Heaping Praise On Our Flight Attendant Heroes

November 20, 2008 at 11:15 AM | by pbb | Comments (3)

Though advertising from decades past would have you believe otherwise, the main reason flight attendants are working your flight is to keep you safe. That usually means handling an evacuation or restraining alleged troublemakers, but on an Air Canada flight this January, it meant helping the pilot land a 767.

An unnamed FA, an Irish investigation team concluded Wednesday, helped land the plane, on its way from Toronto to London, after the co-pilot had some sort of mental breakdown and became "belligerent and uncooperative." After canvassing the passengers for pilots, the flight attendant revealed she had a commercial flying license, though her instrument rating happened to be expired.

The captain tapped her as his own Elaine Dickinson for an emergency diversion to Shannon, Ireland and later praised her performance, said a report on the incident:

The flight attendant provided useful assistance to the commander, who remarked in a statement to the investigation that she was "not out of place" while occupying the right-hand seat.

Not out of place!

So here's our Open Thread question: You may not have been on-board an ill-fated Boeing, but has a flight attendant ever gone above and beyond for you? And crew--we know you're out there--have you ever seen a colleague save the day? Let's all heap some praise in the comments.

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[Photo: caribb]

Comments (3)

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i have one! i was on a cross-country flight from LAX to EWR and I was late, as usual, to the airport. it was an AM flight like 10am and I didn't have time to grab breakfast or even coffee. i was famished by the time i was on the plane. like my stomach was in pain it was so hungry.

as a flight attendant walked by before take-off, i asked if they were serving breakfast or lunch and she replied, "just lunch." i must have grimaced and she said, "are you really hungry?" i meekly answered, "yes" as if it took all my energy to say that. she told me she could sell me a sandwich before we took off. i agreed!

a minute later she came back with my $6 turkey and cheese sandwich and i chowed down. why is this so heart-warming? because i was at the back of the plane and by the time food service came around there were no more sandwiches left. only pringles and other junk food.

i was sooo happpy. but also very hungry still so i totally got some pringles too.

A friend of ours who was an American Airlines FA had this bumper sticker on her car: "FLIGHT ATTENDANTS ARE THERE TO SAVE YOUR ASS, NOT KISS IT".

Knowing that the non-stop from JFK to Buenos Aires would be a long one, I went ahead and ordered up two mini bottles of scotch on the flight attendants' first pass through coach. It was gonna cost me 10 bucks, but in my mind there's no doing an 11-hour flight without a cocktail or two. As I handed over the cash, my FA took it with one hand and glanced down toward her other. Hidden from view by her beverage cart were another two nips of whisky she was passing me on the sly. Without missing a beat, I grabbed them and stashed them in my seat-back pocket. It turned into a fun flight.

Jaunted

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