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My Favorite Things: Never Fully Dressed

Caught me smiling!

“A smile seems to have a favorable influence upon others and makes one likable and more approachable.” –Mona Lisa (maybe)

Fifteen years ago, my mother was a nervous flier. She’s much better now, and I think my careermay have had something to do with that. She once told me that she always watches the flight attendants. If they are calm, there is nothing to fear. If they looked scared, she starts making out her final will and testament on the in-flight napkin.
Thisseems to be true with many fliers. I notice during bouts of turbulence how the first thing people do is to look out the window. If the shade is closed, they will open it, be blinded by the immense brightness, close it and then squint at me to see if I’m calm. I’m never scared of turbulence; I love turbulence…I love to feel the plane flying. Yeah, I’m one of those.
One day I realized that when doing the beverage service, I tended to purse my lips and look serious as I concentrated on remembering the 3-6 drink orders I had just taken. I wasn’t smiling. So I now take no more than 2 orders at a time and make sure I’m always smiling, so that everyone can see the friendly flight attendant about to serve them, and not some machine.
Not smiling with a Moai in Chile

One of our local union presidents never smiles. I’ve never seen one grace his face. He looks as if he may be in pain or hates the entire world. People always wonder how he was ever hired as a flight attendant in the first place. A smile is formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. He apparently had them removed.Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a “Duchenne smile”. Smile and the world smiles with you!

My favorite thing is when passengers smile. During boarding, it’s so nice to see a smile. It opens up the chance for conversation as they they stand in the line waiting to reach their seat. I’ll make a comment on the nice smile and guess that they may be going home. “That’s a great smile…you must be going home. Nothing like getting home after a trip.”

A nice smile from an employee


A passenger deplaning with a smile usually means they were happy with the flight, and that’s why I’m there, after all, besides safety and security, to make their flight memorable. I give a parting comment to every passenger as they leave the plane and the big smiles, the thank yous, the hand shakes and comments about the nice service, the great announcements, the friendly crew…it really makes my day.
Is it odd that one of my favorite things about my job is something as simple as a friendly passenger smile? No, I don’t think it’s odd. It’s just nice. They say you’re never fully dressed without one. And if I’m any good at this, you, the reader, are smiling now! A friendly smile. It’s my favorite.

Even the aircraft interphone has a smile!




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Adventures in Flight: Ghost Flights

It’s a very rare occurrence, some flight attendants say they’ve never had it happen to them. In my 15 years with Mother Airline, I’ve only had it happen maybe four times, but what a treat it is, for both passengers and crew. I’m talking about ghost flights; or very light loads. Extremely light.
The first time it happened for me, there were 5 passengers on a 757. On this plane, there are 24 seats in first class. With 3 passengers in coach and the other 2 in first, the purser got permission to move everyone up. With four flight attendants, this gave me and my flying partner assigned to the back no work to do on our flight from Chicago to San Francisco. What was fortunate was that the woman I was working with was a friend who I’d not seen since a Caribbean cruise 2 years prior, so it was fun just catching up with her for a few hours.

The second time I worked a ghost flight, it was again on a 757, but this time I was purser. I didn’t move everyone up to first class, and no one wanted to, anyway. I mean, if you have an entire row, or three, to yourself, why move up. This flight had about 13 passengers, and even though those seated in economy didn’t move up, I did offer and serve first class breakfast to everyone back there who wanted to eat.
On the most recent flight from Dallas to San Francisco, there were 9 passengers on an Airbus 320. We had 3 in first and 6 in the back; a young man, his mother and grandmother, a man and his 5 year old son and a businessman wearing a Rotary Club pin. (If you’ve read my story, “The Rotarian”, you will know I have a special history with the Rotary Club.)
View of the Ghost Flight cabin with PAX seated up front.

I love ghost flights and the ability to give outstanding, personalized service to each customer; a chance to get to know them (the Rotarian was from Arlington, the young man with his family worked for Nordstroms’s in Dallas and were going on vacation, and the father slept, but the young boy was well behaved and loved orange juice). No cart was set up, my flying partner and I ran each drink out on a tray.

Each time I work a ghost flight, I always hear the same comment. It came from the nice woman in first class this time, “I’m surprised they didn’t cancel this flight, they’re not making any money with so few people.” The answer is always the same, “The plane is needed for the rest of the day, if they cancel this flight, they have to cancel 3 or more flights that this plane is scheduled to fly.”
The best service you can get on a plane is one with very few passengers. You receive personalized service on a ghost flight. The chance to chat up a flight attendant (and who doesn’t love that?), lots of room and peace and quiet is all so, very nice. Plus, the crew is happy to have a light work load and a fun change to the routine of the normally packed airplanes. They are quite rare, so if you have the pleasure of being on one, enjoy…and feel free to spread out.