First-class service schedule

Before take-off:

1. Pass hard candy, magazines, pillows, and blankets.

2. Pass five-cigarette packages with matchbooks bearing our airline logo.

Once the plane reaches cruising altitude:

3. Pass hot scented towels

4. Clean up.

5. Pass hors d’oeuvres.

6. Clean up.

7. Pass two mini-bottles of hard liquor. A glass with ice. Sodas and water.

8. Clean up.

9. Pass dinner trays containing the entrée, salad, dessert, roll, and split of wine.

10. Pass coffee, tea, milk, and champagne.

11. Clean up.

12. Pass two mini-bottles of after-dinner drinks.

13. Clean up.

“Conducting all these services in a plane loaded with passengers will mean you’ll be on your feet for hours,” Diane said. “Work quickly and keep smiling.”

Diane continued with her instructions and showed us how to set up the galley for a full meal service and how to make coffee.

“The ovens will come packed with entrees from the catering company. Confirm with them that you’ve received the required amount of trays for all the scheduled services.

“After each meal, make sure you lock the cabinets and secure the galley counter,” Diane cautioned. “In rough weather, these can become dangerous missiles.”

Although her instructions were helpful, they were relatively basic and superficial. It wasn’t until we actually worked the galley during flight that we gained speed and accuracy. The real test came when doing the job on a shaking plane with a hundred impatient passengers waiting to be served.

The following day we practiced and memorized the public address or PA announcements. We stood in front of our classmates with a mock airplane telephone at our lips and recited the departing and landing speeches. Before long we knew the words by heart and no longer had to read the printed forms. Foreign and U.S. customs papers were explained to us in detail, and we were tested on both the documents and inflight announcements the next day.

During the last three weeks we learned evacuation procedures, health guidelines, and airplane construction. The daily exams became much harder.

As students, we operated window and door exits and jumped into emergency chutes, long orange troughs that unfurled from the exit doors to the tarmac below. Diane showed us how to use fire extinguishers, to administer oxygen, and to perform CPR.

We were required to understand all emergency methods backwards and forwards. Knowing them on paper and knowing them on the airplane involved numerous pre-boarding tests and hard experience. The more we worked as flight attendants, the more we learned to respond with complete accuracy.

One day my classmates and I executed a ditch simulation in San Francisco Bay. A huge, yellow raft bobbed about on the surface with twenty students aboard, clad in bathing suits. Greta and Rike, two German recruits, joined Sarah and me at one end of the raft. We laughed as we splashed in the Bay, yet mentally took notes of all required actions for the upcoming tests. And we carried knives. In case of a ditching, we were to use them to cut the lanyard separating the raft from the airplane.

Our classes also involved “arm and cross check” drills.

“Flight attendants must attach the metal bar located under the exit door’s container to the floor hooks,” Diane said. “In an emergency landing, the slide will automatically deploy if the door is opened.” She added, “You need to disarm the chute once the plane lands so the gate agent is not struck by the deploying slide.”

Evacuation procedures are very important in the airline industry. The Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, requires all planes to be emptied in ninety seconds, no matter the size.

“Even in our Boeing jets with 186 passengers, we must get everyone out in ninety seconds,” Diane said.

Each year, all airlines must do a simulated evacuation. It occurs in a pitch-black hanger with friends and relatives acting as passengers. During the process, half the exits are blocked to imitate possible fire or water obstructions. The flight attendants do not know in advance which exits will be blocked, and they have to adjust their passenger instructions and movements accordingly.

Besides taking exams and studying, we had to have inoculations every other day. Shots for smallpox, cholera, tetanus, yellow fever, and typhoid were required for international travel.

We also visited numerous consulates in San Francisco. For every country where our airline had a layover, we were to obtain a visa.

The month of training created a sister-like bond among those who remained. Greta, Rike, Sarah, and I lunched together and studied the manual. I learned that Rike was an artist, Greta loved cooking, and Sarah’s father was a diplomat.

“Our classmates are disappearing,” Greta remarked. No one informed us why the number of students declined, but each morning we noticed more empty chairs.

One day, Sarah was gone. I was surprised and saddened by her departure and didn’t know how to contact her. She was part of our foursome. But Diane was right. Only fifteen would graduate that month.

A small ceremony was conducted on the fourth Friday of our month-long training. We gathered in the classroom, laughing and congratulating each other, so proud that we had completed the challenging course of instruction. Family and friends took seats in the back of the room with some standing against the wall. Diane pinned wings to our new, form-fitting uniforms, and everyone clapped in appreciation.

“With this class, we now have a total of eighty flight attendants working for World Airways,” she announced. “The following specialties are what each new graduate brings to our airline.”

How surprised I was to hear her say, “Please welcome Bobbi Phelps, a college graduate from Connecticut who speaks five languages.”

My face turned bright red as I rose to accept my wings. With all the composure I could muster, I smiled at the audience and unashamedly basked in their applause.

My parents telephoned that Sunday evening and I told them about my graduation. Mom was thrilled and shared words of encouragement. Dad listened to my excitement but remained silent.

Дата добавления: 2015-08-27