The Difficult Life Of Flight Attendants And Passengers

When we waited for our plane in LA, there was a large group of men, say mid twenties through forties, maybe fifties.  They kind of invaded the waiting area and were speaking to each other in another language.  And they were less than fastidious about their masks.  I'd guess five to ten had their masks on their chins much of the time.  Others didn't have their noses covered. 

When we got on the plane, I mentioned this to one of the flight attendants at the entrance as a bit of a warning.  She said she'd already heard.  We sat down.  The lady next to us was handicapped and needed assistance getting up to let us pass to our seats.  She was agitated.  The men were still breathing mask free around us.  She said she'd told Alaska Airlines before we boarded.  She had health issues and was worried about getting COVID.  She got an attendant and explained her concerns and pointed out that the men around us had noses and mouths showing before the attendant arrived.  She even got the captain to come out and talk to her.  

It's not clear how good their English was (presumably some better than others) and if they could even understand the captain's announcement about keeping masks on.  But they did know they needed to be masked and did pull them up when an attendant was nearing.  This wasn't a political statement.  It just appeared to be avoidance of an inconvenience.  

The men pulled up their masks when asked to and then they would slip off again.  Around us there were four or five offenders.  We took off.  Soon the lady next to us got the attendant again and wanted to move.  We decided to just stick it out.  An American Airlines flight attendant soon replaced the woman who got assistance to move to another seat.  The attendant was headed to Anchorage to celebrate his birthday with friends and relatives.

Throughout the flight the masks went up when attendants came by and then down again.  

It's a tricky business when you are up in the air.  The flight attendant sitting next to us told us that it was something like three warnings and then you go on a no fly list.  But it didn't appear that was happening.  The flight attendant sitting with us left and then the original woman was back next to us.  

When we landed we were all told to stay seated while those who needed assistance got helped off.  An attendant was there to help the woman next to us and the nearest offender stood up and helped her get up too.  His mask was in place at that point.  

I'm just thinking about the calculations the airlines make.  This was a large group - maybe 20 or 30  good sized men.  Were they flying up to work on the Slope?  Fishing?  Who knows?  Was Alaska Airlines weighing the loss of a bunch of passengers against trouble in the air?  It was a five hour flight.  No one wanted to land midway and drop off anyone.  The attendants were clearly avoiding confrontations and the men didn't refuse to wear masks.  They complied when asked.  Alcohol was not an issue.  

I already had  concerns about flying on a plane full of masked people with Omicron spiking, when it turned out I'd be flying with some unmasked and partially masked passengers.  You could say that we're overreacting - most people who are fully vaxed and masked are less likely to get COVID and if they do, not likely to get too sick.  That's what I told myself.  

As a blogger, I know pictures pique people's interest.  But as a person, I'm not comfortable putting any pictures of these folks up.  

Just want to let everyone know that even the Airline that banned an Alaska State Senator is walking a fine line between enforcing the mask rules and looking the other way.  

To the person who wrote a letter to the editor (Anchorage Daily News)  yesterday complaining about the Airlines giving in to the unions and cutting back in-flight services, I'd say the flight attendants' lives are hard enough as it is without spending lots of time among the passengers.  And serving alcohol is clearly not a good idea. Sure, a lot of people would like a drink on a flight and for most it wouldn't be an issue.   If people really can't get through a flight without a drink, it would seem to be an indicator of a problem that needs attention.  Not having alcohol on board (and I'm not completely sure that's the case) keeps the skies a little calmer.