My First Transoceanic Trip

Okay.

When I was switching airlines, I was very very careful to say that my motivation for switching was the international flight BENEFITS. NOT the international flying.

Why? I had no idea if I’d like working long international trips at all!

I’ve always said that my favorite layovers are “any that are over 20 hours.” And my favorite types of trips at my previous airilnes were transcons and Hawaiis. (Transcon means “transcontinental,” or flying from one side of the country to the other). I preferred transcons and Hawaiis at my former airline because these trips typically meant one long flight, followed by 24 hours of hanging out in a cool place, followed by one long flight back home. Transcons are a beautiful work-hard/play-hard balance!

So, while I knew that I preferred longer flights and longer layovers, I wasn’t sure if I’d like the REALLY long flights like were now available at my new airline.

Well…two weeks ago I tried out my very first transoceanic trip. Here’s how it went:

It started with the bane of my existence: Airport standby. (This is when you sit around at the airport ready to fly out at a moment’s notice, in case another flight attendant can’t make their flight). I was sitting in the employee lounge, generally irritated (because I hate airport standby), when I decided to click on the app my airline uses for assigning trips. It’s generally good practice to look at this app a lot, to see if there are any good trips to swap into. Anyway, when I clicked on the app, I saw that there was a London Heathrow trip that was leaving in <2 hours. Do you know what that means??? That means it’s going to someone on airport standby, because they have to give people who aren’t at the airport 2 hours to get to the airport. OMG. OMG. OMG.

My airline has a “first in first out” rule when it comes to airport standby. What that means is that if a trip becomes available, it goes to the first person who got to the airport for airport standby. My airline also doesn’t really stack the airport with all that many standbys, so when I saw the trip, I knew it should either go to me or that it was possible that it would go to a standby who had gotten there an hour-or-so before me. As I was contemplating this, I clicked on the trip in the app…and saw…MY NAME!

I stared at my phone in disbelief. I was going to London??? Wha???

I called Crew Scheduling to confirm that I’d be going to London, and then spent the next hour trying to figure out how to do a good job. The problem? My new airline does position sign-ups by seniority. So…it’s hard for a newbie to prepare when I won’t know until I meet my crew what position I’ll be working. I did my best, reviewing galleys and service standards and other documents. I was most scared of something called the “Galley Position” whose job is essentially working as the kitchen organizer/prepper/master. In other words, their job is to make sure the guests get amazing quick service by making sure the food is cooked, plated, and lovely. In order to do well at the Galley Position, you have to know the order of service, the organization of the galley, and you have to stay super organized with counting meals and keeping everything in order. In other words: Things it’s really hard to do when you’ve never even been in the galley of a wide body aircraft or seen the service in real life! Because the Galley Position is so much work, it often goes to the most junior crewmember, because no one wants to do it. In other words: ME.

So…I was scared. To get ready, I reviewed all I could about the service and the galley.

I later realized that I had reviewed the WRONG service and galley. I thought the Galley Position is in the main cabin, when it’s in first class! My preparation did NOTHING to prepare me for the Galley Position!

Thankfully, when I got to the briefing room and people were signing up for positions, a crewmember asked me if I’d ever worked galley. “I’ve never worked a wide body!” I exclaimed. He volunteered to take the Galley Position to protect me. The the next most junior crewmember volunteered to do it on the way back.

I was SAFE! Safe from Galley.

Working the flight was still a challenge, since everything was new to me, but it was also fun! When I got on, I had a hard time finding my safety equipment, and often had to clarify my role or where to find things. But, I was communicative with my crew when I needed direction or help, and they were kind and communicative back. I like doing first class service domestically, so it was no surprise that I enjoyed working the extra fancy first class on a transoceanic flight. I always show my genuine personality to passengers and am playful with them, so my sweet first class passengers all knew it was my first time working a wide body, and were understanding and kind when I made mistakes or had to ask my crew about how things worked.

I usually don’t like working red eye flights, because the passengers fall asleep, and then it can get boring. But I didn’t get bored on the transoceanic flight because there was more to do than on a domestic flight. I like staying busy, so this worked well for me. This is how it goes: Drink and meal services in all cabins, including clean up. Then half the crew goes to crew rest, and the other half stays up to take care of passenger needs (but most passengers go to sleep during this time). During this time, I was able to keep busy by doing water and juice walks, check on passenger needs in first class, checking on lavatory supplies, and chatting with crew. After the first crew finishes crew rest, there might be another snack or meal service, or might not be, depending on the length of the flight. Then the other half of the crew goes to crew rest. When they get up from crew rest, there’s a final meal and drink service, and then you land!

Crew rest was interesting! I got to go to a hidden little room under the main cabin where I climbed into my little bunk. I had worried I’d feel a bit trapped in the bunk, but I didn’t. The bunk has a curtain for privacy, and a reading light. I took out my contact lenses, and tried to sleep, but I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited to be on my first transoceanic flight! It was still nice to have a little privacy and a little time to just be!

After carefully making it clear that I’m at the new airline for the international flight benefits, NOT the international flying. I’m here to say, “I LOVE long international flights!” It’s so fun keeping busy. I really really enjoyed it and hope it’s not too long before I get another transoceanic flight!

London is one of my favorite cities, and I enjoyed wandering the city as always.