West Jet - Pure Comedy Mixed with a Wee Bit of Frustration
This posting today is made from the 9th floor of an apartment building in Regina, Saskatchewan – at 5:04 AM – Regina time…(dealing with the two hour time change).
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As our West Jet flight touched down in Calgary, Alberta – the flight attendant came on the speaker with the second funniest statement I have every heard any flight attendant every say… “Ooooie, that was a smooth landing! Folks we want to be the first to welcome you to Cow Town – Calgary…” My daughter looked at me and commented, “Makes you wonder if they are not all smooth.” We giggled together.
Now I should mention here that we are traveling from Toronto, Ontario to Regina Saskatchewan – a total of 1600 miles. In order to accomplish this we had to fly to Calgary, Alberta and then change planes to come back to Saskatchewan – only about 1100 extra miles. Crazy! Okay!? Dana and I dined in Calgary before getting our next flight back east to Regina.
This next leg was even more interesting – just a short hop of 550 miles to Regina. The first thing we noticed was that the aircraft has no TV or Movie machinery. The new Flight attendant pointed this out as they began the routine demo stuff for Safety Exits, drop down masks etc. As she began she said, “Folks, as you can see this aircraft is not equipped with entertainment of any sort. Martin, my assistant here, is quite capable to entertain you in special ways tonight as he is completely familiar with all aspects of the ‘Sound of Music’. He is able to sing, dance and act any of the parts that you may request. During the flight please feel free to ask him to perform for you. (Martin blushes demurely..) At the back of the plane is ‘Angie’- please turn in your seats and wave at her(no one responds)….Awhhh… poor Angie… no one waved…” then a whole bunch of people looked backwards and waved at Angie. This show was getting better with each announcement… I listened to the whole rig-a-ma-roll to see what else might be said that is ‘off the wall’.
Good going girls! In my 45 years of listening to that schpeel – I heard it all.
This new flight attendant proved to me that she should get the “Best Flight Attendant of the Year Award”. At the end of one hour and fifteen minutes we began to descend into Regina from our 37,000 foot altitude. As we approached the ground she began her request to have us remain in our seats with our seat belts firmly in place. Then it happened… she continued, “Please make sure that your carry-on bags are in place under your seats or in the storage compartments above you before the aircraft lands. We do not want the baggage to shift in any way… because we know that ‘shift’ can happen…” In her hurry to get her message out she left the “f” out of “shift”. It was at that moment that the aircraft passengers erupted in laughter… the microphone went dead and the crew was howling. After about 3 minutes or so… she came back on weakly and stated… “We don’t want the bags to SHIFT, SHIFT… that is what I said… honestly…!”
As the air plane touched down and came to the end of the runway, she came on again and said, “Please remain seated with your seat belts on until the Captain has turned off the seat belt sign and the aircraft comes to a complete stop at the terminal – at which time your luggage will be delighted to see you again.” This girl was great! Dana said to me – “The way these attendants are it makes you want to travel with West Jet again.”
But - Yes there was a wee bit of frustration too…. As we were about board the aircraft in Toronto there was a medical emergency on board – where the girls rushed on with the ‘portable paddle pack’ and then a mini emerge cart zoomed through the crowd around us waiting for their turn to get on board. That wait was only 25 extra minutes…
But with that extra wait there was some small humor as well.
Dana and I noticed, when we sat in the larger waiting area for our flight, two small families with ‘monster children’ – “cute but oh boy – I hope they are not sitting next to us” kind of kids. One little 2 year old girl was with her daddy alone. The other 1 ½ year old was traveling with her grandma and mommy. By the time we were ready to board these two little people had gone through all the books that they had in the carry-on bags. They had stuck all the stickers on each other and on their parents from the sticker books…. and eaten all their treats/snacks…. and they had run away from daddy and grandma a dozen times… dodging in and out of everyone’s legs and carry-on baggage.
The medical emergency didn’t take place until after the wee ones were allowed pre-boarding privileges with their parents. The 2 year old and the 1 ½ year old were on the aircraft for the full 25 extra minutes as the staff took care of this medical problem. And the kids were no where near us on the plane.
I can’t wait for our next leg of the journey home again.
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As our West Jet flight touched down in Calgary, Alberta – the flight attendant came on the speaker with the second funniest statement I have every heard any flight attendant every say… “Ooooie, that was a smooth landing! Folks we want to be the first to welcome you to Cow Town – Calgary…” My daughter looked at me and commented, “Makes you wonder if they are not all smooth.” We giggled together.
Now I should mention here that we are traveling from Toronto, Ontario to Regina Saskatchewan – a total of 1600 miles. In order to accomplish this we had to fly to Calgary, Alberta and then change planes to come back to Saskatchewan – only about 1100 extra miles. Crazy! Okay!? Dana and I dined in Calgary before getting our next flight back east to Regina.
This next leg was even more interesting – just a short hop of 550 miles to Regina. The first thing we noticed was that the aircraft has no TV or Movie machinery. The new Flight attendant pointed this out as they began the routine demo stuff for Safety Exits, drop down masks etc. As she began she said, “Folks, as you can see this aircraft is not equipped with entertainment of any sort. Martin, my assistant here, is quite capable to entertain you in special ways tonight as he is completely familiar with all aspects of the ‘Sound of Music’. He is able to sing, dance and act any of the parts that you may request. During the flight please feel free to ask him to perform for you. (Martin blushes demurely..) At the back of the plane is ‘Angie’- please turn in your seats and wave at her(no one responds)….Awhhh… poor Angie… no one waved…” then a whole bunch of people looked backwards and waved at Angie. This show was getting better with each announcement… I listened to the whole rig-a-ma-roll to see what else might be said that is ‘off the wall’.
Good going girls! In my 45 years of listening to that schpeel – I heard it all.
This new flight attendant proved to me that she should get the “Best Flight Attendant of the Year Award”. At the end of one hour and fifteen minutes we began to descend into Regina from our 37,000 foot altitude. As we approached the ground she began her request to have us remain in our seats with our seat belts firmly in place. Then it happened… she continued, “Please make sure that your carry-on bags are in place under your seats or in the storage compartments above you before the aircraft lands. We do not want the baggage to shift in any way… because we know that ‘shift’ can happen…” In her hurry to get her message out she left the “f” out of “shift”. It was at that moment that the aircraft passengers erupted in laughter… the microphone went dead and the crew was howling. After about 3 minutes or so… she came back on weakly and stated… “We don’t want the bags to SHIFT, SHIFT… that is what I said… honestly…!”
As the air plane touched down and came to the end of the runway, she came on again and said, “Please remain seated with your seat belts on until the Captain has turned off the seat belt sign and the aircraft comes to a complete stop at the terminal – at which time your luggage will be delighted to see you again.” This girl was great! Dana said to me – “The way these attendants are it makes you want to travel with West Jet again.”
But - Yes there was a wee bit of frustration too…. As we were about board the aircraft in Toronto there was a medical emergency on board – where the girls rushed on with the ‘portable paddle pack’ and then a mini emerge cart zoomed through the crowd around us waiting for their turn to get on board. That wait was only 25 extra minutes…
But with that extra wait there was some small humor as well.
Dana and I noticed, when we sat in the larger waiting area for our flight, two small families with ‘monster children’ – “cute but oh boy – I hope they are not sitting next to us” kind of kids. One little 2 year old girl was with her daddy alone. The other 1 ½ year old was traveling with her grandma and mommy. By the time we were ready to board these two little people had gone through all the books that they had in the carry-on bags. They had stuck all the stickers on each other and on their parents from the sticker books…. and eaten all their treats/snacks…. and they had run away from daddy and grandma a dozen times… dodging in and out of everyone’s legs and carry-on baggage.
The medical emergency didn’t take place until after the wee ones were allowed pre-boarding privileges with their parents. The 2 year old and the 1 ½ year old were on the aircraft for the full 25 extra minutes as the staff took care of this medical problem. And the kids were no where near us on the plane.
I can’t wait for our next leg of the journey home again.
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
posted by Murray Lincoln at
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
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