Help Wanted. Inquire within. Alleluia. We are finally getting new recruits. Yep. In-Flight training is back in swing. Training started August 23rd in Atlanta. It couldn’t come too soon for those of us working this summer. Oh, boy! In-Flight is in desperate need of Skytresses and Skyters. Our airline is actually asking Skytresses and Skyters to come back early from their company leaves. The company is also allowing Skytresses and Skyters to sell back their vacation so they can fly trips. Yessiree. Passengers have been flocking back in droves. Throw in a few storms, hurricanes, higher than normal unscheduled absences and everyone is flying to their limits. The poor junior Skytresses and Skyters are flying their little hearts out on their reserve days. Thankfully, 1600 of the 1800 people who had training slots prior to Covid-19 will be attending training classes in the next few weeks and months. Yes, you read that right. Only 200 people have declined their previous training slots. Our airline will soon be opening the application process for other people outside the company. We will need more Skytresses and Skyters in 2022 to serve our passengers. But, hold on to your boarding passes! Our airline isn’t just hiring Skytressess and Skyters. They are hiring in every department. If you are a pilot. Fly on in to fill out an application. Want to be a ramp agent? We need you to marshal yourself over to the nearest computer and start typing in your information. Reservations? Don’t put yourself on hold. Apply. If you don’t want to work for our airline, but, want to work at the airport….well, the Atlanta Airport is hiring on the spot. Yessiree. The airport needs workers. Good golly! I cannot stress enough how much they need workers!
I’m not sure where everyone went that used to work at the airport. The stimulus and unemployment checks are long gone, but, so are the employees. Yes. More eateries are open compared to when I came back last September. However, it’s a crapshoot as to which places will be open and when. Many airports are rotating the restaurants and the hours the restaurants are open. Yep. A restaurant that was open yesterday may not be open today. This August when I flew in and out of Cincinnati it was unpredictable if the Starbucks outside of security would be open. Without fail, the mornings I would decide I would treat myself to a chai tea latte, Starbucks would be closed. The irony always made me chuckle. You may not know this. But, airline crews can go through security with as much liquid as their hearts desire while in uniform. Because of this, airline people know just about every Starbucks located outside of an airport security check point. I’ll admit. Most mornings I don’t really need a Starbucks tea. I buy a tea just because I can unabashedly walk through security proudly displaying my Starbucks cup. I’m not going to lie. It’s definitely one of my favorite perks of wearing my Skytress uniform. And gosh darn it…I am going to take full advantage of it. I should point out that most of the eateries are still closed on our international concourses in Atlanta. Fortunately, McDonalds is always open. Unfortunately, the line is always fifty people deep to purchase food. In Salt Lake City, Cafe Rio used to have an app that airline crews would use to avoid the lines. We would order our food and then pick it up in special heated carriers. Cafe Rio is understaffed these days. So they have disabled their app. This was a brutal blow to hungry crews. Luckily, our airline heard the cries from crews about not being able to get food between flights due to lack of options and long wait lines. Our airline now has meals delivered to the crew lounges for Skytresses, Skyters and pilots to grab between flights. Yes. We are absolutely grateful…..even though they are pretty much the same meals every day. Well, I guess beggars can’t be choosers, right? I have noticed a “Starbucks outside of security” effect though. One evening we got rerouted. Originally, we had time to grab dinner. Our reroute changed this plan. And my plan to get together with my Skytress friend Jennie Lou on our original layover. Yes! THE Jennie Lou. Sorry. I digressed. Anyhow….We had to run immediately to our next flight. Fortunately for us, we had to pass the crew lounge on the way to our new gate. So, we made a crew decision to run down to get meals to take with us. Surprise! There were no crew meals. I didn’t really chuckle at the irony that day. Nope. I was still mad about my layover plans getting canceled with the reroute.
Hey, do you like pushing people around? Well, if you do….boy, do I have a job for you. No, it’s not being a bully. Let’s be real….the world has way too many of those! I’m talking about becoming a wheelchair attendant. Just about every airport we fly into needs more wheelchair attendants. Many people don’t realize the airports provide the wheelchair attendants for the airlines. Due to a shortage of attendants, right now our airline is providing the wheelchair assistants. Yep. We have ramp agents and supervisors pushing wheelchairs from gate to gate. I’m proud to say, we have a great group of employees that jump in and help out where needed. Our pilots are notorious for jumping in to help push our wheelchair passengers up the jetways. You see, Skytresses and Skyters cannot leave the aircraft with passengers on the plane. Even if there is just one passenger waiting for a wheelchair to arrive. Lucky for us, our pilots have a sixth sense for finding an unused wheelchair within an 8-gate radius. We are always extremely appreciative for the the pilots going on their seek and find wheelchair missions. I can’t count the number of passengers that have made their connections because of the pilots gestures. Heck, I’ve made my fair share of close commuter flights home because a pilot came to the wheelchair rescue and I could finally deplane the aircraft.
I don’t know if pilots these days have to pass a course during training on how to be a full-time pilot..part-time wheelchair attendant. But, I do know we have new classes of pilots finally graduating. Yeah! I can proudly tell you there are many female pilots graduating, too. Double yeah!! They, along with the new Skytresses and Skyters, will most likely be the crews flying over the holidays. Don’t feel too bad for them. Some of my fondest flying memories come from flying the holidays. We always brought things to make the holidays extra-special for our crews. These days crews will definitely need to bring those extra-special things. They may even need to plan on hosting a holiday gathering in someone’s hotel room. You guessed it. Hotel restaurants and restaurants in layover cities either have limited hours for service, or have closed down completely due to lack of employees. I won’t mention the lack of maid service in hotels these days due to less workers. I’ll just say, whoever decides to host the holiday party better be prepared to make their own bed before the crew shows up.
Yes. Help Wanted signs are everywhere these days. It’s definitely refreshing that our airline is back in the hiring process. This time last year we were in a very precarious situation because of COVID-19. I knew when our company started to hire again we wouldn’t lack applicants. We didn’t have to win the J.D. Power award to ensure this, either. Still, it was nice to win it. No our airline’s outstanding reputation, superb employees and amazing benefits speak for themselves. Plus, I’m pretty sure it’s everyone’s dream to work with me. This being said, I hope the Atlanta Career fair on the 25th was a success. I’m much more enjoyable to fly with when there are plenty of wheelchair attendants to go around. I’m less hangry when I don’t have to run up and down the concourses looking for something to eat at an eatery that doesn’t have a line a mile long. Mostly, I hope the career fair was a success so I can walk unabashedly through security holding my cup of chai tea latte from Starbucks. Cheers and alleluia to new recruits!