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.

Continue reading “The best birthday present – Paris! April 27, 2026.” →