Up Up & A Gay | A Flight Attendant Blog

Travel Tuesday: $40 for a Four Day

July 13th, 2010

Bobby

11 Comments »

We all know Rachel Ray can spend $40 a day while vacationing in a new city. But, can she strech $40 for four days?

I’m heading to work tomorrow and beginning a four day trip. I’ll be flying to Washington DC, Seattle and Boston. In Washington I only have a 10 hour layover, which is barely enough time to shower and relax, never mind eat then sleep and on day two.. I work from DC to Los Angeles, then up to Seattle.. but I wait around for a plane in Los Angeles for two and a half hours and I really can’t afford to eat at the airport anymore. So what’s a flight attendant on a budget to do when you need to eat but don’t have the time or money to go out and buy food on the road? Pack it!

$40 for four days is my budget. Mind you, we are offered crew meals on board while working, and though it is a nice gesture, it gets old. There’s only so many times you can eat the same thing over the course of four days so a lot of us pack food as well. Also, most of our hotels either have a refrigerator in our room or we can request one from the front desk. This makes packing cold food an option as on board the aircraft we can place dry ice in our coolers to keep our stash cool until we land.

So where does someone on a budget shop for good food? Fresh&Easy! For those of you that don’t have a Fresh&Easy, I’m sorry. They’re amazing. Great prices, great food, name brand products.. just all around amazing. Not to mention they regularly have coupons in store and by mail that makes their store even more of a value. So, I perused the aisles looking for items that I can make using the airplane’s oven, and the other products on board (water, milk, etc).

Click to enlarge

Some items that I selected include: EatWell Turkey Chili, bananas, GoFigure Crunch cereal, Fresh&Easy Garlic and Parmesan pita chips, Hormel Delights Chicken Alfredo, Fresh&Easy Cranberry trail mix (it’s seriously amazing), and Apple Cinnamon cereal bars.

I also bought dinner for tonight a nice pepperoni pizza and salad along with some necessities such as bread and toothpaste.

All of which came in under $40! I didn’t even get to use my coupon!

Click to enlarge

That’s right.. it all cost less than $30! I’ll show you the receipt later. So now that I have everything.. it’s time to pack it.

A flight attendant’s best friend is their eBag crew cooler. Which, ironically, eBags has discontinued for the time being. They claim that they sold out of them and need to make more, there are also some rumors that they were redesigning it (why, I don’t know.. it’s seriously amazing!). Regardless, if you’re lucky enough to have one you can attest to how amazing it is for packing food and keeping it fresh.

So, here’s the blank canvas ready to be filled with all of my food for four days. Though you think it all won’t fit.. you’re wrong! Sure there’s some repackaging that needs to take place but it will all fit.

First I removed some of the cereal bars from the box and I’m only taking three of them with me.

Click to Enlarge

I also put some pita chips in a ziplock bag and am only taking 3 of 5 bananas with me. Still, a lot of food will be getting into this bag. Now because I’m traveling with some cold food I also put some drinkable brita water into a water bottle that I placed into the freezer. I’ll place the water bottle on the bottom of the bag to help me transport the food from my house to San Francisco in the morning. Once I get to San Francisco I have a refrigerator I can put my lunch bag in until it’s time for me to board the aircraft and head for Washington. So.. here’s how I packed my bag. Now.. remember that the front pouch is filled with coffee and tea that I already owned.

Coffee and Tea.

Hormel delight, repackaged cereal and 3 cereal bars.

Added the cold food: turkey chili, and lean cuisines..along with frozen water bottle.

Finished it off with hummus, trail mix and bananas (under the mix).

$27.19!

Like I said, that $27.19 even includes things I needed besides the food for work. My dinner tonight, came at SUCH an amazing price. $2.00! It was marked down from $4.. amazing.

Pizza!

In the end.. yes.. you can pack for a four day with $40. Sure, I don’t have 3 meals a day and I have a lot of snacking options. But, like I said, I’m lucky enough that my airline gives us crew meals so that also cuts down on the amount of food I have to back. But, these snacks and meals can easily hold me over on a layover until I get back on the plane the next day and save me from spending $15 for a BLT or worrying about where I’m going to eat on a very short layover.

Why Flight Attendants Do What We Do

July 11th, 2010

Bobby

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I’ve seen it time and time again: passengers ask me if they can use the restroom while the seatbelt sign is on and I respond with “I’m sorry, but the seatbelt sign is on so you need to remain seated.” They become visibly upset and then add: “so I can’t use the restroom?” and I say “I’m sorry, the seatbelt sign is on.”

Conversations such as this upset me because the passenger is viewing my response as negative and frustrating even though I answered their concern to the best that I’m allowed to do. I can see why, I didn’t give the passenger permission to use the restroom and I didn’t flat out tell her no. I did that intentionally because according to the FAA I’m not allowed to say more than that.

You see, a lot of what your flight attendant says or does is mandated by the FAA and their airlines “inflight emergency manual.”…

Click here to read more.

Flying Fact-checker on “Today.”

July 9th, 2010

Bobby

1 Comment »

Those of you that might have purchased my blog book “Planely Speaking” know that I had a dream of working in the communication field before I landed (no pun intended) in the job that I’m in now, as a Flight Attendant. Before I gave up my job search in the communication field I applied for everything from production assistant to coffee runner, but I think I missed my calling as a fact checker. And now, a “Travel Expert.”

“The Today Show” this morning had me cracking up. Not because the segment was funny, but because the hosts got it all wrong. I posted my dissection of the segment on Examiner.com, along with my pitch to become their new “Travel Expert” (or at least their travel fact checker) but before you head over there to check out, here’s a video clip of what happened.

Click here to head to Examiner.com
and read what I had to say about this clip.

13 Days of Travel

July 8th, 2010

Bobby

14 Comments »

The end of June was busy. That is an understatement. In order to attend the Travel Blog Exchange in New York City I had to move my work schedule around a bit. On paper, it looked fine. Actually doing it, not so much. Follow along with the maps.

June 17: On the night of June 17th, I commuted to Los Angeles to be in position to work my trip departing the next morning. It was a trip I was looking forward to because I was working with one of my best friends Aimee, and a good friend Billy.

My routing for the 4 days was: LAX-DC 15hr layover | DC-San Francisco, sit at the airport for 2 hours then deadhead (fly as a passenger) to Las Vegas 16 hour layover | Las Vegas-SF-DC 10 hour layover | Then, DC back to LA. In 4 days that was 10,612miles worth of flying, or 23 hours and 27 minutes.

You can still see the tags! ha!

June 18: I went out on my layover in DC to Macy*s and bought some clothes for the Travel Blog Exchange. Something I didn’t want to do but the deals were too great! I spent $50 and walked out of the store with $200 worth of clothes. My receipt said I had $150 in savings. Crazy! From there we went out to Red Robin for burgers. Aimee ordered an “Endless Root Beer Float” but the way the server acted, she ordered a pot of gold. The server had no idea what she was trying to order even though it was clearly displayed in the menu. Finally, they bring her a float in a beer mug, half full. In one sip it was empty. She asked for a refill and got another float in a smaller glass. Again, in one sip – it was gone. Now Aimee had asked the server to bring the ice cream and the root beer in different glasses so she could make it herself since they were clearly lost on how to make the beverage. This time, they brought her a vanilla shake. It was crazy how many times they tried to make this drink, which is on their menu, but couldn’t.

June 19: As if I hadn’t spent enough money already of course we were going to go out in Las Vegas. We decided to go see Carrot Top and it was a great choice! He’s hilarious and if you’re in Vegas you need to check him out. Spent another $45 on the tickets, plus dinner and drinks and of course, a bit of gambling.

June 20: Finally back in DC.. went to sleep.

June 21: Had an early morning flying back to base in Los Angeles.. done around 10am. After I arrived, I went to my friend Sue’s house for the night because though this trip was over.. I started a two day trip the next morning.

Trip details: LA-San Fran-San Diego-San Fran 16 hour layover | Deadhead from San Fran to Toronto then work back to Los Angeles.

June 22: I arrived at work at 7am for an 8am flight, did the turns to San Diego and retired to my hotel room in San Francisco. I was so worn out, run down and broke. There was no energy for anything.

June 23: Deadheading was nice. I got to relax, write a little bit and take a short nap. Working back to LA was a piece of cake. Small scare though, we arrived in Los Angeles late and I thought I missed my last flight to Phoenix. I was in luck! Southwest was delayed too.. sat in the LAX airport for 3 hours waiting for my flight after working a 12hr day. Flew home to Phoenix

June 24: Got to sleep in my own bed for the first time in six days. Amazing. Unpacked my luggage, did laundry and repacked my luggage. Off to NYC tomorrow morning for TBEX.

June 25: A 4am wake up call comes extremely early. Luckily I wasn’t flying standby thanks to Mike and had confirmed seats to Dallas, then onward to Newark to meet up with Sara. Board my flight at 5:30am, sit next to crazy lady who won’t stop talking about her ex-husband and how they used to travel. Pretending to fall asleep to make her stop — doesn’t work. You can hear/read more about her, here. Finally land in New York to the smiling face of Sara Keagle. For the first time we meet in person! We then head into the city to meet up with Mike and whisk off to record a live taping The Crew Lounge, later we attend the first night of TBEX.

June 26: I slept on a pull out couch the night before, needless to say didn’t sleep that well. But, chipper for TBEX we head to the event. Got to meet Gailen David, Paul Thompson, Grace, Sarah, and Heather on day one. After the conference broke, we headed to the TripAdvisor Happy Hour (thanks for the notebooks!) There, I got to meet Jeff, and Jennifer. Jennifer and I talked for a while about Punta Gorda, Florida (who knew!?), my book and blog. She told me about what she does in travel PR, freelancing PR and about her blog. Great conversation. Head back to the hotel for a wardrobe change before the party that night, depressed because I didn’t win an iPad. After a one hour quick change, we head back downtown to the EuroCheapo.com / BootsNAll.com After Party. There I got to meet a TON of people thanks to Mike and his bright idea to enter me into the best dressed contest. People I never met before and won’t see again.. have pictures of me on their cell phones. It’s OK to delete them! Got the word out about The Crew Lounge and hung out with Beth, Tom, Sarah, Grace and Colleen most of the night. Met Amy Kemp discussed blogging ideas that I never thought of before. Also met Christine and joined the gay mafia. After late night Japanese food and a long walk back to the hotel (and Sara placing The Crew Lounge business cards on every car along the way while asking people to listen to us)… bed.

June 27: Super tired, we decide to skip TBEX day two. Won’t happen next year. Sara & I also had to fly back home today, so we’d have to leave the conference early anyway. Mike comes over with breakfast, we do a photo shoot for promo pictures and discuss what we’re going to work on next. Then we head out to Penn Station. Sara gets on a train to Newark, and I head to JFK. That was an ordeal.. read about that here. Finally get home to Phoenix. Unpack, repack. Back to work tomorrow.

June 28: In shock that I have to go to work tonight, I put in a drop request for my trip. Denied. Tired to the point that I can’t keep my eyes open.. I try again. Denied. 4pm I head to the airport. One flight, one leg — I can do it. I fly from Los Angeles to Toronto on the redeye with a great crew. Land early in the morning on the 29th.

June 29th: Head right to bed. Sleep, finally, 8 hours. I wake up at 4:30pm and call the crew to get dinner. We eat, then drink. We drink a lot to pre-game for company party we were invited to. After an ordeal over whose really driving us there.. I pay for a cab. I walked a redcarpet and had my photo taken.. first time for everything. We party. Dance. Mingle. And get tired. 11:30pm we head back to the hotel. This time, Sue paid.

June 30th: Wake up at 5am. I can’t believe I’m up at 5am after only sleeping four and a half hours. Head to airport to work back to San Francisco then onto Los Angeles before heading home. Have a minor medical emergency and issues with nonrevs, meet David and Dan. Nice guys. Head home. Friend reminds me I agreed to help him move. Damn! Head to his house to help him move…can’t back out.. he helps me a lot. Move done. Head to bed at 10pm. 18 hours after I woke up.

After all of that, on July 1st, I wake up to a fever, chills and a sore throat and I’m still nursing back to heath. It all caught up with me after 13 days of travel. However, I had an awesome time meeting everyone at TBEX and those that I met while working and getting to New York. A big thanks goes out to Mike at UPGRD, who also produces The Crew Lounge for Sara and I, if it wasn’t for him getting us the hotel and my tickets to/from New York I wouldn’t have been able to attend. Thank you Mike.

I bought my ticket for TBEX’11.. did you? Oh yeah — and I’m bidding vacation for it next year — this schedule isn’t happening again. In 13 days I flew 25,547 miles.

NonRev NonSense

July 3rd, 2010

Bobby

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.

People Watching at the Airport

July 1st, 2010

Bobby

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When I became a flight attendant the airport became my second home. Sometimes I think I spend more time waiting around for flights in an airport then I do at home on my couch. It comes with the job and is something that, over the years, I’ve come to love and accept.

Now, you might be asking, why is it something you love? The answer is simple, people watching. There is no better way to pass time in an airport then to observe your surroundings. Once you’ve passed through security you quickly witness passengers who haven’t flown in at least ten years, those that are confused over why they just had to pay to check a bag and those who decided that flying in their pajamas was fashionable.

[Click here to keep Reading]

Flying as a Passenger

June 27th, 2010

Bobby

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Okay, so I totally planned that my first post after TBEX would be about the people I met, the things I learned and what to expect for the next year since yesterday was my blogs 1 year birthday. However, the experience of getting home from TBEX is currently trumping the planned blog post.

I arrived at JFK with plenty of time to spare, almost two hours. I bought myself a sandwich for the flight, relaxed and did some people watching and tweeting. Finally, at 3:55pm they announced boarding of my 4:20pm flight. Just at that moment Mike sent me a message saying he noticed my flight was delayed. Mike gave me an American Airlines Award Ticket to travel to and from TBEX because I couldn’t non-rev. Great friend huh? I had told him that as far as I knew I was on time, they hadn’t told us anything yet.

I spoke to soon. I was next in line to board when the flight time changed from 4:20pm to 5pm. But, they said they were going to board anyway. I got on the aircraft, a Super 80, and took my seat. At 4:30pm we were told we were going to sit there until 5pm to push back and then the Captain would update our departure time. Apparently, the weather 150miles away from JFK was messing up departures and they had to space them out by 10 minutes. That was the last time we heard from the pilot until 5:45pm.

At 545pm he told us we had 30-45 more minutes before departure. And that we were number 12 in line. I had an hour and a half connection time in Dallas for my flight to Phoenix which was now non-existent. In fact, I was going to miss my flight. Here I thought flying as a passenger would be less stressful than a nonrev.. but I think it’s almost worse.

Finally at 6:15pm we were told to expect.. 15 more minutes. At 6:30pm we tookoff headed to Dallas.

We landed in Dallas at 8:30pm which also happened to be boarding time for my 9pm flight to Phoenix. Inflight I used a GoGo InFlight Certificate that I got from TBEX to check my connecting gate information.. and my Phoenix flight was only 2 gates away. We made up time in the air and now I saw a glimmer of hope.

As we taxied to the gate, I felt the dreaded “turn,” we were parking. We parked in a remote area, right behind gate C26.. my flight to Phoenix. Even though we were an hour late our gate was still occupied. Here I lost that glimmer of hope. I can see my plane, I have the time to run.. but I can’t get off.

At 8:46pm we pulled into the gate and I made a dash to get as far to the front as I could. I got stuck behind this old man who complained every time I moved because my bag touched his leg. I knew I was going to have to take him down to get to my flight on time. He was going to slow me down. Just as they opened the door they made an announcement for any passengers going to Chile to push their way to the front of the line.. then I thought “what about Phoenix!?”

I walked off the plane.. made run around grandpa screamed “excuse me! excuse me!” 10 times and this other woman didn’t move. I proceeded through the small gap anyway running over her toes with my bag. Oh well, all is fair in the gate run game!

I make it out to the terminal and run for C26. As I’m running I see a guy in an American Airlines uniform walking out to the main walkway of the terminal from behind the gate podium. He screams “Phoenix!?” I yelled back “YES! YES!” He starts running.. and yelling “you’re in 21F.. keep running!! 30 more seconds and you would have been stuck here!”

I run down the jetbridge to 140 sets of eyes looking at me. Of course I was the last one on, and I didn’t care. I went row by row, without help from the crew, to find a bin for my bag. I finally sit down and the woman next to me says “glad you made it!” I laughed, out of breath, “me too!”

I told her I had been sitting on the tarmac in JFK for 2.5 hours and then had to make the run from C28 knowing all along I was only 2 gates away. Just as I said that, darkness. The plane lost power as the jetbridge pulled back. Someone forgot to tell the agents that the S80 I was on didn’t have an APU and needed an airstart. I laughed to the woman next to me “total irony would be if they asked us to deplane and go to gate C28.” That didn’t happen.

Now, I’m InFlight on another GoGo InFlight Pass (can you guys send me one more?!) making my arrangements to BE home tonight.. and not be in Dallas.

Thanks to Mike, Danny and Brad for keeping me updated inflight on my arrival time, status and helping me figure out what I was going to do if I got stuck!

Day 5 of 6

June 22nd, 2010

Bobby

5 Comments »

Do I look tired? Me, right now, in San Francisco

I. am. so. tired. I am shocked I’ve made it through this trip. I’ve been working since Friday and I can tell I’m over tired.

I know, I know. If I’ve been working since Friday, that means I’ve only been working 5 days.. which is normal. Sure, it is, if you have a desk job. But flying around the country– up and down — back and forth.. and day 5 of this job kicks your butt.

I’m sitting in my hotel room in San Francisco now, been here for 3 hours already, and it’s still daylight outside. I don’t even have the energy to go outside for a walk.. or to buy food. I thought ahead though, I knew I would feel like this. I went to Subway this morning before work and bought food to carry with me all day just so I wouldn’t have to leave my room.

My crew really wanted to do happy hour here since we get an additional 20% off drinks — but I just couldn’t bring myself to go. The bed and TV are very inviting.

Tomorrow I deadhead to Toronto then work to Los Angeles and I’m done. Done. D. O. N. E. The only reason why I’m doing 6 in a row is so that I can join Sara and Mike at TBEX this weekend. We’re going to be there to promote our podcast, our blogs, and see what else we can get our hands on. It should be fun and I know its worth it.. but wow. No one should ever fly this much.

I’m trying to plan my clothes for tomorrows deadhead. We’re not allowed to sleep in uniform.. and I fully intend on sleeping on the way over to Toronto. I’ll have to upload video and pics when I board.. keep a look out on twitter and the video portion of my blog for updates.

But for now, goodnight. If you want to read something of substance that I’ve written recently check out GayTravel.com’s blog. I revived my “Flirting for Free Drinks” post and turned it into “Frugally Flirting at 30,000 ft.“

Non-Rev Jinx

June 14th, 2010

Bobby

5 Comments »

If you ever find yourself non-revving anywhere (airline employee pass; non-rev meaning non-revenue, you didn’t pay for a ticket) don’t talk about it. Hell, don’t even think about it. Looking at the situation the wrong way will jinx your trip and you won’t go anywhere.

My Mother was supposed to fly from New York to Las Vegas to meet me this morning. We were going to spend a night in Vegas before flying down here to Phoenix where she’d visit for a few days before flying back home to New York. Mom is no stranger to non-revving. She’s been coming to Phoenix to visit me since the day I moved out here and had she became eligible on my flight benefits. She’s sat standby for full flights, connecting flights, and empty flights — but she’s made it on all of them.

In the days leading up to her trip which checked in this morning.. every time I talked to her about it she kept saying “I’ve always been lucky, I’ve always made it. I’m sure the day is coming when I won’t.” Well, she jinxed it.

She didn’t make it this morning. The irony? The flight left with 19 open seats. You see when she checked-in she was told by the ticket agent to remain seated in the boarding area and they would call her up to the gate when they cleared the standbys about 20 minutes prior to departure. This is pretty routine, so she thought nothing of it.

Once at the gate area she took her seat and waited. Boarding began for her flight, but she didn’t get antsy. It’s normal for boarding to begin without standbys having a seat or a boarding position yet. Just when they announced a “final boarding call” 10 minutes prior, she went up to the gate to question obtaining a seat. The agents were confused and shocked there was a standby listed for the flight because “our supervisor didn’t tell us anyone was on standby.” Okay, not a valid excuse as the computer tells you that you have a standby checked-in and waiting but after the agents kept passing the blame they finally told my Mom that it was to late to issue her a boarding pass. The flight left without her.

Now, right when this happened, I jumped out of bed from a dead sleep, here in Phoenix at 6:30am. Called her and heard this story. The first thought I had while she was retelling her experience was that she jinxed it. We both jinxed it. There’s no other explanation for her not getting on a flight with 19 open seats other then to say we messed with karma.

So, take this as a lesson. If you’re flying non-rev 1) make sure the gate agents know you’re there. Even if you’re told to sit and wait in the boarding area to be called and 2) don’t talk about the luck you’ve had in the past non-revving.. it’ll come back to bite you in the seat.. you didn’t get.

Perk of being a Flight Attendant: Bags

June 11th, 2010

Bobby

10 Comments »

Trying to get home from work today was such a hassle. I landed in San Francisco at 10:45am, but there was no way for me to get home. All of the non-stop flights from SFO to Phoenix were sold out, as were the flights from Oakland but there was one flight from San Jose that might get me out of the Bay area.

Now, usually, when I non-rev in uniform I don’t have to adhere to the “1+1″ carry-on rule that the TSA put in place. For those not in the US, all passengers are allotted one personal item (laptop bag, purse, etc) and one carry-on (rollerboard, duffel bag).. this is supposed to apply to off duty crew as well, but no airline enforces it.

When I got to San Jose, I got to the gate and asked for a jumpseat form. The agent looked at her computer and said “well, stranger things have happened” shaking her head no, conveying the message that I wasn’t going to make it. I filled out the form and stood close by anyway.

I got called. Just as they called my name they announced the overhead bins were full and they had to start checking bags. As crew, I hate checking bags. I need my things to go to work and if they get lost.. I’m headed up the creek without a paddle. As she handed me my boarding pass, another agent was printing out checked bag tags for about 20 people. She told me to board and the agent there would “tag your bag.”

So, I walk over to board, and hear “uh uh uh uh.. You didn’t listen to me! I said, no more bags!” As I turned around, she saw my wings.. and quickly said “Oh! I’m so sorry! Let me get you a gate claim tag.” She tagged my bag to be delivered back to me in the jetbridge. Oh course some passengers saw this, and were upset.. to which the agent who issued me my boarding pass said “well, he’s crew — he’s treated differently.” She then turned to me, winked, and said “have a good flight.”

Thanks US Airways for taking care of me today.. and my luggage. With the condition of the airline industry and how our companies are treating us lately, every small perk and “act of kindness” to each other really counts and goes a long way.