Flying Used To Be So Elegant

A chance encounter with a flight attendant and her mother transforms an ordinary rideshare into a fascinating exploration of modern air travel. What begins as casual conversation quickly evolves into an eye-opening look at how flying has changed from "this grand, elegant experience" to something far more complicated.

Our flight attendant passenger candidly shares the realities behind the seemingly glamorous profession. While there are undeniable perks—"I realized that walking around Denver for 24 hours is my job"—she doesn't shy away from the challenges of dealing with increasingly difficult passenger behavior. 

Her story about watching someone place their sock-covered foot on a stranger's armrest rather than waking a sleeping passenger perfectly captures the bizarre situations flight crews regularly navigate.

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About: Foundation Digital Media | Kuna Video

Chapters

• 0:00 Meeting the Flight Attendant Passengers
• 2:15 California Dreams and Moving Plans
• 4:35 Life as a Modern Flight Attendant
• 6:30 Dealing with Passenger Behavior
• 9:45 Driving Through DC at Night
• 10:55 Navigating to the Hotel

Transcript

Meeting the Flight Attendant Passengers

Speaker 1 0:19

Welcome to another episode of Rideshare Road Talk Conversations in Motion, a podcast where we create unfiltered talk space that examines the meaningful lives of my passengers while engaging in personal and topical discussions. I'm your host and driver, john Fondas, and we're cruising the streets of Washington DC. Buckle up, let's drive Anything fun going on.

Speaker 2 0:44

I'm going to work tomorrow.

Speaker 1 0:45

Oh, that's nice. Well, depending on what you do, that doesn't.

Speaker 2 0:48

She's a. That's my daughter. She's a flight attendant.

Speaker 1 0:50

Oh, that's fun.

Speaker 2 0:51

Yes, okay.

Speaker 1 0:53

Well, where are we going tomorrow?

Speaker 2 0:54

Sacramento and when I mean we?

Speaker 1 0:56

I mean all three of us.

Speaker 2 0:59

Well, I'm going back to California.

Speaker 1 1:00

Okay, that's home for you to california. Okay, that's home for you. Yes, whereabouts in california, uh, orange county, huntington beach, nice, okay, yeah, yeah, I haven't been out that way in quite a while, oh, but uh, I know I should. I should because I got fish tacos written all over me. Oh my god we have the best. I love some good uh, like mexican too.

Speaker 2 1:22

Oh, yeah, yeah, Very much yeah.

Speaker 1 1:26

So you're both coming into DC just to visit?

Speaker 2 1:30

I work out of here.

Speaker 1 1:31

Okay, cool.

Speaker 2 1:33

But she came to visit.

Speaker 1 1:35

What's that like being a flight attendant these days? Because, like you know, all I see is like I'm name dropping, all I see is the Spirit Airline stuff and I'm like I'm not getting on that joint, just from the people.

Speaker 2 1:47

Yes, I feel like the stereotype about Spirit is true.

Speaker 1 1:52

What is that? What do you think that is?

Speaker 2 1:53

It's just cheaper flights. So it tends to just be like people who I'm, I don't like, I'm not no, no, I get it, but I don't know how to explain it.

California Dreams and Moving Plans

Speaker 1 2:03

Well, you know when like flying used to be like this this grand experience elegant thing and, like you know, I mean I never wore a suit and tie on a plane, but there was always this measured kind of cool. Let's kick back and just enjoy the experience.

Speaker 2 2:18

And so you want to leave DC.

Speaker 1 2:20

You want to leave Washington? Huh, I've been here my whole life, outside of school, and I think it's time. Where do you want to go? If I'm thinking out loud, probably North Carolina. Ok, I stay in North Carolina. We started doing Thanksgiving at a place called Pinehurst, which is a very famous golf resort. It's kind of like the American version of St Andrews in Scotland A lot of retirees, progressive, but it's got a nice charm about it. We did that for like 12, 13 years. It's the only Thanksgiving they knew, because our families got so big.

Speaker 1 2:59

You can't have 70 people in one house, you know. So we're like, let's bust out and do something different. Um, and then you know, when you go to some place, over and over again, a little piece of it stays with you and I'm like, wait a second. I'm like 45 minutes from raleigh, so I have all the um, the culture and sports with the universities, the triangles there for business and medical is fantastic, with Duke and UNC, taxes are low, winters are chill and it's golf heaven. So I'm like, honey, I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm going to be fine down here, and I guess that's the compromise.

Speaker 1 3:38

I don't know. I'd say California.

Speaker 2 3:40

Oh, I don't know, I don't know. I'd say California.

Speaker 1 3:43

Oh, don't you dare, but it's too expensive, extremely. I'm trying to get out of there myself.

Speaker 2 3:47

It's way too. Yeah, I'm trying to get out of myself Because it's way too.

Speaker 1 3:50

Yeah, now your family's been there in California, were you there, just you know.

Speaker 2 3:55

Well, I was um my family. I have family in California and then Pensacola, florida. Oh, okay.

Speaker 1 4:01

Well, it's two opposite extremes, isn't it?

Speaker 2 4:02

I know, isn't it, but I used to live in Georgia, so Okay, okay. In California. Way too expensive. I'm like get me out of here.

Life as a Modern Flight Attendant

Speaker 1 4:16

I don't know how people afford it. It's I'm like get me out of here. I don't know how people afford it. I mean, I guess a lot of it's old money and old properties that people have had in the 40s and 50s that have been stuck around in families and stuff like that. How did you get into the flight attendant world?

Speaker 2 4:39

I always wanted to try. I had a sorority sister whose mom worked for delta okay and I always wanted to travel and so I was talking to her mom about it. She's like, oh my god, she'd be a flight attendant, and it was like a light bulb moment and I was like, oh no shit, they actually I never like I was, like I never.

Speaker 2 4:54

I don't know why I didn't think that and so, um, I applied, like while I was still in school, and I didn't get it, which I'm glad I didn't, because I was not mature enough to. Not ready for it, yeah, and so then I applied like a year later, and then I got with United.

Speaker 1 5:06

Did it meet your expectations of what you thought versus what you're getting?

Speaker 2 5:10

Yes and no. I mean I thought it was a little bit more glamorous, you know, and it has its moments of glamour, but it is like the flight. Flying for free is nice when you can, that like all that's nice, um, I think the byproduct by default of just traveling is the reward right, yeah, exactly, so that's nice to get those experiences.

Speaker 2 5:33

That's pretty special like like I had a denver, like a 24 hour long denver layover, and I called one of my friends it was like during the middle of the week at like 3 pm or something and she's like I got to get back to work and I like hung up the phone. I was like, oh my gosh, I realized that like she's, that's her job and this is my job walking around Denver for 24 hours. You know. So stuff like that like wakes me up, just do whatever I want.

Speaker 1 5:58

That's great for me for hours. That's great. That's great.

Speaker 2 6:01

No, and I don't have any paperwork or emails or anything like that, so it's nice you probably see more of humanity than I do in this car. As far as people behaving poorly, all kinds of people you know, you see the clips on the news when someone flips out because someone has their feet on the, that's me.

Speaker 1 6:22

If someone's bare foot came up on my armrest from behind me, oh my God.

Speaker 2 6:27

I'm on.

Speaker 1 6:27

TMZ. There's no doubt.

Dealing with Passenger Behavior

Speaker 2 6:29

No, yeah, that's disgusting. I've seen some crazy stuff. I was actually I wasn't working this flight, I was just traveling on it and the lady across from me she was in the middle seat and the guy in the aisle was asleep and so, instead of waking him up to like get go to the restroom, she climbed over his seat and put her bare like sock foot on the aisle seat of the other person to like climb to get out the way. And I'm thinking to myself why didn't she just wake him up like so you'd rather put your dirty foot on someone's shoulder, like elbow, than wake this guy up from a nap. Oh, that's crazy. I thought that was so disgusting. I was like people are weird.

Speaker 1 7:08

Yeah, I don't know what happened to people. I mean, I think there's just there's more people now and by default they're just more people without manners.

Speaker 2 7:16

Maybe that's it there are and I honestly, sometimes I get it like you know, you pay a lot of money for these flights and you're stuck in this. You know I sometimes I get it. The seats are not as comfortable as it used to be. It's not enough room and yeah you know, I I get some of it like but it's just also like I mean there's there's nothing that we can do as flight attendants to fix that.

Speaker 1 7:40

Yeah, I mean.

Speaker 2 7:41

It's like punching bags sometimes for people Right.

Speaker 1 7:44

You're just along for the ride, unfortunately.

Speaker 2 7:46

But I've learned to not let it affect me. In the beginning I used to get really worried up and now I just walk away from people.

Speaker 1 7:53

I don't even go back and forth you know, what I would think was would be an interesting polar opposite is like when you find someone who's pleasant and conversational.

Speaker 2 8:03

Like you, you'd want to go the extra mile to make their experience a little bit nicer, right right, yeah no, because you give what you get right yeah, and then even like I always tell people like, if you want flight attendants to be nice or get free stuff, bring them like chocolate or cake. Because we do that a lot, like whenever passengers give us like bring us gifts, we always are like, oh, take care of 24 Delta, they got us chocolates.

Speaker 1 8:26

I am 100% doing that.

Speaker 2 8:29

No, for sure.

Speaker 1 8:30

I'm bringing a big old box of chocolates.

Speaker 2 8:32

You should. And during Christmas, people give like Starbucks cards and stuff, which is super nice. Yeah, that's a sweet touch, yeah.

Speaker 1 8:38

I mean, if the mailman gets a gift card, why wouldn't the you know flight attendant?

Speaker 2 8:44

for sure, it's always really nice A lot.

Speaker 1 8:46

Have you been to Little Chicken?

Speaker 2 8:49

No, okay, run, run towards that place. It's right back there. I did see that the thing is like Run towards that place.

Speaker 1 8:56

It's right back there, I did see that it's so good, it's so good. My kids scream every time we come near this place. This arena stage has been there forever. It used to be a very small little neighborhood theater and then I'm not exactly sure, but you can see what it looks like now. It was probably a huge endowment or someone passed away and said here's 100 million, and that's the result. It's a beautiful, beautiful theater now Mostly stage and musicals and things like that.

Speaker 2 9:33

Yeah, it looks nice. Yeah, it's real pretty.

Speaker 1 9:37

DC is one of those cities that just shows itself off at night really well.

Driving Through DC at Night

Speaker 2 9:41

Right, it's really pretty and it doesn't need like a lot of skyscrapers to do it, which is nice. Like you know, a lot of other cities will have big, you know buildings and all that. I feel like DC just keeps it chill. They do, don't they? But it still looks nice.

Speaker 1 9:58

You're going to the Pendry.

Speaker 2 9:59

Yes.

Speaker 1 9:59

That's a hotel, right.

Speaker 2 10:00

Yes, okay.

Speaker 1 10:03

I mean, look what this thing's doing. It's telling us to go to the right and then another U-turn and then back.

Speaker 2 10:07

You can make a U-turn, sweetie, back this light.

Speaker 1 10:09

I'm about to break the law for you, ladies.

Speaker 2 10:11

But you can make a U-turn at this light.

Speaker 1 10:13

Well, actually I can't, but we're going to. Oh, you can't. This would be a business right off. If I get a ticket, oh, no, don't you dare. No, I don't care.

Speaker 2 10:19

Yeah, don't you make a U-turn.

Navigating to the Hotel

Speaker 1 10:21

No, no, no, that's okay. I'm not going to jail for a U-turn? No, no, you go around. No, um, I just wanted to come down and try to get a couple people you know just to talk to, and why, oh, is that dude about to get sick? Don't do that dude here. Look at him. Yeah, easy, don't watch, ladies, it's gonna get ugly. Oof. See, I feel like. I feel like I'm gonna die.

Speaker 2 10:57

It's not a good feeling. I have advice for him. You know what?

Speaker 1 10:59

you do you take the jacket off and you lay down on that concrete.

Speaker 2 11:03

I know that's right. Oh, that was the best.

Speaker 1 11:05

I remember that. I remember that in college.

Speaker 2 11:07

I do not remember. I do not like that stuff. I'm like mm-mm.

Speaker 1 11:14

He definitely had a moment, didn't he?

Speaker 2 11:15

He did, yeah, he did.

Speaker 1 11:22

He caught up to him. He was like wait a minute, so we're standing still for too long. Right, that's the worst. That's when the world catches up to you. It does. Okay, ladies, I feel like we're on the sidewalk about to run people over, like you know, like we're someplace we're not supposed to be.

Speaker 2 11:41

We can get out now if it's easier for you. Yeah, it's okay, because our hotel's right to the left. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 11:47

I mean I've got to do a little three-point turn anyways. What's this shady lady doing? She's trying to get into the back door. It's like, come on, she's all done up. But you're not that done up, Get the special treatment. Oh, there's a cut-through right here. What are these people turning around for?

Speaker 2 12:03

I think it's. I don't know if it's one way, I'm not sure.

Speaker 1 12:06

Well, we'll figure it out, We'll figure it out. Thank you, I could take it into the lobby if you want. Ladies, it was lovely chatting with you. You have a great night. Thank you, I hope I see you.