Jumpseat Rider

O.K.  So, I haven’t been very good about updating my blog.  I’m going to try to do a better job!

Last month, I flew to London with my good friend, Heather.  I’m finally senior enough to pick up an international trip once in a while.  It’s so much more fun when I can fly with my friends!

Heather and I had a lot of fun.  The hotel we stay at is walking distance to Hyde Park.  It’s also close to Harrod’s and Buckingham Palace if you like to walk.  Of course, you can take the double decker buses or the tube!  We took the bus to Picadilly Circus for dinner and then walked back.  It was quite a long walk home, but it was good to get some exercise.

My photos are in the Flickr photostream on the right side of this page.

To all Delta and Northwest flight attendants,

I hope you will read this article written by Rene Foss, a Northwest flight attendant. I think she does a great job of explaining why we need a union. I can’t stand it when I hear my co-workers say that the union has never done anything for them. That attitude is going to get us in trouble. We have a tendency to take for granted all the benefits that come from union membership.

A Learning Experience at JFK

My family went to Playa del Carmen in January. What a great trip! My mom wanted to get us all together and she gave this to us for Christmas. My mom is pretty awesome. We stayed at Las Palapas. My brother, Matt, came with his family: wife, Robin, kids, Ryan, Tyler and Grace. My brother, Jeremy, came with his family: wife, Franziska, and son, Ellis. They came all the way from Hamburg! This was the first time that the whole family got to meet Ellis! My sister, Emily came with her family: husband, John, and daughter, Ella. Mom came with her boyfriend, Bob.

We had so much fun just laying around on the beach, and playing in the waves. I hope we can do this again next year!

Click here to see the photos!

I’m in the middle of a nine-day military charter in and out of Kuwait. The way it works here is that we don’t find out about these trips until the last minute. So, to get one on my schedule is not easy. I’ve been flying for 11 years but at this airline that is junior! The most senior flight attendants on this trip have 35 years or more of flying! God help me if I stay that long.

Anyway, the trip is nice because we fly to Kuwait twice to bring troops in and out. Between those flights, we layover in Amsterdam. I’m currently on a 3 day layover in Amsterdam! Nowadays, that is very uncommon for a layover.

Our time in Kuwait is very short. I don’t think the airline wants us there too long for safety sake. We get in with just enough time to shop for pashminas near the hotel and sleep.

Here are a few photos of Kuwait. We’re not allowed to take photos at the airport for security reasons.

You are probably wondering how a flight attendant can own a dog when I travel half the month. Because I have the most incredible Mom in the world! She loves Dillon and when I fly he stays with her. She lives 20 minutes away so it’s been working out really well. I got custody of Dillon in my divorce! At least, something good came from it!

My cousin, Katie, was married on August 24th to her longtime sweetheart, Doug. I have more photos at home that I’ll try to post later. Here are a few of my photos.

You may find this amusing or you may find it sickening. CEO Doug Steenland is so out of touch with what is going on at his airline. He was interviewed on the Today show on August 15th, 2007.  This summer he blamed “high pilot absenteeism” for the record number of cancelled flights not poor management decisions. See this article in the Star Tribune.

Northwest CEO defends his airline

I’m working on a web site for my niece, Ella Kathryn. I have lots of great pictures and video since she lives across the alley from my house! Here is what I have so far. I’ll keep working at it between trips. click here…

Thanks for checking out my website! I’m just getting started at this blogging thing so this may take a while to work on. I’m a flight attendant so I try to work on projects between flights and on layovers. Thank God, we recently had wireless internet added to our crew lounges in DTW and MSP. So if you don’t know what a jumpseat rider is, you don’t work in the airlines! That’s O.K. A jumpseat is the retractable seat that flight attendants and pilots sit on for takeoff and landing. Very comfy! But often when you commute, as I do, that is all you get! No passenger seats available!

I just wanted to share this article that my mother sent to me from the Star Tribune. It’s a really nice article about my grandfather, Warren McCoy, who passed away in 2003. It was nice to hear that he was so well respected in his industry.

Real McCoy