Small.
Year Three. Month Three. #PNW.
Every airline is different.
Some people get to work at an international airline with big jets and big city layovers.
Other people work for vacation low cost carriers with stopovers in hot spots like Miami, Cancun and Honolulu.
Still others work on charter planes, or Combi aircraft or even corporate jets, flying important people and things to always-changing destinations.
I work for a "small" regional airline. We have overnights in places like Pellston, Michigan. Fresno, California. Omaha, Nebraska. Pasco, Washington.
We have small planes as well. Canadair Regional Jets. A few Embraer 175s. Seventy-six seats, tops.
Our bases are small, with Salt Lake City being the largest with barely four hundred flight attendants. Compare that to Delta's JFK base with several thousand flight attendants!
My lovely little Seattle base is growing, now with almost one hundred forty flight attendants. It's an exciting time, but I still remember when I got my transfer to Seattle almost two years ago. I was number forty-three out of forty-nine flight attendants in the base back then. It was a tight-knit group. It still is a tight-knit group.
This past week, I worked a quick turn with my pilot friends, a long Edmonton overnight with my checkairman buddy, got to fly to Colorado Springs and back with one of the first Seattle F.O.s I ever worked with (now he's a Captain!) and then I traveled to Ketchikan, Alaska and back with awesome pilots and one of my favorite lead flight attendants.
It's honestly hard to even call this work.
I had some amazing conversations this past week. I let my "fly friends" know what was going on with me. What was happening with my life. What was/is about to change.
I got hugs. I got words of support. I got love, a lot of love.
These people make my job unbelievably wonderful.
After I got back from Ketchikan, I ran into a friend from training. We hugged, and I told her my updates. She wished me well and I walked over to the crew lounge, where I kept running into more and more of my favorite crewmembers. It's hard to leave the airport when all the best reunions happen inside security.
If you ever get the chance to work for a small airline, do it. It may not be forever, and some things about it may be wacky or frustrating, but you'll make the best friends of your life and you'll never regret the experience.
Big things are happening, but right now all I want to do is savor these small moments.
 |
| That #regionallife though. <3 <3 <3 |
Every airline is different.
Some people get to work at an international airline with big jets and big city layovers.
Other people work for vacation low cost carriers with stopovers in hot spots like Miami, Cancun and Honolulu.
Still others work on charter planes, or Combi aircraft or even corporate jets, flying important people and things to always-changing destinations.
I work for a "small" regional airline. We have overnights in places like Pellston, Michigan. Fresno, California. Omaha, Nebraska. Pasco, Washington.
 |
| That one time the crew and I rented a car in Fresno and drove to Yosemite and it was gorgeous. |
We have small planes as well. Canadair Regional Jets. A few Embraer 175s. Seventy-six seats, tops.
Our bases are small, with Salt Lake City being the largest with barely four hundred flight attendants. Compare that to Delta's JFK base with several thousand flight attendants!
My lovely little Seattle base is growing, now with almost one hundred forty flight attendants. It's an exciting time, but I still remember when I got my transfer to Seattle almost two years ago. I was number forty-three out of forty-nine flight attendants in the base back then. It was a tight-knit group. It still is a tight-knit group.
 |
| That one time I flew to Ketchikan with my amazing friends and we went crazy with the selfies. |
This past week, I worked a quick turn with my pilot friends, a long Edmonton overnight with my checkairman buddy, got to fly to Colorado Springs and back with one of the first Seattle F.O.s I ever worked with (now he's a Captain!) and then I traveled to Ketchikan, Alaska and back with awesome pilots and one of my favorite lead flight attendants.
It's honestly hard to even call this work.
I had some amazing conversations this past week. I let my "fly friends" know what was going on with me. What was happening with my life. What was/is about to change.
I got hugs. I got words of support. I got love, a lot of love.
 |
| That one time we laughed way too hard on our Edmonton layover and drank all of the wine. |
These people make my job unbelievably wonderful.
After I got back from Ketchikan, I ran into a friend from training. We hugged, and I told her my updates. She wished me well and I walked over to the crew lounge, where I kept running into more and more of my favorite crewmembers. It's hard to leave the airport when all the best reunions happen inside security.
If you ever get the chance to work for a small airline, do it. It may not be forever, and some things about it may be wacky or frustrating, but you'll make the best friends of your life and you'll never regret the experience.
 |
| That one time when it was Captain Carrie's last trip ever with the company and we all cried our eyes out. |
Big things are happening, but right now all I want to do is savor these small moments.
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