The flight was quite an adventure. I have a friend who goes running with me that is a pilot. She gave me a few tips to possibly help me get on the plane first with my 4 kids.
When we arrived, we were over an hour early. We used the Skycaps to check our luggage and decided to check my Little Man's 5 point harness car seat instead of the booster seats. We just planned on putting him in my Buddy's booster to help with keeping the 2 year old under control.
We get to the gate and talk to the ticket agents. They could have cared less that I had for small children. I asked if we could board first, their response, family boarding is between Group A and Group B. So then I asked if we could go on with the crew and meet the pilot. They didn't seem to care that I had 4 small kids and could have cared less that this flight could get really stressful really quickly!
They never called family boarding! We got on the plane in seats B52 (or somewhere around there)! Disappointment #1
When we got on the plane, the flight attendant told us that the booster seats would need to be put in the overhead compartment because you can only sit on a seat with a 5 point harness. Disappointment #2
Then every isle seat and window seat are filled, leaving only the middle seats open clear to the back of the plane, so we get to the back of the plane and someone moves over so that there are two seats in the last row together and two seats in the next row together...let's remember we got tickets for 5 people. My Love Bug and I go and sit 4 rows in front of Oswald and the big kids. Disappointment #3
I had to nurse that sweet baby twice on the plane. Having milk in a bottle would have done no good because you can take much liquid on a plane.
The one saving grace of the flight out were the attendants. They were super sweet to my Princess. She wanted nothing more than to help them with their duties. The attendant kept promising her that she would get to help. When it was time to pick up the trash, my Princess became a flight attendant in training.
One of the flight attendants got on the speaker and made an announcement, it went something like this, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a flight attendant in training helping pick up the trash. She is in civilian clothes right now, but when she's done she will have earned her wings. If you would please place your trash in her bag we would really appreciate it."
Everyone on the flight leaned out of their seats to see who was helping and you could hear a collective chuckle among the passengers.
I think being a flight attendant for the day made her day and sure helped the end of the flight pass quick!
Guess what?! I know this would have been nice to know before, and unless they have recently changed the policy, you can take AS MUCH MILK and water bottles and formula as you want on planes! All you have to do is point to the baby and you're good as gold. They will have to "test" the milk to ensure that it's not some secret explosive which takes a few seconds. They put a test strip over the top of the bottle and wait 2 seconds. If the test strip doesn't change colors, you're good. I learned that with Amelie. And if ever in doubt just call the airport! On our last flight, Amelie threw up ALL OVER the guy in front of us so you're flight sounds GREAT compared to that! :) Love the blog btw.
ReplyDeleteI wish I would have known about the whole bottle thing. Would have saved me a few uncomfortable moments and then I could have wrestled the kids instead of Oswald, but let's face it, it's good for the dad to hang out with the kids, right?
Deletecustomer service does not exist among airlines. it is ridiculous and makes us all dread the necessary evil that is getting on a plane to see family across the country! but i'm glad that the flight attendants stepped it up for your princess! if i could handle driving all the way across the country with my brood, i would do it in a heartbeat over the absolutely excruciating ordeal that is airplane travel!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletehope it was still a good trip in spite of your "disappointments" or as i like to call them, "rage-inducing-moments". :)
You are so on the money with there is no customer service anymore! People don't care about the client and the person who is paying for their paycheck! It's really sad. Driving would take so long and with such little kids and only so much time, flying right now is so much more worth it! But I'm sure when they get older we'll switch to driving.
DeleteAnd we had a great time and there are more posts coming up about the rest of the trip...just trying to break things up.
So cute that they let her help! Too bad the people at the gate sucked so much!
ReplyDeleteAt least it was a direct flight so you only have to deal with "customer no service" one time. What a cute flight attendant! I hope they did give her some wings!
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