Crashpad Living

Crashpad. It’s exactly how it sounds. A place to crash. These are usually the best option for new flight attendants who get based away from home and need a place to stay when commuting. Basically they are affordable housing located near the airport where flight attendants and pilots live. Crashpads are usually an apartment or sometimes a shared house depending on your location and budget.

I got based in San Francisco straight out of training and let me tell you, the cost of living is not cheap out there! So naturally I turned to crashpads. Just to give you an idea, my crashpad was a 3 bedroom apartment with 2 bathrooms. It housed 18 people. Yep,you read that right. Usually there are bunkbeds in each room to house as many people “comfortably” to keep the cost low... also because you’re never really there anyway as always traveling and not technically “living” at the pad, sometimes I am the only person there for days while other days there may be 12+ people there. To further paint the picture for you- the layout was 2 bunkbeds in the smallest room housing 4 people, 3 bunkbeds in the second largest room housing 6 people, and 4 bunkbeds in the largest room housing 8 people. I know, I know… it sounds nuts, but it works. While it can get crowded at times usually everyone isn’t there all at once as I mentioned.

Every place is different. There are two kinds of crashpads. You’ve got “cold beds” and “hot beds”. Cold beds are yours until you move out as you pay rent monthly. A hot bed is where you use whatever bed is open providing your own sheets and pillow and taking them with you when you leave so the next person can use the bed.

There are definitely pros and cons to crashpad living for sure. Some pros would be that it’s

1. affordable -typically rent is anywhere from $300-$500 per month

2. location -usually very close to the airport with transportation near by for ease

3. perfect way to meet other flight attendants as your crashpad will be filled with FA’s from all different airlines

4. opportunity to explore a new city

5. apartment crashpads usually have a pool and gym

Some cons since it is a shared space

1. refrigerator space is limited for groceries

2. bathroom time should be fairly quick so others can use

3. can sometimes be loud when it’s a full house as everyone has different schedules so you’ll hear alarms going off at all hours but you get used to that!

4. turn over rate -people are moving in and out all the time so getting to know new people is fun but watching your new friends leave can be a bummer

A couple of tips I would suggest-

• For crashpads with bunkbeds would be to bring an extra sheet to drape over your bed as a curtain for privacy.

• A sleep mask to keep the light out helped me a lot- great for your day time napping when you’ve got to get a little shut eye for that red eye on your schedule.
  

• Only bring what is necessary. It can get crowded and you’ll have a few designated bins and closet space for storage so limiting what you bring to your pad will help to keep the space open.

• Stay organized and tidy! Having a place for everything and everything in it’s place really applies here. With everyone coming and going and your busy schedule it can be easy to misplace things or get them mixed in with others.

All in all, crashpad living is an adventure. You’ll love it, you’ll hate it, but it works for the time being! Having an awesome crashpad owner helps a lot! For all of you new to the flight attendant or crashpad life here is the website I used to find my crashpad! http://crashpad411.com

Good luck to you and happy crowded living! 😜

10 Weirdest inflight sightings

Recently a question was asked to flight attendants “what is the craziest thing you’ve witnessed during a flight?” They wrote in and after reading some of the comments I knew I couldn’t deprive you all of this absurd kind of information so here it goes. Straight from the mouths of real flight attendants, here are 10 of the weirdest inflight sightings.

1. Lady nursing a ventriloquist dummy doll.

2. A man removed his glass eye. Put in a cup of water. The working flight attendant threw it out due to the lights were turned off on an all nighter.

3. On a 757 red eye flight. A man who we later found out had had taken ambien and had wine pee’d on a sleeping passenger in the aisle seat on his way back to the lavatory.

4. A man in the aisle seat clipping his toe nails during a meal service. Yes! You read that right!

5. A flight attendant that brought stuffed animals and held conversations with them periodically to make sure they were okay.

6. I had a man sitting with his wife and kid. The wife was asleep at the window and the hubby was sitting in the aisle. At one point I was standing behind the man. He had a fashion magazine and was stroking a picture of a model in a swimsuit. Creepy.

7. Woman came out of the lavatory naked. Flushed her clothes. Admittedly high and was arrested on landing. Captain gave her clothes out of his own bag.

8. How ‘bout the time where a passenger’s “cousin” tried to insert a catheter into his seat mate........such screaming like you’ve never heard!

9. I had a lady with her boyfriend board an all nighter from DFW to LAX. About 10-15 mins after take off we see two men fighting in the middle of the aisle. Turns out the ladies ex husband had been stalking her and bought a seat in the row across from her and her new boyfriend.

10. I asked a lady who was breastfeeding what she wanted to drink and the child lifted his head up and said "Coke!

Yikes. Just when you think we’re not looking, we see it all folks. Much of it you wish you could unsee, but hey! makes for great conversation starters I suppose? 😂 Can’t say I’m exactly looking forward to whatever strange inflight sightings I will come across in my career, but I am curious… and you will be the first I tell, believe me! Stay weird out there ✌🏼

bad jokes and nice folks

“Excuse the cart!” “Watch your elbows and toes!” “Beverage cart coming through!” 

You may have heard flight attendants shouting this at some point during a flight, but have you ever heard this and thought about those passengers who can’t move their arms and legs out of the way? I know that may sound like a fairly easy task to most, but it isn’t always. 

On a recent flight of mine two passengers needed to board first due to their disability. They were both paralyzed. One paralyzed from the waist down, the other, the entire right side of her body.

It is important to note that flight attendants have a tablet which allows you to see a list of your passengers and notes those with disabilities or other special requirements- so it is imperative that you check it as a personal briefing to be aware of individual needs on your flight. To be fair, in this situation the only information our tablets gave us was that these two passengers would be needing a wheelchair for boarding and deplaning, in which a lot of cases is simply used for ease for our elderly passengers. I had noticed, however, that they both needed assistance in getting in and out of their seats as they could not do so on their own.

Once we were up in the air leveled off it was time for the beverage service! I’m on the cart in main cabin with another flight attendant who is politely giving the “cart coming through!” warnings and as we inch closer to a passenger fast asleep she notices his legs are tilted out into the aisle. She wakes him asking him to slide out of the way joking that she doesnt want to have to run him over with a heavy cart. He is trying to move his legs as she continues to joke and is very obviously getting upset. I realized this is one of our passengers who needed assistance so I quickly grabbed my co-worker’s attention to let her know he cannot move his legs on his own. 

After we had finished the beverage service I felt so awful that she was unknowingly giving him such a hard time and I apologized for our ignorance. Turns out he's a former law enforcement officer who was shot on duty paralyzing him for life. He was just getting accustomed to his new way of living and admittedly becomes easily frustrated at times. I feel for him, and MAJOR PROPS to him and all those who serve to keep us safe. These people are putting their lives at risk and I just want say thank you.

Bonus story (and this one’s a wild one)— if you remember I mentioned we had two passengers on this flight with paralysis.

As we were deplaning and waiting for her wheelchair we got to talking. She’d been a busy lady traveling the last few days as her twin daughters were both graduating college in different states, and on Mothers Day I might add. Props to her for not letting this disability stand in the way of making it to both ceremonies-- as she was in great spirits with such a kind positive attitude. I felt we had established a bit of a bond with the graduation talk so I felt comfortable asking her what had been the cause of her paralysis. She said she was very open about her story, thus it begun… she had literally been stabbed in the back with a screwdriver multiple times by an intruder in her home. She now cannot use the entire right side of her body nor has any feeling in it. I was honestly just speechless… I mean what do you say to that? She lightened the mood a bit mentioning the incident had happened over 20 years ago and she’s moved past it.

Man, oh man… I may not always know where you’ve been, but I sure as hell can promise that you’re in good hands with me on your way to where you’re going. Every passenger has a story and I’m here for it! Much love to these two in particular ❤️

Excuse me, I think I'm having contractions

Pregnancy is a beautiful thing. Most mothers anticipate the day they get to give birth to their brand new little babes -- going into labor, packing the baby bag, and rushing off to the hospital…. but what if your delivery room was an airplane thousands of feet in the sky? Yep, this passenger was 6 months into her pregnancy and has just boarded my flight in all her pregnant glory.

Once we were in the air she informed me that her doctor recommended not to fly for the rest of her term but unfortunately her grandmother had just passed away and she decided to travel for the funeral. To top it off, this flight had moderate to severe turbulence which was causing her anxiety. Awesome.

I noticed she was breathing heavy and rubbing her belly with a worrying look on her face. I offered food and water to calm her down in hopes that eating would distract her from the whole falling out of the sky thing… as food is an easy distraction for me for most things.

So right now we know she is 6 months pregnant, under doctors orders not to fly, gets anxiety when flying, and what she told me next was definitely a first for me. “I think I’m having contractions.” 

Umm ok first thought “this is not ideal”. Luckily I have mastered the flight attendant poker face, an unwritten rule amongst flight attendants consisting of a big smile that never faults even under high pressure situations. I asked a few questions about her health, pregnancy, etc just in case we needed to page for a doctor, then I let the pilots and crew know that we may be delivering a baby on this flight! Now, although we’ve had extensive training in many safety service and medical situations, delivering a baby isn’t one of them!  

I almost wish I had a more exciting ending for you guys, but I think the mother-to-be and I can both agree that this was the preferred way to end the flight— no delivery needed and turns out she’s just a very nervous flyer, but those contractions could have been so real. Luckily for us it was only a two hour flight and the baby decided he would wait a little longer. That’s where the excitement ended for me, however, she did have one more flight to her final destination and assuming she will be flying back I am waiting to see a headline that reads “NERVOUS FLYER SELF INDUCED LABOR!”

Quick Responses

Here I am working a red eye flight, which seemingly is one of the easiest flights to work as everyone tends to sleep so we dim the lights and no-one ever seems to need too much. So, I'm sitting in the galley sipping coffee awaiting our 6am arrival, seems chill right? I'm staring down into the unlit aisle of the airplane just to keep an eye on any passenger call lights that may go off…. only to see a figure get up out of their seat, stand in the middle of the aisle, and collapse.

I wasn't sure if my eyes had tricked me at first as I had been up all night and was on, what will remain, a numberless count of cups of coffee. No matter the amount of training you go through to handle these situations, you never know how you will react until it happens.

A man rushes towards us shouting “she passed out, she passed out!”

My co worker hustled to help this lady. Ensuring she was breathing, grabbing a cold compress and water as she quickly regained consciousness. I’ll admit I froze for second in panic as this was the first medical emergency to come my way.

Fortunately, I had a crew who was quick to respond and I followed suit! We were able to get her back in her seat, hydrated, and back to normal.

Turns out, she had just gotten up to use the bathroom and stood up too quick. She had been traveling for some time including traveling overseas marking her third day of flying. She hadn't had a proper meal that day, hadn't drank any water that she could remember, and was mentally and physically exhausted… thus her fainting upon standing in the middle of the night.

This scenario is just a small glimpse into the many medical emergencies you may have on your flight. Even after all of the training it is tough to predict how you will react in these situations. In my case, I had a moment of panic not knowing what to do. I told myself I’ll never have that happen again. So you can see why it’s important to consistently study up on how to properly handle these situations… they are going to happen from time to time and you must be able to stay alert, be prepared, and think and act quickly.

I wanted to tell this story not to scare you, but as a reminder that your training never ends. You should always brush up on what you think you already know and luckily you will be surrounded by an incredible crew on every flight and will never be without the knowledge of what to do or how to act on it.

Nothing like a minor medical emergency at 30,000ft in the air to get your adrenaline rushing in the middle of the night. Layover time anyone?!

8 common flight attendant interview mistakes to avoid

We all know the saying “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again”. I know I have personally experienced getting through the application process, making it though the interview, thinking it all went well, and finding out I didn’t quite make the cut. These are some of the mistakes I think many people make that can easily be avoided: 

1. ARRIVING LATE—  always arrive at least 20min early to show you are prepared and eager!

2. FORGETTING NAMES— when meeting the recruiters, try to make a mental note of their names and address them as so during the interview. Don’t forget to bring a pen and paper! There may be some important things you’ll want to jot down, hint hint 😉 

3. BODY LANGUAGE— Be aware of your posture, no slouching! Head up, keeping a smile on your face, and doing your best to hide your nerves. I’ve found that engaging with other applicants is a great way to calm your nerves and to just focus on the excitement of it all! Eye contact is important as well. Keeping eye contact is a great way to engage with your recruiter and show confidence. 

4. ATTIRE— Dress like a flight attendant! It may feel a bit silly to tie a scarf around your neck as if playing dress up, but I promise it will only help. The recruiters don’t want to have to imagine you in their uniforms. The more you look the part, the more they’ll believe it. I went into my first interview with my hair down, business casual skinny pants, a striped button up dress shirt, and thought that a pop of leopard print dress shoes would be a good idea. It wasn’t. I stuck out like a sore thumb. I had not done my research and looking around I could see a few hadn’t either. Needless to say, we did not make the cut. I noted this and went to my next interview looking like cabin crew’s finest. 

5. INTERACTING WITH OTHERS— As soon as you step into the room you are being watched. I know you’re nervous, but sitting alone, looking down, no smile, and not interacting with the other applicants is a sure fire way for the recruiters to think you have zero customer service ability and aren’t capable of interacting with strangers (which is the core of this job). Getting to know the other applicants and recruiters is a great way to show you’re communication and listening skills. 

6. NOT HAVING ANSWERS PREPARED—Do your research. Even though you may not know the exact questions recruiters will be asking, you can make safe assumptions of the most likely asked questions and have a range of answers prepared. 

7. CHEWING GUM— Just don’t. 

8. BEING ON YOUR CELLPHONE— Let’s face it, we can’t live without our cell phones these days. Google maps is probably key to getting to your interview without getting lost, last minute texts to send out with “wish me luck!”, but before you walk into your interview shut it off. The last thing you want is to draw attention to yourself because you’re apologizing for interrupting the group interview with an incoming phone call. Not a good look. 

I hope these tips help you to feel that much more prepared for your interview! You’ve got this sis! <3

Sir I cannot give you xanax

"Sir I cannot give you xanax" is not a sentence I ever thought I'd have to say to a passenger but I guess there's a first for everything.

As soon as we began boarding the plane on this day, a coach passenger on his way in immediately requested two Jack Daniel miniature bottles as I was setting up the first class galley. I replied that as soon as we get up in the air I'd be happy to get him a beverage. Once everyone was seated and we were about to begin our safety demo, the same passenger... again … requested an alcoholic beverage. Did I miss something? Is it happy hour?

After explaining that we cannot have any distractions during the safety demo, we were able to safely complete the demo and before you know it we were at 30,000ft in the air.

Ding ding, you guessed it, Mr Jack Daniels is like a moth to flame for this drink… But now I was finally in a position to get him his request and hopefully calm his clear nerves. He rang, what I have renamed, the “jack daniels bell' a number of times in the next hour. He then approached to tell me, what seemed like was going to be a secret by how close he got to my face …personal space guys, please… and whispered “do you happen to have a xanax I could take?" I surprisingly had to explain, of course, that I cannot give out prescription drugs, “sir I cannot give you xanax”, but I made other legal suggestions. He then told me he was traveling for his father’s funeral and was not taking it very well if I couldn't tell (safe to say, I could). After a comforting conversation and zero consumption of illegal drug use I checked on him regularly for the remainder of the flight. Once we landed, as we deplaned he wanted to speak to me for a moment to tell me how much he appreciated my kindness and for not judging him (which I’ll admit now that I was slightly judging at the initial request asking myself “is this a test?”) He told me that he was very close with his father and this was very sudden and he doesn't know how to handle it.

Although you may have thought this story was going to be me venting about a difficult passenger, it wasn't. This goes to show you never know what personal battle people are struggling with. As a flight attendant especially, we play a lot of different roles, and I'm glad that I could play the role as just a kind human listening to a hurting soul. When I look back, I do find it amusing that the words "sir I cannot give you a xanax" had to come out of my mouth! And to that I must say I look forward to the random future conversations I am sure to have with passengers, I'll be sure to tell you all the stories as they happen!

First Week of Training

The first day of training feels like it was both yesterday and last decade at the same time. It's a little strange. Going from being nervous to meet my new classmates, and knowing nothing about being a flight attendant, to feeling confident in my job and having gained so much airline knowledge over just a few short weeks is a very transformative experience. Who knew the whirlwind of emotions I'd face over the next six weeks… let's dive in:

Day 1 was very exciting! I was stoked for the opportunity for a lifelong career of traveling the world. Day 1 was also the day we got fitted for our future uniforms, and once you see yourself in that uniform, you are immediately motivated to get those wings and get up in the sky. It's a great way to start the whole process and get you in the mood to learn!

We danced our way into training - the cupid shuffle, the wobble, other strange dance crazes ensued alongside a huge red white and blue lit up airline logo as we entered our first day of training. They were really trying to pump us up for our next six weeks of constant studying and test taking…and it worked!

We were immediately paired up with a roommate that we would be sharing a tiny dorm with for the next 6 weeks. I even remember my roommate and I each laying on our own twin sized beds looking up at the ceiling and her saying to me, "we are literally 3 ceiling tiles away." We knew we would have to work out some sort of schedule for sharing amenities, which was surprisingly very easy! We were able to agree on times alarms would be set, shower times, and sharing the mirror. I got lucky with a wonderful roommate and even more amazing and supportive friend.

Don't worry, you are allotted plenty of time to eat, and for free I might add, which can be both a blessing and a curse. The cafeteria has a wide variety of food to choose from including pizza, burgers, snacks, desserts, salads, etc. Keeping a healthy diet can be tough when so many goodies are available to you, but I promise you will feel much better if you do. Eating healthy is key to maintaining that energy you'll need for showing personality in class and getting in that study time.

Then the lessons began...

The first week was very tough for me. To be away from my friends and family was challenging and being thrown into a sea of people I've never met was definitely out of my comfort zone, then add to that an overwhelming amount of information, and it becomes a stressful mix of emotions. Trying to take a moment to realize this was my new and exciting adventure and something that would open a world of opportunities, literally, made me determined to succeed and surpass the feeling of being overwhelmed.

Over the next six weeks I made wonderful friends, had a roommate who was the perfect mix of friendship and motivation, I learned CPR, how to restart a heart, administer oxygen, and how to evacuate 160+ passengers from an aircraft both on land and in water. I can't exactly tell you what happens in between day one and the day you receive your wings as far as curriculum, but I can tell you that you will make lifelong friends, learn things that will not only help you in your career in the sky, but also in life in general. Oh, and you're going to look like a BABE in that uniform walking out of training on your way to start your journey. Happy flying 😃