This will be a very long post reflecting my opinions only. Got to keep busy during the lockdown over here in France
In the last day I have seen 1000++ posts on all the available Social Medias about how unbelievable it is that people are still gathering outside, children having big playdates and how irresponsible they are. Why would they do that? Don’t they realize that they are putting themselves in danger? Don’t they realize they could be a danger to others? Can’t they listen to the Nurses, the Doctors? If they get ill, after all they expect being treated, taken care of and having their life saved?
U-N-F-*-*-*-*-I-N-G-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E.
Well, let me tell you. I am not astonished at all. And so isn’t anyone that ever worked as a Flight Attendant.
I stopped flying almost 10 years ago. But I remember it as it were yesterday.
Mothers crying and screaming at us because they refused to fasten their baby with the mandatory, safe and airline approved infant seatbelt. Insisting the baby would be more comfortable during take off in their bathik-rainbow-colored-dyed-baby-carrying-towel or if there was no such, that they would hold their child tightly and that would suffice. At first I was sure that a rational explication of the facts would solve the problem.
After all, a weight of 70 tonns and 275 km/h take off speed must sound impressive. Unfastened, an emergency breaking in a car would be harmful (actually deadly, but we don’t want to be too harsh to a mother of a newborn) for your child of as little as 30 km/h I exlained... NO, they would be fine and I should stop harassing them.
The only way in 3 of these cases was the captain leaving the runway and announcing he would not take off until EVERYONE is fastened correctly.
The thought of not reaching their vacation destination was enough for them to fasten the babies immediately. Possible severe injuries, were not.
Passengers in emergency exit rows often refusing to stow their bags and coats in the overhead lockers for take off. We explained that it is about the access to the exit and in case of an evacuation a jacket or a bag on the floor could not only delay him opening the emergency exit, but could cause severe obstructions for every passenger trying to leave the plane trough that specific door. „Well, too bad for them, but my (insert-any-bag-brand-name-that-tells-me-that-I-will-never-be-able-to-afford-it-on-a-senior-cabin-crew-salary) will stay right here with me“ was an answer. The way to go was to threaten to reseat them. The thought of loosing the 10 cm of extra legroom (that only the exit row has) usually made them decide their bag will be just fine in the overhead locker. The thought of causing possible loss of life, did not.
There would be countless other situations to recall but I think you understand. Specially if you ever been a crew member yourself.
For some reason, a lot of people, of all ages, can’t cope with danger or can’t come to understand a bigger scope of danger & risk . Some are afraid and panic, others seem to ignore &/or deny entirely the existence of any risk.
France is already in home confinement, Switzerland not yet. People are still gathering in both countries, ignoring all recommendations.
My heart goes out to all the Nurses and Doctors working so unbelievably hard and trying to explain why we put orselves at risk of loosing our life- having to assure publicly again and again that they only want the best possible outcome for us all.
I fear how they will feel in the aftermath when they realize that all their professional advice, knowledge and desperate calls for reasonning did not change our behavior- when they called on us to save our own life and the life of others wasn’t reason enough. But the loss of our comfort, was.