NonRev NonSense

Posted in A Day in the Life of a Flight Attendant | 6 comments

It seems I’ve been having a lot of issues surrounding nonreving lately. First it was my mom not getting on the flight to come out and visit me, then it was my inability to pass ride to the Travel Blog Exchange, now, I’m dealing with nonrevs.

I just worked a long haul flight which carried a lot of nonrevs on board, so much so, that we moved paying passengers to first class just to ensure we could get all of the nonrevs on the plane. Who would have guessed that the nonrev would be the passengers giving us (the crew) a hard time?

During boarding one of them, whom I speculate was drunk, went to the aft galley and proceeded to open a bin to grab himself a water. Usually, I wouldn’t have a problem with this, nor would the Flight Attendant who was working in the back, except this nonrev was wearing street “civilian” clothes and is new to our company, so we had no idea who he was. The aft FA quickly asked him if he needed assistance, and he said he just “needed to use the restroom.” Well, if you needed to use the restroom, why are you going into the bins? Anyway, he went into the bathroom.

When he came out, he then tried to take his carryon bags and place them in the compartments in which the working crew places their bags. Again, the aft FA asked him what he was doing and if he needed help, he said he was fine and to just leave him alone. As he tried to shove his luggage inside the storage area the aft FA explained that the compartment was full and nothing else would fit in there and to just put his bag in the overhead bin with the rest of the passengers bags. Finally, he took his seat and tried to purchase a pair of headphones for the InFlight movie with cash. Again, explaining to our company employee whom we didn’t know was an employee yet another company procedure, “we don’t accept cash,” the aft FA explained.

Once he finally sat down, he fell asleep for the whole 5 hour flight. Thankfully. Inflight we found out he did in fact work with us and when he woke up, we coached him and the do’s and don’t's of nonrev travel and how to ensure he keeps his job in the future in the event he doesn’t get a “good crew.”

About two hours into the flight the call button at row 7 goes off. Another nonrev, sitting in the window seat, rang the button. As I look over I notice her pointing to the aisle seat and flagging me over. As I approached the row I noticed that the passenger in aisle seat was sleeping, at least she appeared to be. The nonrev said that she had been non-responsive for some time. I shook the passenger by the shoulder saying “ma’am” quite loudly. No response. I flagged another FA over while I continued to shake this woman as she came to. I told the other FA to grab me orange juice and possibly the oxygen bottle.

The woman’s eyes were red and rolled back into her head on more than one occasion. The lady in the middle seat, this womans daughter and a nonrev, never relayed any information as to her mom’s medical conditions, how long she was unresponsive for, if she had eaten that day. Nothing. I tried to having a conversation with the passenger when I learned that she had only eaten a muffin that morning. She probably had low blood sugar. Then I found out she didn’t take her blood pressure medication that morning, why? Who knows. Finally, she appeared stable and the flight continues.

Later, the call button at row 7 goes off again. This time, she was responsive but a bit delusional. I noticed that she hadn’t drank any of the orange juice and asked her daughter to ensure she does. Then the daughter tells us that her mom has many food allergies and thinks she may have eaten something bad. Well, the only thing she remembers eating was a muffin, so that must be it. The woman decides to go to the restroom and from that point forward, was fine.

She walked off the airplane like everyone else, and we never even got a “thank you” from the nonrev.

I guess it’s just part of our job.