The Rerouted Skytress

Skytresses and Skyters get asked all the time how many hours we work a week. It’s a simple question. Unfortunately, in the airline business, it isn’t an easy answer. We base our work time on monthly hours. Our trips are created following both our airline guidelines and Federal Regulations. At times it can be a very confusing mess. Especially when weather issues, minimum rest requirements, and mechanicals are thrown into the mix. Our manuals are filled with pages of rules and regulations. Skytresses, Skyters, schedulers, and crew tracking reference these pages ad nauseum. Especially, when the proverbial poop is hitting the fan. On the rarest of occasions the rules and regulations fall through the cracks. This happened to my crew and me once. It was a horrible duty day that wouldn’t end. Fortunately, this horrible duty day is a fabulous Skytress story. And who doesn’t love a fabulous….horrible…. Skytress story?

My crew and I had a layover in West Palm Beach. Early the next morning we were scheduled to fly from West Palm Beach to JKF. From there we were to fly to Boston then to Montreal. We knew our flight to JKF was going to be trying. It usually is. The agents were eager to pre-board our passengers needing special assistance. We weren’t as eager. Boarding can be the toughest part of our day. It’s also the part of our day we don’t get paid flight time. No, we get paid once the airplane door is closed. This particular day, we had one passenger that was a carry-on passenger. She needed the aisle chair to get to her seat. The woman was quite cantankerous from the moment she got on the airplane. We tried to win her over with our super-delux Skytress kindness. She was having none of that. Unfortunately for us, she became even more cantankerous when our flight was delayed leaving because of snow issues in JFK.

The snow forecast in New York was not promising. The Captain was keeping us abreast of the numerous cancellations into JFK while we sat at the gate. With each update, my crew and I started to have hope we would cancel and stay in West Palm. As you can imagine, my crew and I were becoming exhausted from answering the passenger’s “what if” and scenario questions. Just when we thought we couldn’t answer one more question, we got the word we were released to fly to JFK. Unfortunately for all of us, the closer we got to JFK….the more air traffic control slowed us down. We were ecstatic when we finally landed. However, our celebration was premature. On a good day it is hard to get to the gate in JFK. When snow is thrown into the mix,… it is excruciating. Unfortunately, when we arrived to the gate, there wasn’t an agent available to move the jetway. I’m not sure who was more happy to get off the plane when the airplane door opened…us or our passengers. Our pre-board passengers were so happy to get off the plane, they didn’t wait for the wheelchair attendants to come get them. Our cantankerous passenger was extremely angry it took us hours to get to JFK. She refused to wait for the the aisle chair and walked up the jetway in disgust. Our pilots wished us luck as we walked up the jetway with them. Fortunately for them, they were laying over in New York. Unfortunately for us, we still had to fly to Boston and to Montreal.

I’m sure you won’t be surprised when I tell you our flight to Boston was delayed. You will be pleasantly surprised to learn I was flying with my dear Skytress friend Jennie Lou. Jennie Lou was our Skytress in-charge. Since we were on a slow rolling weather delay, Jennie Lou, Skytress Shelly and I decided to get something to eat. After all, It was now dinner time.

Our aircraft we were taking to Boston eventually arrived at our gate. The agents were extremely eager to get our flight boarded. We were going to be full with misconnections from earlier flights to Boston. We also had passengers from other airlines that were transferred over to our flight. The foul weather had everyone on edge. We were all happy the flight to Boston was scheduled to be a short flight. But first we had to get off the ground. We slowly taxied towards the de-icing area. There were 34 other airplanes that were to be de-iced before us. Then the proverbial poop hit the fan for the umpteenth time that day. An aircraft from an international airline that was in line to de-ice had a mechanical. It couldn’t move. So every aircraft in the de-icing line couldn’t move, either. Jennie Lou, Shelly and I took turns going into the cockpit to get away from disgruntled passengers. This was before 9-11 and the pilots would taxi with the cockpit door open. The cockpit was our refuge. We needed a few breaks to keep our sanity. Our passengers were thoroughly testing it. Unbeknownst to us, a passenger brought their cat….that we didn’t know we had on board…. into the first-class lavatory and let it go to the bathroom in the sink. That poop didn’t hit the fan. No, it stayed in the sink. Another passenger informed us of this when they tried to use the restroom. Sadly, this is one of the more pleasant stories for me to tell you all.

As you can imagine, the passengers were upset it was taking forever to get de-iced. When we finally became second in line to de-ice, I thought we had won a small victory. Finally, the aircraft in front of us was informed its de-icing was complete. Or so we thought. Our pilots informed the tower the plane still had snow on it’s wings. The plane had to be de-iced again. Ugh! Finally. FINALLY….it was our turn to get de-iced. The first officer came back into the cabin to make sure our wings were cleared of snow before we taxied away. I slightly feared for his life. The upset passengers had a fresh body to hurl unkind comments at. Jennie Lou, Shelly and I no longer felt their insults and anger. We determined the worst offenders came over from the other airlines. We took solace in the knowledge no one at our airline would ever be subjected to them ever again. They continuously barked at us that they would never fly our airline again. Thank goodness for us all.

There is something that is very calming for everyone when you take off and hear the hum of the engines. Except if you are a Skytress and the hum of the engine is going on longer than the flight was scheduled for. We Skytresses could tell we were in a holding pattern. Then the Captain turned the proverbial poop fan back on. The Captain called to inform us the Boston airport was now closed due to the snow. We were heading back to JFK.

I won’t write what the passenger’s said at this point. Boston and JKF passengers have salty language on a good day. This, as you know, was not a good day. The one belligerent passenger from the other airline tried to rally her troops again in hurling insults at our airline. Instead, her troops turned on her. This only made her more mad. When we got to the gate in JFK I thought she was going to slug the Captain as she deplaned. Instead, she furiously went up the jetway to find a fresh body that had to deal with her wrath.

We Skytresses took our time heading up to the gatehouse. We knew there would be utter chaos in the gate area. And there was. The agent supervisor had his hands full. Passengers were demanding answers, hotel accommodations and to be booked on the next flight to Boston. The agent was on the phone. He turned to us. He wanted to know where our unaccompanied minor was. We had no idea what he was talking about. We didn’t have an unaccompanied minor on our flight. We showed him our paperwork. He could see there wasn’t an unaccompanied minor listed. Jennie Lou, Shelly and I knew we had timed out on our duty day, so we stood back to let the agent deal with the person on the phone. When we did, we overheard a group of disgruntled passengers talking about taking care of a young boy traveling by himself. You guessed it. He was our unaccompanied minor from the other airline that we didn’t know was on our flight.

Everything in the airport was closed at this time. Jennie Lou, Shelly and I were tired and famished. Our Skyter friend David had put a loaf of banana bread in my employee mailbox prior to our trip. At the time, I debated whether I should take it with me or leave it in my mailbox until we arrived back in Cincinnati. Fortunately, I took it with me. It was now the only food we had available to eat in the JFK airport. We were grateful. We thanked David for baking it. The three of us sat in a quiet gatehouse away from our passengers eating it. We eventually decided it was in our best interest to head to the crew lounge. It was undoubtedly much safer for us.

The three of us had not spent much time in the JFK crew lounge in our Skytress careers. Oh, how this was going to change for us. First we had to find a phone to call scheduling. Cell phones were not prevalent at this time. We, eventually, found a landline phone in one of the briefing rooms. Jennie Lou dialed away. An overwhelmed scheduler eventually answered. Jennie Lou explained our predicament. She informed the scheduler we were past our legal time on duty and needed hotel accommodations. The scheduler gave Jennie Lou a number to call for accommodations. The scheduler was too busy to take care of our situation. Jennie Lou dialed the number numerous times. No one was answering. Jennie Lou was determined to get someone to answer. So, she kept dialing. Eventually, some one did answer the phone. The gentleman was very pleasant. He explained to Jennie Lou that he couldn’t help get hotel rooms for us because he was in the air traffic control tower. Jennie Lou called crew scheduling again. The same scheduler answered. Jennie Lou informed the scheduler she gave us the number for the control tower. The scheduler succumbed and told Jennie Lou she would call her back with hotel accommodations. We waited….and waited. We left the briefing room and headed out to the computer area. We were now slap-happy and frustrated. Jennie Lou climbed over the supervisor duty desk counter to use the phone to call scheduling back. She informed the scheduler we had been waiting for her to call us back, but, she hadn’t. Thus, Jennie Lou was calling HER back. The scheduler told Jennie Lou there were no hotel rooms available for us because of the snow storm. Jennie Lou asked if we could be put on the first flight out of JFK in the morning. The scheduler told Jennie Lou we were not legal to deadhead on a flight. We were going to have to have a legal rest in the crew lounge. The absurdity of this was not lost on us. Jennie Lou insisted on another plan. The scheduler told her she would work on it and get back with us. Silence. More silence. We pulled up our trip on the computer. The scheduler had us now deadheading on a flight out of Newark to Cincinnati. Our flight was leaving in an hour. Jennie Lou called the scheduler back. Jennie Lou informed the scheduler that on the best of days a person cannot get from JFK to Newark in less than an hour and a half. There was absolutely no way we could do it in a snow storm. In utter frustration, Jennie Lou asked to speak with the lead supervisor. Shelly and I looked at each other stunned. It was an unspoken rule at the time that Skytresses and Skyters never asked for a lead supervisor. A few minutes later Jennie Lou was speaking with the lead supervisor. The supervisor immediately put us on a flight from JFK to Atlanta to get us back to Cincinnati. We learned a valuable lesson right there. Eliminate the middleman. Always ask for the lead supervisor.

Ever so tired of the lounge, we headed up to the gates. As we were walking towards the departure gate area for Atlanta, we ran into our pilots from our West Palm to JFK flight. The Captain asked us if we eventually layed over in New York. We informed him we were still on duty. We explained the whole awful…awful….awful story to the pilots. The pilots were flying us to Atlanta. The Captain walked over to the gate agent and told him were were deadheading on his flight. The agent said he wasn’t sure he would be able to get us on the flight. The flight was full. The Captain said we had positive space on the flight. The agent explained to us, “There is POSITIVE space. And there is positive space.” If we weren’t needed to get to Atlanta to work another flight, he didn’t have to put us on the flights if it was full. The Captain told the agent we had been on duty over 24 hours. He told the agent we would be on his flight. The agent weakened his stance. He said the flight would probably fall apart since people wouldn’t be able to get to the airport. Thankfully, this happened and three of us got on the flight.

If you assume that was the end of the story, well,……you didn’t see the proverbial poop hit the fan again. Just like we didn’t. Our flight was delayed taking off because of de-icing and air traffic flow control. The three of us could only laugh at this point. We knew we were going to have to run through the Atlanta airport to make our flight to Cincinnati.

The Atlanta airport no longer has carpet in the concourses. However, the day we had to run to catch our flight to Cincinnati, there was carpet. Brand-spanking -new carpet to be more exact. Our Skytress luggage wheels gripped that carpet and refused to roll easily. We got to the gate for our flight to Cincinnati just in time to see the airplane was pushing back. At one point, flying to Cincinnati was going to get Shelly and I home quicker, since we both commuted. Now that our Cincinnati plane was on its way to Cincinnati without us, it wasn’t going to be quicker. Jennie Lou called scheduling to be placed on the next flight to Cincinnati. She got Shelly and I deviations from deadheading to Cincinnati. Shelly flew home to Norfolk from Atlanta. I flew home to St. Louis from Atlanta. To this day, I am not sure how my crew working my flight to St. Louis knew I had been on duty over 26 hours. I never told them. And I was too tired to ask them. They were kind and compassionate beyond words. When I declined their offers for a beverage and meal, they completely understood. They gave me a pillow and blanket to help me sleep. However, I was too tired to sleep. I closed my eyes and relived the trip over and over again. I was able to sleep when I got home. Later that day, my friend Mary called me. Yes! Mary from my other stories. Mary was now in payroll. She wanted to hear what happened on my trip. She said she was going to make sure Jennie Lou, Shelly and I got paid for everything we were eligible for.

I’ve heard many stories from fellow Skytresses and Skyters about long duty days. A few of them even fell through the legality crack like Jennie Lou, Shelly and I did. None of them have been on duty as long as we were though. I used to have a copy of the trip rotation. Sadly, I lost it somewhere along the way. Jennie Lou still has her copy, though. We’ve laughed about this trip for years. I’m so fortunate I was flying with Jennie Lou and Shelly. We all might have cried if we were flying with other Skytresses or Skyters. Instead we laughed for hours….after hours….after hours. Yes, our duty day story is a long story. Hopefully, for you all though….it was a fabulous-horrible Skytress story, that will keep you all laughing for a long time, too.