Praising Passengers

Published by | 3 comments

You know what makes flights more fun? Passengers who are fun to talk to, have a story to tell and genuinely are amazing people. It’s rare nowadays to come across passengers who are content with the services they purchased, to the point that they are enjoying their experience, and are willing to chat and treat flight attendants like ::gasp normal people!

A few weeks ago on a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago we met Diane. She was sitting in 22C and came to the back of the plane to use the restroom. Afterward she decided to stand back there to stretch her legs and during that time she noticed how hard we were working. She made comment after comment about how we were treating our passengers and the level of service we were providing.

The longer she stood back there the more we talked and got to know her. All of a sudden she blurts out: “Do I look like the mother of a Minister?” The three of us were a bit shocked, to say the least. I’m going to Chicago because my son is entering a monastery and becoming a Minister. We didn’t raise him religious, we just taught him right from wrong and told him to be his own person and decide for himself what was best for him. This is what he says is best for him, so, I’m going out there, surprising him..and supporting him. 

Wow. That…was a lot. She was taking the term “jump seat confessional” and, well, though being allowed on the jump seat because she wasn’t qualified, was telling-all. We all agreed that she was great for supporting her son, no matter his decision. She was talking about how she’s going through a divorce now that her kids are grown and she’s working on getting her life back. The life that she put on hold trough a bad marriage and through raising her kids. She also gave us her little thoughts of wisdom as if she was given a chance to re-live what she had gone through, to steer us in the right direction. We got to talking about our lives, and on this particular flight I was working with Brad (who you all may know from the reality series) and as you may have gathered, we’ve been friends for a while, six years now. We got to talking about our friendship, our co-workers, career choices and anything else that come up in conversation. She was truly inspiring, knowledgeable and all around just an amazing person who took the time to get to know us and interact with us as more than just “the crew” while we were working, which in turn, made us realize just how amazing our job can be.

She ended up sending a letter to my airline about our service on board (of which, she forwarded to us — the company never even mentioned the fact that they received it — big surprise) but as she deplaned she handed me three little folded pieces of paper. A note for each of us. A re-cap of our conversation and just a little something to leave us with.

She really was one of the most personable, best conversations I’ve had with a passenger in my seven years of flying.

  • Frank

    i once asked an elderly lady what she wanted to drink inflight. She smiled and said, “I used to be a stewardess, back in the day. I looked at her, admired her kept hair, her pretty outfit and well done make up. I said, “You still look like one”. She said, I have a picture of myself in uniform, wanna see?” I said, of course. She held up her pocket book and I was shocked. SHOCKED. She was standing on the air-stairs, back in the early 60′s. (No jetways back then) On the stairs with her, was John F. Kennedy.

  • Andrew Ashiofu

    Those special moment when Pax make that flight warm and see you as an individual with a personality.

  • thecriticalmom.com

    Wow. She does sound very lonely and how wonderful of all of you to talk to her. I’ve had good experiences flying the last few years–we often fly Air Berlin and except for the proverbially awful food–which used to be better–everything’s been great with the very polite and friendly flight attendants. But I wonder what would happen if I buttonholed one of them and said, “Hey, I’m having a really tough day being menopausally depressed–can I talk to you as if you were my shrink?” I’d be tempted to try that as a piece of performance art, but the flight attendants have enough to do. It’s only other passengers who have been difficult: when my children were young and we were trying to get them to fall asleep, I remember especially single businesswomen screaming in our direction. The kids weren’t even crying: they were happily singing–and not too loudly–a bedtime song, and just as they were about to sink into a slumber, some @#$%^&*()_!! woman across the aisle screeched: “KEEP THOSE KIDS QUIET!” And it served her right that all hell broke loose them . . .
    Check out my blog: http://www.thecriticalmom.com