I spent most of 20's as a flight attendant and I've seen or done (pretty much) everything. AMA!

What was protocol when your team would find passengers attempting to uhhh... join the club at an altitude of 5,280 ft?

We would literally just have to tell them to stop. We'd knock on the door. There were people trying to hook up during flights in their seats too. Basically, you find the flight attendant most comfortable walking by and telling them to stop.

Is it true that planes exist?

Planes exist. What do you mean?? I don't understand. EXIST?? Planes do exist. Yeah.

Did you get to use the slide escape ever?

How awesome was it?

I never used the slide but we had to during training. You get electrically shocked every time you do it. Static shock. Not electric shock. You know when you touch someone and it goes DING. That was it.

Where is you funniest story about staying overnight in a hotel during a layover? I've seen some funny behavior from flight crews at one of our local hotels.

We were in London on Christmas. So there's nothing open. It's cold.

All that's open is the buffet and the bar. A mom was trying to hook me up with her son, but he was engaged. My other flight attendant friend was too drunk so I kept trying to put he kept getting wasted and I would keep trying to put him to bed in his room. He kept sneaking back out though and I wanted to keep him away because...well...I wanted to hook up with this lady's son.

Over and over again, I would keep putting my friend back in his room and say "we NEED to go to sleep". Head back down to the bar and he would pop back in with his ridiculous puffy zip-up jacket dancing into the bar screaming "heyyyyyyyyyy". So he would find out that I was lying to him every time I put him to bed.

In the end, this guy's mom walked us to my room and she was like "okay you guys are still gonna drink!". She knew what was happening. She loved me. Still have her WhatsApp number.

The mom and son were from Switzerland and were vacationing together. It was weird. Clearly she wanted us to hook up.

I don't know what happened to my flight attendant friend by the end of the night. I just left him in the bar.

I didn't eat either because it was a Christmas buffet with all this meat. I don't eat meat. So I just drank all this beer. I thought the guy left the next morning, but he had just gone to get cigarettes.

I thought he was gone for good and was relieved because he didn't really rise to the occasion and was ready to have my bed back. It was awkward when he came back.

OH! I do have another one....

I went with another flight attendant on her layover. We go to Hawaii, just Waikiki. I stay out with this one guy and we hook up in the ocean while some guy doing the sandcombing with the electric thing is watching us the whole time.

I try to get back to my room but there's two Sheraton hotels and he dropped me off wasted at the wrong one. $2 fireball shots so I'm out of my mind.

After being in the ocean, sandy, make up running, dress is wet. I get dropped off at the wrong hotel, go to my room and knock on the door. Some asian guy answers and he's like "uhhhhh who are you?".

Ends up with me walking around Waikiki at 4am, wasted. At one point I had to pee so I went on these steps, fanned out my dress and started walking around and peeing.

Afterwards, I thought some guy started following me so I popped into all these places and this guy is going into all of them after me. So I went to the help desk at one hotel because I have no idea what's going on. Walking around sandy, wet, and wasted...with some guy following.

They helped me out and got me a cab to get me home. When I woke up the next morning, I still had sand on my face and it was all over my bed so that hotel desk must have been like "what HAPPENED to this girl?".

I don't know how I walked around that much and still had all this sand on me.

On the flight back, there were no empty seats so I had to sit in the flight attendant jump seat, which is the one you fold down and sit against the wall in the back or front of the plane. I was so out of it though that I just curled up on the floor in the galley and slept for 4 out of the 6 hours of the flight probably with sand still in my hair.

I did see a sea turtle during that trip. So that was a highlight. All around a win.

Why would you knock on the door to your own room?

Because I was sharing it with the other flight attendant.

And the other flight attendant was actually an Asian guy. Whole thing makes sense.

I joined another FA on her trip because it was a nice layover, I wasn't working, so shared her room. I went to the wrong room which was the Asian mans before finally finding my way back to ours

I have a fear of flying, especially during take off. What are some things I should know before my flight that'll comfort me?

Xanax.

It's not the worst way to die. People will tell your story.

Honestly though, we're really well trained. We go through 6-7 weeks of just evacuation training. Every kind of emergency you can think of. We're so well trained.

I read this in Donald trumps voice...

Hahaha

Have you ever had to evacuate a plane? If so, did people actually abide by the safety rules that are played at the beginning of a flight?

No.

No to having to do that or no to people following the safety rules

No, I luckily have not had to evacuate a plane.

Is it true that there are undercover Federal Air Marshals on international flights with over a certain number of people on-board?

If so, are the flight staff notified of their presence and do you know who that person is so you can identify them in an emergency situation?

Yeah so we're notified but they're on some domestic flights. Every International flight though. There are some things I should not say here, but yes we are notified.

We can't go to them for anything unless it is an ABSOLUTE 100% EMERGENCY. We can't let anyone else know. We can't use them unless someone is trying to break into the cabin.

Oh! Another story.

So there's a flight attendant who is batshit crazy. In the middle of the night cuts her neighbors to make a bouquet for her trailer crazy. When she's on vacation, she has a motor home. She goes for walks at night with her dog and cuts her neighbors flowers to make bouquets for her kitchen table.

Anyways...the more I knew her, the more she would open up. She carries guns with her in her bag on flights and has never been stopped. She has the right to carry but that doesn't mean she can bring it on a plane. Pilots can and they have to tell us if they do. Flight attendants can't.

Never been stopped or caught. She's an older, more senior flight attendant and hasn't been stopped once.

cuts her neighbors to make a bouquet for her trailer crazy

Are you on drugs right now?

It was Saturday morning... maybe residual alcohol

FAs and pilots are given a time they must stop drinking before their check in time. When we would all go out as a crew a lot of the pilots would have the time down to the exact minute. They would order a couple shots for everyone to get in as much alcohol as possible before they were supposed to stop.

I think they were referring to the sentence not quite making sense. Did that FA actually cut people? Or did you forget to say the word "flowers"?

She cut the flowers from other peoples yards... she didn't make bouquets out of people.

You really should report her. I wouldn't be comfortable with that on my flight, and it seems like you aren't either.

It's hard as a new flight attendant to report a senior flight attendant without them finding out. If you tell on any "senior mamas" (our name for senior FAs) everyone find out and your treated horribly and outcasted. You do no want to get on their bad side.

We've all encountered "restaurant secret menu" type posts on social media that usually turn out to be 90% junk or isolated to one specific location of a chain or whatever. I've seen a few for airlines as well, but don't know how much of that is believable either.

That being said, what would you say are five tips for travelers that are legit and many people don't know to do, but would make their flight more enjoyable or more memorable?

1. Bring the flight attendants chocolate when you get on the plane, especially if it's a long flight. In Chicago, bring them popcorn. That always goes a long way. They'll remember you and you'll be taken care of for sure.

2. DON'T try to go to the restroom when there's turbulence. There were so many guys that would end up peeing on themselves because they thought they could handle the turbulence and then they'd come out with pee on their pants.

3. Don't eat the food. It's just not good for you.

4. Bring your own little mini bottles of alcohol, it's allowed. Just don't let the flight attendants know.

5. Again...use the bathroom before you get on the fucking plane. I don't know why people don't do it. They'll come on and the first thing they have to do is use the restroom. You know that's the worst possible area to use a bathroom.

Also...don't take your shoes off and walk bare foot....and know that people change diapers on the tray tables.

people change diapers on the tray tables.

Really? I understand that when you have a child you need to get things done, but that's similar, in my mind, to changing a diaper on a table at a restaurant- seems disrespectful.

Yeah! It's awful! And then they try to hand it us while we're giving out drinks. We hate when people do it.

Not trying to be that guy or be a fun sucker here, just want to present the facts. Number 4 is technically true the way you wrote it, anyone can bring alcohol onboard the A/C, but drinking their own alcohol per the FAR's (Federal Aviation Regulations) is illegal.

14CFR § 121.575 Alcoholic beverages. (a) No person may drink any alcoholic beverage aboard an aircraft unless the certificate holder operating the aircraft has served that beverage to him. (Source: http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=&SID=9d44397fe14f0fe4366f769cf9d2956c&r=SECTION&n=14y3.0.1.1.7.20.3.31)

Is the FA going to get a FAM or have the police meet the A/C because your drinking your mini, of course not (reportable for failure to comply however). But it is illegal.

If you bring your own champagne or wine from Duty Free, which people do when they are celebrating sometimes, we are allowed to serve it to you. I had seen people with their own minis and the most we ever did is tell them to stop or try to take them from them.

im sorry but on a 36 hour flight im taking my shoes off

Take your shoes off, I just wouldn't walk to the restroom without them! The floors are the dirtiest!

I've had a very elderly lady with her care taken getting sick on herself, I literally thought she was dying, but her care taker said she was ok, and on the floor. We just put this powder over the mess then they vacuumed it between flights.

Babies get sick, grown men pee on themselves and the floor, and I've never seen anything but a vacuum used on those floors.

Flying through Chicago this month. What popcorn from where?

Garrett's Popcorn Chicago Mix. It's at the airport. It's by the dinosaur.

It's by the dinosaur.

I hope that's a unit of measure. I would very much like to order "one dinosaur of popcorn."

Haha. There are replica dinosaur bones in terminal 1, concourse B at ORD

Does chocolate thing apply to all international flights and what type? Minis or bars or anything else in particular?

Definitely international too! They usually have boxes of chocolate available at the newsstand shops.

Alright signing off for now but will check back later and answer questions...

What was the craziest thing you've witnessed on the job?

Craziest thing I've witnessed is...it was an actual mechanical error where there was a decompression. So that's crazy in terms of actual flying.

We lost air pressure and they had to drop the plane to normal level which is under ten thousand feet. The whole cabin started fogging up because when you lose the pressure it suddenly goes from hot to cold. Luckily the junior pilot knew what she was doing and was able to level out the plane :-)

With people...there was only this one family on a flight and they were the worst family you could ever imagine. While we were taking off, one of the girls decides to tell me she's terrified of flying. As soon as we take off, that's when she decides to get up and walk to the bathroom. So they're switching seats this old time and sitting on each others laps. Just the weirdest family.

They decided that putting napkins in cups would help with ears popping and were just sitting there, the whole family with cups on their ears...and they kept asking me when they were going to be able to see the Hollywood sign. That was the biggest thing where it felt like too much.

Are you able to see the different fare class of each passenger?

Yeah, you know when somebody gets bumped up to first class or when they're a mileage club member that used points instead of paying.

People that get bumped up feel super entitled. Take advantage of being in first class, drink all you want, eat all you want, whatever. Just treat us well.

Level with us... Why can't I have my tray table down during take-off or landing?

Because if there's an emergency, you can't evacuate. Also that's why your seat can't be back. It's not for you, it's for the person behind you. Same reason you can't have anything in the aisle.

If there's something in the way, you can hit your head on it and that's how most accidents happen.

Do you remember your least favorite pilot/pilots to fly with? What'd they do to gain the title?

There were always ones that would be inappropriate. One carried extra pantyhose with him in case we 'got a hole in ours'. That's creepy. That's weird, right? That's not nice, it's weird.

There was one pilot who had a tendency to brag at bars about how much he made but would never buy a round at the bar. We all would, but he wouldn't.

There was one I was in love with. He had all of these death metal band stickers on his crew bag and flew with a guitar with him. Slaughter Nuns was one of the band names. Something like that. He was my favorite because he was the nicest.

Most memorable celebrity/famous person encounter?

Rita Ora! She was on a flight and

We're doing first class service. Rita's assistant is in the back of the plane and she keeps coming up to her in first class. So we're like, "okay you can't keep coming up". We understood but had to say "alright now that's enough". So we stuck her assistant in the back of the plane so she couldn't help with what happened next...

No one can really come up to the front bathroom in first class unless the back is blocked. Some guy goes rogue and walks up to the front and we see him just...staring...kind of...So we go up to check it out and we see that Rita's boob is just hanging right out.

Luckily no one saw besides him because she was in the very back of first class. We tried to put a blanket over to cover the boob. She had on this button up shirt. She's passed out...her boob fell out. It's literally just out. So we tried to put a blanket over her but she kept taking it off in her sleep. We kept coming back and the boob kept coming out.

Like...why? Why don't you want the blanket on you? Can't you tell it's out??

Every banged a pilot during flight ? Or a customer ?

No. I banged another flight attendant but it was on a layover. Not as good of a story but planes gross my out so I'm afraid of whatever I would get from going to the bathroom on a plane let alone banging on one.

what is your favorite airplane to fly in?

787! Dreamliner. So pretty.

I haven't been on one yet. Do they keep the humidity higher than other planes?

My favorite is the 747

They filter the air so it's not the dirty recycled air

No, humidity. as in how dry do your sinuses feel after riding in a 787 vs other models?

Yea! It has higher air humidification level so it's all around better air so it helps with your sinuses!

Which airline is the worst to work for?

I can imagine Spirit would be the worst to work for...any one that you have to clean up the plane by yourself.

Ok I've always wanted to ask this. I have flown a ton in the last few years, but I'm still very unnerved by turbulence even if it is minor.

Do you ever feel even slightly nervous when the plane starts to get turbulent?

The amount of turbulence the plane can handle is WAY more than the passengers can handle. Even when the passengers describe the plane as "shaking like crazy and we dropped 5000ft" it is usually just moderate turbulence and a less than 100ft drop.

Pilots hate turbulence too so they avoid it as much as they can.

Intellectually and logically I'm aware of all the safety facts. When up at 30,000ft I can't help but think about how high up I am and that I have ZERO control over what happens to me!

Yeah you don't have any control over what happens to you. Just wear your seatbelt.

[deleted]

I would say just wear your seatbelt during it. We go through turbulence regularly. The pilots are aware and it happens all the time.

Do flight attendants get drug tested?

Yeah. Usually you get pulled right off of a flight.

I had "sit time" in Denver, which is when you have just two or three hours in between flights. Not quite a layover.

I'm in the crew room and I get...approached....for a drug test. They said they were looking for me for a drug test. So I finished my burrito but I had to warm up my fake urine. The whole time I'm talking to this lady who's doing the drug test and just saying, "I'm sorry I can't pee yet." Meanwhile, I'm putting the fake urine in my pantyhose and I have one of those Hot Hand things...those hand warmers. That's how you heat up the fake urine.

So I have that against me while trying to waste time and talk with this lady about other drug tests and trying to pull out hints on how to pass the next one. Sitting there just kind fidgeting around to try and warm it up. Every now and then I would go into the bathroom and see if the fake urine was ready. It has this black line that shows the temperature. Once it turns green or something, then it's 98.6 degrees. Hot enough to be used.

I went in like 4 or 5 times and kept saying "nope sorry I have a shy bladder". She'd reply saying "oh no it's cool!". Because I don't look like someone needs a drug test....or maybe I do. Maybe right now I do.

Then finally when I get it ready and present it to this lady, her phone rings and she goes out to take the call. She's talking for at least 5 minutes and my fake urine is getting cold so I keep breathing on it to keep it warm because I didn't want to do it again. I didn't have any more! I only carry one little thing of fake urine on me.

I get them in Hollywood at this smoke shop. Every time I'd buy it, he'd look at me weirdly because I look pretty innocent.

What's the security check in process like for flight crew? Do you have to go through all the same hoops as passengers do? Or is it like TSA pre-check or something?

Someone gets randomly picked sometimes. You go through a crew line, show them your badge and you generally go through but you can be randomly searched.

Sometimes you do have to go through the regular one.

I accidentally went through with a bag of cocaine a few times. I found it on the plane. It was in the same little bag as I keep my lipstick. I went into the bathroom and was putting on some lipstick...suddenly found it. It was just a small little bag because who carries that much around? Who can keep that much around, that is?? Hahahah

So I finished it in the bathroom because I didn't want to get off the plane and have drug dogs. I think it was on the way to Hawaii. Maybe Newark.

Did passengers hit on you? Ever take any of them up ok the offer?

Ummm I had some people hit on me...I didn't take them up on the offer.

People would slip me their numbers all the time and write something like 'want to come join me for the layover?'. Layover. That was always the one.

I didn't know Adrian Grenier. He invited me to his 'how to make money selling drugs premiere' but I thought he was just telling me to go see his movie. I didn't pick up that he was inviting me. That was one.

We had just switched uniforms because we merged companies. I was super hungover so half my face has make up on it and half doesn't. Half my hair is curled and half isn't because I slept on one side. Because of the new uniforms, my jacket was too big and my shirt was too big. My pants were safety pinned up top and the bottoms were tucked into my socks and rolled over. They were these trouser socks that were too long. I had my pants tucked into my socks. Oh my god.

So that's when Adrian Grenier comes up and he looked like he had just come from a frat party. He looked awful. Told us about his movie. I didn't know who he was but my ex-boyfriend who I had just broken up with was obsessed with Entourage and when somebody mentioned he was there I caught on. He didn't look good.

I didn't realize he was hitting on me at the time. He goes, "hey you should come to my premiere...it's at this theater in downtown LA".

I had no idea what theater he was talking about because I was new to LA and was such a mess at the time. So I said, "Yeah that would be cool maybe I'll go check it out some time!"

He just looked at me just kind of awkwardly and nodding just kind of waiting for the next move. Imagine if you had asked someone out on a date to restaurant and they said "yeah I'll go check it out sometime!"

Afterwards, the other flight attendants were like, "you know he wanted you to go WITH him." Whoops. Missed my chance.

I didn't. That was another problem with the job for me. That's why a lot of the older flight attendants don't look so great all the time. Some FAs made a point to use the hotel gym all the time, but when there is a 10 hour layover and the shuttle takes 30 min from the airport to hotel the last thing I wanted to do was go to a gym. I was a "slam clicker" on those trips. (Slam the door, click the lock, and you don't see me until the shuttle time)

We are not supposed to drink during the flights. Also if you bring your own bottles don't let the FAs see... were supposed keep track so you're not over served so it's like bringing your own booze to a bar... which I'm guilty of toooooo

How much money did you average a year?

At first it was awful I was making less than $25,000 a year. It goes up gradually. After the 5th year at the airline I was with was when the pay becomes more livable

what do you do when you're on land in between flights?

I would also go out by myself. I didn't go out with the crew because they just go to the hotel bar and get wasted. I would like to go on adventures.

You don't get long layovers all of the time. A lot of them are only about 10 hours.

During a layover in Baltimore, I'm at a bar by myself drinking a dirty martini. The bartender set me up with a guy who said he was from Amazon or Google. I don't know what it was but they apparently had a project going on there.

We go out boppin' around town from bar to bar and drinking. He's like 50 and I'm like 22 at the time. I'm a vegetarian but I guess at some point I really wanted steak. So he gets me a filet mignon. I don't remember a lot but I remember he had to bring me back to the hotel and walked me into my room.

Woke up the next morning and he had kindly left a party favor from the night before on top of my uniform.

I really don't know who this guy actually was or if he's some lonely ex-convict, I don't know. The bartender was just like "here's here from out of town for about three months. Now that I think about it...I really don't know why he was on his own.

What did he leave as a "party favor" on your uniform?

A line

Do you have to leave your belt on the entire flight? I always hate being stuck to my chair. So i mostly just take it of and sit in weird positions :)

You can loosen it. It's not like it needs to be the tightest possible...you can do what you want with it. What kind of awkward position are you sitting in? How weird can it get?

Why did you quit?

You're always away. I have a dog. The layovers aren't as glamorous as it seems. The travel benefits are nice, but you want to spend them with your friends and don't have that many days off.

If you have anything going on, you can't make a phone call and handle shit in the air. Some of the planes are gross....it's just not as glamorous as it seems.

I heard that if you're in a career where you do something very often that most people don't do very often (e.g. wedding photographer, tour guide), then you get so used to it that you don't understand the hype at all. Is this the case for you? What do you think of people who get all excited, thinking "oh I get to ride in an airplane!!"? Also, what do you guys do after all the passengers get off? Do you just fly back home right away or do you have time to go to the gift shop or something?

It's not as glamorous as it seems. People think a lot of our job is traveling to amazing places all the time and having long layovers, but a lot of time it's a flight to Newark with a 10 hour layover or a redeye flight to Hawaii just to turn right around... there are some really great trips though. Mostly the senior FAs get those trips.

Do you feel more helpful or annoyed when people ask for extra snacks?

I never mind giving people snacks! Just ask when we do the service... I hated people always ringing their call bell.

There was an international flight that had a little kid playing with the bell button so on this particular plane we could disable the alert noise and just ignore it... when one flight attendant went through the cabin a man stopped her and yelled at her saying "I keep fingering you, and fingering you, but you never come!" while motioning toward his call bell button. Hahaha that flight attendant could barely listen to his request without bursting out laughing

Hi. How you doing? Fave Simpsons character?

Great... and grandpa Simpson maybe

Not sure you're still around but nice pic ;) How do you get upgraded? I was once upgraded to first class and enjoyed it probably WAY too much but hey ! Any tips?

That doesn't happen any more because other people get upgraded with mileage credit cards and stuff so it's usually full. Standby passengers will sometimes get upgraded.

Oh, cool, this was my mother's job!

She had all kinds of crazy stories, but one thing that struck me was that she said that when she was working for Delta in the 80s they had weigh-ins. Exceeding some kind of height/weight ratio could get you a reprimand of some sort, I guess. Do you know if there are airlines that still do this? Have you ever had anything like that happen/has anyone mentioned that to you?

That doesn't happen anymore but we do have one day during training that is dedicated to appearance. Emirates interviews are full of attractive people. They are know for only hiring attractive FAs.

Back in the 40s they had to be under 5'8" I believe and less than 120 lbs and under 30 and single.

Which airlines were known to be the best/worst in treating attendants, and which airlines were known to have the best/worst attendants?

Virgin and Delta are great- Virgin employees in general in the flight industry are treated best I think- Delta, from last I heard, doesn't have a union so they can potentially be taken advantage of with their flying hours and too short of layovers but they seem to be happy!

Southwest has great benefits and are told they can have fun.

United doesn't seem to care too much about the employees. FAs get used for a trip and when they get back from it they can be used for a Hawaii red eye turn. They're definitely over used but getting better.

Emirates is great at first but they start to over use you for not great trips.

I'm just guessing spirit and smaller airlines aren't that great but I don't know for sure.

What was the most heartbreaking story you have encountered as a flight attendant? Also, how did you manage the situation?

There was one situation with a father and son. The people behind the son kept kicking their seats telling them to not lean back so far. They both got pretty heated and we're starting to yell. When I approached them they said they were waiting to go to the funeral of the mother/grandmother. They were going to miss their connection most likely and not make it home in time which is why they were so aggravated and didn't mean to be so rude. They wanted to be with family and this was of course the time that all the flights were delayed. I understood, the people behind them understood. I gave them and the passengers behind some of our snacks without charging and thanked them for calming and apologized for the inconvenience. The airline wouldn't do anything for them when they eventually did miss their connection. The only thing I could really do was apologize again and give them free drink tickets. The son started crying and they both appreciated my help when the airline was so inconsiderate.

People don't usually share their stories, so if I ever saw someone having a rough time always tried to do what I could.

Also parents with well behaved kids coming back from Disneyland always got a couple free drinks and the kids received candy from me... those people had been through enough Haha.

That is indeed heartbreaking but also motivating. You took the responsibility the major airline firm wouldn't claim and did a very generous and thoughtful thing to provide adorable customer service. Even though you couldn't change the ultimate goal for the family, you still managed to make the best of the situation.

I work with a lot of people who could benefit a lot from this story. Hopefully they'll get the point.

Bonus question. What is the sweetest thing a kid told you after they received their candy? Even better how did their parents react?

The best thing I've been told was that the best part of a boys trip was him telling me about the trip haha. He was mentally handicapped and the parents told me they hadn't seen him smile that much during the entire trip. He was telling me over and over about how he was super man going down a water slide. Taking the time to listen made my trip better, his family's trip better because they appreciated it, and his trip end with a positive experience. :)

Is it true that a lot of flight attendents have second jobs due to random working hours and holidays?

Yep! As a new FA it's very tough to though because you're on call all of the time. The airline I worked for would call and sometimes we had as little as 2 hours to get to the airport for check in.

On the side I worked karaoke hostessing in Koreatown. My roommate did it with me as well. Sometimes the customers were really fun and she would invite them to our place to drink and party afterwards. I was working a flight to Cancun with a 24 hour layover. I got off the plane with my crew and a group of 3 or 4 guys from the flight approached me. In front of my crew they asked if I was (insert my name here) and if I lived in Koreatown. I told them yes and I used to. They went on to tell me they had been to my place and partied with me. (I'm not looking great to my flight crew at this point haha) They asked which hotel I was at, information we are not allowed to give out, and invited me to go hang out. I didn't go and after that I stopped working in Koreatown. Haha

What advice do you have for someone who wants to become a flight attendant and what qualifications do need to get the job?

Don't say you want to travel during the interview. It makes it seem like you will only be there short term.

You only need a high school degree, but most of us had a bachelors, and nice smile.

Be prepared to lose contact with people. Your schedule changes, is crazy, and is usually not the same as others. (I would be up getting ready to go to work while my roommate and friends were still up drinking)

I would never get upset about that. Usually FAs are very understanding and want to help. You may want to register as having a disability so you can board first and just hand the FA your card to see if they have any questions. If there is anything they can do to help let them know!

So the whole not having your phone on thing...total bullshit, right?

Supposedly it interferes with communication between pilots and air traffic control. I always wanted them off so people would actually pay attention to the safety demo and hearing that ding from text messages and people talking on their phones when you're giving them important information is awful. You lose reception in the air anyways, what's another 10 min on airplane mode.

People would complain about not having outlets to plug in their phones, but if they would've been on airplane mode while in the air their phones wouldn't even on 1%.

Has anyone ever had a serious medical issue (e.g., heart attack, stroke) while on one of your flights? How was that dealt with?

There was a man on the flight back from Melbourne that passed out and seemed to seizure while waiting for the restroom. We held his and put him on his back without bringing too much attention to the situation. We called over the intercom for a medically trained passenger since we are only trained for some of the medical emergencies. Turns out the man was diabetic, that was the reason I was told at least. We did not have to emergency land or anything. Every time something like that happens we have to document it.

I have had a guy pass out and hit his head on one of the carts in the galley. It was a medical condition and he got up, but the other FA accused him of being drunk and interrogated him. I stood up for the passenger and had the FA walk away. We did have to do the report still because his head bled a bit.

What airports have the best food?

Hhhmmmmm good question! It depends on the terminal too. I feel like ORD has good food and DEN and SFO... but I don't eat meat so my opinion may not be the best... LAX has Golden Road Brewery which has great beer and food!

London Heathrow has great food in my opinion as far as international goes.

Flight attendants work some odd schedules/hours, yet they are always expected to be pleasing and hospitable. Did you ever have to get into the act of being happy or nice, when in reality you were just plain exhausted and a little cranky?

Yep! I hated when other flight attendants were rude just because they were in a bad mood. It's part of the job. The passengers had to be up early too and sometimes are traveling for unpleasant reasons. They may be going through a bad day too. Usually passengers respond better if you're nice. The crazy hours and coffee and airplane food diet makes it easy to be not so nice sometimes. I worked with a lot of negative and rude FAs that I feel ruined the starting points of some people's vacations.

The best advice I ever got was from an awesome senior mama. She told me "Let someone be an asshole before you treat them like one." Passengers don't want to hear our problems, we chose this job. Be nice and make the experience better for everyone and it'll be a better experience for you too.

So you've been double anal penetrated by two black men before?

Nope. Have you?

can you ride a bike with no handlebars?

Yes. Probably not on an airplane though.

Although I hadn't purchased any inflight duty free shopping before, but I'm just curious

(1) how often did you manage to sell duty free stuff to passengers?

(2) Did you get a any bonus or commission for every sale? And last

(3) Does Airline pressure flight attendants to sell stuffs on board?

I didn't work first class international and that's who usually sold the duty free. Honestly because of that I don't recall benefits. Some FAs would ask passengers to buy them things from it which is not allowed. And some would cut the designer scarves in half to sell them before the company caught on. All things I didn't personally do but it was a common enough practice.

Is it true that flight attendents get sick a lot because of being exposed to people with different germs in a confined space all the time? Any tips on how not to get sick travelling?

Some get sick, some build tolerance. If there is a cold or flu going around we usually get it right away. I wore gloves picking up trash sometimes to avoid getting sick.

I'm not sure if those Emergen-C or Airborne tablets work but that's the best advice I really have. You're crammed in to a small area with hundreds of people recycling the air... it's hard to avoid.

How much time would you get to actually spend time in new cities? Like if you went out of the country, what would your turn around be? Would it have been fairly easy to spend a weekend there and then work a return flight the next week? Or was it pretty much, off to the hotel, and then right back the next day for the next flight?

Would you work with the same people usually? Pilot, co-attendants, etc? or was it pretty random each day? Or after a few months you pretty much new everyone?

And thanks! Always appreciated my FA's as a guest.

Sometimes you get 48 hours somewhere, other times it can be 9. I know there was a trip with a very short Shanghai layover I never wanted to get. When you start it's pretty random because you're on reserve. Once people bid for their trips and get a schedule for the month they usually fly with those same people at least all month. The pilots are usually different.

Do you have any flight attendant friends that had died in a plane crash?

Nope!

Is it true that there is a strong hierarchy between flight attendants and ground service agents?

I'm not sure hierarchy... but there is a little animosity between gate agents and flight attendants. No one wants to be blamed for the door being closed late so they like to blame each other.

I was close with some agents and always tried being nice. One gate agent blamed the ramp for why we were delayed when I was actually just 20 min late accidentally... when your life is a mess like mine you need as many people on your side as possible haha

What's harder, working economy or first class?

I like working first class because you stay busier. Economy is easy if the passengers are nice and not super needy.

what is best and worst thing for this job?

do you ever met your friend on plane?

what is worst customer you've ever been encountered?

Best thing is the travel benefits and it's great when you get fun trips!

I had 2 customers that were the worst.

One man was drunk and very inappropriate. He was drinking a lot and I had to ask another flight attendant to tell him he was cut off. He kept trying to get up during landing to use the restroom. I told him he had to wait and my dog could hold his bladder longer than him. He laughed and got up anyways stumbling down the aisle. I almost had to call the cockpit since we aren't allowed to land unless everyone is in their seats. It's was the mixture of being rude, inconsiderate, and inappropriate that made him really stick with me.

Another was a lady who yelled at me after the flight, calling me a bitch on her way out because I didn't have any blankets for economy. I couldn't make her understand we just don't usually give blankets to economy and on shorter flights we only have enough for first class.

Do you get to stay in nice hotels or terrible hotels when you're overseas?

Usually nice ones overseas. Domestically some are nice. The longer the layover usually the nicer the hotel. Pilots for the airline I was with would get nicer hotels than us on some layovers, we don't always stay at the same hotels.

Are you Donald Trump in disguise?

Definitely not

How old are you now?

Just about 27.

How many flights would you say you took in your career?

That's a really hard question... I honestly have no idea. Sometimes there are 5 flights in one day I can't even really guess! Sorry!

So it must be in the thousands? I am wondering if you have had any kind of "close call" or "real emergency" in the air?

I have only had the decompression I mentioned earlier really. I working a flight when a bird hit the engine while we were landing. We thought the engine went out. Luckily we were landing because it can really cause problems. I was very lucky I didn't have anything worse.

Ever flown to Brazil? Thoughts?

I haven't. I had the opportunity to go on a trip with another flight attendant but turned it down because of a boy and regret it all the time... never making that mistake again! Ha

Unsurprisingly yes

What kind of cat do you have?

No cat, just the best dog.