A Sweet Note from A Passenger

a passenger travelling with his kid gave me a picture of his son with this written at the back. it made the my 10 hour work worthwhile.

5th Best Airline In The World

oh wow.... we ranked 5th on the world airline awards plus we bagged World's Best Cabin Staff and the Best Economy Class award!
there is still more room for improvement like fluent english speaking (korean) cabin crew perhaps? miscommunication is always a problem.
but then again if they learn to speak english fluently then they wouldn't need any more filipina crew. yikes.

news article from
http://www.airlinequality.com/news/110808_airlineawards.htm

2008 WORLD AIRLINE AWARDS ANNOUNCED

SINGAPORE AIRLINES NAMED AIRLINE OF THE YEAR IN WORLD AIRLINE AWARDS


LONDON, 11th August 2008

"For the 3rd time in 10 years, Singapore Airlines has been named World's Best Airline, winning the 2008 Airline of the Year title in the latest World Airline Awards" said Edward Plaisted (CEO of Skytrax). "We extend our congratulations to them for this notable achievement, coinciding with the time that Singapore Airlines was the world's first airline to fly the Airbus A380."

Over 15 million eligible survey interviews were completed during the 11 month Survey period. From Seoul to Sao Paulo, Copenhagen to Cape Town, the scale and breadth of the 2008 survey further strengthens the well-established reputation as the World's Largest Passenger Survey.

Singapore Airlines also collected the Award for Best Business Class in a very competitive section of the survey. "Business Class standards continue to be upgraded by airlines across the world, and Singapore Airlines managed to retain their title amidst this growing level of competition" said Edward Plaisted. "It is the whole business class package that is evaluated, from airport lounges, ground services to the quality of cabin seating, inflight entertainment, catering and of course the cabin staff service."

Cathay Pacific takes 2nd place overall in the 2008 Awards (up from 3rd in 2007), and picks up the Award for World's best First Class, giving due recognition to their new onboard 1st Class product and service concept.

Qantas is ranked 3rd worldwide (5th in 2007) and collects the Award for Best First Class Lounge - achieved in a period where the airline has seen competition ramped up both in its domestic and regional market. "The global rating for Qantas is interesting" says Edward Plaisted. "When we look at more localised studies, reporting etc, we found that Qantas comes under fire from some media that clearly contradicts a more widespread view of Qantas customers that voted for the airline in the survey. We do find that many countries flag-carrier airlines suffer fairly vitriolic levels of reporting in their local regions, and the airline industry remains a business that some areas of the press seem to love-to-hate!"

"Another closely contested Survey category, the Best First Class Lounge Award is a true recognition of top-end quality being delivered, and Qantas have set a clear benchmark with their First Class facilities at Sydney Airport. This lounge in Sydney is the flagship for Qantas. Designed by Australian Marc Newson, the lounge concept for both product and staff service has been modelled around the finest quality you would expect to find in a 5-star hotel or restaurant, and the best part is that the concept is being so well delivered by Qantas" added Plaisted.

Thai Airways maintained a strong ranking, placed 4th worldwide (2nd in 2007) together with picking up 4th place in the Best Cabin Staff section of the Awards.

Asiana Airlines was one of the biggest improvers across the 2008 results, ranked 5th worldwide (up from 12th in 2007), as well as taking the sought-after World's Best Cabin Staff Award and also collecting the Award for Best Economy Class. "This is clearly an airline on the move upwards" says Edward Plaisted. "Smaller than it's national counterpart Korean Air, Asiana Airlines are developing an ever-increasing level of customer support, achieving some of the highest levels of customer satisfaction across today's airline industry. Some innovative cabin service concepts clearly contribute towards their success, but it is more apparent that Asiana Airlines is gaining a worldwide reputation based on the concept of superb customer service."

A Scene from a Flight to India

the scene of the crime

this happened sometime 2005 on a flight from seoul to new delhi.
i was doing my customary walk-around-the-cabin thing when i saw something long in the middle of the aisle. since the lighting of the cabin was dimmed to allow passengers to sleep i initially thought that it was just a shadow of something. upon looking at it at every angle i realized that it was POOP!
someone pooped in the aisle!
omygahd!!!
we tried to investigate who did it and later found out that it was an elderly indian passenger who probably didn't know where the lavatory is. he was travelling with his family and geez the family didn't even apologize for what happened. as in deadma pa.

There's No Place Like The Lavatory

on a flight back to seoul from san francisco a female passenger was about to step in the lavatory when she called me and said that there was somebody sleeping inside.

WHAT?!

i hurriedly checked and saw that the person inside sleeping was a crew member! she was seated in the bowl (of course with the lid closed) with her head bobbing sideways. she was probably in a deep slumber for she didn't hear us open the door.

the passenger was understanding and just went out to find another vacant one.

well you see dear readers the lavatory has sometimes become a refuge for us from the chaos of the cabin and galley. in a 12 hour flight there are times passengers can be so demanding and would ask anything that they could hoard inflight. juice? nuts? beer? coke every 10 minutes is just too much!

the only mistake that my colleague did was SHE DIDN'T LOCK THE DOOR. hehehe....

i'm here in seattle right now. we are billeted at the double tree airport hotel. far from downtown but the rooms are nice and cozy and they give out yummy chewy chocolate chip cookies upon check-in. i'm flying with cristina, another filipino crew.
the flight to here was smooth and the passengers were well-behaved. there were a lot of babies on board. there was this caucasian couple who i assumed adopted the baby they were carrying because the little one looked very korean. the baby kept on crying and the mother couldn't pacify him. she was so helpless that she was on the verge of crying. good thing ajumas (married or old woman) who were sitting nearby offered to help calm the baby. i just hope that the baby was just teething and not having stranger anxiety with his new mom. i wonder how the real mother could've given up an adorable and chubby little thing.

we didn't do much during our layover because it kept on raining which is not a surprise though (hello?! it's seattle!). we went to the southcenter mall (because that is the only place that the complimentary shuttle would go) to do a little shopping. i expected to find a foodcourt but unfortunately it was under renovation so we had to go out, cross the street and get drenched in the rain to reach the thai restaurant nearby. mygahd, i ate a lot!
after that we walked over to Target to buy some dry items. i was able to buy Aqi a toy, camo shorts, sandals and a bath wash. i regretted buying shorts yesterday from Gymboree for $6 because there were a lot of $2 shorts at Target.
and oh i lost a shopping bag yesterday with a blouse inside and i don't know where i lost it. good thing it was just $8 but still!

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i got hubby his plane ticket to new york and mygahd the tax was so expensive! it was an FOC (free of charge) ticket but then we still had to pay for the tax. i forked over 88,000 won which is around $88.

The Crew That Eats Together....

got this from the Fly Away Cafe
didn't know that it's the same way with other airlines.

Q: Does the whole crew get together for meals on layovers?

A: Rarely, although a lot depends on the size of crew.

With smaller crews typical of commuter carriers, a crew may be three people — two pilots and one Flight Attendant. In those case it is fairly typical for the entire crew to get together for dinner. Those layovers tend to be in smaller cities, which means fewer dining options, and it’s easy to coordinate preferences for only a handful of people.

At the major carriers you are talking about a crew of at least five — two pilots and three Flight Attendants — and it goes up in numbers from there. Since that’s the work environment that I’m accustomed to, it’s the one that I can speak to the best.

I haven’t been out for dinner with the entire crew since longer than I can remember. Crew members have their own interests - whether it’s visiting family on a layover, pursuing a personal interest, working out, shopping, or even slam-clicking (going into your hotel room (slam), locking the door (click), and never being seen or heard from until the flight the next day). It’s not typical for everyone to be on the same page about what they want to do on a layover.

Despite what might be portrayed in movies or on television, we don’t always like one another very much. I don’t mean that we hate one another either, but most of the time you don’t share a lot in common with most of your co-workers. If you are fortunate enough to fly with someone that you like, you’ll probably go off and do something together. But no one wants to spend quality layover time with someone that you have nothing in common with.

Another reality is that crew members have different budgets, and that carries over into meal choices. While some might enjoy going on for a leisurely meal and glass of good wine, others subsist off of cheap fast food eaten in a hotel room. The two extremes rarely can find common middle ground to make everyone happy.

Some crew members view their layover time as a time to be alone, away from family at home and passengers on the plane. The layover is a time to decompress, relax, watch mindless television, read a book, etc. The last thing they want is to be around co-workers.

Most Flight Attendants have made all of these choices at one point or another in their career. I know that I have. It’s all about making a personal choice, and rarely is an entire crew going to make the same personal choice.

i just came from a seoul-cebu-seoul flight. aircraft assigned to this flight is the scarebus-321(airbus321). i don't like this aircraft because it is quite small with a single aisle. the galley is so cramped and it's difficult to stow items for the flight as there are not enough space to keep them. we usually end up stowing it in the overhead bins. malas na lang the passenger seated near the galley if he has a big bag to stow.
since the flight was on a sunday we had a couple of honeymooners onboard. fyi, in korean culture couples usually are dressed alike. and they usually take the flight right after the celebration. so just imagine a couple dressed exactly alike from their sporty or casual top down to the shoes with the female still in bride mode hair and makeup. it's like noah's ark inside the plane. hehe...
we also had a couple of families with little kids in tow. apparently for koreans cebu is a honeymoon and a family destination.
we had a smooth inbound and outbound flight. inbound seoul was the best because the passengers were all asleep as the flight was at 1 am.

our hotel in cebu was the Hilton Cebu Resort and Spa. the hotel facilities and service was superb but i didn't like the location though. it's located in mactan island an hour away from cebu downtown. if you will take a taxi it would cost you 700pesos roundtrip. good thing they provide a complimentary shuttle service to the downtown area for their guests.

i have nothing much to share during my layover there because it was quite short. i just went around ayala center to eat and have a pedicure. my korean colleagues on the other hand had a massage outside the hotel. they have a korean contact and according to them the massage is really good.

G'day from Sydney

It was a wet weather in Sydney but that didn't stop me from shopping.
I shopped not for myself but for my baby boy. Bought 2 bucket hats, 2 cargo shorts, 1 cargo pants, a sando and swimming trunks. I also bought a pack of disposable bibs and placemats for Au$2 per pack. Everything that I bought were on sale so I give myself a pat on the back for a job well done. Of course shopping in the US is much more cheaper but I can't help it. I shop everywhere I go.

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It's the first time I saw this shop in Sydney. Cute.









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It's funny how Filipinos hate bringing umbrellas whereas in Sydney, men in suits young and old alike, bring their own umbrella. I'm talking about hot guys in suits ha.

Inflight Booboos

During meal service while working on a flight to Manila I was telling the passengers that the choices were beef with rice and seafood with rice. As I was about to finish serving all my passengers, a co-worker asked me if I still had omellette in my cart. OMYGAWD!!!!

Was wondering why no one questioned me. I probably gave the "supposed seafood" to those passenger who were really sleepy at that time and would settle for anything. Whew!