Though I wrote a post about Flight Attendant Camaraderie, there is, however, the flip side to that. Not only between airlines, but within each airline.

I usually bid for 4 day trans-continental trips.  Doing this, results in our crew of 3 usually becoming very close. Not only are we working together for 8-9-10 hours a day within those 4 days, but sometimes we go to dinner together and explore our layover city as a group. The majority of the time the other FAs awarded the same trips as myself are fun, hard working people and we mesh very well together. However, with as many flight attendants as airlines have you’re bound to meet someone that you just don’t work well with; and, because you’ve been together for 4 days, you may now have a deep disgust for this person.

For example, a few years ago my crew and I reported for our flight to SFO from LAX that was supposed to continue onto JFK. When we got to the airport, the aircraft arrived missing 2 oxygen bottles. Unfortunately, LAX didn’t have any more in the stock room and we had to wait for some to be flown in from San Francisco. 4 hours later, we departed. Upon arrival into SFO, we thought for sure the company would have used a spare plane & reserve crew to dispatch our JFK leg ontime. Wrong. A spare airplane was used, the passengers were boarded with Airport Reserves, all they were waiting on.. was us.

As we approached the airplane an InFlight supervisor was outside the door. She informed us that because of the delay the company decided that everyone on board would receive a free meal for being inconvenienced. We were 100% catered. As the purser, I spoke to Lauren & Jill, who were both working main cabin, to find out if they had any preference on how to do service. It was decided, as a whole, that a beverage service would be done and then both of them would go through the cabin with the food cart and pass out an item to each passenger to ensure everyone got something to eat.

Once InFlight, Jill approached the first class galley (where the extra food was being stored) and very loudly yelled

Whose idea was it to do service this way, anyway?! We’re in the aisle entirely too long — this is taking forever!

I reminded her that we all decided this was the best way to ensure everyone got something and no one was left out. She then stated that she never agreed to this, then she grabbed another drawer of sandwiches and headed to the back.

About 15 minutes later she came back to the front threw the empty bin on the floor and again reiterated her disgust for still being in the aisle 1.5 hours after take off. Again, she took more food and headed aft. 15 minutes later,  just as I had picked up two trays of food to deliver to my passengers, she again comes to the front  but this time holding a hot water cup and proclaimed her need for hot water. I looked at her with raised eye brows, as my hands were full, and said: “you know where it is” as I headed into the cabin. Spitefully, she then proceeded to hit the “hot water” button without placing her cup under the spicket making the hot water flood my galley counter, and destroying my paper which had my first class orders written on it. Unbeknown to her, I saw this happen as I was waiting for her to exit the galley so I could continue my service. As I re-entered the galley she told me the button ‘got stuck’ and walked away.

This is how Jill got added to my “no-fly” list and why flight attendants as whole secretly keep one.

When bidding for schedules, some airlines allow you to actually enter your no-fly list as a bid preference such as “Avoid Trips with Employee XXX” or “DO NOT Award Same Schedule as LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME” but some airlines don’t allow you these bid options. They view it as being anti-team building and not being a team player. Most FAs then resort to dropping or trading the trip away – some even pay money for you to take the trip from them just to ensure they don’t have to work with the particular flight attendant they are avoiding.

Though it can be viewed as not being a team player, if you know you don’t get a long with a particular person and don’t trust their judgment within sticky situations I believe you should be allowed to avoid trips with them. Not only for your personal sanity, but for the sake of the passengers as well. If you’re constantly dealing with this co-worker and trying to talk them through situations, how much customer service are you providing to the paying passengers?

Therefore, yes, as a flight attendant I agree with the traveling public. There are those of us that don’t belong in this position. The problem is we aren’t the ones who hired nor are we the ones that can fire them. We can just avoid them.