I'm flying first class, up in the sky, popping champagne, living the li- wait what? The flight is completely full and if I even want to get on a flight back I have to camp out on a crew seat?
Staff travel has it's many advantages :
Guess the dim sum I had today made it all worthwhile!
Staff travel has it's many advantages :
- Discounted tickets on the airline my mum works for, even in first class
- First class for me is about the same price as a full fare Economy class ticket
- Discounted Economy class tickets on most of the major airlines
All of this until I am 24 (6 years left, thank god!)
But it also has it's disadvantages, like not being guaranteed a seat on the flight and having to stand-by at the airport until check-in closes. Flights to and from London are notorious for being always full. I was lucky enough to be released a jump seat, which is a seat the captain releases to passengers with staff tickets when there are no more seats available. 
For take-off and landing, I had to sit in the cockpit, which is something I've done quite a few times already (for fun and because of jump seat). It is pretty exciting, especially if you have a cool captain who lets you put on the headphones and talks to you, and it can be pretty dull if you're just left in the corner until you are told to leave.
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| My beautiful seat... Oh so comfortable ! |
Afterwards the captain could release a seat which is up in their rest area which can be reclined and has inflight entertainment (or is sometimes a business class seat). Otherwise, you would just have to sit on one of those fold-up crew seats next to the door near the galley (kitchen area thing), like I had to do. Obviously I was quite lucky to have my mum on the flight to look after me but it was painfully boring (12 hours with no inflight entertainment! I have never done that before), and I felt awkward to sleep there but was so tired I fell asleep a few times nonetheless. But i'm not complaining! When I was waiting to go into the cockpit before take off I was seriously hoping someone would miss the flight so I could take their seat... and they did! My mum was just about to give me that seat when the ground-staff told her that some staff travelers have waited in London for 2 days already, trying to get on a flight! And there are 5 flights a day!
Guess the dim sum I had today made it all worthwhile!
xx Vagabond Girl
So would I, I don't know whether I'd be terrified or excited though!
ReplyDeleteDan
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Yeah it is, Marlen. My mum told me that after she retires, I already will be ineligible for Jump seat, so this is only valid for 2 more years. It is an amazing experience, but if you're not stuck there for a 12 hour flight!
ReplyDeleteHaha, Dan, when I got into the cockpit for take off, they had to quickly fill me in on what to do in an emergency and the First Officer was like "This is how you open this emergency window, hopefully we won't be all dead, but if we are, you now know how to open it and you can just climb out using this rope." I felt so reassured! :P
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