First International Trip ~ Real Talk
03•08•2017 So, one would think that my first international trip would be a great experience, if only because I haven’t done it before. Right? Wrong. Right now, I'm deadheading my way back to my base at the end of a terrible experience that I hope never repeats itself. We were a crew of 5 flight attendants: one has been flying since July 2016, one since the end of January (the graduating class immediately before mine), and the other two were in my graduating class. The (most) senior flight attendant was preoccupied the whole time, and couldn’t really be bothered (she rolled her eyes at me a lot). The FA from the class before mine was nice, but clearly doesn't think I'm FA material. Fine, whatever. And the two that were in my class were exactly how they were while in class: clique-y, bossy, obnoxious know-it-alls, who thought it was acceptable to boss me around, treat me like I know less than they do, and act like I was in their way every time I offered to help. I have never felt so unwanted and unappreciated as I did working with them. I wanted to go hide in the lav and cry (but they probably would've had a problem with that too.) Our first flight was a ferry flight from Orlando to Cancun, Mexico - my first time ever outside the United States. The aircraft needed to be "repositioned," so the only people on board were the two pilots, us 5 FAs, and two mechanics. It went pretty well. We landed in Cancun, and since we had to switch aircrafts, we had to be escorted through customs and security (where they thoroughly searched our bags for fruits and vegetables), then we waited at our gate with a bunch of hot, disgruntled passengers who were supposed to have been on a flight back to the US the day before (but there were mechanical issues with the plane). By the time they got our plane, got us to it, got our customs forms, brought the passengers, and we boarded the passengers, we had a two-hour delay on our hands. (Flight attendants only get paid per flight hour, so we hate delays more than passengers do.) Then...the flight from hell began. Not only was I treated poorly by my "team" the entire time, but the rest of the girls' Fly Tabs (the tablet device we use to do all on board transactions - we cannot do inflight service without it) did not work. At all. Only mine did. So, the whole 4.5 hour flight from Cancun to Denver, I was running all over the place trying to process every passenger's orders and payments. And the other FAs kept taking off with my Fly Tab! That is against so many policies, it's not even funny, and if it had been misplaced, the blame would have fallen completely on me. Did they care? Nope. All I heard all night was, "Where are you?!?" Like I said, flight from hell. When we arrived in Denver, two hours late, we still had to clear customs, and figure out our new hotel arrangements, which had randomly been changed earlier that day without any communication to us. I didn't sleep very well. Today, our return flight (on which we were scheduled to deadhead) back to Orlando was over-booked, so two of us almost didn't get on. My second horrible experience with deadheading - and I've only done it 3 times! I'm pretty disgusted right now. I wanted to love this life, to make it my career until I retire, but at this moment, I'm wondering if all of this was a huge mistake. It has cost me so much, and all I have to show for it is one tiny pair of wings, and a mountain of stress. I'm sure I only feel this way because I'm new. I'm hoping tomorrow I can wake up feeling refreshed, but right now, I have no smiles for the "friendly" skies.
