The Turn Day

Published by Bobby Laurie | 2 comments

I’ve been working a lot of transcon turns lately. They’ve built a ton of them out of my base and I started bidding them. At first, I didn’t want to do them. They end up being long days (even longer with delays) but I’m becoming addicted.

You’re home at night, you’re getting the same amount of hours as if you worked a 2 day trip which means you’re gaining an extra day off. What’s not to like? Well, you’re loosing per diem (more on that here) but if you work one extra turn a month it off-sets that monetary loss. Technically, doing these turns I only have to work 9 day a month.

They’re fun too. I worked a Cancun turn. Usually everyone is happy going to/from their Cancun Holidays and it’s almost expected to encounter a few passengers who are “having a good time.” There’s a fine line between having a good time and being obnoxious and I encountered a couple who I thought was walking that line very, very carefully. On take-off, they had quite the argument with each other. I could hear them through the bulkhead going back and forth with each other about a “letter” that the woman had written. The words “ethical” and “bottom line” and “never again” were being thrown around left and right. I tried to keep my mind occupied on other things as to not eavesdrop on their conversation. But, they were the only two people in first class and it was the only thing I could hear.

Convinced that they were intoxicated, once I began service I offered them “soda, juice or water” as a beverage. The guy responds with “iced tea,” I told him to “try again;” “lemonade.” Nope. “Try again.” His wife looks at him and says “it’s from a can! Pick something else.” “Diet Coke.”

A few minutes later I handed them our first class menu, one item, a German dish, caused the man to start speaking in only German to me. At that moment I had decided that my suspicions were true, they were drunk.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. They were actually drunk on life as they were non-drinkers and couldn’t even tell me the date of the last drink they had consumed. I ended up speaking with them for almost the whole flight after the guy offered up an ice-breaker of “Do you want to know a random fact about Schnitzel?” I must have given him quite a look with a smirk because his response was “you obviously don’t give a f***.” As our conversation progressed his wife started talking about their argument earlier in the flight, of which I commented on one of the details. Both of them looked at each other, laughed, apologized to me for having to witness it and then explained the whole situation.

As they deplaned the woman said “this has got to be one of my best flights ever. I’ve never had so much fun with the crew.” I thanked them, said that it had been amazing, but I’ve had better. They laughed, knowing I was kidding, handed me their phone number and email address and headed home.

Sure not every turn day turns out like this and these folks are fun in their own right, but there’s something to be said for going to work, having fun, and sleeping in your own bed at night.