Episode Four: The Vomiter

During the month I was on reserve in Fort Lauderdale, I was called in for trips maybe three or four times. On other reserve days, I stayed home and did errands. As I only live about five minutes from the airport, I didn't have any constraints to be at the gate within 90 minutes when on-call.

One day in September I was called for a double trip to Indianapolis, IN and Lexington, KY. For the first half of the day, my position was as the lead flight attendant (LFA). After returning back to Fort Lauderdale to prepare for the next trip to Lexington, the number three flight attendant (#3) volunteered to switch positions with me. I was very appreciative for her mercy on a new-hire, and since both positions were stationed in the front of the aircraft, I agreed. 

The flight was fairly full and we finished service about 40 minutes into the flight. I was in the forward galley sitting next to the LFA when the interphone rang. She answered and motioned with her finger that it was a call from the other two flight attendants in the aft galley. I nodded and began to restock the beverage cart. 

She then gasped and said "oh my God, I'll be right there."

"What's going on?" I asked, a bit shocked.

"Someone just threw up all over flight attendant #2."

The LFA grabbed some paper towels from the galley and ran to the back of the plane. I stayed up at the front for security reasons and kept smiling at the rows of passengers staring at me. I don't know which was more painful: the stares or my forced smile.

After a few moments, the LFA interphoned me and asked me to bring more paper towels, sani-wipes, trash bags, and the infection control kit (the "ick" kit) from the forward overhead compartment. She returned to the front and I went to the back to help clean.

I was greeted by twelve passengers crying and reaching out for the sani-wipes in my hands. A passenger to my right in 30A was not wearing any pants and was frantically wiping her arms with a paper towel. The aisle was covered in paper towels and the aft galley walls and carts were doused in vomit. It really looked like someone had died back there.

The passenger who had this unfortunate and surreal episode had thrown up on the last two rows of the plane (occupied by the twelve passengers). In his haste to reach the back lavatories, he entered into the galley and projectile vomited in a 360 degree fashion over the compartments and the number two flight attendant. Graciously, the gentleman offered to assist in the clean-up process. I passed out the sani-wipes to the contaminated passengers and they scrubbed their skin and clothes for the remainder of the flight.

We managed to clean up as much as we could with our supplies, but we asked the captain to let Lexington know that we needed cleaners. After the passengers deplaned, I asked the gate agent if the cleaners would be here shortly. She presented a man, with a single broom, who exclaimed he was the cleaner and "where the spill was located." I smiled, looked at the broom (which would accomplish nothing), and said "we no longer need your service. Thank you."

Thankfully, the return flight was uneventful. But we did give the galley the best wipe-down it probably had ever received in years. 

My favorite telling of this story comes from flight attendant #4 who was in the back with #2 during the event:

"Okay so, EJ, you seen me up here getting my food from the oven. I took my food and went to the back, sat in my seat, and was about to dig in to the blessing in front of me. Number 2 said 'oh, that smells wonderful" and I replied 'yes, would you like a bite?' She said 'oh, no thank you.' So I get my fork and put a potato on it. I'm so ready for this food, and how about this man gonna come back here and start throwing up all over the place. It was like something out of a horror movie. I turned against the exit door and put my jacket over my face. I didn't even get to eat."

-EJ

Episode Two: Seniority

Seniority in the flight attendant realm dictates everything: your schedule, your hours, your days off; basically your life. Flight attendants who have high seniority--the infamous "senior mamas"--have first pick on trips and days off when the monthly bidding period comes out. For the new-hires, we are left with either the trips no one wants or endless months and years on reserve.

Ah, reserve life. I miss it to an extent, but I do not miss the daily calls from crew scheduling giving me 90 minutes to be at the airport for a trip. At my airline, we have reserve periods from 4:00 AM to 6:00 PM or 10:00 AM to 12:00 AM, and depending on what period you are scheduled for, you can be called at any moment during those hours for a trip. That's right, if it is 11:58 PM and scheduling calls you for a horribly delayed Memphis turn, you are legal and must do the trip. I was only on reserve for three months. I always knew what days I would be on call, but it was the waiting for a call or the intense paranoia of missing a call that drove me insane. For flight attendants who lived at most 90 minutes away from the airport, which a majority did, they were trapped at home on reserve days. If they did manage to go grocery shopping, the minute the phone rang, they had to leave the cart filled with food in a random aisle and change into their uniform in the bathroom. 

My ringtone for crew scheduling was, and still is, a tornado siren. Every day I was on reserve, I would turn my phone's volume all the way up so even if the phone was in my pocket or in a different room, I would hear the call. If a reserve flight attendant misses a call, crew scheduling leaves a message and there is a ten minute window to return the call. If not, the flight attendant is marked as a "no-show" and has four points taken against him/her. At sixteen points, you are terminated. When I was in Orlando, I was on pure reserve from 10:00 AM to 12:00 AM, and scheduling called me virtually every day. It was exciting to receive the first few calls. I wondered where I would be flying, what aircraft, and especially with whom. During my time in Orlando, I was number 177 out of 177--at the very bottom of the totem pole. For the two months I was there, I didn't even bother bidding, save for days off I wanted.  Now almost after a year flying and at a different base, I'm number 24 out of 42. Bidding is always an exciting time and process, and I generally am awarded the certain flights and days off I choose. 

There are flight attendants at other airlines, larger than mine, who have been on reserve for years and even decades. I am thankful that after three months I received a flying line. It added more structure to daily life, but I do miss the spontaneity of being on reserve.  For those still on reserve, your time will come. We all have been there at some point, so we understand the struggle. Give it six months, and by that time, six more months will make a year. Soon thereafter you should get a flying line, and if your airline has done some aggressive hiring like some have recently, your seniority will shoot up in no time. A few more years and you'll be a coveted "senior mama":)

-EJ