Now that I’m living in a different city than my parents for the first time, I’m having to fly home for the holidays. This might come as a shock to you guys, but I’m generally not a fan of high air fares and full flights (filled mostly with infrequent travelers). So I’ve done the best I can to avoid them by traveling home on Thanksgiving and returning later next week when most people have already completed their holiday travel. I got a better deal on my flight, upgrades were easy as could be, and the airports aren’t quite as crowded.
I flew this morning from Seattle to Dallas, and my day was off to a great start since I got TSA PreCheck. I was surprised by how crowded the airport was, since I figured it would be deserted. It wasn’t as crowded as I’ve seen it on peak travel days, though it wasn’t uncharacteristically quiet either.
Anyway, it’s rare that I’ll write about a domestic flight, but my flight from Seattle to Dallas was phenomenal. I kind of expect to get mildly surly flight attendants on Thanksgiving since it must be frustrating to be apart from your family, though I’m willing to say that the flight attendant working the first class aisle was the best flight attendant I’ve ever had on a US airline. Period.
Christine was amazing from the second we boarded. She offered pre-departure beverages of choice, couldn’t stop smiling, and wished each passenger boarding a happy Thanksgiving. There was a baby in row one and she even managed to entertain him.
After takeoff she came around the cabin to take meal orders and introduce herself, and not only addressed each passenger by name, but thanked them for flying American.
I don’t think she sat down once during the flight. She was constantly offering (actually, encouraging) drink refills, and at every single interaction addressed passengers by name from memory. As we were approaching Dallas she once again came around to each first class passenger and said “thanks so much for flying with us, we really appreciate your business and wish you a happy Thanksgiving. It was such a pleasure to have you aboard.” Unbelievable. She was amazing.
Then I got off the plane thinking everything was alright. When I got to the Admirals Club and opened my bag to power up my laptop, I realized it was missing. I immediately remembered that I had left it on the plane, so ran back to the gate.
As I deplaned Christine and the rest of the crew were getting off the plane. I mentioned that I had left my laptop in the seatback, and Christine said “one moment Mr. Lucky, let me get it for you.”
She came back with it a couple of minutes later and said “there you go, Mr. Lucky. Hope your connecting flight to Tampa goes smoother, and enjoy the warm weather.” I had never told her I was actually going to Tampa, so I guess she studied the manifest really well. I thanked her profusely for the great service, getting the laptop, and working on Thanksgiving, and we parted ways.
Christine, you’re the greatest person ever. And thank you.
And now I’m sitting in the Admirals Club next to a dad with his two, bratty teenage kids. “Dad, shut up.” “Dad, this is a $200 jacket, stop it.” “Dad, I want a car for Christmas.” FML.
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