It’s Back…Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant…A Brand New FA Spills the Beans! – Part #13

Yahoo returns with their “Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant” series, though FA “Betty” is gone, replaced with “Jenny”. Jenny is frustrated as the airline where she has devoted 18 years of her life is merging with another airline and seems to keep adding foreign and regional partners on a daily basis. She claims she is constantly walking on eggshells with new policies and new people.

Thanks to Mark from Yahoo for sharing once again with our readers. Below is a snippet of the first entry in the new series (13th in total) and you can check out the full post here and a new one each Monday.

One thing that has not changed. One more confession and I will stop. I feel better already. You know when you are not allowed to get up and go to the bathroom? Specifically, like during takeoff and landing? That’s when we go pee. Really. You think we are all buckled up and happily waiting for touchdown when we are actually taking our turn in the lav. That is, of course, if we actually know where it is.

Passengers are crankier. The invention of premium economy class seats is one of the few changes I do like. “Middle class” is a good thing on a plane. Business or first-class passengers can be needy, and dare I say it, pretentious. Economy passengers are cramped and cranky. But give people more space and a tiny perk or two for a relatively small amount of money (compared to a biz-class seat) and they truly mellow out. Those seats should actually be called the “Zen” seats. People with more legroom are pleasant. I call them in-betweeners and reward them with extra snacks and my best pretend perkiness.

There are too many new flight attendants. The merger seems to have weeded out some of the old guard like myself, leaving us flying with perky newcomers. Perky wears off in about a year. If they are lucky, they will have a few years of being content with the job and excited about the travel, but that too will eventually wear off. I flew to São Paulo last year for the first time. I saw the hotel and nothing else. Not one of the strangers on the flight crew had any interest in seeing the city. Not even the perky newcomers.

We almost never know the other crewmembers on a flight. I used know my fellow crewmembers at least half of the time. Now, it rarely happens. The mergers are partly to blame, but it’s more than that. It’s the nature of the job to travel halfway across the country to get to work and not always know if you’ll even get to work a flight when you get there. We meet our fellow crewmembers just before you do. Is that really safe? I always felt safer when I knew and trusted the team on board the aircraft.

Related –

• Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant: #1 – Attack of the Ambien Zombies
• Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant: #2 – More Nudity & Sleeping Pills
• Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant: #3 – The 15 Most Ridiculous Things People Say on a Plane
• Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant #4 –11 Strangest Things People Ask for on a Plane
• Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant #5 – What Happens in the Bathroom Doesn’t Stay in the Bathroom!
• Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant #6 – 15 Flying Tips That’ll Keep You Sane this Summer
• Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant #7 – Fecal Matter & Maxi Pads
• Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant #8 –  Wheelchair Gaming the System
• Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant #9 – Peeing in Cups & Breastfeeding Cats
• Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant #10 – Drunks on a Plane
• Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant #11 – Tales From the Mile High Club
• Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant #12 – Smells on a Plane
• 30 Pilots and Flight Attendants Confess their “Best Kept Flying Secrets”
• 16 Alarming Airline Secrets
• What Your Flight Attendant Really Thinks of You
• 10 Things You Should Never Say to a Flight Attendant
• 10 Signs You’re the Worst Person on Your Flight
• Nine Dirty Little Secrets of the Travel Industry
• 29 Things Your Pilot Won’t Tell You
• 7 Things Your Flight Attendant Wants You to Know
• What Do Flight Attendants Think of You…and your requests?
• The Unsurprising & Scary Confessions of a Regional Jet Pilot…sleeping in trailers at the airport
• How Much Do Singapore Airlines Flight Attendants Get Paid for Providing Great Service?
• Say What? Overheard on the Plane Edition 28 – Crazy Things Passengers Say to Flight Attendants