Trips are awarded by seniority, so, being a junior flight attendant, typically the only way I’m going to be able to get a transoceanic (TO) trip is by trading with someone else or picking it up when I can. (Flight attendants who are designated as being able to speak another language fluently get TO’s regularly regardless of their seniority.) I won’t pick up trips on my days off – those are sacred – so that leaves trading trips with someone else, or having the ability to pick up a TO if someone else just takes one of my trips that I’ve put up on the drop/swap board.
Trading trips is typically a no-go for me, because seniors who want to trade TO’s will typically only trade for either another TO or if you’ll take two of their trips in exchange for giving them one of yours. I’m not about to work MORE just so I can get a TO. So, despite my fellow classmates going on TO’s because they are working almost every day that they are legally allowed to, I continued to impatiently wait for lighting to strike while enjoying my days off with Jeff.
I’ll put trips that I’m ambivalent about up on the drop board, but they aren’t particularly attractive to most flight attendants because they are junior trips. In other words, if I’m not crazy about the trip, most everyone else isn’t either for the same reason. If it’s up for drop, no one is going to take it unless they have room in their schedule and they have a desire for that particular trip.
So it’s with that background knowledge that I found myself in my crash pad late in the afternoon, the day before a trip with layovers in Hartford and Norfolk. I certainly didn’t mind going on that trip. I had plans to have dinner with friends in Hartford and I really like Norfolk. But I had put it on the drop board just in case someone wanted it so I could try to pick up a “better” trip. Better could mean higher credit, more appealing layovers, or – dare to dream – a TO.
Looking at my schedule, I discovered to my amazement that my trip was gone! Someone had taken it! So I looked to see what was available on open time to pick up. Holy shit!! There were multiple TO’s available! Oh my god!! Where did I want to go?? There was only one conceivable place for my first TO – Paris!
With barely controlled excitement I tapped on my phone and waited a few seconds while the system processed it. HOLY SHIT!!! I was going to Paris!!
I immediately called Jeff, and I was rapid fire talking to him when I realized – HOLY SHIT! I was going to spend my birthday in Paris!! Cue even more barely controlled excitement!! I asked him if he wanted to go, and he declined saying it was too many hours of flying for too short of a layover (22 hours.) I couldn’t really argue with that given that he’s not used to flying, so I decided not to guilt him into it. LOL! He’d have other opportunities to go.
Working a TO is completely different from a domestic trip. There is a LOT more service in all of the cabin classes, and there are a LOT more flight attendants since it’s a long flight on a wide body aircraft. Typically there are four of us on a narrow body domestic flight. This trip would have ten flight attendants. I was nervous because it would all be so new to me, but there was one other flight attendant who was senior to me by only one week, so at least I wasn’t the only newbie.
The crew was great. Really friendly, very enthusiastic and helpful, and as the flight took off one of them sitting in the jumpseat next to me said, “Let’s go to Paris!” I was SO excited!
Ultimately, the flight over was an absolute whirlwind of controlled chaos. I was assisting in the galley in the back and barely had any idea what was going on. We departed around 8:00 p.m. and it was constant rapid-fire work for the first several hours as everyone hurried through the tasks to get to their break.
Around 1:00 a.m. I went on my rest, and even that was new and disorienting. We had a crew rest area down below with assigned individual berths for everyone, similar to what you would find on a submarine, and it took me awhile to figure out which one was mine. But I found it after a few precious minutes, climbed into bed, and fell asleep. It was like sleeping on Pegu Club during an overnight. Ninety minutes later I was back up in the cabin and the other half of the crew went on their rest. We did regular checks on passengers, kept the lavs tidy, kept feeding the passengers, and before I knew it we were getting ready to land.
It was a quick walk to the motor coach since we didn’t have to go through the traditional immigration and customs lines. On the drive to the hotel, one of the senior flight attendants suggested that I nap. I said that I wanted to look at the view as we drove, and she said I could see it on the way back to the airport. It would be better to have more energy for the layover. Very good advice.
We were all awake as we pulled up to the hotel, and the purser (who is essentially the lead flight attendant) led everyone in a rousing round of “Happy birthday” to me, with the LOD’s (language of destination flight attendants) singing it in French. I was spending my birthday in Paris! How lucky was I!
By noon I had checked into my room, changed out of my uniform, and was walking out of the hotel to start my birthday in Paris! The weather was absolutely perfect – upper 70’s and sunny, no humidity. Chamber of Commerce weather as my dad would have called it. I hadn’t been to Paris since 2007, so I decided I was going to try to take a boat tour on the Seine and mainly walk around, soaking it all in.
I walked to the Arc de Triomphe, then took the metro to the stop closest to the boat tour. I missed a departure by 5 minutes and decided I didn’t want to wait around an hour for the next one, so I started walking. I went to check out the area that Jeff and I had stayed at in 2007 and bought two pain au chocolates from Kayser Bakery (where we had bought our daily breakfast pastries.) I originally ordered one, and the guy behind the counter looked shocked, saying “Only one??” I decided he was right and ordered two. LOL! And of course they were delicious.
After going on a failed quest to find the bakery where we had chocolate eclairs from heaven back in ’07 – something I expected to be unsuccessful given I could only remember the general area where we had them – I decided to have a birthday picnic at the Jardin du Luxembourg. I had loved that spot on our first trip, but we had unfortunately discovered it the day before we left. I had vowed then that I would return and spend more time there. I didn’t realize it would take 19 years, but better late than never.
I bought an amazing sandwich and cookie (and smartly took a photo of the bakery so I could go there again one day!), and found myself a great spot for my picnic. Soaking everything in, I even took a short nap. With such gorgeous weather, everyone was out and about enjoying the park. It was perfect.
The children were out playing with their little rented sailboats – so cute! So French!
Next up was a food hall that I wanted to check out so I could bring back assorted goodies. The other flight attendants had told me there was a great market and pharmacy underground next to the hotel. I had been skeptical that it would be THAT great given its location and had foolishly blown off their advice, choosing to go to the food hall instead. It was very cool, but also huge and overwhelming. I had analysis paralysis and ended up leaving without buying anything. Note to self: always listen to the senior mamas.
After that it was more walking for the rest of the day taking everything in and making notes for next time, until by around 6:00 p.m. my eyes were starting to burn from fatigue. I went to the market and pharmacy that the other flight attendants had recommended – Surprise! They were right! – and bought French butter, French gin for Jeff, and other yummy treats – and I was asleep by 8:00 p.m.
Although Jeff wasn’t with me, he might as well have been, since I ended up calling him at least 8 times that day to share what I was seeing! And throughout the day (and in talking to Jeff), I continued to debate whether I liked TO’s given what a whirlwind the flight had been.
I woke up at 6:00 a.m. for our 7:35 a.m. pick up time and thought, “I’m in Paris!” At that point I decided I liked TO’s a bit more. The flight back also felt a tad less chaotic since I had already been through the process once. After we landed at JFK, I commuted back to Baltimore (napping along the way), and by the next morning I felt fine fatigue-wise. But I still wasn’t sure that I wanted to do them regularly.
It’s been two months since that trip, and I’m STILL not sure about TO’s. I haven’t been able to do another one yet (not for lack of trying), but I suspect I’ll make up my mind after the next one. I’m just not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze.
TO’s are a TON of work compared to a domestic trip, and the layover is typically 22-28 hours. That sounds like a lot until you realize that includes time to and from the airport, sleeping, showering, etc. Plus, it’s a big time change so it’s not like you have ALL day and evening to enjoy it. Sure, the younger flight attendants push through and sleep when they get back home. But I’m just not into that anymore. I like my sleep. It keeps me healthy.
TO’s are also worth less credit financially than a domestic trip because of the flight time and the longer layover. I sat next to a purser on a trip last month who told me that he makes more money flying the lead position on a 3-day domestic trip than he does on a 3-day TO, and he’s less tired at the end. He tries to work smarter, not harder, so he really doesn’t do many TO’s. It’s hard to argue with that logic. TO’s are certainly more glamorous than domestic trips. But are they worth it? I don’t know yet.
So we’ll see. I may just be a domestic diva, taking advantage of our benefits to fly for free and stay overseas on my own time for several days instead (and Jeff will come with me for that).
But hopefully I can get another one soon to find out once and for all!
Nothing goes to windward . . . 