a day, a night, another day...

many of you like to hear stories of my exciting life as a stewardess. let me tell ya, it's not always a picnic. here's a glimpse at what i got to experience this past sunday:

got a call around one in the afternoon to report to work at four. i was assigned to sit at the airport for five hours, where i would then wait for a second call to either cover a sick call, work a delayed flight, or possibly just go home. once i got there i settled in on the couch in front of the tv with a book in my lap. i chatted with my fellow coworkers and after a mere forty five minutes a call came in for me.

las vegas airport had been closed for a while due to stormy weather, so i was not surprised by the quick assignment nor the fact that there were now severe delays system wide. i was given a three day trip so i proceeded to a computer to see exactly where i would be flying.

first flight: phoenix to las vegas. checked the monitor. departure: seven pm, delayed til nine pm.

second flight: las vegas to philadelphia. checked the monitor. departure: five fifteen pm, delayed til ten twenty five pm.

i checked my watch, it was only four fifty pm. then i counted on my hand, because the calculation in my head just didn't compute, i was to arrive in philadelphia at five am. that's in the morning people. five. five am. we don't fly red eyes. what. the. hell. to say the least, i was in shock. this was crazy! me...stay up...all night?? hmmm...this was going to be interesting.

i settled back down on the couch with the others that were also assigned to this trip. we went over the calculations again and again. unfortunately it was right, five am. then we started to pray that they would cancel the whole thing and we'd be saved the torture of putting up with passengers that would have been, by that time, delayed for over five hours. ...four hours later we boarded the plane to las vegas.

this story involves three time zones, which may help you understand just how this day was made possible. when we arrived in vegas it was around the same time we left phoenix. the airport was slammed with people, the restaurants were full, the hallways were lined, the slots were being played, and the babies were crying. it was insane. vegas is not the type of airport you'd want to get stranded in. we walked over to our gate but our plane had still not arrived. this is when you wish you had street clothes on. standing anywhere in the airport in uniform, everyone thinks you know what is going on. uh, nope. thank goodness our plane pulled up a short time later and we were able to escape into the jetway, free from questions for a little while anyhow.

all i wanted was peace for these people. over five hours late and T I R E D, exhausted beyond words, and confused as to why there were delays in the first place. 'weather', i told them. that didn't seem to help. we boarded, handed out every single pillow and blanket, and promised a swift ride to the east coast (an awesome tailwind was going to knock a complete hour off our flight). i stepped into the cockpit to introduce myself to our drivers only to discover that we only had a first officer. the captain hadn't arrived, but we were told that his plane had landed and was pulling up to a gate. tick tock tick tock. ten minutes later and still no captain the red flag was waving high. the passengers were anxious to be on their way. where was this guy? he's coming, he's coming is all we could tell them. lies, i thought. i went to investigate and was told that he was paged airport wide, called on his cell phone, and yet no one could find this guy. are you kidding me here?

the jetway phone then rang. our captain was found. he had landed, he was in vegas, however he was still in the other plane. the plane that happened to be behind us, waiting for OUR gate, waiting for us to leave so that he could get out. nice. that was great scheduling on the company's part. needless to say we finally got our captain, forty five minutes after we had boarded the passengers...so much for shaving an hour off of our flight time with those awesome tailwinds.

our passengers were great. no one complained. no one yelled. then again everyone slept. we arrived in philadelphia at six ten am. i was in bed at seven ten am. i survived my first and hopefully last red eye.