I have been out of training for nearly 2 months now and am just beginning to figure out when and more importantly when NOT to call Crew Support. Crew Support is that function within the company who is responsible for scheduling Flight Attendants, First Officers, and Captains for the various flights and trips that each airline has going on a any given day. In training we were instructed that Crew Support will become your best friend, if not your only friend in this industry. Quite the contrary is becoming readily apparent as I begin to navigate my way around the aviation industry.
Since completing my IOE (Initial Operating Experience - think on-the-job training) I have been in Chicago waiting in Reserve, which means I am waiting for Crew Support to call me stating they have a plane flight that needs me to be its flight attendant, anyway, I've been in Chicago O'Hare Airport for 14 days without so much as a phone call asking if I was really there. I've called them daily to let them know I am there and would like to fly IF at all possible each day. When I call I usually get a different person everytime, in fact I've never spoken with the same agent twice. I even sign myself up for "first call", and still have not flown much.
That was until this week!
It is Thanksgiving week in the USA and I was in Denver, with my family, until Tuesday when I decided it would be in my best interest to get to DIA early enough to beat any holiday travelers late Tuesday afternoon. I arrived at the gate for the 11:25 am flight on United to ORD in time to be told it may not happen because of a couple of pilots with more seniority had last minute decided to fly their 6 member families to ORD for the holidays (story for another post). Long story short, I was bumped off of 7 flights on Tuesday afternoon.
When at last I was becoming nervous about making it to ORD to begin my shift of waiting in Chicago, I called to "S"Crew Support to get help and maybe some sympathy, or at the very least some form of understanding. Little did I know THEY DON"T CARE....
Seriously?!?!?! I am new to this industry and lifestyle and you are going to laugh, belittle, and blame me?
I was livid! I decided I would waste my night by flying to Las Vegas on the 10 pm flight only to immediatly board a midnight PST flight back to ORD, putting me on the ground 1 hour beyond my potential 4 am CST on-call time. I asked the agent to remove me from "first call" for the next morning thinking this would ensure that I again would not be getting called out.
Not 7 minutes later my nearly-dead cell phone is wringing and the caller ID shows it to be "S"crew Support. I answer thinking they have found me a better alternative to flying all night long, or maybe they will let me sit in Denver (since they obviously haven't needed me in Chicago).
To my unbelieving ears, Roe is on the other end telling me I have a 4 day trip beginning at 7:45AM CST.
Lesson learned! NEVER call and tell CS you can't make it to your base on time. They will find a way to place a black mark on your employee record.
Just so you know...I made it to Chicago and did not miss out on the opportunity to spend my first Thanksgiving in Canada (again a story for another post)
