A Final Word from Keai

The link below is the final follow up to little Keai. He is now back in China and living the life of a healthy and active little boy....

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/health/Chinese_heart_patient_sends_his_thanks

Geriatric Rumble

Sitting around again on reserve this month and I've only flown one trip so far. Of course it was on the one day where I needed to be home, but they called me at 2pm for an evening departure to Buenos Aires. So I missed the meeting I was supposed to lead and was instead heading south. My friend Ted was on the trip, and the rest of the crew was nice as well.

Since it was a day layover, we don't get any time in Buenos Aires to really do anything, but sleep. Our flight home got a little crazy. At boarding, this woman comes up said "Hi! It's so great to see you again!" I responded that I was sorry, but I did not remember meeting her. She replied that I was one of the folks who took her down at the end of December and she was appalled that I did not remember her! I apologized, but explained that I see lots of different people all the time, but she made a face and stormed off. This time of year, the plane is full of wealthy old people who are going and coming to/from their Antarctica cruises. We had one lady (with a bad wig) who started picking a fight with the man sitting in front of her because he had reclined his seat. She starts kicking his seat, starts yelling at him, so he comes to the back and starts slinging swear words about her. My co-worker Jodie is real good at diffusing situations, so she calmed everyone down. People!

The rest of the flight was uneventful, thankfully. Nothing like trying to keep old people from killing each other.

Prospero Año Nuevo

Happy New Year 2009! I of course spent it working. I left on the 30th for Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was the typical short South American layover. We got in around 10am, and made it to the hotel by 11. I slept from about 11:30 to 6:30, had a sandwich I brought from home, and then went and walked around downtown. I guess because it was New Years Eve, everything shut down early because the entire place was like a ghost town, to the point that it was a bit unsettling, so I went back to the hotel and watched television until pick up at 10pm.

Our purser had made arrangements to have extra champagne onboard, as we were departing shortly before midnight. Surprisingly, the airline agreed to pay the extra money for it, which is a shocker because they don't normally do that kind of thing. We poured champagne for all 240 people after take off and everyone had a toast to ring in the new year (except for the flight attendants of course). I guess it put everyone in a good mood because when I passed thru the cabin with our UNICEF "Champions for Children" bag, I collected over 300.00 from everyone onboard and that almost never happens.

We had decorated the entry door to the plane and our purser had brought hats and bling for the crew to wear.

Of course, we had a ten minute delay this morning when we arrived back home and so all that good humor and niceness the passengers had went flying out the window and they were their usual selves again. We also had a celebrity onboard, Lara Flynn Boyle, but she and her husband were sitting in coach and she made it clear she did not want to be bothered.

I worked my butt off in December, covered four continents, and flew 57,000 + miles. My body clock is all out of whack. I bid onto reserve in January to change my rotation, so perhaps I will get a little reprieve.

Happy New Year!