Journals as a Flight Attendant During the Start of the Pandemic; March 23-31 2020

Two years later.. I am reading over my journals after the first week of our country being shutdown. I never would have ever thought I would have been successful in creating my own blog in August of 2021, but I am so glad I did. I am now able to share with you all what it was like to be a flight attendant during the first week of the Coronavirus outbreak. Little did we know, our life’s were changing right in front of our eyes.

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March 23, 2020

“Walking through the airport in Denver, Colorado on March 23rd around 5 pm. The sun is just now starting to set. No line at TSA pre-check, no line at normal security. However, there is a line at KCM (which is how crew members get through security,) approx. 15-20 of us crew members are trying to get through so we can go operate a flight that surprisingly has not cancelled. When you look at the flight board over 50% of it is colored in red and reads cancelled. It makes me scared and frightened for what is going to happen next.”

“We get to the gate and have no plane, it apparently has not flown in a few days, so they had to relocate it. Today we are operating a flight to Greenville, South Carolina. Once boarding was completed we had a grand total of 13 passengers. Half of them had on masks, gloves, shields and were bracing for COVID. What a weird time, a surreal time to be alive, I thought to myself. Who would have ever thought an outbreak as such would be happening during our lifetime? Not me. But here we are minute by minute while drastic changes are happening all around us.”

“ Tomorrow we are suppose to work three flights a few of which are due in and our of Newark (EWR). What’s going to happen? We will have to see.”

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March 24, 2020

“Right now I just got done working a flight with 4 passengers, 1 other flight attendant and two pilots. In a total of 9 of us, on a flight that costs thousands of dollars just to operate. No wonder the airlines are saying they are about to go bankrupt. We started our day in Greenville, South Carolina. First flight was to Newark. This was the first time I ever landed in Newark and were at a gate in 5 minutes, its a miracle. If you aren’t aware of Newark’s long taxis, waits to take off, EDCT times, it is almost always a nightmare, in fact I try avoiding the airport in general. But today, it threw me for a surprise.”

“Moments later I closed the door for Minneapolis and we were off the ground in a whole 7 minutes. What day in age is this?! I am supposed to go home to Des Moines tomorrow. My parents have been nervous wrecks with me not being home during this time. As of right now, everything to Des Moines is cancelled. I’m going to have to find another way home which will be very interesting with the fact that almost everything is cancelling. I keep praying for us airlines, we need to prayers right now, our jobs are on the line.”

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March 25, 2020

“Evening, sitting on the plane coming from Corpus Christi to Dallas, sipping on some orange juice. Starting my trek home to be with my family for the next few weeks. Today has been rough, having to leave your home in Texas because you don’t know when you will be able to make it up to see your family again, so you go immediately. Meanwhile I am waiting for my schedule for next month, but I am not really expecting much because most of our aircrafts are grounded. It makes me sad, how many birds AKA planes aren’t being used. Praying that everything is lifted soon and my job can go back to normal. I am now going to reverse my attention back to my Netflix. Talk soon.”

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March 29, 2020

“Been out of flying for 4 days. I woke up this morning to a reassignment with a deadhead (relocating a crew member) to Denver and then operating 1 flight to Charlotte the following day. They cancelled 3 of our flights today and one tomorrow already. I believe they are going to keep increasing the amount of cancellations we have. The flight I am on right now (DSM-DEN) usually has 4 scheduled per day. Now its down to only 1, which is the one I am on. To me, that’s scary. My schedule next month is full of day trips, which is hard for me to do since I live in Houston. Now remember I am based in DC. Which means I have to commute to DC every time I have a trip. It is easier for me to work 3-4 days at a time. Imagine you driving 20 minutes to work, well I take a 3 hour flight. The reason I was awarded all day trips was because they don’t even have enough flights to build a “trip,” which is when we are gone anywhere from 2-5 days overnighting in different cities. I am currently trying to work on my schedule to see if I can get lucky enough to get a few “longer” trips. Well, I am going to continue to eat my canes now. (:”

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March 31, 2020

“Go home leg they call it. For us flight attendants it’s usually the best and the worst time of the day. Why? It’s good because its the last day of the trip, its bad because it usually is the longest. Which today of course it is the case. Going from DCA (Washington DC) to IAH (Houston), the flight time is 3 hours with only 16 passengers. That is a good number since we only had 2 passengers on the last flight, both of which were deadheading flight crew, lol. I’m ready to be done, it has been a very easy 3 day trip, but almost too easy that its depressing. It really has brought me down, seeing what our world is coming to now. No one wants to leave their homes, but we don’t have a choice, as the call us “essential workers,” we still have to report to work. I want to go on vacation so desperately, but flying internationally isn’t an option. I so badly hope the pandemic is over soon. Well, enjoy the rest of the social distancing for now! Tata.”

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How did reading over my journals make you feel? I know for me, it felt indifferent. It brought me back to remembering what it was like to live during this time. Being a flight attendant during the pandemic was hard. We not only were worried about losing our jobs, but also worried about the fact of getting COVID and having the possibility of taking it home to our loved ones. We are facing 100’s of people all over the world ever day, whether it be in the airport, on the plane, or even at the hotel. If working during this time didn’t truly show me how blessed I am, I don’t know what else would. Not only can our world change within hours, but so can our life’s.

Moral of the story, don’t take anything you have for granted.

Thanks for reading, talk next week! Any comments or questions, PLEASE reach out to me.

Tata for now, XOXO Tay