For those of you who don't know, the most preposterous things happen onboard an aircraft.
Perhaps because you are breathing recycled air at 35000 feet, you are stuck, have nowhere to go and can't really think straight (for some people anyway).
All you can do is eat, sleep and if the airline you are travelling with has an extensive selection of in-flight entertainment, engage yourself in an exciting movie or listen to some (hopefully soothing) music to calm your nerves.
Oh and observe the trolly-dollies while they are running around, hoping to find some faults with them.
I was operating a flight to Kuala Lumpur from Dubai a few days ago.
Departure was delayed for 1.5 hours. Some paxs were wondering about the reason, some getting impatient, and crew of course were even more frustrated, because we wanted to get to the destination ASAP so that we can SLEEEEEEEEEEP!!!
Despite everything, we still tried our best to make paxs happy because if they are not, then they will make our lives hell during the flight. Believe me.
And of course for the reputation of our lovely company *smile coyly*
By the way, the flight was delayed because of a breakdown in the baggage system.
I was doing the bar after take-off and Pax A suddenly complained to me about the delay.
"Why is the flight delayed for one and a half hours? This is very bad. I'm gonna miss my connecting flight to Melbourne and have to stay overnight in Kuala Lumpur like you!"
I could understand the reason for his anger and frustration so I apologized,"I'm very sorry about that, sir. It was delayed because of a breakdown in the baggage system. So sorry about that, sir. Would you like to have any drinks?"
"No, I don't want anything."
"Then would you like any canapes (finger food) or mixed nuts?"
"Huh?"
"Any canapes or mixed nuts for you?"
"Mmmm.....anything."
Dissatisfied with the answer, I tried again. How would I know what "anything" is? Some pax tell you anything is okay but the minute they see someone else eating a different thing, they're gonna ask why didn't you offer that to them. And seeing that he was already irritated, I certainly didn't wanna set him off.
A lot of people don't know what canapes is as well, I didn't know before I was promoted to Business Class. Really don't understand why they give it such a fancy name, can't we just use English here?
Anyway, I tried to show him the bowl of canapes. You know when you are showing something to someone, you aren't sure whether or not they will take it so you don't just shove it into their face, out of courtesy.
"Sir, would you like some canapes or...." I was gonna show him the mixed nuts next.
But he said, "Okay, this one."
I passed it to him.
"Why are you scared to give it to me? The plane is delayed because all of you are doing this!" He was hinting that I was too slow, I guess.
And his expression didn't look like he was joking.
Initially, I was too bewildered to response because what he said was simply too ridiculous for words. Just because he couldn't do anything about the delay, he tried to pick something - anything, to make it our fault.
He couldn't scold the person in charge of the baggage system so he tried to take it out on us, the only face that he can see representing the company.
After pausing for like 2 seconds, I replied calmly, "Sir, I'm very sorry about what happened but the baggage system breakdown is beyond our control. And I didn't give you the canapes right away because I didn't know if you'd want it. I was trying to show it to you. And I'm sorry for the delay."
That seemed to embarass him and he shut up.
I certainly wasn't trying to embarass him or start an argument, I was just trying to make him see what really happened. He has a right to know as a paying passenger (and they pay a hefty sum to travel with us in Business Class).
I didn't want the flight to be delayed any more than he did.
Delays mean longer working hours and possible pax complaints and so long as the aircraft is still parked at the gate, we are not paid a single cent for it (uh-uh, no OT if the chock is still on). So why would we want it to be delayed? We would really sing Hallelujah!! if embarkation is done on time and the aircraft can just take off ASAP!
I gave extra attention to him and always checked on him for the remainder of the flight. But I think it was his unlucky day as well.
He wanted to buy 4 duty free items amounting to around AED3000 but NONE of them were available. I dunno whether it was the catering's fault or not as I wasn't the duty free operator that day. But the catering for that flight really didn't do their job well.
They didn't load enough 1.5 litre bottled water for us and didn't prepare the aircraft as they normally should. Not enough tumbler glasses either. We had to serve everything in wine glasses for the second half of the flight! And no more ice in Business Class as well for that same period of time.
Anyway, you can imagine how black was Pax A's face. I don't blame him. It was too much for a 6.5 hour flight. Gotta be extra careful now, anything could trigger an outburst. And he began to complain about the seats after a while.
Throughout everything, Pax B sitting next to him was fine.
He got the meal choice that he wanted. He was drinking red wine and I kept on replenishing it without being asked. He seemed happy with the service.
Towards the end of the flight, he pressed the attendant callbell so I went to answer it.
He wanted another small bottle of water. I promptly went back to the galley to get it but was told it had ran out.
So I went back to him with a glass of water and apologized for it. Telling him that just let me know if he needed anything else. He requested for a double shot of Baileys with ice.
I went back to the galley and remembered that we have closed all bars in Business. So I went down to the 2 galleys in Economy only to discover that all bars were closed.
Returned to Business Class galley and we had to open 1 bar. There was only 1 miniature Baileys inside. Dang. Went to the Economy galley again to get ice and finally back to the pax.
"I am very sorry, sir. There is only one Baileys left."
"It's ok."
He didn't seem to be mad or anything. If he had shown the slightest sign of being unhappy or dissatisfied, I would have opened other bars to get Baileys for him no matter what.
Approaching the top of descent, my colleague, Amanda was distributing hot towels. Pax B got hold of her and started going on about his list of complaints.
We eventually gave him a big bottle (1.5L) of water.
He also asked for a feedback form, which is, like, the most serious thing a pax can do if they wanna file a complaint.
The pax then proceeded to speak to the Purser. He told the Purser that he asked for a bottle of water and waited for 2 hours before anyone gave it to him.
As you can see, it was a big fat lie.
I answered his call as soon as I heard it and although I went to the wrong pax at first, I still went to him in less than 3 minutes.
Throughout the flight, Pax B got basically everything he wanted except for the small bottled water (of which I replaced with a glass of water) and double shots of Baileys (but he still got a single shot).
And still all our efforts didn't work and he had to complain.
I also think it's because Pax A was negative from the start and kept brain-washing Pax B.
I'm telling you that working onboard an aircraft is hard work although some people might think otherwise.
If you are working at any regular restaurants on ground, you can get almost anything a customer wants at the snap of your fingers. I mean, they normally only order from the menu and restaurants normally are capable of delivering what is stated there.
But let's say you see black pepper beef, chicken curry and omelette on an aircraft menu, chances are, the flight is only catered for 60% beef, 30% chicken and 10% omelette. And we the "glamorous" trolly-dollies have to break our skulls on how to tell paxs that the meals they order are sometimes not available (which is also stated in a disclaimer in the menu).
Or worse yet, the pax ask for a fish or seafood meal when they haven't even ordered a special meal beforehand. We are 35000 feet in the air, tell me how am I gonna go fishing for that meal?
If there is beef, sometimes they ask us to make it medium-rare. I'm sorry but we heat all the meals together for the same duration. And we do not have a chef onboard so I can't tailor the food to your needs. They are all mass-produced, in case you wanna know.
Some pax order special meals but suddenly feel that they wanna have the regular meal instead. And the moment you apologize and say you have to double-check whether we have enough meals first, their face turn as black as coals. Well excuse me, is it my fault that you ordered something and don't like it?
There are also paxs who still wanna stuff their faces with food even though they have already had 2 hot meals. So we are only left with offering them alternatives such as crew meals or sandwiches. If all the pax meals are finished, we can only eat crew meals. And if the pax wants it, then we have to go hungry. If it's a 7-hour flight, then so be it, let us be hungry and still have to answer pax requests and say goodbye to them with a smile.
If you are a regular waiter in a regular restaurant, you are not expected to do anything except calling the ambulance should a customer choke.
But we are supposed to do a Heimlich Maneuver to help him get the foreign object out so that he can continue breathing. If he faints, we have to administer oxygen. If he stops breathing, we have to perform CPR on him.
If a pregnant lady suddenly goes into labour, we have to deliver the baby.
If *touch wood* anyone dies onboard, we need to get the mortality kit out and take care of the body until we land. In addition, deal with the trauma (for those directly involved) for having someone dying before your eyes and all your efforts still doesn't help.
We are expected to remain perfectly calm and composed in all kinds of situations. Sometimes we make mistakes as well, simply because we are ordinary human beings.
Each of us are server, first aid responder, cleaner, security officers, all rolled into one.
Of course there are black sheeps among us, if any of us are discourteous to you, then I won't blame you for complaining about it.
But most of us are just trying to do our job and trying hard to keep you happy in the process.
Next time you see one of us, and if you feel that we've done a good job, we'd be ecstatic if you tell us that you really appreciate what we have done for you.
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