Posts Tagged ‘Cranky Flier’

I have no doubt that you’ve heard of JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater’s breakdown last week. He appears to have lost it for one reason or another, made a crude PA announcement, grabbed a beer, popped the emergency slide, and just gone home. While nothing a passenger can do should ever push a flight attendant to this point, that doesn’t mean you should be trying. There are plenty of obnoxious passengers out there, so here’s how you can avoid being one of them. (Note: There are plenty of obnoxious flight attendants out there too, but that’s a different story.)

• DO NOT throw things at a flight attendant but DO write a complaint letter. Sure, you might feel like it when that 150 year old flight attendant gives you a scowl, but it will generally just get you into trouble if you throw something at her. If you have a beef, get the flight attendant’s info and write in to the airline afterward to complain.
• DO ask for help with heavy bags, but DO NOT expect help. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. Most flight attendants won’t help you lift a heavy bag. It’s either an airline concern about paying workers comp or it’s not in the contract. Some flight attendants will still try to help, so it can’t hurt to ask, but don’t expect much.
• DO ring the call button when you need something, but DO NOT ring it every five minutes. Some flight attendants will try to tell you that the call button is there for emergencies. That’s a load of crap. It’s there if you need something from the flight attendant. Now, if you happen to need something every five minutes, you’re likely to get some dirty looks and a scolding. Nobody needs something every five minutes.
• DO NOT get up when the seat belt sign is on. I know, I know. You’ve been bouncing around for ages and you just need to pee, but you should try to hold it as long as you can. The pilots will generally only keep the sign on when there’s a threat of turbulence (though not always). You remember hearing about those flights where people break their neck when a plane hits turbulence? That is almost always someone who didn’t have a seatbelt buckled when it should have been. Don’t be that person. Flight attendants don’t want to have to scrape you off the ceiling.
• DO say “please” and “thank you.” You’d be amazed at what a little common courtesy can do. Flight attendants are out slinging drinks and throwing peanuts all day long, and a lot of people aren’t very friendly about it. Just a simple “please” and “thank you” along with a smile can do wonders.
• DO not yell at the flight attendant for all the problems you have with the airline. You’re finally winging your way to Omaha after a 3 hour delay and a missed connection in Chicago. This airlines sucks, right? Well, don’t yell at the flight attendant for it. Do you think he had anything to do with the delay or missed connection? Nope. I know he’s an easy target since you’re in a metal tube and he has nowhere to hide, but there’s nothing he can do from up there anyway.

If you’re flying for your wedding or your honeymoon, the last thing you want is to be tied up with flex cuffs and humiliated in front of your groom. Just be nice, have some common courtesy, and enjoy the ride.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about a site called AwardWallet over on Cranky. The Antibride loved it, and asked me if I would republish here. Of course, I was happy to do it,but I thought I’d do her one better and actually rewrite it to cater to the wedding crowd.

If you’re getting married, you have about 400 million things to remember to do, so the last thing you want is to have to remember your frequent flier information when you’re booking your wedding travel. Oh sure, you want to earn those miles, and maybe you even want to use them, but what was that number again . . . ?

You know that you’ve dug into a drawer in some dark corner of your home, hoping to find that card that was sent to you in 1987. Let’s face it. It’s a real pain in the butt. So why not just use a site that keeps everything in one place?

There are a handful of sites out there that do this. TripIt has a Pro version that costs money, as does Mileage Manager. And GoMiles, which is in private beta, is working on relating your miles to what you can get for them. But for my purposes of just monitoring all the accounts, AwardWallet does the job. As long as you don’t have concerns about storing your numbers and passwords elsewhere, this site works really well.

You set it up program by program, entering your frequent flier number or web login along with your password. Then it goes in and pulls out your balances and expiration dates so you can monitor them all from one place.

When you log in, you see your frequent flier number and website logins so it makes for an easy reference point. It can even log you in directly to the websites for those programs and take you there if you so choose.

It’s also not limited to airlines or even travel even general. Yes, I can follow my Starwood, National car rental, and Amtrak balances on there, but I could also look at credit card rewards, and more.

What don’t I love? The pricing plan is really goofy. You get a lot of functionality for free, but the premium version, which includes some bells and whistles, costs, uh, whatever you want. Seriously. You decide what you think it’s worth and pay it. Strange, I know.

But forgetting about that quirk, this site is great. I never remember my frequent flier numbers, so this is an easy way to bring them up. It’s also helpful when you’re trying to log in to the different programs and can’t remember your information. This stores your login info even if it isn’t your frequent flier number. So you really can’t lose this stuff anymore.

Kudos to AwardWallet for putting together a really helpful tool.