An ex-flight attendant reveals how to handle tall egos, molesters and unruly travellers
Yes, minister!
The person who owned Kuber Airlines, the one at the helm, was an ambitious man. In spite of his humble roots and background, using his brilliant business acumen, he had steered the carrier to great heights of success.
Not one to grow complacent, he set up outstation cabin crew bases to facilitate cost effectiveness. Since these crew members were fairly inexperienced, some of us from the mother base were sent to either head the flights or to fly with them as seniors.
On one such posting, we were to offer our services to a troupe of politicians travelling to attend the ministerial swearing-in ceremony of a well-known politician. There were several press and media figures on board. This was a specially chartered VVIP flight and I was elated at being selected to be a part of it. Serving the leaders of our country was a matter of great honour.
We had one special instruction though — pamper them! There was a special, extra catering provision for sweets, meals and varieties of fruit, besides the regular Kuber catering. This entire spread was for the politicians.
It was not a long flight, and this stock of goodies on board would definitely be enough to satisfy all their requests, I mused. My colleagues and I were very excited and resolved to do our best as always.
Soon, the special guests boarded, followed by the press.
How often one meets so many state and national leaders gathered in one place, I wondered to myself. You either read about them in the newspapers or see them on television. They may have flown around the world multiple times, but today, we would have the exclusive pleasure of serving them.
Slowly, the politicians started trooping in, each with an assistant in tow to carry their bags. Some of them just had tiny jute bags and cabin luggage, and yet it was the assistants who carried and stowed these bags in the overhead cabins. What power! I was awed.
The moment some of them sat down though, the press pounced on them, exchanging pleasantries followed by a barrage of questions.
We had gone to such trouble and prepared elaborate ground services in the galley, but we were unable to even reach the guests amid the gaggle of press crowding around our passengers. After the required announcements were made and safety reasons cited, finally the leaders were left alone.
Starting our services, we soon found out that for some of them, whatever we offered was not enough. When we offered our signature welcome drink, or the specials specifically requested individually, they wanted something entirely different. If we offered cold coffee, they would ask for spiced buttermilk. In place of fresh lime juice, some wanted mango panna. At first, some felt hot in the cabin, and yet they wanted tea or coffee immediately.
We recognised the last leader to board the aircraft. He looked considerably old and frail, much more than he did on TV. He limped while entering the aircraft and we were concerned that he might need medical attention during the flight.
Once we were airborne, the press raided the Business Class once again, making it absolutely impossible for us to conduct our services. We struggled to manoeuvre our way around them.
The flight wasn’t a long one and we were practically roller-skating across the aisle, as we tried to complete the service.
On any routine flight, special meal requests like a particular type of non-vegetarian meal, vegetarian but without onion and garlic (Jain), a seafood meal, child meal, and other types as per dietary constraints such as a diabetic, low-calorie, non-dairy or gluten-free meal, or for religious reasons like a kosher meal, etc., can be requested by passengers a few days prior to their departure. These meals are called Special Meals and are recorded in the (passenger) manifest. They are distributed to the passengers who have made these requests, minutes before the main meal service. This special catering being as per specific needs, they have a different menu from the regular meals (even if it is just a non-vegetarian or vegetarian meal), which would be served to other passengers. In some carriers originating from a meat-preferring country, a regular vegetarian meal may qualify as a special meal because non-vegetarian options may be the popular choice among the passengers they are used to flying.
Some of the passengers just wouldn’t sit down. After a frustrating amount of effort, we finally managed to sit them down for takeoff.
We complied with every strange, out-of-the-way request from the lot of them. We even mixed meals as some wanted a taste of more than one meal. The tea was never the "perfect" temperature for some. I’ve never remade tea so many times to suit so many specifications all at once!
And the wild requests, dear me!
“Could you pass meals to our friends in Economy?”
“Could you pack a few meals that we can take with us?”
“Can I entertain some members of the press while I eat?”
“Oh please, could you call my attendant sitting in Economy for a (certain something) from my (tiny) bag?”
“We obliged everyone and everything, even as it drew close to landing time and we needed to clear the cabin and secure the cabin and galley.”
Somewhere in the midst of all this sprinting, I heard a voice call out in a drawl, "Could you peel these pears for me?" It was the elderly leader who had limped to his seat.
My senior looked at me, hoping for a brainwave. For want of time, we had to choose safety over customer service. But would we get into trouble for any refusals?
Well, there was no time to think. Hurriedly but politely, I replied, "Sir, we are landing now. If you wish you may carry the pears with you. There is hardly any time left for touchdown." And before he could react, I moved away from there.
The flight, which had initially seemed like a great honour, now felt like a huge pain.
At the end of the flight, I could have kissed the hands of those politicians and members of the press who had been cooperative and considerate towards us. They had taken pity on us and even tactfully helped us tackle their demanding colleagues. It had indeed been a pleasure to meet these few public figures and know them for who they really were.
Never ever again did I want to be on a VVIP flight! It was so off-putting. I missed some of my simple, kind-hearted passengers who, though less powerful, connected or glamorous, still complied with all the mandatory regulations and made flying them a pleasant experience.
Politically incorrect
The VVIP flight experience with a Business Class full of politicians was one I never got over; it remained etched in my memory. I learnt that day that not all politicians are demanding and disrespectful travelers. Sadly, this lesser known reality overshadows their general reputation for arrogance. Sometimes, it’s their tone that puts people off. And we simply stop listening to what they have to say, finding it difficult to be around them.
I once flew a particular politician whom I utterly disliked. But I changed my opinion when I realised he was asking questions out of genuine concern for everyone’s safety. He repeatedly quizzed us on the protocol and procedure we followed in the event of a hijack. He wasn’t satisfied with the ordinary measures he had heard about.
As long as the exclusive personal requests passengers made were within reasonable limits, things were fine. After all, looking after their comfort and convenience was our job.
Flying is full of some very strange experiences. If it’s your day for a talk down, no matter what you do or how well-connected you are, you will not be spared.
Flying Mr Ramanandan, a very highly placed minister, was one such experience. Most of us looked up to him. He was known to be a highly educated and result-oriented leader. Besides, he was not known to be a troublesome traveler at all.
I was thrilled at having him on board my flight that day and couldn’t wait to go back home and boast about it to my father.
Mr Ramanandan was seated on 1C in the very first row, and he had with him a rather large cabin bag. His attendant had made the mistake of placing it across the floor of the aisle, thus blocking the passage. Perhaps, he hoped that one of the crew members would pick up the bag and put it somewhere more appropriate. I requested the attendant to stow it in the overhead bin. When he didn’t respond, I explained that for safety reasons, bags were not allowed to be kept in the aisle like that. But he simply ignored me and walked away. Mr Ramanandan, too, chose not to interfere.
Caught in that dicey situation, for the sake of safety and on-time departure, I decided not to prolong the matter and decided to move the bag myself, with the help of a female colleague. It looked quite heavy, but I did not dare to say anything to the politician.
Technically speaking, he had not done anything wrong. He just chose not to interfere; it was his attendant who had been unchivalrous. But, as they say, charity begins at home. I only wished the leader had corrected the latter. It was rather disappointing to see a leader who took so many important decisions for the country behaving indifferently towards two female cabin crew. All the passengers knew who he was and so, no one intervened. They were used to the bureaucratic norms of a minister travelling with an attendant who handled his bags and everything else. Besides, who would want to pick an argument with a minister placed at such a high level?
Except that there was one such passenger! Mr West, a foreigner, was seated on the window seat 1A, right next to Mr Ramanandan. He had no clue who this politician was or what pelf and power he wielded. Appalled at the way we had visibly struggled with the heavy bag, he felt outraged on our behalf.
No, Mr West did not get up and help us with the bag.
But what he did was give the minister an earful.
“Can’t you see that she asked your friend to move the bag for safety reasons? Don’t you have any shame watching two young girls carry your bags? What kind of man allows that?”
He went on and on and the minister, visibly insulted, red-faced by now, stood up and heaved his bag up into the bin.
After that, Mr Ramanandan sat down, and leaning back into his seat, shut his eyes, and for the rest of the flight remained like that. He didn’t even drink a glass of water. Needless to say, no other passenger nearby reacted in any way throughout the flight.
However, Dad did get a dramatic narrative from me that evening!
The open admirer
One day, on a flight from Singapore to Mumbai, a gorgeous cabin in-charge, Shirin, stood with a male friend of mine, Rohan, warmly welcoming passengers at the door of the aircraft.
“Good evening, sir, good evening Mr… Your seat is on the left-hand aisle…”
With the sheer number of passengers that were boarding, Shirin and Rohan divided welcoming and guiding passengers.
Soon, in walked Mr Ganguly, headed for 5A in Business Class. Shirin asked for his boarding card to help him to his seat. Strangely, he snubbed her and offered the boarding card to Rohan instead, who dutifully directed him to his seat. Now, Shirin was an extraordinarily beautiful girl. Heads normally turned when she passed by, and eyes stayed fixed on her. Both she and Rohan were appalled at the passenger’s behaviour since she had done nothing wrong. They passed it off as weird passenger behaviour and went about their work.
During the service, if Mr Ganguly wanted anything, he was most happy when Rohan attended to him. But he behaved a little snootily with the other crew. So everyone teased Rohan, calling him "his choice". Rohan was sent to attend all call bells from Mr Ganguly’s seat. Slowly, the number of call bells from 5A increased. And each time, Rohan attended to him patiently, delighting Mr Ganguly with premium Kuber service.
Once all the services were done, as per practice, all lights were switched off so that passengers could go to sleep.
This was the time when the crew sat down to have their meals. It was also when they gathered in groups and bonded over jokes. The flavour of the day was Rohan. The crew poked fun at him as he was Mr Ganguly’s preferred flight attendant. Some crew who had walked up to Business Class from Economy joined the madness.
Nobody was able to figure out what the matter was with Mr Ganguly. All the crew members had tried their best to make him feel comfortable and pampered, but he seemed happiest only when Rohan served him.
And while they were all busy ribbing Rohan about it, the blue light on the master panel lit up once more and they heard the familiar ding — it was Mr Ganguly again! As everyone roared with laughter, Rohan set off to attend to the call bell.
Mr Ganguly told Rohan he wanted a glass of water. When Rohan brought some to his seat, Mr Ganguly asked for suggestions on interesting bars and restaurants to hang out in, in Mumbai. In the pitch dark cabin, Rohan politely crouched by his side and started rattling off names of some of the more popular pubs, bars and restaurants. The more he spoke, the more Mr Ganguly quizzed him about the ambience and cuisines those restaurants offered.
Somewhere in the middle of this conversation, Rohan felt a hand sliding up his thigh. He was stunned! Catching his expression, Mr Ganguly looked at him and said, "Instead of telling me names of places, maybe you can take me to one and we could have a meal together. And maybe a drink too."
Mr Ganguly was making a pass at him!
Shocked and speechless for a moment, Rohan didn’t know what to do. He knew he had the option of telling the passenger off completely and asking him to back off.
But he chose to contain himself and said, "Sir, I would love to meet you, but I am going on a three-day leave from tomorrow as I am getting engaged to be married soon."
And with those words, he stood up and walked away, never going back to attend to Mr Ganguly.
When he returned to the galley and shared his experience with the rest of the crew, they finally understood why Mr Ganguly behaved strangely with the others. All the other crew members were women! His preference was for a man!
The laughter ended abruptly. The crew was astonished at the revelation: till then they had never thought of questioning Mr Ganguly’s intentions behind seeking out a male crew member during service.
The girls asked each other if any of them had ever had a similar experience. Yes, there were many colleagues who had been at the receiving end of salacious looks and requests. But they realised that this was the first time they had come across a case where a man was rendered uncomfortable by an indecent proposal. In all these years, no one had paid heed to the simple fact of the matter — not just women, but even men could be at the receiving end of such unsolicited attention!
Air rage — stand up for yourself
There’s something that flying for many years and dealing with different types of passengers teaches you. You learn when to be extra helpful and when to back off and not go out of your way to look after a certain type of person.
When a male and a female passenger travel together, who would we normally see placing their bags in the overhead bins? The male companion, right? Unless of course, he’s elderly, sick or handicapped.
And what if they are travelling with their baby? Even in such cases, it’s usually the man who takes care of the bags.
It is possible for them to be a little tired because of dealing with the demands of their little one. Their moods probably depend on the erratic behaviour of their baby. This category of passengers always invites compassion. As for me, I have always been baby-crazy and such passengers are certainly my favourite.
Strangely enough, once, on a flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco, when a couple boarded with a baby, I saw the husband make his wife stow all their big, heavy bags in the overhead bin. How unbelievable and unchivalrous! Furthermore, he appeared to be constantly demeaning his wife. Maybe they had a personal tragedy or were just exhausted, I mused.
I summoned all my acquired worldly wisdom and remembered what they taught us in training and decided to be non-judgmental. The man looked quite healthy and was well-built. The baby wasn’t even crying. In fact, she was a delight.
Much as I loved babies, I chose to be practical and stayed away from this couple. I had already done my duty of offering options for their comfort after the standard "mother with baby" briefing.
Post-takeoff, we started our meal service as usual. On an aircraft with two aisles, the number of passengers to be served is divided between the two crew sharing that zone. One serves the left aisle, and the other the right one.
I was serving the left side. It was a completely normal day. I started my service with a heartfelt smile, delighting the passengers. With some of them, I had made a rapport at the boarding stage itself.
A few rows down the aisle and it was the turn of the couple with the baby to be served. To my luck, the grumpy husband was seated on my side. I offered him his meal choice and an alcoholic beverage of his preference, while my colleague on the other aisle served his wife. As I moved ahead, I saw my colleague also serve him a second drink.
I moved two or three rows ahead, continuing to serve other passengers. Suddenly, I felt two or three sharp blows on my right shoulder and boy, did it hurt! I was dumbfounded and in extreme pain. Obviously, I wasn’t going to give a big smile and have a pleasant approach towards this person, whoever it was.
As I turned around, I was shocked to see the father of the infant standing there, completely unremorseful about having hit me! He had done so in full consciousness, in front of the other horrified passengers.
“Why haven’t you served me my drink? How many times do I have to call you?” he asked most aggressively.
I didn’t remember him call out to me even once.
“Why did you hit me, sir?” I asked him, wincing in pain but guarding my self-respect. Once again, rather shamelessly, he demanded that I give him his drink.
As per regulations, there was no way I was allowed to give another drink to a man with a violent streak. Personally anyhow, I would never entertain any request from this person.
In spite of being in pain, I followed procedure and called out to my colleague for support with the help of other passengers. I faked calmness and asked the father to return to his seat as I did not want to aggravate him further. Not one to give up, he refused to budge. The other passengers intervened and he was forced to return to his seat.
The cabin in-charge of the flight was taking a walk to supervise services in Economy. As we still had to complete the meal service for three hundred passengers, I briefly informed her of what had transpired and that we had taken a decision to not serve him any more alcohol. I felt that, instead of making all the other passengers wait with their trays, it would be better to speak about this a little later. This cabin in-charge was known both for her commitment to excellent customer service and supportiveness towards crew.
Once the service was over, I would furnish all the details for her to put in her Flight Report.
I saw her take the effort to go and speak to the passenger and return to First Class. Perhaps, she went ahead to give the captain a heads-up.
As soon as she left, the man got up from his seat and, once again, aggressively asked me for a drink. There was no chance I was going to please someone like that with a serving of alcohol and take responsibility for further violent behaviour from him. By regulation, I was just not permitted to. As an alternative I politely offered him a choice of non-alcoholic beverages and juice.
I decided to follow every rule taught to us in training to calm him down and mentally reviewed my rights as per Indian Aircraft Rules. I even considered swapping aisles with another crew member. An expat colleague and friend, Nancy, saw all this transpire and whole-heartedly supported me. The annoying passenger did not listen to her lady-like requests either.
Indian Aircraft Rules are an official, written set of requirements governing Indian air carriers stating regulations to be followed by airlines and their personnel. It also states the rights of a crew member in cases of physical abuse, and clauses under which crew can take action against inappropriately behaved, violent or drunk passengers.
He started behaving like he was possessed and went and stood between the carts in the galley, refusing to budge or let us continue service. Since I had already informed the in-charge, moving on to the next level of handling such a passenger, I warned him to either return to his seat or to face the consequences of interfering with official crew duty. But he just didn’t yield. Afraid that he might hit me again, I picked up the cabin interphone and called the captain to inform him of the violent passenger. Seeing me on the phone, he returned to his seat and joined his wife. I could see the look of acute embarrassment on her face.
We soon returned to our services and many passengers recommended that I not let this man go scot-free and even promised to be witnesses for me. That was very kind and reassuring on their part. I felt like my hard work and customer service on that flight had paid off.
“What if he raises his hands on a fellow passenger? We feel unsafe!” someone said.
I appreciated their kindness and agreed with every word they said since I had felt highly violated too. No matter how much composure I showed, I was not used to being physically hit or shouted at so aggressively. The experience broke me. I managed to complete my service but ended up crying quietly in the washroom.
Since I had been through so much, I wanted someone to take action against this passenger and I had a detailed conversation about it with my in-charge.
On further discussion, it came to light that he had lied to the flight in-charge about the crew conduct in Economy. He had complained that we were intentionally not serving him drinks. The guilty passenger could not even be expected to be honest! I called my colleague from the other aisle to be my witness and he confirmed that the passenger had been served multiple drinks.
Having found out the entire truth, my in-charge promised to support me. I also told her about the passengers who had offered to be witnesses.
She sent me to the cockpit and I narrated my experience to the captain. He empathised and said that he would send a message to the airline security to escort this guest on arrival.
As per Indian Aircraft Rules, any passenger getting violent, or causing any form of harm or damage to crew, passengers or the aircraft can be handed over to the airline security. Depending on the severity of the case, they could further hand him over to the national security force or send him home with a warning. In this case, they would hand him over to be arrested.
What I didn’t realise then was that though we were an Indian carrier, since this was a US-bound flight, any message like this sent by the captain of a flight would be attended to by not just airline security but also by a few other departments in the US National Security Force.
A stern warning by the airline security normally puts such type of unruly passengers in place. The fear they go home with is usually enough for them to never dare make eye contact with another crew member again.
But the best was saved for last.
On landing, all passengers were asked to remain seated. My cabin in-charge told me that security was coming on board and would require me to identify him. Great! I was expecting Kuber Airlines security staff to come towards the aft.
My jaw dropped when I saw uniformed, armed American policemen walk towards me! When I pointed out the offending passenger in full view of other passengers, they escorted him out of the aircraft briskly, much to the dismay of his wife.
The horrified look I saw on his face told me he would never misbehave with another person, let alone a crew member. No wonder passengers never ill-treat crew from foreign carriers. They have clear knowledge that ever since 9/11, any sort of misconduct shall be dealt with very severely by the law.
Before we left the aircraft, the policemen interrogated us and took our statements as well. My colleagues corroborated my experience and we mentioned the names of the passengers who had witnessed the incident and were ready to testify in my favour.
After a long and tiring flight, and the post-flight requirements in this case, we went to our hotel to rest. Besides other crew, Nancy’s presence and moral support made a huge difference to me on the layover.
When we returned the next day, our ground staff informed us that all the passenger witnesses had kept their word and had testified in my favour.
The ground staff wasn’t sure, but the rumour was that Immigration might consider revoking the passenger’s visa. We obviously couldn’t wait for any further information and had to fly back to Hong Kong.
Thank goodness I had the courage to fight this one. Being an Indian flight attendant, now employed with an Indian carrier, I didn’t know if I had the right to press charges in the US like I could have in India. But since I had no intention to pursue this matter further, I didn’t ask.
Had I still been with Alex Airways, things would have been different. My heartfelt gratitude to the US authorities and their prompt response. This passenger and I would never forget each other. That’s for sure.
Airlines around the world have even blacklisted some passengers from flying with them again as a response to their unruly behaviour on board. I wished the same to happen to this crazy man!
(Excerpted with permissions of Amaryllis Publishing from Nothing But the Plane Truth by Pinky Eppaturi.)