Heather,
I agree with everything you said. As someone just entering the aviation world as an aspiring airline pilot I now have a better understanding of what you all put up with. Passengers today believe they have every right to be rude to you, complain and moan about delayed flights, or crew who are over the legal time limit. I would love to be able to ask them have they tried working a three day trip, with four legs a day, crossing time zones like its nothing. No they haven't and they don't understand. Do they really want their pilots and flight attendants taking a multimillion dollar piece of equipment 37,000ft into the air if they are exhausted and not fully focused, I don't believe so. Passengers do not understand the work load that goes into a flight getting from point A to B, continuing on to points C, D and maybe E.

Also pilots and flight attendants are a group of highly trained people. We spend thousands of dollars to get our ratings and training and in return we are not paid nearly what we should be paid for what a we are doing. To add to that the airlines are cutting pensions plans and pay in order to survive. This goes back to asking the passengers would they like if they worked for a company for years and then they decided to cut pensions and pay raises, again I don't think they would like that. So why do they think its fair for pilots and flight attendants to take the cut. They should be paying more to fly, but rather they complain about high ticket prices. They don't understand this is what we making a living doing.

So to everyone out there who thinks flight attendants are cranky, tired, and don't care. Think that they might be missing their kids graduation, wedding, or family holiday in order to make sure you make it to your destination in a safe, timely manner to see your loved ones or make that crucial business meeting.

Just remember a smile and thank you can go a long way.

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