As I told you in one my previous posts, my first layover was Portland, Oregon. When I started flying we had suitcases that we pulled. Not rollaboard suitcases like we use today. No, these were blue suitcases that were shaped like old traditional,….rectangular suitcases. They had 4 wheels. They also had “dog leashes” that we pulled. Hit a bump and the suitcase fell over. My 1st layover that suitcase fell over many times…..all the way to my hotel room. It was quite embarrassing for me. I walked behind the rest of my crew picking it up every few feet. The pilots, on the other hand, carried their black hard case suitcases everywhere. Believe it or not, when I started flying the pilots used to walk all the Skytresses to their rooms. They would wait to make sure our rooms were safe before they would go to their rooms, even if their rooms were on another floor. This particular night I was standing at my hotel room and my key wouldn’t work. I tried multiple times sliding it into the key slot. The first officer was waiting. I was getting nervous. I hated that I was delaying him from getting into his room. He tried to make a joke about me not being able to get my key to work. He chuckled and asked, “Is this your 1st layover?” I know he wasn’t expecting me to say “yes” when I answered him. I smiled and I told him it was my 1st layover, but, it wasn’t my first time using a hotel key. He then tried the key. When it didn’t work he told me he would run to the lobby to get it re-keyed. After he came back with the new key, he waited for me to check my room. I thought it was kindhearted that he did this for me. I soon discovered this was common place at our airline. Now 30 years later when I am flying and my key won’t work, I’ll turn to my waiting crew and smile a big smile. I’ll tell them to bear with me…I’ll laugh and say, “Sorry. It’s my 1st layover.”
Years ago our pilots used to bring their flight kits down to the local operations office on each layover. By doing this, they didn’t have to drag their heavy bags to the hotel. The local operations offices at most airports are below the gate areas. Each night the rest of the crew would wait upstairs for the pilots to return from the operations office. Many times one pilot would take all the flight kits down. Also, at the end of each day, the Skytress or Skyter- in charge would have to deposit the in-flight sales money in the operations safe. Usually a pilot would offer to deposit the money, too. We loved when they would do this for us. Sometimes it was a very long walk to the safe. One night our pilot joked and said he was waiting for the day when a Skytress would offer to take the flight kits down when they went to deposit the money. It was funny, but, it was also a valid point. I never witnessed a Skytress or Skyter ever offfer to take the pilot’s flight kit down. So, of course, my next trip when I was flying in-charge, I asked our pilots if they would like me to take their flight kits down when I went to deposit the money. They were shocked. They looked at each other and didn’t know what to say. They broke out in a hearty laughter. The first officer said he really appreciated the offer. He laughed and said would take the money to deposit it for me. Even though I was still laughing, I told him my offer was sincere. Just to prove it, I said I would go with him. While we walked to the operations office we laughed about me bringing the flight kits down. He said he and the Captain would never live it down with other pilots if they let a Skytress bring their flight kits down to the operations by herself. But, he said, he was going to tell everyone about the night a Skytress did offer to do just that.
One New Years Eve I had a short layover at the Montreal airport. The hotel had a circular tower that they put airline crews in. Our hotel rooms were always at the furthest part of the circle. We appreciated the hotel not wanting to put us near the elevator. But, we hated the long walk on a short layover. This particular evening the hotel gave us all a small plate of goodies to ring in the New Year. The plate was the size of a tea saucer. There was a shortbread cookie, a piece of chocolate and a tangerine on each plate. We were touched by the gesture and looked forward to eating our treats. We happily got into the elevators holding on to our plates. Our demeanor started to change as we began the long walk to our rooms. We were all wearing our heavy winter coats. We were also pulling all our bags behind us on a unforgiving carpet. Every once in awhile someone would sigh as we realized how many more rooms we still had to pass too get to ours. No one was talking. The extra plate was now becoming cumbersome for all of us. Suddenly the Captain stopped. He turned and looked at all of us. He said he knew the real reason we were given the plate of snacks. He said obviously the hotel people wanted us to stop half way to our rooms and have a crew picnic. He asked if we would all like to sit down right there and eat our snacks to have nourishment to go the rest of the way to our rooms. We all cracked up. His humor lightened our load. My coat didn’t feel as hot and my bags didn’t feel as heavy. When we got to our rooms we wished each other a Happy New Year. I was grateful I was flying with a wonderful crew. I went into my room and I took off my coat. I immediately sat down on my bed and had myself a picnic. It was delicious.
Another night we were on our way to the layover hotel. We had an early pick up the next morning. The conversation turned to how many alarms we all set on short layovers. The Captain said he would set 3 alarms,….just to make sure he didn’t oversleep. When we got to our rooms, the Captain’s room was next to mine. Early the next morning I heard the Captain’s alarm going off. I thought to myself, “How could he ever sleep through that alarm, if I can hear it?” The alarm would stop and then go back on. I didn’t have to get up for 20 minutes. How I wished the Captain would stop hitting his snooze button. Exasperated, I finally got up to take a shower. Ugh!! There was no hot water. Now, some people can get away without taking a shower before they fly. Not me. The leprechauns play with my hair too much during the night. I stood at the back of the shower putting one body part at a time under the cold water. I tried to tell myself people in some countries would be happy to have running water to take a shower in,….even if it was ice cold. Between the Captain’s alarm, and the cold shower, my morning was not going well. When we all met in the lobby to head back to the airport we talked about our cold showers. The Captain said he was not happy he had to take a cold shower. He said, however, what really made him mad …..was the smoke alarm kept going off in his room. He had to keep getting out of bed to try to fiddle with the cover to make it stop buzzing. As soon as he would get back in bed, it would go off again. I chuckled when he said this. I told him I was so happy his smoke alarm had gone off. He was confused when I said this. He looked at me very strange. I told him I was worried I actually hearing his regular alarm clock going off. I said if his regular alarm was that loud…..and he worried he would sleep through that, ….then maybe he shouldn’t be flying until he had a good hearing test.
