Fasten Your Seatbelts: A Flight Attendant's Adventures 36,000 Feet and Below (6 page)

After everyone deplaned, an older gentleman remained sitting in first class. “Where’s my wheelchair?” he demanded. Usually, the gate agent is right there to meet the flight. A passenger service assistant is responsible for all wheelchairs. On this particular flight, there was no one around.

We waited and waited. The older passenger became more and more furious. I didn’t blame him. We couldn’t look for an agent because the crew also had to clear customs. A wheelchair on the jet bridge was available, just no one to push it.

At this point, the old man is losing it. “Get me off this !#%! airplane,
NOW
!”

Flight attendants are not responsible for providing wheelchair assistance, possibly because of what was about to happen.

My friend said if I pulled her luggage, she’d push the wheelchair. I agreed. She struggled to push it up the jet bridge. Not too far down the hallway we approached a long, moving sidewalk. She instinctively walked on with the wheelchair. A wheel got stuck on the silver bar attached to the sidewalk, and the wheelchair lifted from the back spilling the old guy out. He cruised down the moving sidewalk with his arms and legs flailing while screaming obscenities that I won’t mention.

The situation though serious, also struck us as absolutely hilarious! We turned around and laughed so hard I almost wet my pants.

After gaining our composure, we raced down to the other end of the moving sidewalk and helped the man back into his wheelchair. He wasn’t hurt physically, but he had a few more choice words to say to us, despite our profuse apologies.

I bet the next time he won’t be so demanding.

fter three years of flying out of Dallas, Raleigh/Durham opened as a crew base. I put my transfer in and was accepted. It was a small base so everyone knew each other. The pilots, flight attendants and agents were one big family.

I grew up mainly in the Midwest, so I guess you could say I was a little naïve. I experienced the normal growing up relationships with a few boyfriends along the way. I trusted everyone including strangers. As a new flight attendant I soon realized not everyone is to be trusted and how dangerous life in the real world can be. It wouldn’t be long before I was in a situation from which I escaped and am lucky to be alive.

My trip laid over in sunny West Palm Beach, Florida. Our flight arrived around noon, which meant we practically had the whole day to play. With the mall down the street from the hotel, I decided to do some shopping.

I moseyed into an interior design shop. A good looking man with dark hair and a warm smile approached me. I am not sure what his opening line was, but I fell for it. During the conversation, he asked my name and where I was staying. I certainly didn’t think I was giving him information; I thought we were just talking.

After about thirty minutes, he said, “Nice to meet you”, and went on his way.
I was shocked! I wondered why he didn’t ask for my number. Oh well!

I finished my shopping and went back to the hotel. Later that evening around 5 p.m., the phone rang. It was him! He exclaimed how beautiful the city was at night and how he would love to show me around in his convertible. I told him it’s not that I don’t trust him; I couldn’t go out because I was on a layover.

I gave him my home phone number in Raleigh. His brother also lived in North Carolina, so we had some connections and things in common. He said okay and hung up the telephone.

My thoughts began to race.
Shoot! Here I am sitting in the hotel doing absolutely nothing, I should have gone
. Around 6 p.m., the phone rang again. “Come on Chris, it’s absolutely gorgeous outside, not a cloud in the sky.”

My instincts said no, but the adventurer in me won over. “Okay, I’ll go.”

He pulled up to the hotel in a black Mercedes convertible.
Wow!

The first thing he said was, “I forgot my wallet. Would you mind if I stop by my house to get it?”

My guard went up a bit but I said, “Not at all.”

He took me to a beautiful gated community. His house was tucked away in the corner of a cul-de-sac surrounded by a pristine lake. It was gorgeous!

“Come on in, I’ll give you a tour, I even designed my own pillows.”

I certainly didn’t think anything was wrong with going in, so I followed him. He gave me the full tour.

We sat down on the couch together.

He said, “You know, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, and if it wasn’t for God, I wouldn’t have any of these things.”

Wow! He’s handsome, good morals and values, and he obviously has money. This guy is too good to be true
.

We sat talking about mundane things…flying, the weather…there was nothing to prepare me for what happened next. He fixed his eyes on me with a predatory gaze and lunged toward me. His kisses turned to chewing and slobbering. My cheeks, my forehead and my chin were now covered with his foul smelling saliva. His hands were everywhere as he spouted language straight out of a hard core porn
magazine. “The breasts over in Europe are free for all to see,” he muttered.

Terrified, I glanced in his eyes. They seemed glazed with an animalistic look. He clearly was not there. I told him the crew was meeting around 9 o’clock, and I need to get back to the hotel. It didn’t faze him. He continued groping and spewing his filth. I knew I was in serious trouble.

I am either going to be raped or killed. I may be one of those missing statistics. No one knows where I am
.

I thought maybe I should slap him and call a cab, but didn’t want to anger him…he was out of control. Even if I could reach a phone, I had no idea where I was located.

By this time, tears streamed down my face. It still did not faze him. While he was chewing all over me, he had somehow unzipped his pants. He tried to put my hand on his hardened penis, but I kept jerking my hand away.

He started playing with himself until he had come all over his stomach. Slowly he regained his composure and his glazed eyes focused on me. My gut instinct told me to play it cool.

I said, “Hey listen, I really need to get back to the hotel.”

He started to freak out. “I didn’t want this to be a one night stand, and I really want to see you again.” he ranted.

I replied with a calm demeanor, “Don’t worry about it… it’s no big deal.”

It was the biggest lie I had ever told, but he seemed pacified. He took me to the hotel. On our way there he said, “I want to walk you to your room so that you will be safe.” I couldn’t believe it.
Safe, safe, you idiot!

As soon as we were close to the hotel, and the car slowed to a stop, I jumped out and ran straight to my room making sure the dead bolt was locked. I peered out the window and watched him drive away. The hot water of the shower never felt so good, as I tried to wash his foulness away.

I didn’t hear from him again, thank God.

Many people ask why I didn’t call the police. I’m not sure. Maybe, it was because I felt ashamed I had been so naïve and I didn’t even know his name or where he lived. I was traumatized beyond description and all I wanted to do was forget what happened. It was another valuable lesson learned.

aleigh crew base was just like a small town. I knew I had to be very careful. Everyone knew each other’s business.

I was the number one flight attendant working from Raleigh to Chicago. When the cockpit crew entered the aircraft, I immediately felt an attraction for the first officer, Kirk. In our small town, I did hear about him and knew he had a girlfriend.

We were on a 727 aircraft with three pilots in the cockpit. Knowing Kirk was involved with someone else, I avoided him as much as possible. It was difficult because I not only served first class but also provided meal service to the cockpit crew. Just being near him flustered me as I kept forgetting their meal orders. It’s amazing what chemistry can do.

We landed in Chicago. Our schedule was to continue on to St. Louis to rest for the night. After all passengers were boarded, our aircraft heading for St. Louis pushed away from the
gate. While doing so, an indicator light lit up in the cockpit forcing us to the return to the jet bridge. When a light illuminates, it means one of two things: a mechanical issue or a light malfunction. The mechanics said in this case it was simply the light, so we pushed away from the gate again.

Taxiing along the tarmac, the captain noticed a tiny crack in the cockpit window.

This time we were in for a lengthy delay.

I tried to stay away from First Officer Kirk as much as possible, but due to the mechanical issue, I had to interact to keep the communication going between the pilots, flight attendants and passengers. Finally, the captain made a judgment call not to continue on with the broken aircraft, which resulted in a cancellation of the flight.

The crewmembers piled into the van that took us to our hotel. Kirk sat next to me, but we never spoke. He accidentally brushed against me while the driver took a severe turn. I felt a tingle where he touched me. He smiled and apologized. I looked down bashfully.

The next morning our pickup was bright and early. We were supposed to work one flight home to Raleigh and that was it. After arriving at the airport, we were informed by our scheduling department that a reassignment had been given to us and would now be working a flight from Dallas with a layover in
Birmingham. The best part about our job is going home, so naturally we were a little disappointed.

I once again stayed away from Kirk. I could tell he was a little nervous around me too.

The van pulled into the hotel’s circular driveway in Birmingham. After registering, the crew strolled to the elevator. The first officer and I were behind the rest of them. The elevator was already packed, so Kirk told the crew to go ahead. The two of us stood in silence for another door to open.

After the elevator door closed, he looked me straight in the eye and said, “Now listen, I am supposed to be getting married to this girl and we already have our invitations sent out. I have these feelings for you that I don’t know what I am supposed to do with.”

I was stunned and speechless. I felt like the movie
It’s A Wonderful Life
, where George Bailey was yelling at Mary but then kissed her passionately. Only I didn’t get the kiss.