A Flight Attendant Humbled!

In 1998 I joined the friendly skies and became a flight attendant. It is by far the most wonderful job I have ever had. I am paid to travel the country (in some case the world), pass out Cokes and peanuts (which takes all of 20 minutes) and sit down and read a magazine for the next 1 hour and 40 minutes of the flight. How cool is that?

Well, prior to motherhood, I would encounter the woman who would walk to my aircraft door with puppy dog eyes asking for my assistance with getting situated on the plane. Of course my thought process was, "Let me get this straight." You made it from the inside of your house to the garage. From your garage to the airport parking lot. You retrieved the items (luggage, stroller, car seat, and child) from the car, walked with them to the ticket counter. Made it through the security checkpoint and down the jet bridge to the plane. And now you need my help?” YES, SHE NEEDED MY HELP. Let me tell you a little story.

On Saturday, May 13, 2006, I had to travel to Michigan alone with my 2 month old daughter. I am a seasoned traveler, right? I do this for a living. How hard can this be? Lewis drives me to the airport and we proceed to the ticket counter. The line is wrapped around the corner. (Keep in mind as a flight attendant, I generally do not check luggage so I bypass that area.) Thankfully, I saw a co-worker who took care of us and provided Lewis with a gate pass to get through security to help me with Ny-Cee. So far so good. This is a cake walk.

No so fast. I am given a boarding pass and must kiss my husband good bye. I place Ny-Cee in her "Convenient Travel Center" (car seat/stroller contraption) and proceed down the jet bridge. I removed the diaper bag from the undercarriage and placed it on one shoulder, my purse on the other, and Ny-Cee is in my arms. Okay--now I have to disconnect the car seat from the stroller in order to collapse it. WOW! How am I supposed to do that? So here I stand, the flight attendant, at the bottom of the jet bridge, looking at the aircraft door trying to figure out how I am going to pull this off. Immediately, I realized that the “convenient travel center” is not so convenient.


One of the flight attendants assigned to the flight recognized me and came to my rescue. He placed my carry on bags in their proper stowage location, collapsed the travel center contraption, and guided me to my seat. (One truly would have thought that was my first time on an airplane—who cared? I was thankful for the assistance.)

The flight went very smoothly as Ny-Cee slept the entire time (even through a diaper change). I was able to catch a few ZZZ’s myself. Just when I thought I had the hang of things the pilot announced, “Landing Check.” For your laypeople, Landing check signals the flight attendants to prepare the cabin for landing. Landing. Landing means deplaning. Deplaning means starting the process all over again. Sweet mercy of God in Heaven. I totally forgot that I would have to get off the plane—alone. WOW!

Yet again, that kind flight attendant retrieved my items from the overhead bin. Assembled the “convenient travel center” and helped me get underway. I was doing well until I reached baggage claim. I packed all of Ny-Cee’s and my things in one suitcase in an effort to make my life easier. Problem—it weighed 700 tons! Oh by the way, I forgot to mention, my child decided to wake up while we were in the rental car line. So of course, I am standing in line with a screaming child turning beet red with tears welling up in my eyes. I managed to pacify her with a quick little bottle until we made it to the car. The car. The car is outside across the street. I have to push the stroller, pull the luggage and pray that my child will remain calm until I can reach the car.

Well, finally we made it to the car. Immediately, she began screaming out of hunger which I had to attend to. You see, my parents live one (1) hour from the airport and I needed to ensure that she was situated before we began that part of our adventure. What is the moral to this story? I will never again look at a woman with her child who approaches my airplane with discontent. In fact, I will probably be the first to help her since the courtesy was extended to me.