Fasten Your Seatbelts: A Flight Attendant's Adventures 36,000 Feet and Below (23 page)

“Are you on any medication?” I asked.

“No, I am diabetic,” he muttered. Johnny showed signs of agitation, but tried to smile.

“Can I bring you some orange juice?” I asked.

Still somewhat coherent, he shook his head no. The other flight attendant said there was no way Johnny was in any shape to travel. We told the captain we had a problem.

I checked on Johnny who said he’d better take the orange juice now. He took a sip, but was shaking so hard it spilled all over him and the seat. His head was jerking back and forth as he frantically rubbed his thighs. I thought maybe he had multiple sclerosis. I asked him again if he had been drinking or was taking any stimulants. Johnny said no.

A female passenger sitting in first class said she didn’t want him to come with us, “He’s drunk!”

I stopped to check on Johnny. He was pounding his fists up and down, laughing uncontrollably. I had never seen anything like it. I reported to the captain. I told him maybe I should give the passenger some oxygen because it seemed as though he was becoming incoherent. “Paramedics are on the way,” he said.

I returned to Johnny once again.

“What are you feeling?” I asked. While he was jerking his head around, he managed to spout out a few words.

“I feel itchy all over,” he said. “I can’t stop laughing.”

Both of us felt helpless. I told him paramedics were on the way. He shook his head with relief.

I looked again and Johnny was popping trail mix in his mouth like a madman. Only half made it into his mouth.

Finally, the paramedics showed up with a ton of equipment. They asked us for something sweet. The flight attendant working first class gave them a cookie off one of the first class trays. We stopped the boarding process so the paramedics could do their job.

In a matter of minutes they started packing their equipment.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked.

“Oh, he’ll be fine,” the one paramedic said nonchalantly, “He waited too late to take his insulin.”

I was shocked! That’s it? I was amazed along with everyone else. It was a major learning experience for me.

We let Johnny stay in first class and he was totally normal throughout the whole flight. I joked with him, “What some passengers will do to get a free first class upgrade!” We both laughed but it certainly was a memorable start to the day.

exico City is known for being one of the largest cities in the world with inexpensive shopping, great Mexican cuisine and extremely high pollution. On one occasion, while riding in the van to the hotel, our van driver said it is not uncommon to see a bird drop from the sky because the air is so bad. Unfortunately, the city is also reputed to have a high crime rate.

I was flying with a captain who had just flown to Mexico City. He and the first officer decided to have dinner downtown. The cab driver seemed to be a trustworthy guy, so the pilots asked if he would stay until they finished their meal, then return them to the hotel. They would make sure he was well compensated. Of course, the cab driver agreed.

After finishing their meal, they stepped into the cab. The captain was familiar with the city and soon realized they were heading in the wrong direction of the hotel. He asked the driver where he was going. “No speaka English, no speaka English,”
he replied. The driver didn’t have any problems speaking English earlier.

The car was definitely heading out of the city. Thinking quickly, the captain took off his belt, put it around the driver’s neck and gave it a tug. “Take us back to the hotel,
NOW
!” he demanded.

Panicked, the driver hesitantly made a U-turn. The car behind him flashed his lights obviously part of a setup. The cab driver returned the pilots to the hotel safe and sound. Thank God the captain thought quickly. Who knows what could have happened to them!

light attendants are exposed to every kind of illness. We are in direct contact with thousands of people. They hand us cups, cans, napkins, newspapers and even Kleenex’s. People are coughing and sneezing and it’s pretty much impossible to fully protect ourselves from the most common contagious diseases. With so many germs everywhere, one of the most common difficulties flight attendants have is trying to protect ourselves from the sickness coming on board the aircraft.

When the SARS epidemic broke out, we learned that we could actually die from inhaling the germs of an infected person. You could die from other diseases with intimate contact, but this was something unique. Free flowing, contaminated air particles could kill you.

Coincidentally during the epidemic scare, other typical flu-like symptoms were rampant. One of the cities hit hard with SARS was Toronto. Ironically, that is where I was flying for the month!

Before my 3-day trip, my throat felt tender. I debated going to work at all, but thought it might go away. That was a huge mistake because it was an exhausting, multi-leg trip. My sore throat turned into a cold. For the next two days I was sniffling and sneezing. After the trip was over, I was waiting for the employee van in the cold, windy night air. For some reason the van was twenty minutes late and I completely lost my voice.

The next day, I was coughing up yellow mucous. I kept thinking it would get better, but it only got worse. My chest began to hurt so badly, I went to see the doctor.

“Does your chest hurt?” The doctor asked.

“Yes.”

“Are you coughing?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a fever?”

“I don’t think so,” I replied.

He took X-rays and returned with a sorrowful look. “You have a small mass on your lung,” he reported. “It looks like you have pneumonia.” I stared at him with eyes wide open and gasped. This was not a word you wanted to hear especially with the SARS epidemic going around. He prescribed antibiotics for seven days.

After taking the antibiotics faithfully, I was still not well. I stopped by the clinic to see if there was anything else I could
do. The doctor said he had been thinking of me for the entire week. This was the first time in his career where he could possibly have been exposed to a life-threatening illness by being in the same room as his patient. The fact that I was a flight attendant flying to Toronto didn’t help the situation. He hesitantly gave me antibiotics for three more days.

Finally, the coughing stopped and I slowly got better. I was pretty scared. Both the doctor and I were very much relieved.

fter living in Florida for many years, my husband and I decided on a change of scenery and moved to Atlanta. That meant commuting to work again.

My upcoming 2-day trip was easily commutable. I would leave Atlanta on the early morning flight, fly my trip, and return the next day on the last flight — perfect, on paper. Unfortunately, it did not turn out that way.

We’ve all done some things we are not proud of. This particular instance was one of complete exasperation!

My flights were on schedule the first day. The second day, however, brought major weather delays. As a result, I was clearly going to miss my connection home to Atlanta. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. This meant I would either pay the expense of a hotel room or stay in flight operations and sleep in a chair. Neither option was appealing.

The last leg of my trip was Chicago - Miami. It was bumpy all the way. After being tossed around while doing the beverage
service, I couldn’t wait to sit down for a break in the galley. Looking down at my watch, I saw it was getting close to 10:30 p.m. I usually go to bed around 9, so I was getting a little tired and grumpy.

I settled into my jumpseat enjoying a few minutes of much needed time to myself when three male passengers sporting their business polo shirts invaded my galley. At this point, I didn’t want to talk to anyone, so I opened a magazine and buried my nose in it, hoping they would get the hint. I let them chat for a bit but they were getting on my nerves. Coincidentally, the seat belt sign flashed on, as the air turned choppy.

“Hey you guys,” I said. “The seatbelt sign is on; you better go ahead and sit down.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” they said in agreement, but never followed through.

The choppy air became more turbulent. “You need to sit down,” I told them again. They laughed, thinking I wasn’t being serious and ignored my request.