Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Galley Gossip: Flight Attendant Pet Peeve #4 - Turn around, go that way!
"Hello. How are you? Welcome aboard," I say, and I say this as I'm standing between first class and coach while passengers board the airplane and slowly make their way down the aisle. That's when I spot you standing at your row with your bag sitting on an aisle seat as you stare up at the overhead bin, a full overhead bin, and shake your head.
"Hello. How are you? Welcome aboard," I say, as you continue staring into the full overhead bin above your seat, and as you stare, still shaking your head, I already know what you're going to say before you even say it, and while I wait for you to say it, I continue to greet the passengers during the boarding process. "Hello. How are you? Welcome aboard."
Though I can't make out the words, I see you're talking to those seated around you, pointing aggressively at your seat, at the overhead bin, back at your seat again, and as you begin to make a scene, a very loud one, you turn and look at me.
"Hello. How are you? Welcome aboard," I say, and as I say this, I'm thinking to myself, here we go, and I'm wondering, as I've wondered thousands of times before, why you can't just turn around and put the bag inside the empty overhead bin behind you, the one located three rows back. You see it. I see it. We all see it. So why don't you use it? You can use it, ya know.
Waving your hands in the air at me, you say, "Excuse me, Miss! Can you help me!"
Of course. I slide in behind a passenger and slowly make my way down the aisle. You look very concerned, so I smile at you, but you don't smile back. You never do. Now this is about to go one of three ways, depending on how often you fly...
YOU RARELY FLY: "There are bags in MY overhead bin!"
YOU FLY A COUPLE TIMES A YEAR: "Can you help me find a place for my bag?"
YOU'RE A FREQUENT FLIER: "Can I put my bag up there?" (pointing to first class)
ME: "I'm sorry," I always say, no matter how often you fly, because I am, truly, sorry - sorry I have to say sorry all day long! "But you're going to have to use the bin three rows back." I point at the bin. "I'd grab it quick before someone else does." Now the next thing I'm going to say depends on how often you fly, and usually goes something like this..
YOU RARELY FLY: Look, I know it's frustrating when the overhead bin above your seat is full, but the overhead bin space is shared space. That means anyone can use it. You. Him. Her. Everyone. Yes, you bought the seat below the bin, but you did not buy the bin.
YOU FLY A COUPLE TIMES A YEAR: If I could move some things around I would, but the bin is completely full already and there's no way your bag is going to fit. I know it's not fair! Particularly if you've only brought on-board one small bag, which I see is the case, but I can't go POOF and make all the other bags dis
appear now can I?
YOU'RE A FREQUENT FLIER: There's no need to show me your frequent flier card. Trust me, I already know you're a VIP, which is why you're sitting in the bulkhead row in the first place. You know as well as I do that first class is full (or else you'd be sitting there) and I can't let you use that empty bin, not when we're still waiting for a few first class passengers to board. Now I'm pretty sure you already know why, but since you're still arguing with me I'll spell it out. Because when you spend that kind of money to sit in first class, like you normally do, you expect to find an empty bin when you come on-board, too.
Ridiculous, my least favorite word a passenger can say, has just been used, and as that word is spat at me I see something happen that I knew was going to happen. Someone has just thrown their bags, two of them, into the empty overhead bin three rows back.
Now it is I who shakes my head, because you, dear passenger, will have to walk five rows back to get your bag into a bin, and as I tell you this, I continue shaking my head, and of course I add the word, "Sorry." I'm always sorry.
"I'll hold up the airplane when we land in order to get my bag out of the overhead bin five rows back!" exclaimed a passenger, a passenger who is also MY HUSBAND, a frequent flier I met on an airplane, after I had told him about what I was writing.
Completely appalled, I visualized the man I would NOT have married if I'd have seen him acting like that. "You're kidding, right?"
Nope. He, the husband, a frequent flier I met in business class on a flight from Los Angeles to New York somewhere over Illinois, assured me he was not joking. And here I agreed to go out with the guy in the first place because I thought he was a nice passenger. Just when you think you know a person, they have to go and freak out over an overhead bin.
And so...after discussing the sensitive overhead bin topic quite thoroughly with the not so nice passenger / husband, I have concluded that if he had not been able to get his bag into a bin near his seat I probably would not agreed to meet him at the Starbucks located across the street from our layover hotel seven years ago. Which means we would not have had our beautiful baby boy a little over two years ago. Which means that my life, as I know it, would have turned out totally different.
"And I love my life," I read out loud. It was the very last line of this post, and I wanted to know what the husband, who was now looking at me funny, thought.
"I never said I'd hold up the airplane!" he exclaimed, even though he most certainly did say that and I remember exactly when and where he said it - on the couch, during a commercial break at 9:15pm, two nights ago.
Okay so perhaps the man was hallucinating when I first read him this post. Or maybe he was just having a bad day. Taking it out on me and my overhead bin post. Who knows? All I know is I'm glad to he wouldn't hold up the deplaning process in order to get his precious bag. He travels a lot. Over 100,000 miles a year. And flight attendants know he's mine! Which means I can now go back to work and not worry about what the husband is doing on the airplane while I'm working another flight, standing between coach and first class saying, "Hello. How are you? Welcome aboard."
Now that you're curious about the other flight attendant pet peeves, click the following links:
- Flight Attendant Pet Peeve #1: Answer Please!
- Flight Attendant Pet Peeve #2: Back to your seat please!
- Flight Attendant Pet Peeve #3: You want me to do what?
Filed under: Airlines, Galley Gossip
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 5)
Denise Sep 8th 2008 7:50PM
Why was this a headline on aol news? Who is this bimbo? Why does she bitch so much about the passengers and feel that she can read their minds? I agree, time to retire, feel sorry for her "husband".
Nan Apr 6th 2010 12:07AM
This is my first time at this web site. I really enjoyed your "Pet Peeve #4," especially your writing style. Thanks!
Sherilyn Sep 8th 2008 8:02PM
I don't mind if the bins are full and the passengers around me are the ones that filled it up. MY issue is when the jerk in row 25 decides he can't possibly schlep his oversize luggage all the way back to where he is sitting, so he puts his junk in a bin in the front of the plane, then I have to put my stuff over his lazy butt in the bin over row 25 when I'm sitting in row 7. Most of the time, I put my stuff under the seat, but really, it's jerks like these that cause the problems.
Nan Sep 17th 2008 6:34PM
Thanks for highlighting this behavior. I think I noticed it without focusing on it. Pollyanna me just figured the bin was full over his own seat although I wasn't sure how that could be.... Yep, that one ticks me off too!
Patti Sep 8th 2008 8:03PM
For Heather, the F/A who wrote the article: ...
A little consideration goes a long way. Try it!
Most of us are simply trying to get from Point A to Point B with as little hassle as possible. We're not trying to make your job difficult or unpleasant. If you treat us politely, we reciprocate.
Consider that there ARE valid reasons to keep a carry-on bag nearby:
1. Travelers carry laptops and other valuables that cannot be checked. They need to keep track of those items at all times. They don't want those items in one of the compartments behind them where someone could be messing with their bag.
2. The elderly and families traveling with small children may need access to their bags during the flight. Why not make it easier for them? It will make the flight more pleasant for everyone.
3. People don't want their fragile items under a seat where others can spill or step on them.
4. Since it can be difficult to move about the plane at times, people with circulation problems may need the under-seat area to stretch out their legs/feet.
For those who insist on using the bins nearest the exit ...
REMEMBER those passengers (the ones whose bins you used) will be standing over YOUR seat to get to their items. Some of their bags will be heavy and may fall on YOU. When you use the bin over YOUR seat, you inconvenience fewer passengers, including yourself.
Mary Sep 8th 2008 8:06PM
I have been on flights where there was no room at all left in the overhead bins for the one carry-on bag that I was allowed. However, I was told by the flight attendants that I would have to check my bag and wait for it at the Baggage Check at the other end. The thing is, much of the bin space was often taken up with passengers' coats. If the the coats are allowed to be placed in the overhead bins, they should be charged as additional baggage. Why do the flight attendants allow this disregard of airline rules? If someone carries or wears a coat on board, he/she should be required to wear it, sit on it, or put it under the seat in front of them.
Judy Sep 8th 2008 8:30PM
If this is the biggest peeve this person has all day at work, then they have a great job...I fly several times a month and could see maybe complaining about screaming kids or people who have to be told to shut their phones off several times .....but not this......Get real...try my life for a day. J
Jim Sep 8th 2008 10:55PM
And I forgot to mention - I paid $800 for this type of service! I truly believe the average flight attendant (and I save average because there are truly some good ones) has forgotten that we, the paying fliers, are the customers! We get treated like being on the flight we paid $800 for is a privilege. In any other line of work, they couldn't get away with treating people like that.
Frank Sep 10th 2008 10:53AM
Brilliantly written and timely article, Heather. I have to laugh at all the "you need to quit" comments. Those are the same passengers you so eloquently describe as "customers". In actuality, I wonder how some people get to the airport, through security and somehow get HELPLESS on the aircraft. Or is it that they are sooooooo spoiled, stepping "TEN" MORE FEET to FIND AN OVERHEAD is a HUGE INCONVENIENCE.
Brandi Sep 11th 2008 10:07AM
Heather, you rock.
To the folks saying you pay our salaries. LMAO I qualify for food stamps! When you start paying more for your tickets (full price, not on travelosity.com) then i'll start caring where you can stow your luggage.
L. Lux Sep 11th 2008 2:19PM
This is my 1st time on your site and am I glad to find you. I flew for American back in the stone age. In fact, flt 11 from BOS to LAX was my usual trip. All I can say is I'm sooooooooo glad I no longer work for an airline, any airline. There isn't enough $$$ in the world to make me put up with the crap you guys have to today. It's really sad. I flew the old china service and was damn proud of it. People in first class dressed to the nines, even the people in coach were nicely dressed and behaved!Hey, anyone out there, does AAL still have the dreaded C314s?