It's been awhile since I posted, but that's only because life got pretty hectic at the end of training! We started out with 25 in our training class and 17 of us graduated. I had my IOE February 13-14. For those of you who don't know what this is, it is a training flight. Since we haven't graduated yet, we have to sit in a passenger seat in the cabin, but we perform all of the duties of a flight attendant on board the aircraft, except sitting in the jumpseat for takeoff and landing. If there is an emergency, the the Instructor is the Flight Attendant in charge and we assist them with whatever they need us to do.
For my trip we flew one leg the first day from DFW to MLI (Moline. IL), where we spent the night. When we walked out of the airport, there was snow piled up several feet by the side of the road. I've seen snow before, but this Texas girl wasn't used to seeing that, so it was a bit of culture shock! LOL
Graduation was wonderful. We got our wings, which made us official American Eagle Flight Attendants! We had the rest of that day and one more to "get our affairs in order," then it was off to Chicago!
Chicago is a great city, but there is a reason that it is called "The Windy City." On Saturday (Feb 19), I found my crash pad, got my CTA transit card and went exploring the city. It would have been nice if there had been someone to share it with, but I think that in the long run it was better to do it on my own.... Except for going off to college, I have always lived in DFW, so this experience was going WAY out of my comfort zone. It was a little scary, but it was also exciting and fun. It also gave me the opportunity to prove to myself that I could do this, and that feeling is very empowering!
Today is my first official day on the job! For those of you who aren't familiar with the airline industry, a flight attendant is "On Reserve" when they first start flying. What this means is that you are on call, so you fill in where you are needed. From what I have heard of reserve on other airlines, I really like the way that Eagle handles it. For the most part you pretty much know the night before what you will be doing the next day. You could be given a trip, or you could be on call...either way, there is a good chance that you will be flying. It is so much better that the airline I worked at previously!
I was scheduled to be on reserve today and tomorrow, I was given a two day trip, with one leg each day. This morning, we flew to Pittsburgh, and we are scheduled to fly back to Chicago tomorrow morning....if the weather cooperates! When we left Chicago, it was cold and rainy...and getting colder! We even had to de-ice the airplane prior to takeoff. There was quite a bit of turbulence on the flight...so much so that the Captain kept the seatbelt sign on for the entire flight. I was unable to do the beverage service, as it was unsafe to take the cart out, so I stayed in my jumpseat as much as possible.
Even with the weather issues, it was a good flight. I was really nervous, but I was blessed with a good flight crew, and except for the weather, it was an uneventful flight. I am really glad that I made the decision to go back to flying again. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I got on board the airplane again...it felt like coming home!
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