November 20 - Searching for a Home

Moving to Boston without a specific place to live is a little stressful.  Some people have already found places, but there are 5 of us staying together in a hotel room and looking for places.  I have off today, so we’re all going to spend time looking at places.

I really hope I find somewhere soon so I can unpack and settle in.  The holidays would be so fun if I have good roommates.

We spent the day looking for places to live.  The reference I received from a friend, turned out to not be so great.  The apartment was very Functional, but it wasn’t clean, was very small and the entrance to the girls room was almost fully blocked by the bunk beds.  After a few hours, we were all pretty discouraged. 

As we were ready to throw in the towel for the day, Katie received a message from a friend about a crash pad.  Sweet, we were on the hunt again!  The place she took us to was great!  Two apartments, cute, warm and the people were very friendly.  Good news, there will be 6 spots open in December.  Bad news, there are only 4 spots available now.  I have my first day of Airport Reserve tomorrow, so what am I going to do with my stuff!

Us wandering through Boston... We got distracted by a pretty park next to the train station

Nov 19 - Boston Base Orientation

Coming into Boston

We had base orientation today, in Boston.  I came on Monday with another girl from Orlando.  We’re staying in a hotel just outside the city.  At night, Jennifer, Terese and I went to a few stores and then ate at Pizzeria Uno.  It wasn’t quite the “Boston experience”, but it felt nice to have a place to sleep for the night and people to share the time with.  On Tuesday, we went downstairs for the free breakfast at the hotel.  I’ll never underestimate the value of the ‘free breakfast’ again – not only do you try to fill up enough to last you until lunch, but it’s also a good time to scope out items that you can store in your bag to keep as extra snacks.  Unfortunately, there were no ‘packable’ items this morning, but the breakfast was pretty good.

 We spent the day in a computer lab in the Boston airport, meeting people, hearing about the attendance policy, learning what being on Reserve will mean, taking a tour of the airport… basically, it was our introduction to the base.

 What does reserve mean?  It’s like being ‘on call’ for a doctor.  New flight attendants are all ‘on reserve’ and can be required to either sit in the airport all day or be on home reserve.  For either types, you are basically waiting by the phone all day to see if you’re needed on a flight.  When would you be needed?  If someone who was scheduled on a flight gets sick or doesn’t show up for some reason or another.  Flights have to get out one way or another and the FAA requires a minimum number of flight attendants on each airplane (that goes back to the safety requirements)… so there are people like me, sitting on reserve at all times. 

We’re able to put in requests as to which days we would like to sit reserve and which days we’d like to have off each month, but they really didn’t cover how to do it in detail.  There are two ways to put in requests – before the schedule is released, we can request days on/off and then after it’s been released we can try to switch days.  My schedule for Nov and Dec isn’t that great.  I have 3 days on then 1 day off, then 3 days on and 2 days off… although they did it so I have a total of 12 days off for the month.  If I want to make more money, I can pick up trips on my days off.

After orientation, Nicole, Katie, Nichole and I went out for drinks and dinner at Local 149.  Cute place.  I'm glad to have so many other people going through this with me.  The whole process (training, moving, scheduling, etc.) is pretty overwhelming.

Graduation

Leave it to me to oversleep on graduation!!!  I missed the bus and had to have a friends wife drop me off at the training center!  Fortunately, I made it though!

This is the classroom where we spent hours upon hours learning.

 Group Photo!

On the bus headed to graduation.  These are my girls :) we all studied together and had a great time

After graduation.  Me and my sweetie

Grandma and Grandpa

My cousin and his girlfriend

Mom and dad... boy I had a lot of fans in the audience!

Cupcake tower was beautiful

Photo shoot in the hotel lobby!

Moving to Boston....

We found out a few days ago where we will be based.... I'm moving to Boston!  It was my first choice, so I'm excited about it.

A lot of people wanted to know why I didn't chose Orlando, so I thought I'd take a moment to explain.  Everything in the airline industry is seniority based.  When you're low man on the totem pole, you are "on reserve", which is basically being on call.  I'll explain how Reserve works in just a minute.  If I were to go to a base like Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, or Long Beach, I would be on Reserve for years.  It's lower paying and less flexible.  By choosing Boston or New York, I can "get a line" most likely within the year.

What is "on reserve"?
You are given a schedule of "Reserve Days" (which are the days you're on call) and you only get 12 days off per month.  On Reserve days, you are scheduled to either sit air port standby for 6 hours or home reserve for 12.  You find out what days you're on reserve about a month in advance, but you don't know whether you're airport standby or home reserve until 3pm (supposedly) the day before. 

Home Reserve:  You're on call for 12 hours.  They typically schedule either 3am to 3pm or 12pm to 12pm reserve.  Scheduling has to give you at least 2 hours advance notice if they assign you a flight while on home reserve.

Airport Standby:  You literally sit in the airport for 6 hours and wait to see if they need someone.  We have a crew lounge which has sleeping chairs, computers, a quiet/dark room and coffee.  So it's not terrible.  They use people on airport standby if there is less than 2 hours advance notice for a flight. 

What does it mean to "Get a Line"?
I thought this meant you have one specific route that you take all the time.  Silly me for thinking "line" meant a straight route that goes back and forth from the same two places.  What it really means is that you don't have to sit reserve.  When you pick your schedule, Line Holders are able to pick up actual trips rather than "reserve days".  They know a month in advance which trips they will work and can set up their schedule with more days off by picking up productive trips.

Basically, the difference is:  Can you set up your own schedule vs. you're on call all the time.

So.... by going to Boston, I can get a line sooner which means I can schedule more time off and have a lot more flexibility.

Final Flight Exam (IOE)

November 13, 2013

Last night, I obviously couldn’t sleep.  Around 10pm, I started to have an emotional freak out about doing this IOE.  Super nervous about doing the safety demo and serving drinks.  We covered most of the other stuff during training, but we hardly touched on the service part.  I kept having visions on tripping and spilling drinks on people.  They also did a pretty good job of scaring us in training - I am picturing lots of drunk, aggressive people on the flights.  Walking into the crew lounge, I thought I was going to have a panic attack.

 

My IOE coach was great.  I arrived at the Orlando (MCO) crew lounge about 2 hours before the flight took off for San Jose, Costa Rica. My IOE coach and I went over some information; we met with the other crew members on our flight and then headed to the gate. Both of the other FA’s were really nice.  I was the F3 on an A320.

 

On the way to CR, Alex told me exactly what I needed to do and corrected anything I did wrong.  He commented a few times that I seemed really uncomfortable and during my safety demo, told me to smile. About halfway through, I realized I was making a horrible grimmace face. Oops. 

 

Overall, it was simpler than I thought it would be and the other flight attendants helped me with service.  They let me make some of the PA's too, which was fun (#dork). 

The way back to Orlando counted as my actual exam.  Alex was not allowed to answer any questions or provide help/feedback.  However, the other flight attendants were fair game, so when I had questions, I went up to ask them.  Only one person started to get angry with me for being so slow with my drink service, but when I told him it was my very first flight, he instantly became a sweetheart.  I think I'm going to use that to my advantage for a while "I'm sorry, I'm new".

Overall, it went well and I passed.  Yay!

 

EME

November 11, 2013 

Just finished my EME on the E190.  My partner, John and I, passed!  We had two situations on the plane:  a fire and then an unplanned evacuation.  We had to do it twice and I thought I was going to fail the second time too, but the instructors allowed me to clarify the procedures I did.  It was So much easier than I was expecting, but I’m glad we spent so much time preparing.  We finished at 11 and now I’m not sure what to do with my day! 

Tomorrow, I fly to Costa Rica for my second test.  I’m more nervous for the flight (with real passengers) than I have been for any of the exams.  Hopefully, I don’t trip and spill hot coffee on people or anything.  

Note:  I found out later that one of my favorite people from class failed his EME today and is being sent home, on the last day of training!  I can’t believe it.  Also, scary realization that I almost failed too.  When they called me back in to “clarify” what I did, that was my third try.  If I didn’t correct my action, I would’ve failed and also been sent home.  WOW, how scary!  I’m very disappointed that the system has worked this way and he’s being sent home after so much work.

Final Exam Prep

Sunday, November 10, 2013 

I spent most of today preparing for my EME.  I forgot that I needed to buy panty hose and a watch so that I can be in full uniform compliance.  John and I met to go over all the possible scenario’s we could have during our exam tomorrow and I think it was really productive.  We spent about 7 hours studying today and I feel really good about the exam.  We know our stuff and I’m sure we’ll be fine.  The difficulty with this test is that they can throw any scenario at us from the past 4 weeks of training, which has been a lot of material. 

Around 5pm, we had a meeting in the hotel lobby where each of us students were able to meet our “IOE Coach” – aka the person who will be grading us during our flight exam.  All the students and instructors took turns introducing themselves.  The instructors also got to say a piece of advice.  Some things I want to remember: 

-         wear service shoes while on the plane (not your 2 inch heels)

-         when you stop loving coming to work, quit

-         always pack extra underwear

      -      stay away from pilots, they're all married, no matter what they say
       -         always pack a swim suit

-         get involved

-         get to know your supervisor when you arrive at your base

 

I met my coach, Alex, and I’m very happy to have him.  He’s a retired Marine and seems like a straight to the point type of person.  Some of the other coaches were very flamboyant and non-stop talkers.  With as nervous as I am about doing this flight, I can’t imagine trying to deal with a chatter box or someone super hyper… it’ll be nice to have someone that will help me feel ‘grounded’.   Jennifer will be traveling with the same Coach tomorrow and I’ll be able to get some feedback from her on how it goes.

"Summary" of Our Final Exams

November 7, 2013

You might be able to tell from the frequency of my blog posts, I’ve decided to stop studying for class haha.  So far, it’s gone very well for me.

We had a quiz on evacuations this morning.  At this point, I have to be honest, I can’t think about the other things we did during the day because I’m so freaked out by the information I was just given.  Summary of the day, we worked on emergency medical situations – diagnosed patient symptoms and later practiced CPR on children, babies and adults.

Ok, so on to the important information.  At the end of the day, they told us about our final exams.  The exam is split up into two parts – an EME and an IOE.  For the EME, we are paired up with other people and put on an airplane simulator.  We pretend that we are on a real flight and during the flight, the instructors can throw different situations at us.  The “situation” can be Anything we’ve covered during training – from pre-flighting the emergency medical equipment, reading a flight manifest, dealing with non-compliant passengers, decompressions, evacuations, medical situations, etc… Anything we’ve talked about is fair game.  While this may not sound like a lot to you, we have covered a Substantial amount of material in the past 3 weeks and after each test, I promptly do a brain dump.  I can’t remember where all of the emergency medical equipment is stored on the A320 aircraft, let alone how to preflight it all!  In addition to that, I found out I’m paired with John, who I’ve never done a single scenario with.  At least to my benefit, John is a very hard worker and is detail oriented.  He is very focused and studies a lot more than I do, so I know that we will be over (and not under) prepared.  Some of my friends were paired up with people that I will call…. a bit absent minded, to put it nicely, so I’m thankful to not be in that situation.  So for the EME, John and I will be in an E190 simulator and we will be judged on how we act as individuals AND how we perform as a team based on the random scenario’s given to us. 

The second part of the test is call an IOE and I’m not sure what it stands for, but basically, we will be a Really flight attendant on a Real flight.  According to the FAA, our exam flight must be at least 5 hours long (omg).  The way my company designs it, we will watch an IOE coach on the way to our destination, have a short layover and then the flight back to Orlando, we will be the full flight attendant.  During the flight back, our coach will be grading us on everything we do.  Our instructors keep saying, “you are prepared for this!  You know what you’re doing!”.  However, I feel like I’m having a panic attack and I don’t feel ready!!  I can’t believe in a few days, I will be acting as a flight attendant on a real plane with real passengers!  To add to my stress, I found out that my IOE flight is going to Costa Rica!  Sounds amazing and I’m excited to go to a new country, however, I will be going to a Spanish speaking country (English speaker only here) and I will also have the added stress of dealing with customs paperwork (there are additional protocols for international travel).  I’m semi freaking out.  

Fun Day Off!

We had Tuesday AND Wednesday off this week.  It was glorious!  The major positive to being so busy at training is that I Really appreciate the time I have off and the time I get to spend with the people I care about.  I convinced Justin to take Wednesday off, so we had a few friends over to grill out Tuesday night.  We slept in Wednesday, then rode our bikes all over town doing fun stuff:

- Brunch and mimosas at Mills Market

 

 

- Lunch with dad (also at Mills Market haha)

- Downtown for ice cream at Mochi

 

 

- Downtown movie theater to watch Gravity

- Starbucks to meet up with a former co-worker (Hi Keith)

And then we stopped by the bank on the way home (I had to do at least One responsible thing today). 

I had so much fun just riding bikes all around town with Justin and spending time with a few people I really care about.  I’m so thankful for a wonderful day like today and I feel very rejuvenated. 

November 4, 2013

We had 2 simulator exams today on evacuations.  I had to do each of them twice because I missed a little step in each exam (for example: I opened a door too gently rather than throwing it open).  Oh well, a pass is a pass. 

After listening to the safety training, I was almost having a panic attack.  The guy went over every type of terrorist attack ever tried, including those plots that were caught before they could destroy the aircraft.  Apparently, there are a lot more attempted terrorist attacks than I ever realized.  He told us about violence towards flight attendants and gave us real life examples.  He also went over a list of “things that haven’t been tried, but I’m surprised no one has done this yet”.  Agh, what?!?!?!  Half way through the class I was finding it hard to breath and was thinking “omg, what have I done???”.  I’m trying to put some of the scenarios out of my head.

One thing I did find pretty interesting, was that before 9-11, it was common for people to hijack planes.  They would hijacked them just to get something and then gave the plane back within several hours.  He told us that one year, there were 83 hijackings by people who just wanted to go to Cuba.  Once they were dropped off, the plane was released.  9-11 was the first time that planes were used as a weapon of mass destruction, so the approach airlines and the government take towards hijackings has changed significantly.

We also had the Federal Air Marshall’s come talk to us and they gave us a demonstration of what they do.  I would love to write details about the demonstration, but I’m sure you can understand why I can’t.

November 2, 2013

So apparently, we will be working in the flight simulators a lot during the next week or two.  I’m so happy for that!  The 13 hour days in the class room were Killing me!  Today we did fire, cabin depressurization, crew incapacitation, and turbulence.  We talked through different situations and went on the simulator to practice a few of them.  A lot of our materials for the next week or two will involve emergency situations, hence my post about “What are Flight Attendants For?”. 

 I was a little disappointed about the fire training.  I pictured us running through burning aircraft in full fire fighters outfits and spraying flames.  In my head, it was similar to an intense game of paintball…. out in a sand pit, with giant fire extinguishers and trying not to get scorched by all the flames.  Much to my disappointment, the “fire pit” was an area around the ‘pool’ with a small electric fire and extinguishers filled with water.  Each person spent about 2 minutes putting out the fake flames.  Bummer.  I guess if there were an aircraft fire, I couldn’t be all Extinguisher Rambo, like I expected. 

Tomorrow, we have exams on Fire and Decompression in the simulator and then a computer based test on the other materials we covered.  Guess I should start studying.

Flight attendant purpose

November 1, 2013

In class today, I finally realize that a flight attendant’s main purpose for existence is to ensure the safety and security of the passengers onboard.  So many people think flight attendants are simply there to serve food and drinks.  But if that were the only reason, couldn’t companies just  set up food/drink stations and let customers help themselves?   

No, Flight Attendants main duty is to be prepared for emergency situations and to help keep people safe and secure while on the flight.  Here are a few FA responsibilities that I never really considered:   

-         Handle in-flight medical emergencies

-         Fight fires

-         Protect and advise passengers if there is depressurization in the cabin

-         Direct you during evacuations

-         Evaluate the presence and usability of in-cabin medical equipment

-         Advise passengers to be seated securely when the plane hits turbulence

-         Deal with unruly or drunk passengers, keeping others on the flight safe

-         Deploy and man life rafts in case of a water landing

-         Deploy and manage evacuation slides

However you feel about flight attendants, whether you think they’re annoying for telling you to fasten your seat belt, pausing your entertainment to give you a safety demo, or telling you to stop a certain behavior, remember – your FA’s number one priority is to keep you safe.  So if you don’t want to be that person who is “accidentally” left behind during an emergency, remember, be kind to your flight attendant, she (he) may just save your life.

Training - Week 3

This week we began learning about emergency situations.  We went through cabin fire proceedures and medical situations.  I started writing a little more frequently for this blog, so I'll post those.

Week 4 was mainly used for our final examinations.  I'll explain how those went later on.

Training - Week 2

In the end of week 1, beginning of week 2, we learned all of the safety features of the second aircraft, the E190.  It was much easier to learn because we already knew all of the equipment.  We had plenty of CBT's (computer based tests) and MSV's (motor skills evaluations) on the emergency equipment.

Next we learned how to "arm" and "disarm" the doors to the aircraft and how to open/close them.  Arming a door activates the emergency evacuation slide.  Every time we take off, the doors have to be armed and each time we land, they have to be disarmed.  Flight attendants do not open/close the aircraft doors unless there is a very unusual situation.  There are simulators where we practice each of the tasks and we have exams on the simulators.  The MSV exams are really stressful because if you mess up even a litle bit, you fail and have to do it again.  I

We spent a little time (like 2 hours) going over in-flight service, went through the safety demo and learned about the different stages of flight, including our responsibilities during each stage.

Training - Week 1

The first week we learned all about 1 of the 2 different types of aircraft that the comany operates, the A320. We had to memorize all of the emergency equipment, where it is located on the aircraft, and how to pre-flight the aircraft.   Before every flight, we have to check the emergency equipment for location and functionability. We have in class instruction, online courses, and then get into the simulator to see how it looks.

Pretty much every morning, we have a computer based exam and then we have a motor skills test, which is where we get on the simulator and have to show an instructor exactly how we would pre-flight the aircraft.

Hours are really long. We catch the shuttle just before 8 and have been in class every day until at least 6pm. They provide us with lunch each day and the hotel provides free breakfast.  When we get back from class, I spend the evening studying and go to bed around mid-night.  Our only day off each week is on Tuesday.

Not quite the blast I thought training would be, but for the most part I really enjoy all of the people in our class.  I have a pretty good time chatting with the two guys who sit next to me in class too, although we get in trouble at least once a day for talking haha.

Training - And it begins

The first day of training, the newbies for each department were all together:  pilots, ground ops, airport operations, corporate and in-flight.   We were told all about the company and all of the top executives came to speak to us.  I was well into day two before I fully accepted that I don't have to go back to the office tomorrow or ever again.  Crazy how you get used to something for so long, when it changes, you can't belive things are going to be different.

Anyways, it sounds like this company really goes above and beyond for their employees and customers.  Maybe when I'm done being a flight attendant, I will transfer into the corporate offices.  It'd be great to keep the flight benefits and continue my financial career.

The second day we discussed what the schedule will be for the next month.  It is going to be pretty intense.  We have a dress code, our hair has to be pulled back all the time, girls must wear blush/mascara/lip stick all the time.

Things I'm sad and not so sad to leave

Sad to leave:

-         A lot of the people I work with

 

 

-         Thursday lunches with my grandparents:  It’s one of my favorite things each week
 

-         2 of my favorite clients:  I really enjoy the work I’ve been able to do for their families
 

      -         My boss:  she is such an inspiring person.  I really don’t know how she’s so intelligent, personable, pleasant to be around all the time, and such a VIP in our company all at the same time!  I could go on and on about the reasons I admire her, hope I can work for someone similar in the future. 

-         Donut Fridays!!!
 

-         Giving Frank a hard time and playing pranks on him… wait till he sees my last day prank!  I can’t wait!

-         Going to the gym with my co-workers at lunch

-         My office:  I have a nice big office all to myself, although it gets lonely sometimes, I like it

-         Having a parking lot downtown:  It’s so easy to walk to the bars!!

 

Not so sad to leave:

-         Working 9-6 every week.  It really cuts into my fun time!

-         Days in the office when I don’t see another sole

-         Being alone a lot:  Having an office has its advantages and disadvantages

-         Compliance training haha

The Grass is Green Everywhere!!

People always tell me “the grass isn’t always greener on the other side”.  I think they miss my point.  I don’t think the grass is greener elsewhere…. I think the grass is green EVERYWHERE and I want to see it all!! 

On the boat back to the main island from Iona in 2009, I remember standing on the top deck, looking out over the icy, misty ocean.  The sky was beautiful, a feeling of friendship abounded throughout the boat and the joy in my heart at that moment is unexplainable.  As I stood up there, looking over the water, I thought “This is what I want my life to be about.  I want to live a life full of adventure; this is what I was made for.”

And it is. 

A little background (2 of 2)

So here I am.  I work for a really good firm in my home town, I have supportive and encouraging co-workers, the work is interesting and challenging, and I make good money.  However, even with all of this, I can’t get rid of this overwhelming desire to travel, find adventure… I want More.
 

And then it happened.  A friend randomly messaged me about a one hour application window with her airline.  Wow, I’d always joked about wanting to be a flight attendant, so I figured why not apply and see what happens?  In reality, I thought there was no chance they would even interview a tax accountant… one look at my resume and I would be finished.  I was wrong.  Out of thousands of applications, I was one of 19 to get an offer.  WHAT???? 

 
I promised myself that over the next several months, I would apply to other professional jobs and if something worked out within my industry, I would take it and forget about being a flight attendant.  In July, a position opened with my current firm in DC.  Perfect!  I know how to do the work, I like the company, and I Loved the people in the DC office. 
 

I applied for and got the position!  So stoked!!  This would be my perfect mix between adventure and professionalism!  I was prepared to turned down the FA job, started looking for places to live, and began working through the logistics of moving while having a long distance relationship… Then, for one reason or another, everything fell through and I wasn’t able to take the position.  Ouch.

 
Sometimes doors in life open so easily and you’re meant to walk through them.  Other times the road is difficult and you have to trudge your way through to get what you want.  As scary as it has been, I can’t help but feel like this is the door I’m supposed to walk through.   When the day came to give my boss my two weeks’ notice, I was terrified and scared about what the future holds, but in my heart there was an incredible peace, knowing that I’m making the right choice. 

A little background (1 of 2)

A little background on me:

I grew up in Apopka, FL with my parents and older brother.  I feel like I’ve always been pretty responsible, aside from a few years in high school that were filled with sneaking out, lots of drinking and skipping class on a regular basis.  I worked 2 jobs during my senior year of high school.  After, I signed up for community college and found a full time job at a wealth management firm.  When I transferred to the University of Florida, I found jobs that were more flexible and allowed me to work on my own, but somehow, work always found me.  I’m very thankful for that and for the time that many people spent helping me along the way.  I’m what some people would call a busy body; I have to be doing something all the time.  At UF, I got involved with every organization I could find, I volunteered, I lead study groups, I went to every weird and different event I could and I loved every moment of my time in Gainesville (ok, my parents and best friend might disagree – I was pretty miserable my first 6 months up there, but we’ll skip over that part).

Thanks to the advice of my boss at the wealth management firm, I decided to major in accounting.  Why?  Because I’m capable of doing it and let’s be honest, no one likes accounting, i.e. I will always be able to find a job!  After undergrad, I continued on to get my Masters in Taxation from UCF.  And let me just tell you, that’s a fantastic conversation starter at the bar… “what is your major” “tax accounting” “oh…..”.  In reality, I actually enjoy tax accounting, I think it’s interesting and finding the answer to tax questions is like solving a puzzle.  After 3 great internships and passing my CPA exam, I landed my first job in Orlando at one of the best wealth management firms in the country (thanks again to a previous boss)! 

What a perfect, responsible life!!  Ok ok, it’s not all been responsible and boring, I’ve had some amazing adventures too!  I traveled to New York City for spring break to work with the homeless community, took a pilgrimage to Iona, Scotland with a group of strangers, spent a summer leading camp on an Indian reservation in Oklahoma, and traveled alone in Europe for a month.  With each of my adventures, which some would call crazy, I have realized more and more that I love traveling, meeting people, learning about cultures and finding adventure!