Medical Emergency

    Other than dealing with some pretty good turbulence because of thunderstorms we flew through, our flight was relatively unremarkable. We landed in Texas and our passengers began deplaning out the front door. As I thanked each customer and wished them a "goodbye," that's when trouble struck.
    I noticed an elderly man  -- who I would guess to be in his 70s --  fall to the floor just inches from me in first class. Thinking he just tripped, I rushed  over to him and asked him if he was ok. I didn't get a response. Although he was conscious, I knew it was much more serious.
   I reached over and tried to get him to sit in one of the first class seats, but he kept falling over. He was limp, looked confused, and a part of his face looked droopy. From my airline medical training, the first thing that came to mind was this man was having a stroke. I needed to get him help.
    Our training for such emergencies on board is pretty text book: We are to ask our flying partners to get the Automated External Defibrillator, notify the cockpit and purser and call for medical help while at the same time, don rubber protective gloves.
     But today's situation didn't quite happen like this. I had no immediate access to gloves, I was the purser, and my flying partners were in the back of the airplane while the aircraft aisle was blocked by exiting passengers.
      Fortunately, as I looked up from tending to the man, I noticed a uniformed off duty flight attendant leaving the plane and asked her to call the back of the plane and have my flying partners rush to assist me with a medical emergency, bringing with them the necessary medical tools. She did call them, only to tell them "the purser needs you because he is having a problem with a middle eastern man."
     Thinking it was some type of security or terrorist threat, my flying partners immediately called up the first class phone to ask me what was going on. I told them to get up to the front immediately, I had a medical emergency and to bring with them the AED. At the same time, I yelled at the captain, who by now opened the cockpit door, to call for paramedics.
     I still didn't have my gloves. I was still by myself!
     Nonetheless, I struggled with the passenger, who kept trying to get up -- as if to leave the aircraft -- and kept falling over. I asked him to just hang tight and assured him that we were going to take care of him.
    "I'm here to help you," I told him. "We are going to get you better. Just hold on and everything is going to be ok."
     He looked at me, as an infant looks at its parent;
     This whole time, I didn't know if there was some type of language barrier -- because he did look foreign -- or if he truly was having a stroke and didn't know what was going on. It was the most frustrating moment.
     I asked him if he had a medical condition that I should know about. Again, he just stared at me as if looking right through me. It was the saddest look I've ever seen on someone. .
     Finally, my flying partners were able to push their way to the front the aircraft, where I and the ill passenger were. I told them to get the oxygen bottle so that we could at least administer that to the sick passenger. We had no idea who this man was, since he wasn't at his seat.
     Just then the paramedics got to the first class cabin and took over. After a brief assessment, they told me the man's blood pressure was sky high and that it appeared he was suffering from a stroke.  I asked them if they were able to find any identification on the passenger so that I would have it for my report. They were able to give me his Texas driver's license and a boarding pass from a previous flight from China. The man had been traveling well over 24 hours by the time we met him.
    My flying partners told me that during the service, the man ordered no food or beverage, and just waved them on. There was no sign in flight that he was ill.
    Within minutes, paramedics removed him from our aircraft to an area where they had more room to work on him.
    When I last saw them, they were administering an intravenous needle into the man's arm, apparently to quickly get fluids or medicine to him.
    That's when I knew he was in good hands. That's when our training taught us that our duties were over. After gathering some information from the airline customer service agent for my reports, I joined my crew and we headed to the hotel for our layover.
     I thank God that this happened on the ground upon arrival into our destination city. I prayed all the way to the hotel that this poor man, who was by himself, was going to be ok. I wondered if anyone was outside the airport to meet him from his trip to China. I wondered if there was anything different I could have done. I felt guilty that I couldn't do more for him.
        

        

Inoperable Toilets

   So my crew and I were on Day II of a trip that seemed to be plagued with bad luck, and the horrors continued.
   The first day we saw one of our passengers suffer a stroke before our very eyes and had to be rushed off our plane. (More on that in another blog). Then the second day we went back to work hoping for no drama. But we were wrong.
    Sometime between boarding the plane, doing our safety checks -- when the toilets were operating fine -- and when we got in the sky, our airplane suffered a major setback. The two lavatories in the coach cabin began NOT flushing, and water was seen starting to back up into the toilet bowl. Not a good sign, considering we were not even an hour into our three-hour journey.
    So being the flight attendant in charge, I was forced to call the captain and inform him of the bad news. He had me check a few things a report my findings back to him. Based on his response, I knew it wasn't good.
    Between the two of us, and the toilets' symptoms, we came to the conclusion that the aft lavatories' connector pipe leading to the main tank in the aircraft was plugged. Probably some dumb ass flushed either a baby diaper or or female hygiene napkin down the toilet.
    So the only two restrooms in coach had to be locked off until we landed and mechanics could take a look at the problem. That left us with only one operating lavatory -- in first class.
    But there was another concern the captain had. He told me I would need to add toilet monitoring to my first class cabin duties. He explained that if that toilet started to back up, we could have serious problems that could ultimately change the dynamics of the Airbus 319 we were flying on. He said because that toilet was so close to the cockpit, if that commode starting backing up and dripping onto the floor, there was crucial wiring under there that could get wet and cause the plane serious problems. An unscheduled or emergency landing was not ruled out.
    "Great!" I thought. "Just what we need."
     Not to mention I wasn't too thrilled on taking a peek into the smelly lavatories after each visitor to make sure overflowing wasn't occurring! I actually cheated. Armed with my room air freshener spray -- "Midnight Pomegranate" -- and a nose and mouth covering, I would sneak in after every few other passengers to do toilet duty.  I also monitored the control panel by my flight attendant seat to make sure the panel didn't indicate that the first class toilet became filled. Which in that case, that toilet would Also have to be locked off, leaving the passengers to hold it until we landed.
    

        

Early Morning Wake Up Call

     So my 15 hour layover ended with an early-morning wake-up call from my airline's crew desk. The scheduler wanted to catch me before I started getting ready for my morning flight out of New Orleans. It ends up that my first flight for the day was canceled because of a flat tire, so she was trying to figure out what do do with my crew and I.
      "Reassignments", as we call them in the business, happen more than we would like. And nine times out of 10, they are not in our favor. But this one turned out not-so-bad.
      When the scheduler called my hotel room at 5:45 a.m., she told me to hang tight, not to get ready or leave my hotel room. She said she was probably going to work us out of the city on a later flight. So I dozed off and went back to bed.
      Only to be woken up about 15 minutes later. The scheduler informed me that she had booked my crew and I on a 7:20 a.m. flight, where we would be flying as passengers. In the business, we call it "deadheading." Great, I thought. At least I would be able to catch up on my sleep on the flight.
       So I hopped in the shower, quickly got ready, then met my crew in the hotel lobby for the short ride over to the airport, where we were whisked through security and dashed to our gate.
       When deadheading, crew members usually like to get their seat assignment from the gate agent, then board before the rest of the passengers, so that way we can have space for our luggage and not have to check it in the belly of the plane.
       We were lucky enough to get first class seats and enjoy a nice warm meal and drink from real glassware. Pretty nice, considering we did not have to serve one drink or be responsible for hundreds of passengers' safety on day two of our trip.

        

One-Eyed Cyclops Passenger

     For the most part, the type of passengers we fly around the world are very nice, thoughtful and are great to be around. But every now and then we come across one that is just a royal pain in the ass! I had one recently flying into the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. 
     I will start by saying that people flying in and out of this airport are generally very nice and polite. So I don't know where this one creeped in from. But for my blog sake, we'll call her "Bitchy Sassafras" because that's what her name sounded like. She was the type of person who -- you could just tell -- thought that world must evolve around her. She wanted people to think she was something she was not.  Let's just say, she and I didn't hit it off too well when she boarded my aircraft and then tried to set the tone of the flight.
     Ms. Sassafras was one of the first to board the plane. She resembled a greasy, dirty, overweight Cyclops monster. I was not initially sure if she was truly disabled or if she was suffering from a shiner to the eye. But I gave the disheveled-looking creature the benefit-of-the-doubt. She immediately showed me her ticket, as if trying to establish something with me, and then asked me where was her seat. Unfortunately, for me, it was in first class, where I was working.
     As I started to get drinks ready to offer my first class passengers, my flying partner, who was greeting at the door, asked if I could relieve her so that she could take an unaccompanied minor to their seat and get the child settled in. So I took her position at the door and greeted the rest of the passengers coming on board.
    That's when I heard a flight attendant call bell go off in the first class cabin. I looked around the corner to see who it was. You guessed it! It was in Ms. Sassafras' row. I tried to make eye contact with her to tell her I would be there shortly, but since she only had one eye, that wasn't too successful. So I noted it in the back of my mind to check on her when my flying partner came back to the front door.
     You see, Federal Aviation Administration rules prohibit a commercial airliner's front door from being left unattended while passengers are boarding, in case a sudden emergency evacuation is necessary.  Somebody has to be at the door to guide passengers to the only open exit during the time. There is no veering from this federal law.
     And with staffing cuts at most major airlines, I didn't have anyone to guard the door while I answered the call bell. Since nobody looked like they were dying or suffering from a heart attack, I knew I would get to it as soon as my flying partner returned.
     Well she returned shortly, with an ugly-looking shawl-type sweater in her hand. She told me how the obese passenger in first class was a real bitch and had just chastised her for nobody answering her call bell in a prompt manner. You see, apparently Ms. Sassafras expected everybody to jump when she rang.
     So I decided to pay her a visit at her seat and  educate her about rules and regulations flight attendants must follow when it comes to the FAA and boarding time. I explained, like at all major carriers, staffing at my airline has been cut, and there are not enough flight attendants to do all the extra luxury-type things during boarding. For example in first class:  hanging coats, taking personal drink orders, and leaving the front door with nobody there.
       "Well unfortunately the full price I paid for my ticket wasn't cut," said Ms. Sassafras, trying to focus on me with her one eye. "So that's not my problem."
      The rest of the first class passengers sitting around her looked amazed at her comment. You could tell each one of them was uncomfortable with her retort. 
      So I took a deep breath, stood back, and with a smile, suggested she write a letter with her concerns to my airline and the FAA. But the one-eyed bitch wanted to continue to argue with me, as if she wanted us to know that she was flying first class.  With her rotund, ugly figure, and boisterous comments, how could we NOT!
       "Patience is a virtue," I told her, as I walked away.
       Now what makes this whole story funny, is once the gate agent brought me the paperwork I immediately looked to see --  for one --  who this ugly-ass was --  and two -- how much did she REALLY pay for her ticket. It was immediately clear the "prima donna"  was NOT one of our high mileage fliers, and she did NOT pay full price for her ticket! She was probably one of the free upgrades some airlines are now giving out to members of their frequent flier programs.
       That's when I realized, her eye that I fist thought had a disability, now looked more like someone had socked her in it, probably for mouthing off one too many times. It was black and blue, puffy and partially closed. "Damn!" I thought to myself. "Someone must have done me the honor!"
 

        

One Last Trip to Hawaii

 
  I was very fortunate to fly the other day with a remarkable passenger and her family. And it's probably one of those stories I will probably always remember till the end my flying career. I wanted to share it with you.
   It was an early morning flight from New Orleans to Los Angeles. I noticed the woman sitting in a row with her son and an older gentleman. I could tell they didn't fly much, if at all. Their looks on their faces and their attention to every detail and my  movement gave it away.
   With the exception of the man traveling with her, who didn't want to fasten his seat belt for take off, the family was non-descript and kept to themselves.
    Once my flying partner and I finished the service in the economy cabin, the woman came to the back of the airplane to use the facilities. As she looked curiously around the galley, I could tell this was probably her first flight. She shortly confessed it was. And probably her last.
    She explained she was headed to a vacation she had always dreamed up, but knew she probably would never see. She was headed to Hawaii. Growing up she had heard such wonderful things about the exotic locale. The TV commercials sharing sandy beaches, the magazine ads showing luscious luaus fueled her desire to visit there.
     But growing up the bayou of Louisiana, she knew the odds of her saving up for such a trip were slim.
     And her time on earth was quickly ticking away.
     I would guess the woman to be around 40 years old. For the past year, she has been battling bladder cancer. And her one live-long wish was to visit Hawaii.
     She was fortunate enough for one of her brothers to pay her way for a vacation to the Island in the Pacific. Along with her son, she was on my flight joined by one of her other brothers.
     She learned about Hawaii from stories shared by her grandfather, who served in the military in O'ahu on the brink of World War II. He would show her photos of the beautiful paradise he took before it was bombed by the Japanese in December 1941. She knew it was a place, one day, she wanted to visit.
      So for her, this trip -- I'm sure -- was bittersweet. She was happy to be visiting a place her grandfather once stood, defending his country. But I'm certain, in the back of her mind, her illness rested, too. If it did, she certainly didn't show it. On our flight, she was full of life and talked so optimistically. She was one of the more positive passengers I've had the pleasure of flying with in my 17 year career as a flight attendant.     She told us her son would listen to stories from  his great-grandfather about the island. She told us about one photograph taken by him in a particular location in Pearl Harbor. She told us how she was going to take the same picture of her son in the exact location to take home framed to the man who shared his stories of paradise with her. A tribute, if you will.
     She asked us about places to see while she was there. She asked us about restaurants to dine at to savor the local foods. We shared with her our favorites. We told her of the local markets to visit for trinkets and other souvenirs. We told her of the secret hideaways to visit. Beaches to bask in.
     She was thankful for every minute of our time.
     I was thankful for her story. It made me appreciate life much more.

        

Trip Riddled With Chaos 

  I should have known when I saw this trip on paper, that it would be far from easy.
    The entire three-day trip was jinxed from the beginning! From weather delays, to delays created by President Obama, to the multiple  medical emergencies we had on board on just one flight, this trip was anything but simple.
    By the time I got home, I was completely wiped out. Both mentally and physically.
    The trip was supposed to go something like this: Day one -- Los Angeles to San Francisco, layover; Day two -- SFO to San Diego to Denver to Philadelphia, layover; Day three -- Philly home to LA. With the exception of day two, easy enough, I thought.
    So on day one when we checked in for our trip, our first flight was already late because of a ground stoppage because of activity at SFO. It seems air traffic into and out of the City by the Bay was halted because the president of the United States decided to visit the area. And his arrival shut down all air traffic into the San Francisco International Airport. So once we did arrive there,  a 15 hour layover turned out to be something like 11 hours.
     On day two, we got out of SF pretty much on time and landed in beautiful sunny San Diego. We were supposed to only be on the ground 45 minutes, when our pilots got word that there was now a ground stop for flights going into Denver, where apparently major thunderstorms were creating havoc over the Mile High City.When we finally did make it there, we were kept from leaving because of a tornado looming near the airport. We ended up getting into our layover city -- Philadelphia -- at 3 a.m., three hours later than our original scheduled arrival time.
      So as I enjoyed my much needed rest, my hotel room telephone began ringing at 11 a.m. It was the crew desk informing me that my crew and I were now illegal to work our one leg home that night to L.A. Instead, they told me, we would be flying home as passengers, something I dreaded. When crew members get to fly as passengers, we get stuck in non-premium seats, usually the middle ones in economy class.
      Since departure time for that flight wasn't until 6:45 p.m., I went back to bed for a few more hours, only to have the phone start ringing. Again, the crew desk. This time it  was a scheduler telling me that the departure for that flight was now pushed back and that my crew and I were now legal to work it home. "Good," I thought. "At least I won't be crammed in a center seat for five and half hours."
      Then came a third call from the crew desk, informing me that the flight was now not going to leave until 9:45 p.m. that night. So my layover got longer, and I got more rest.
     My crew members and I finally made it that night to the airport to work our flight home. We boarded our plane and got ready to welcome our passengers. Everything was going good. Boarding was smooth, everyone got seated, the door was shut and we taxied out to the runway.
     The rain was coming down furiously. Lightning was everywhere. The plane's engines came to a stop. I knew it wasn't good. Then the captain came over the public address system and delivered the bad news. We were number 17 to take off and the runway has been shut down because of the storm hovering over the airport.
     So there we sat, another delay caked atop our already three hour delay! Nobody complained. I was so impressed with the way the passengers handled it all. Even the ones who were obviously going to miss their international connection flights out of Los Angeles didn't complain.
     So we sat....And sat....Because we had to remain by our doors in case an emergency evacuation became necessary, we could not even offer passengers drinks or food. It was really depressing.
      Finally the engines cranked up, and we slowly made our way down the conga line to our take off position. It was now 11:30 p.m. Nearly five hours later than our original departure time.
     Once in the air, the flight was unremarkable. Everything seemed smooth except for the bumps as we made our way through stormy clouds. Then the trouble began.
     Halfway through the flight, I get a call in first class from the passengers working the back of the plane. They told me a woman had collapsed and nearly passed out on the back galley floor. They were putting her on oxygen and letting her remain on the dirty floor.  I told them to keep me posted and I called our captain to let him know oxygen was being used in the cabin.
     Shortly after, I get another call from the back crew members telling me a second woman was complaining about feeling ill and that they were also tending to her.
     Then, about an hour out from finally landing in L.A., one of my crew members came rushing up to my first class galley to tell me a man was now complaining he didn't feel well and that he wanted us to page for a doctor on board. "This can't be good if he's asking for a doctor," I thought.  So I went to see what his problem was. He complained he had earlier gotten sick in the lavatory and now had chest pains.
      I immediately called for a doctor and put him on oxygen. So now we had two passengers on oxygen. The other woman was back at her seat feeling slightly better. However, to complicate things, a fourth person had thrown up all over a row of seats.
     All of this began to seem surreal. I began to wonder if there was more to all the sicknesses. In the past, we've been told by US Federal Air Marshalls, that a ploy terrorists may use to throw off cabin crew members, is play sick, so as to pull away our attention from the front of the airplane and the cockpit door. I was praying that this was not the case. 
     So as the doctor worked on the man, taking his vital signs and asking him questions on his medical history, I remained in constant contact with the cockpit, giving them a play-by-play of the happenings in the cabin. I kept my eye on the front of the airplane, just in case. The captain asked if the doctor thought if it was possible to continue for the last 45 minutes of the flight. She agreed to keep flying, but suggested having the paramedics meet the flight for the man.  
      We finally did land in L.A. At 1:45 a.m. Four hours later than we were supposed to. The captain asked everyone to remain seated, once we reached the gate, so that paramedics could take off the more serious sick passenger. Again, I was impressed with passengers. Everyone remained seated, without saying a word.
      After the flight, I stuck around filling out countless medical reports for my employer and giving supervisors a briefing on all what happened on that last leg of my trip.

    
   
    

        

There Is The Denver Omelette...

Then There Is The "Traveling Omelette"

   We've all heard of the popular Denver omelette... Well, at my airline we have the "Traveling Omelette." I kid you not. And after reading this post, you may want to think twice about eating that first class meal. It's a story that will make anyone at the US Department of Health and Human Services cringe.
    Because so many airlines now are trying to cut costs and find a cheap way to do things, they have come up with a clever idea of transporting food from city to city, sometimes for hours, or even days, only to be served to unsuspecting passengers.
    It works like this: Some of the cities where aircraft overnight, either do not have catering kitchens, or  the airlines are too cheap to contract out with a caterer there. So, the airlines board meals at a major hub for several legs of that aircraft's trip. The next morning, for example,  a meal is scheduled to be served on the first flight out that particular city.  With no catering kitchen being used there, guess what? Old meals boarded from the previous day are served to passengers.
    It's no wonder, after serving those first class omelettes or whatever else is on the menu, I've seen passengers dart to the lavatory. After several  flushes, they emerge from the commode  looking a little queasy, a horrible smell lingering behind them.
   In defense of the airlines, the meals and other perishable items -- for example milk, coffee creamers, orange juice -- are taken off the aircraft at night and supposedly placed in refrigerated containers until the next morning. Or at least that's what flight attendants are told. Never mind those meals had been traveling on board airplanes for several hours the day before.
    I worked a flight recently where the next morning, I found milk, creamers and white wine left in a galley drawer. All of it warm, obviously not refrigerated at all. I chose not to serve it. 
    The idea is enough to make anyone's stomach cower.
    It's this whole concept that crew members are savvy to. Sometimes their crew meals suffer the same traveling fate from one leg of the trip, to the next. That's why we bring our own food from home or fork out our live savings to buy snacks the next morning from airport concession stands.
    So the next time you're flying first class, or get that free upgrade, and the flight attendant asks you if you will be having breakfast, think twice about it. It may have traveled across country before it finally made it to your tray table. And by no means does this only pertain to breakfasts. I've seen lunches and dinners traveling around for hours, from flight to flight, only to be served, as well.
    Bon appetit!
    
   
   

        

Charge 'Em For Carry On Chaos!!!

    Finally!!!! An airline that is doing something right for a change!!!
    The recent news of Spirit Air charging passengers for carry on luggage, I'm sure, is being welcomed with open arms from flight attendants across America! Ask any cabin crew member what is the worst part of their job, and they will tell you it is boarding and finding space for passengers' carry on chaos. The problem only continues growing in size, just like suitcases passengers try to roll on board.
    I've seen countless flight attendants and passengers injured from over sized suitcases being tossed into the overhead bins. Passengers with too heavy bags who complain they can't lift their suitcases into the overhead bins ask crew members to stow the bags for them. That's where a large number of crew injuries occur. Thankfully, at my airline, we are not required to lift bags for passengers for that reason.
    Then I've seen the injuries to passengers sitting in their aisle seats when someone opens the overhead bin and a piece of luggage crammed unsafely inside comes falling out and striking the unsuspecting passenger on the head. I've seen some ugly bloody head injuries because of this.
   Or there are the passengers who struggle to get their suitcase in the bin and drop it on the passengers sitting there ready their book.
   Then there are the arguments that ensue over no more room for the bags. Passengers who board last become irate because there is no space for their bag. They yell at the flight attendants to try and find space for their items. They try and flaunt their airline flying status or how much they paid for their ticket.
    What clueless passengers don't get, is that there is only so much space inside an airplane to accommodate bags. Once that space is full, then bags have to checked into the belly of the aircraft and picked up at baggage claim. Believe it or not, us flight attendants don't have this magical power, where we snap our fingers, and extra space appears for bags!
   I've heard passengers tell my crew members, "Isn't it your job to find space for my bags?"....Or, "Can't you take out someone else's bag to fit mine in?"
    And what always surprises me, is passengers never get the concept, that their guaranteed, primary personal stowage space is under that seat in front of them, the same place everyone refuses to use for their bags. Overhead bins are shared with EVERYONE on the airplane. 
    And don't expect flight attendants to begin rearranging suitcases in overhead bins. I can't tell you  how many times I've done that, only to be yelled at by other passengers upset because we were "touching" their bags. So now I've just stop doing that too. It's really not worth it.
    Come departure time, if the bins are full, I ask customer service to step in and start checking bags in the belly of the plane.     
    Overall, it's just an ugly picture.
    So Spirit Air's announcement is GREAT NEWS!!! I only hope all other airlines follow suit.
    Spirit Air is clever in its approach. Beginning August 1, it will begin to charge passengers $45 each way for each carry on item. But wait, the charge is only $30 if you book your bag ahead. The airline will not charge for anything that will fit underneath the seat in front of you.
    I only wish my airline would do the same. I can only imagine all the trouble it would save us flight attendants.
    From a consumer standpoint, I can only hear the arguments and complaints now. But what the consumer doesn't understand is that airlines are a business. They are here to make money just like any other company in the United States. The times of a "free ride" are over folks. Accept it, move on or travel Greyhound. It's that simple.
    The unfortunate fact of charging for carry ons will probably not be a popular thing among some airlines. They don't want to "scare off" passengers.
    The only solution is for the Federal Aviation Administration to step in and order all US airlines to remove overhead bins from their aircraft, leaving the only stowable space under the seat in front of you. Think of the money airlines would save. Taking off the overhead bins would create less weight, thus the aircraft eating up less fuel.
    Just an idea!

        

Orlando Flights During

Spring Break....Ugh!!!!

    I recently worked a flight to and from Orlando at one of the worst times of the year -- Spring Break!
    It's that time of year when the country bumpkins, who have saved up their life savings for a trip to Walt Disney World, cram our airplanes and expect the world. Ma, Pa, Jethro, Sally Mae, Grandpa, Grandma. You name it! They were on my flight to Micky Mouse's East Coast home in Florida.
    These are the same folks who have probably not flown since 911 produced a series of changes in our industry, if ever at all.
    These are the folks who base their travel experience on TV airline commercials and demand it all: endless requests for sodas; complaints about having to "buy" their food on board; to the relentless flight attendant call bell ringers for something as simple as asking, "How much time do we have left in the flight?"
    I try and have patience with these types of passenger. But there comes a point, when I have to draw the line. Thus, I'm here blogging about the horrendous flight as a way of "venting" and relieving my nerves. Call it "flight attendant therapy" if you will.
    Between the screaming children running up and down the airplane aisles, to the never-ending requests, to the foul order permeating the cabin, I'm surprised my crew and I lived to talk about it.
    But it was a clueless mother who got the crew, and the entire cabin for that matter, at wits end.
    This was the same mother who requested before the flight, if she could use the first class lavatory since she was seated in the first row in the coach cabin, obviously too lazy to walk to the back of the airplane where the economy lavatories were. The same mother who looked struggled to hold her over sized infant son.
     So after my service in first class, I decided to venture into the economy class cabin to help my flying partners pick up trash. As I made my way into the cabin, the open plastic bag in my two hands, I could not believe what I saw. This mother tosses her child's crappy diaper into the bag. The same bag that we are required to stow in the galleys where we serve food and beverages from.
    I kindly asked her to remove the diaper and educated her that the proper place to throw away the dirty diaper, would be the same bathroom that she had been using most of the flight.
    "There is a trash can in there," I told her. "I'm sorry, but because we are food and beverage handlers, we cannot retrieve soiled diapers from passengers."
    She looked at me as if I was from Mars, a dumbfounded look transfixed on her face.
    What I REALLY wanted to say to her was: "Do you give your child's dirty diaper to the waiter or waitress at the restaurant you are eating at?"
    But it doesn't stop there. It only gets worse! About two hours left into the flight, and I began to smell this horrible, foul odor inside the airplane. I take a walk through the cabin and notice the smell is worse in once certain section. And you guessed it! It was in the first row of economy.
    And there it was! The crappy diaper squeezed into the mother's seat pocket, just inches from her nostrils. The same seat pocket other passengers use to stow books, snacks, computers, and other personal items on all our other flights.
    Other passengers gave me a horrified look as I discovered the source of the smell. By this time I was over this feeble-minded mother who had no regard for others' comfort. So I walked away and counted to three.
    What I really wanted to do, was dig into my tote back and pull out my "Midnight Pomegranate" fragrance spray from The White Barn Candle Company and spray it in the cabin, taking aim particularly at this mother's face.
    We finally landed and I still had somewhat of my sanity after this horrible flight.
    As I did a quick walk through in the cabin once everyone deplaned, I noticed the dirty diaper. The same place where the mother had left it. I certainly hope the next time she flies, and reaches into her seat pocket for her magazine or snacks, she finds a treat left for her by the previous passenger!
 
     
   
     

        

A Savvy Traveling Parent's Tale

[Editor's Note]
  Just so that readers don't think that myself, and many other flight attendants are crab apples when it comes to passengers with kids, below I've published a letter from a savvy parent who knows how to travel with his children. While not all parents can afford to fly in first class, kudos to Kenny for coming aboard prepared. More parents need to read his letter and learn how to travel better with their kids.  Thanks Kenny for the email!
 
"I never realized y'all knew who pays for the first class seat. My partner and I fly SFO-ATL four times a year with our twins and pay about $1,100 per person for the flight for first class. Going to ATL, I only take the red-eye so that my twins will fall asleep and not bother anyone. Coming back to SFO, I take a 9pm flight so that it'll be dark and the kids will again fall asleep.

  Given that y'all know I've paid for my seats, I'm now understanding why the flight attendants look at me like I'm on crack. When I board the plane, I ask if I can have one can of apple juice to use with the kids when we land, so that I won't have to bother the flight attendant before landing. On the return flight, we each share a meal with a kid so that there are two extras for the other 1st class passengers since I've seen 1st class passengers go ape-crazy over not getting their meal choice. (It's not like we're stranded in the Andes Mountain or anything. It's a 5 hour flight, I think you can live with getting your 2nd meal choice. I just tell the flight attendant to bring us whatever is left.) I never accept the free snacks because I've brought plenty of my own - have heard horror stories about lengthy delays and being stuck on the plane. As the parent, it's my responsibility, not the airlines, to ensure there's enough for my kids to eat so I bring plenty. (When Reese's first came out with the new dark chocolate peanut butter cup, the flight attendant saw that I had several and was bumming candy from me. She was so nice and a real hoot!)
I never understand parents who show up totally unprepared for the flight. It's not like flying is a mysterious experience. Everybody knows what to expect. Just come prepared. I simply pay for the first class seats because I'm too lazy to carry the car seats to the back of the plane. Once my kids can use the regular seat belts, I'll move back into Coach. (I like the last row because it's very close to an actual exit door. Not fond of the overwing exits - the average American has gotten so plus-size I'm convinced some of them will get stuck in that smaller opening and impede my ability to exit the aircraft. Having evacuated a plane once, I know the importance of getting the heck out when the flight attendant says it's time to go. Having evacuated a plane, I also understand why the flight attendants are really there - safety, safety, safety.)"
Kenny