though I had already paid for it. It sucked, but  still I was thinking it’s okay. I can still make this work. Things are going to work out. It’s okay. 

The next day, I was already assigned my first official trip. It was a three-day trip. When I came back from my trip, I still had one day left of reserve. The guy--the man, actually, that was previously staying in the room rented out for my friend and I had moved out. That was the day I kind of met the other “regulars” living in the apartment. The man introduced himself to me and kind of tried to jokingly lecture me about getting him kicked out of his room. It told me it was my fault that he had to leave his room but said he was still going to leave his belongings in the closet regardless, and that was the end of our conversation... I was not comfortable at this place and I had a full week off, so I packed my things, showered, and headed to the airport so I could just wait for my early flight home the next morning.

For me, I never have and I still don’t deal with unwanted interactions with men very well. I just don’t know what to do. I kind of shrink back and I freeze. Living in this crashpad, if I have to be here, I stay in my room all day. However, because that man still leaves his belonging in mine and my roomate’s room, he comes in and out. Every time he does, he says things like “You have a beautiful smile. You should smile more. You should work less because it makes you smile less.” and every time he saw me, he would tell me to smile. One time, I was alone and he came up and said I should go to Manhattan with him the next time I’m off and he’ll show me around. I don’t know this man. He’s basically a complete stranger so I was very uncomfortable and I just said “Sorry, I work a lot so I probably won’t have time.” 

Last week, I was unlucky to be on reserve for 5 days and not get called out for my whole reserve period so I would have to face him every day when he came in and out of our room. There was one day that every time he came in to grab something, he would ask me to go somewhere with him, and I would say “Sorry, I’m on call. I need to be here so I can be ready to leave anytime they call me.” He did it so much that day that I eventually pretended to be sleeping every time he knocked on the door to come in. I told my roommate and she told another tenant living at the apartment, who then told the landlady. The landlady came to take out his belongings the next day because he shouldn’t have even been using our room to begin with once he was told to leave it.  

She was so sweet about it. She kind of speaks broken English so we have limited communication. She tried to tell me not to worry about him and that she had made it clear to him that my roommate, myself, and the other tenant that my friend spoke to were all like her little girls. It was reassuring. I was so grateful and thankful. 

The next day, my roommate left for work super early in the morning. Later the man barged in with his belongings again to keep in our room. He didn’t noticed that I was in the room at first. Once he did, he declared “I know you girls don’t like me being in here, but this is just the way we live,” and continued lecturing me about how it was my fault that the landlady came and removed his things. That was outright rude. I was completely appalled, and things just got even more uncomfortable in an already uncomfortable place. 

The following day, I got assigned a trip. The day after I went home to Oklahoma for one day. I came back to New York and all the man’s belongings were completely out of the room. I guess at some point while my roommate and I were gone, the landlady came back in and removed his belongings again. I don’t know what went on while we were gone for her to do that, but it was nice of her. Ever since the first incident of removing his things, she always makes it a point to check in on me when she stops by to visit or clean the place. Every time, she gives me a hug and calls me her little girl, which kind of hits a soft spot because it’s so nice and reassuring to have someone watch out for you and take care of you. She came and did that yesterday. I was having a bad day, also scared to leave my room in case I run into that man and he yells at me again. After she came in to check up on me and made sure the heater was working so I would be warm, I cried and I just kept crying and crying. This marks the second incident that I cried for since becoming a flight attendant. Other than that, it’s been sort of good.  

On the bright side, I have found a new place to stay for November. I can not express to the landlady how grateful I am of her for looking out for me and taking care of me, but I can’t live in this place any more. I’m scared all the time. I sleep on the top bunk so that I could have some sense of safety and during the day, even though it’s a hassle to climb up and down, I still sit in my top bunk in the corner so I can feel somewhat safe. 

The first time I cried since becoming a flight attendant was during one of the times I was leaving Oklahoma, going back to New York, and my flight had been delayed for 3 hours so I missed my connection from DTW to LGA, which was the last flight back to New York for the day and it was so late that everything was closed. I knew I would have to sleep in the airport for the night. My mother messaged me during my flight from OKC to DTW. I didn’t want to tell her that I was going to have to sleep at the airport in Detroit, that I was dreading going back to my New York apartment, and that I was actually having a hard time because I didn’t want her to worry so I spent the whole flight crying. I know that sounded really sad, but I overcame it. I figured my way through. We also have a pretty nice crew lounge at the DTW airport with a sleep room. There’s even a gym and a shower area, so I spent the night there and flew out the next morning. Everything was good. I was fine, and hopefully things are only going to get better from here! 

[flyingwithicloud]

Today I was on ready reserve at the airport starting at 5:45am, which was awfully early, but I was glad I was finally assigned something after having nothing to do for my previous 4 reserve days. I got assigned a trip around 10:30am and ended up working with one of my classmates from flight attendant training. That was pretty fun, because my other classmates have been able to work together and I’ve been having trips with strangers. Those trips haven’t been bad either! I’ve actually gotten the chance to get to know different people within my base so it’s cool when I run into them around the airport. I even ran into two different pilots that I previously worked trips with earlier this month, and I love running into people I know. I will usually always greet familiar faces, unless I don’t think you really know me and I’m feeling kind of shy. I got flown to Raleigh and worked a flight from Raleigh to Newark then got driven back from Newark to La Guardia by a chauffeur. It was around sunset and the view was absolutely amazing! I got to see the New York skyline and all the bridges. The sky was beautiful and it was such an incredible moment. It was exactly the feeling and excitement I had always expected when I thought about being in New York. It was like those happy endings in New York-based movies where they’re driving off into the sunset, you get a slow aerial view of the skyline, and there’s happy music that makes you love life. I was looking forward to getting off ready reserve by 2pm so I could fly home for a couple days. Then I received my trip assignment, which at first I was a little bummed about. However, the pilots were so nice and working with my classmate was fun. Our flight only had 23 passengers so it was super easy. The icing on the cake was the ride home from Newark! It was a good end to my work week. 

[flyingwithicloud]

My honest opinion about NY/LGA...

I’m currently based in New York-La Guardia, and I hate it to be honest. New York has been fun and it truly is a cool place to hang out and visit, but I do not like living here. For a girl that grew up in the suburbs in the south, New York is a little noisy and sometimes it scares me. Cars are always honking at each other and people don’t seem very patient. Back in my hometown, I rarely ever honk my horn at someone. I don’t even like the sound of horns honking. I was raised around Southern hospitality and New York is a little dog-eat-dog for me. I don’t think I’m quite equipped to handle that.

What’s worst is the winter!! I am dreading the winter so bad. I am not a winter girl at all. I hate being cold. The idea of living in New York, waiting for the bus, walking to the subway, walking to the laundromat and supermarket, just doing everything in the bitter winter makes me want to cry honestly. I’m starting to tear up just typing these things out. Winter is already so depressing for me in general but being lonely and missing home on top of that while being cold all the time does not sound fun. 

Don’t even get me started on La Guardia. The LGA airport is currently under construction and it’s just a big mess. It does not look welcoming or inviting. A passenger brought up a good point. Most often, the LGA airport is the first glimpse of New York that people see or even first glimpse of America that people see and it’s just not very appealing at all. Quite frankly, I have a lot of words about La Guardia that I will keep to myself.

Living in New York wouldn’t be so bad after a year or so and a couple pay raises, but moving to New York on a new hire salary, straight out of college, and coming from a completely different background is a lot to adapt to right now. I really wouldn’t mind living in New York once��a decent salary, have a good handle on my career, and have gotten acclimated to the changing aviation industry lifestyle. If the airport was more appealing I also wouldn’t dread flying back to it after every visit home or at the end of every trip. Most of my biggest complaints aren’t even related to my work. It’s more related to the location so it’s really not a bad job at all. I haven’t had any issues with passengers. Most, if not all, of my flights that I’ve worked have been pretty pleasant flights. I enjoy working. I love it actually. I hate sitting on reserve all day, just waiting to get called out. I would much rather work 4-5 days in a row with early report time and late release, so that I could at least interact with nice crews and passengers and have something to do. When I greet customers onto my flights, I am genuinely happy to be there because this is the job that I’ve been waiting to get for so long and it’s exciting that we’re all on this flying contraption together going to a different location that would take so much longer prior to the invention of airplanes! I’ve always loved going to airports too. I always offer to pick people up or drop people off at the airport. I don’t just come right on time and wait at the curb. I park my car and walk through the terminal, imagining that I’m off to some great adventure. This was even before I became a flight attendant, so now I’m living out the dream I’ve always wanted. 

[flyingwithicloud]

What’s the hardest thing about my job so far?

Currently, I’ve been having a hard time sleeping at night. I’ll wake up a few times throughout the night. Sometimes I have really early report time and I just can’t fall asleep. I’m naturally a night owl and plus I’m not used to the habit and lifestyle of sleeping in a new bed every night. At one point in college, I was always so tired I could sleep anywhere! Even during parties! I just don’t know why I have a hard time falling asleep in hotels on my overnights. 

Another thing is loneliness. Being a flight attendant can be pretty lonely. You work with a crew for the set amount of days. Then you all go your separate ways once the trip ends. You don’t have consistency of having the same coworkers every shift. Some crews are really cool and want to do things together, go out for drinks, grab a meal, or just hang out. Some crews you just clicked with pretty well, but once you get to the hotel, you still go to your own rooms and keep to yourselves. It can get pretty lonely when you’re not used to having those familiar faces working with you every time. You’re constantly having to establish new relationships, which can get tiring. At times you just want to have that one person that just knows you already so you don’t have to explain your whole backstory for the hundredth time. I have made friends from training and during work, but it can still get lonely because when I’m off from a trip, my other flight attendant friends could be starting their trip, in the middle of their trip, or gone home away for their off days.

What’s also hard as a flight attendant is that I no longer have a “normal” work schedule as most of the people I know. My friends and family may be relaxing and hanging out on the weekends, but the weekend could be when my work week starts. Usually, people tend to celebrate or host events on the weekends so sometimes I start to feel like I’m missing out on the rest of the world and my former relationships.

[flyingwithicloud]

What’s the best thing about my job so far?

When I was younger and aimless in life, I thought the best thing about being a flight attendant would be the traveling. Of course, the travel benefits are great! However, now that I have experienced the things I that I did and matured throughout the years, the best thing about my job isn’t what I would have expected 6 years ago. The best thing about my job is honestly the human interactions I get from being a flight attendant. When I fly in uniform, I have the greatest conversations and interactions with the passengers sitting next to me. Sometimes even when I’m not in uniform and a brave passenger next to me initial some small talk then discovers I’m a flight attendant, I still have the same experience simply because of my position. I guess my position as a flight attendant in the situation gives people a conversation basis to start on. Nowadays, people tend to stick to themselves, become absorbed in their phones, electronics, and if available on airplanes, the inflight entertainment system. Certain social skills have gone down quite dramatically due to technology and some people just don’t have the social skill to strike up a casual conversation with their neighbors to pass the time. I am more on the reserved side so I’m not the type to initiate a conversation, but once someone does I will gladly continue the conversation. Additionally, when I am working a flight and I see two strangers having a good time chatting on my flight, it brings me a lot of comfort and joy seeing them enjoy themselves in flight. It brightens my day and puts me in a better mood. I think it also lightens the mood in my cabin as well for the other surrounding passengers. They’re not as stressed or scared about flying if they see other people having a pleasant time flying. 

Going back to the travel benefits, they really are amazing, especially the benefits I get within my company. Being a regional airline that partners with multiple mainline partners, I’m not confined to just one airline. I can work for and fly on multiple carriers. This gives me the ability to fly in and out nearly effortlessly as long as I have the patience and adaptability. One time I got released pretty early in the day so I flew home for 24 hours to do laundry and visit my parents for a bit. Another time I flew in on a random Wednesday for a day trip to visit my out-of-state boyfriend. I can also fly in to grab lunch or dinner with friends from back home and fly out the next morning. When I start to miss people and a phone call just doesn’t suffice, I’ll figure out a way to visit on my next period off and just fly to them.

Another thing, you know how sometimes you have those long distance friends or acquaintances that you think are really cool and you would probably become good friends if you just saw each other more often? Well now with my job, I can visit those friends and acquaintances to rekindle old friendships or strengthen new ones, so I’m pretty excited about that. I have a list of places and people I want to visit. I also went to Italy this past summer and I loved it so much that I want to bring my friends and family along with me next time I go. With this job, that “next time” will be a lot sooner than if I were working a regular 9-5 job, trying to save money, trying to build up vacation days, and waiting for friends and family to be able to save up money to afford tickets there and back too. I have family out-of-state and out-of-country that I haven’t seen in awhile that I would like to visit as well. There are so many places I want to go that I don’t know how I’m going to decide which places to prioritize first. I honestly do feel very blessed that I was able to achieve my dream job and get these incredible opportunities from it.

[flyingwithicloud]

Destination: Friendly Skies

For those that are not too familiar with me, you may wondering how did I come up with “flyingwithicloud”. Well, i.C.L.O.U.D. is my sorority nickname and since you are reading this, you are following along with my journey. Hence, it’ll be like you’re flying along with me, so please put up your tray tables and seat backs, stow your carry on items, buckle your seat belts, and enjoy the ride!

I recently started a new career as a flight attendant, which has been something I have wanted to do since high school. Ever since I had announced that I had completed training and became a flight attendant, I have been receiving a lot of questions about my job from curious friends and family and also contacted by fellow aspiring flight attendants with questions on how to become one. Getting my foot into this industry wasn’t exactly easy. When I first decided I wanted to become a flight attendant, I had a lot of questions myself, but I had no one to answer them for me because I just didn’t have anyone in my life that was a flight attendant or had anyone that even knew a flight attendant. With that being said, I want to be a resource for anyone that is interested in the airline industry, but also I want to share my journey to reflect on my experience and write down my thoughts at the same time. 

For today, I’ll start with the basic opening questions that I have gotten recently. 

What made me want to become a flight attendant? I’ve always been curious about the world and the people within it. I love learning different cultures and languages, hearing people’s stories, adventures, and life experiences. I think the idea of traveling the world, serving its people, and becoming a part of their journey is so exciting. I also love to travel. There are also tons of other people that love to travel at well. I know that while many people may love their destinations, sometimes getting to the destination is a dreadful part of the trip. I want to be able to create an experience for people so not only do they love the destination, they enjoy the experience of getting there as well. I know these are all idealistic ideas. Sometimes, I am a little embarrassed to share my purpose so I just let people assume it’s because I simply want to travel. At the end of the day, I really do have an idealistic view of the world and life, and I strive to make it as realistic for myself as possible so who cares if people make think my ideas are far-fetched as long as I can achieve them. 

How long do I want to be a flight attendant? In the moment, I’d say 2-3 years, but many of the flight attendants that I have met since entering the industry have said the same thing and they ended working for 10-20+ years, so we shall see! However, I do have a set career in mind for the long-term once I am ready to settle down from life on the go as a flight attendant.  

What kind of schooling did I receive or what did I major in college? Towards the end of high school, I was really conflicted about whether I should: 

go to flight attendant school to get training and become a flight attendant then go to college later in life once I want to settle down or... 

go to college, get a degree for a career that I want to do after I’m done being a flight attendant, graduate, then apply to airlines. 

I ended up choosing the latter, which I am very happy about my decision because college was the best experience of my life! I don’t think I would have been able to become a flight attendant as quickly in my progress of trying to get into the industry if I hadn’t gone through the experiences in college that developed my strengths and passion. 

To answer the question, I majored in communication with a minor in human relations. I chose my degree with the intention in mind to cater it towards being a flight attendant but also be something I truly enjoyed and loved so that I could enhanced my knowledge and skills in that discipline and use it to better my experiences and relationships through life. With that mindset, it was actually fun to go through college and learn things I was genuinely interested it. I wholeheartedly believe people should do things with their heart and it’ll make their whole experience and the results so much better. 

How do I get started? Referring back to my college education, you don’t need a college degree to become a flight attendant, but you do need a high school diploma or GED. You can apply online through the airline’s website like any other job. Most airlines require you to be at least 21 years old. Certain airlines have different height requirements than others so that you can fit inside their aircrafts, which isn’t something people usually think about. There are no weight requirements for most American-based airlines. You just need to be fit for duty. Different airlines have different restrictions on piercings and tattoos, so be sure to look into the specific airline you are interested in. You don’t need flight attendant school because you’ll be paying to get training but not guaranteed a job with any airline. If you just apply through an airline and get accepted, THEY will be paying YOU while training you all the requirements you need to know working for them.