I had a great trip, with a really good crew, and awesome passengers. We had a daytime flight on the biggest Airbus my company flies, and were preparing to be pretty busy as is usually the case on these daytime trans-continental flights. Normally on the "Bus" we fit about 270 or so down back, but on this flight we were full in the front cabins and only had about 200 down the back. So it wasn't so crowded as to be crazy-busy.
I was still expecting things to be pretty full on though, as we serve complimentary alcoholic drinks as part of the premium service. Of course the passengers take full advtange of this and enjoy a wine or two with their lunch or dinner. (We have to be careful, as some will ask each of us for two or three drinks, potentially getting 8-12 drinks in a flight, so we must pay attention)
The crew were great, we were from 3 different bases which can sometimes be hit and miss, but these guys were fine! I flew with 2 girls from my base who I hadn't flowm with before, and they were really fun. We had time to chat on our break and just had a good time. We had some cute families on board, and a really nice elderly couple whose daughter was travelling with them. They were such dears, we had to open their cutlery and ice cream for them because I don't think they'd ever seen a Cornetto before! At the end of the flight, I found out that their daughter was turning around and going straight home again, she just wanted to make sure they'd be ok on the flight over! Isn't that sweet? (Not to mentione expensive! But, it's the only way to do it if you want to be absolutely sure they will get everything they need, as we sometimes get so busy we can't stay to help even if we want to)
One of my colleagues happened to mention a passenger who had asked if we could find out some information from the captain. This passenger was a bit of an aircraft enthusiast, and he had a folder with lists of all the aicraft types, airlines and registrations he'd EVER flown on, as well as departure airports, arrival airports and anything else you could think of. (AviationCrazy, you would have been impressed!) So of course we offered to take his folder up to the guys up front, who wrote all sorts of things down for him including altitude, speed, fuel figures, all those facts only "plane nerds" like me would appreciate.
I went for a rummage through our amenity box and found a company pen which we gave him. I also went on a mission to find the rare writing paper and envelopes, plus a pack of playing cards, but sadly they hadn't been loaded on that sector. My last idea was that I vaguely remembered putting a company postcard in my bag on my last international trip, so I was hoping to find it and pass it round the crew for them to sign. But again, it wasn't there, and then I remembered that I had to throw it out when a juice spilt in my crew bag :(
Still, the passenger was thrilled when I told him to stop by after landing to say hello to the crew in the flight deck (this is allowed at my airline) and he had the chance to take a few snaps in the flight deck. I wrote down the name of a company that used to do tours of the airport (runways and such) and told him to visit the airport museum. At least one person left the flight happy! While I was in the airport later, I took the chance to drop by the gift shop and bought about 10 postcards to put in my bag, just in case. I never have any in the aircraft when I need them. Besides, I like to be able to bring out something like that as a surprise!
So after the gift shop we jumped in the crew van to the hotel. Was good chit chat with the girls, and as we were on a min rest we decided to just pop over to the restaurant next door and have a drink and a bite to eat. I got a crew discount cocktail (hehe) and we had wedges, fries and some thai entrees. It was really good. But soon it was off to bed for our early pickup. I had a whole Chinese tour group staying on my floor, and boy were they noisy! They were going in and out of each other's rooms, talking loudly and laughing. But bless them, I couldn't be angry, they were probably on the trip of a lifetime, so I just turned up the ocean soundtrack on my iPod louder, and nodded off to sleep pretty much right away.
More about the trip home, and an interesting sign, a little bit later!
(Pictures: A330 Cabin- Swiss Airlines)
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