Hello!

I’ve been reading your blog for a while and really enjoy it. I am one of those “crazy” airline nerd passengers who really likes to fly just for the fun of it. On any given weekend I typically fly two transcon round-trips with a few extra segments mixed in so I spend a lot of time on my primary carrier. I’ve also done a few segments on “your” airline. I find that employee morale at my primary carrier is quite low so I do a lot of things to try to bring a smile and a little bit of fun back in to those employee’s days. I wear a certain shirt that they love (found out about the shirt from Ben at onemileatatime and have started to carry extra ones with me and give them out to employees who ask where to get one (started doing this after a couple of captains tried to buy the one I was wearing!) I also give out starbucks cards which I think works well since most airports have a Starbucks or two…

The latest “morale booster” comes directly from your blog. I print out the “You know you’re a flight attendant when…” list and bring several copies of it with me on my flights. I wait till the service is over and there is a little bit of down time, then I hand it to one of the FAs on board. A minute or two later I always hear giggling coming from the first class galley. Then a minute or two after that I see an FA walking down the aisle towards the Y galley with the list in her hand and a smile on her face. I assume that’s followed by giggling from the Y galley but I’m too far away to hear it… So take pride in knowing that you are helping to bring a smile to the day of many FAs who are continuously beaten down by their management. Of course I give credit where it’s due and provide them the URL to your blog.

Thanks so much for your great blog. You help to bring some happiness to a lot of people. Also, I’m sorry for not flying “your” airline more – but if it makes you feel better it is the *only* other airline I fly besides my primary carrier. I love the seat-back DirecTV although I don’t think my seatmates appreciated the episode of “Air Emergency” I was watching on National Geographic Channel as much as I did. 🙂

-Hunter

Dear Hunter,

Bravo! Every flight attendant loves a good gift and it sounds like you are a great gifter! I love that you are a bright spot for the flight attendants. Even at an airline where the morale is high it’s nice to have a passenger say, “thank you.” We work in an environment where people are stressed, beat down and not too happy by the time they see the flight attendants so when a passenger makes that effort to put a smile on my face it can really turn my day around. Your gift ideas are great and I am flattered that one of them comes from my blog! Proof that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to put that smile on someones face. Here is another post flight attendants may get a kick out of, “So You Want to be a Flight Attendant.”

I also wanted to say I love airline geeks and speaking of them, Bobby from “upupandagay” and I are working on a project with Mike over at the upgrd podcast. It’s exciting, and I should have full details next week.

Thanks again for your kind words and of course for plugging my blog. keep up the good work, it’s passengers like you that make our job worthwhile;-)

P.S. You’re right, your seat mate probably didn’t appreciate your choice in shows…lol!