Flight Attendant Friday: Stuck at the Airport
August 29, 2008 by Mary Jo Manzanares
Filed under Air Travel, Flight Attendant Friday, Travel Tips
Q. What do you do when you have a delay and are stuck at an airport?
A. What a great question!
No one likes a delay, least of all your flight crew, but they are rarely within our control. So, we’re pretty much in the same boat as everyone else.
What I do depends on when the delay occurs.
If we’re already boarded and ready to go, we hang out along with you guys. Generally speaking, in this situation the delay is what we call a “creeping delay.” This means that every ten minutes or so we’re supposed to get an update. It doesn’t always happen that way, and the flight crew is often the last to get an update. And believe me, although the delay is expected to be short, a creeping delay can quickly add up into a whopper of a delay.
If these situations, there’s really not much that you can do. It’s not fun, and we hate it too. Ringing your call button and asking how long it’s going to be, won’t speed the process up any. Complaining about how uncomfortable you are, when you’ve turned down an opportunity to get off, will not garner you any sympathy. If you are given the opportunity to deplane, take it. We would if we could.
If the delay occurs before boarding, Flight Attendants are likely to get off the aircraft. We’ll go searching for food, coffee, a magazine, use rest rooms in the airport, find a place with good reception to make a phone call, or even find a wi-fi spot. It will all depend on the length of the delay.
It always amazes me how after a delay of some duration, the first thing people start talking about is needing to use the lavatory or wanting something to drink. Didn’t you do that while you were in the terminal?
What do you do during a delay? Tell us in the comments.
_________________________________________
All delays cause me to break out my book. Depending on the noise, I may put on my ear plugs while I’m still at the gate waiting to board. Finally, if the delay is long enough, I’ll take a quick walk.
As a frequent flyer (professional travel writer) whether I get off the plane or not during a delay depends on the airline I’m flying, whether I’m in economy, business or first, and what airport I’m in. We were delayed a few weeks ago after boarding for several hours on an Emirates flight in Dubai because the captain took ill just as we were about to leave. We were flying Business so we chose to stay on board and watch movies and drink champagne rather than wait in the crowded lounge. It was heaven! Had I have been flying Economy, I would have got off for sure.
I have always wondered the SAME THING!!! I am a flight attendant as well and now that we charge for drinks, I stand there and think to myself “do you realize you can buy two of these outside of this aircraft for the same price”. The bathroom thing is so true too! I would much rather go in the terminal to a real bathroom!
Depending on the delay (so far it has only been Before Boarding) we usually wait it out. However we also have a strategy that if it gets too late – we find a hotel room for the night and accept that we will lose a day in travelling.
That’s what credit cards are for.
There is no way we can sleep in a chair upright until the morning.
Of course had we been travelling on a ill fated BucketFaire Airline (like ZOOM) which cancels flights Without Telling Anyone – there is NO Way I would accept a 12 hour delay. I would be hightailing to the nearest airline desk that was open and say ‘get me out of here, whenever you can.’ 3 hours is the most. Then I start looking/booking elsewhere.
Non-US carriers seem to offer more in the way of ground service and amenities when it’s a long delay. I’m guessing that the reason for this is how the Flight Attendants are paid for their duties.
In the US, the pay model provides that Flight Attendants are not paid while on the ground, so job duties regarding ground time are based on safety issues. Airlines are unable to negotiate contracts for ground service duties because they are unwilling to pay for them.
It’s sort of a circular discussion, with all sorts of points of view involved.