Cultured Travel Guide Books - 99 Ways to Make a Flight Attendant Fly--Off the Handle: A Guide for the Novice or Oblivious Air Traveler |
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List Price: $12.95
Our Price: $6.99
Your Save: $ 5.96 ( 46% )
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 817
EAN: 9781592980277
ISBN: 1592980279
Label: Beaver's Pond Press
Manufacturer: Beaver's Pond Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 144
Publication Date: 2003-11-01
Publisher: Beaver's Pond Press
Studio: Beaver's Pond Press |
| Spotlight Customer Reviews: |
Customer Rating:  
Summary: Just Plain Mean Spirited
Comment: It's one thing to ask people (politely) to respect you and not take your hard work and professionalism for granted, and flight crews get more BS than those in other ocupations. But then, nobody gets FORCED to become a flight attendant. If you don't like people, don't sign up.
In her intro, the author admits to having been burned out on the job, which is all you really need to know to predict that this book will be no good. Diana Farechild's "Jet Smart" is what this book shoud have been, a frank look at air travel from the crew's perspective imbued with warmth and GENTLE advice, admonitions and requests, phrased POSITIVELY, offered from a place of deep spiritual centerdness. What you get here, by contrast, is one (blessedly not very long) tirade -- a not-so-grand parade of one disgruntled worker's least favorite moments on the job and pet peeves related without any humor or grace. To make it worse, the page-or-two-long "chapters" really are (confusingly enough) POSITIVELY phrased things the author is asking you NOT to do -- 99 Ways to Make a FA Fly--Into Full-On Hate Mode.
Even "Plane Insanity" -- another book in this putrid little minigenre of flight crew hurrangues against passengers, this one by that relatively rare bird, a MALE FA -- at least has some real humor in it. So, if you're looking for something fun and interesting to read on the plane, KEEP LOOKING. Flying (and traveling in general) really is way more inspiring than this.
Customer Rating:
Summary: So true!
Comment: This was a cute book and a nice short read. It took less than an hour to read, so don't expect to take this on a long flight and have it keep you occupied. I work at an airport and know how true this is! The stories we all could tell....I passed this on to my other airline friends who appreciated the humor.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It's our life
Comment: If you are Cabin crew, read this book. It will make you laugh out loud. Read it in the galley as I did, and review just how many of these events have just happened to you. Funny and accurate encounters. A great read indeed.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Sometimes Trite, But Contains More Truth Than Many Want To Admit
Comment: I have been an airline pilot for fifteen years now, and my hat is off to the job the flight attendants do; I couldn't in a million years do their job. This book is a bit trite at times, but nevertheless does convey some of the issues that confront flight attendants on a routine basis.
The book is short, is in large font, and has large margins, so it is very quickly read. While I wonder about a few of the "99 ways," I know firsthand that the gist of the book is correct. One reviewer seemed to think that the author was whiny and was asking too much of passengers with this light-hearted skewering, but I don't agree: it seems to me that the author is just asking to be treated like you would want to be treated. Also contrary to that reviewer's understanding, most flight attendants do actually like people, they just like to have the passengers act in a civilized manner, obey their instructions (they are FAA mandated), and to think before doing totally outrageous things like changing their baby's diaper on a food cart in a galley.
Flight attendants come in all shapes and sizes, some are surly and otherwise difficult, but they are in the minority. Most do a very hard job with courtesy and dignity under frequently very difficult circumstances, and with fewer and fewer resources. This book is a little over-the-top at times, and is certainly lightweight reading, but it does show what these people are up against. For content the book probably deserves three and a half stars, but since flight attendants work so hard, I rounded up to four.
If this book offends you, perhaps some introspection is in order: maybe you know some or all of the "99 ways."
Customer Rating:
Summary: apparently none of us want to be there
Comment: Before I paid $13 for this I should have looked at the length. My mistake. There isn't a whole heck of a lot of content here compared to other recent flight attendant books out there, and that content can be boiled down to a few salient points of guidance for travelers:
1) Have no emotions except gratitude to your sainted flight attendants for choosing to serve you. Strive for your own form of sainthood, which amounts to never having needs or feelings except the foregoing.
2) You are not here to get from point A to point B. You are here to monitor your every action to improve the flight attendants' convenience. Now you know.
3) Flight attendants basically do not like you, so watch it, lest you receive the Dreaded Eye Roll and the Stony Ignore.
There. I saved you $13. Too bad the author doesn't give us any real reason to want to make her life easier, as she doesn't seem to like us much to begin with. Well, I didn't like her co-workers much either to begin with, based on experience, but I've always tried to keep an open mind. I still will, but no thanks to Deveny.
That's where the book fails those it purports to help: it fails to create any sense of community between flight attendant and passenger. Both are victims: the victims of airline deregulation, cramped planes, crappy food and miserable overall conditions. The two most aggrieved groups involved in the airline industry are natural allies. A balanced book that promoted improved relations between the two would be a real service. Instead, into the hands of already angry and frustrated passengers is dropped a treatise on how to spread that annoyance around to the nearest targets--with no incentive offered as to why they should not. So I'll pick up some slack here.
Fellow fliers, please try and treat your flight crew with courteous respect, for everyone's benefit, in spite of the fact that they rate you slightly above a used diaper. In so doing, you'll rise above the mean-spirited ranting that fills this book. Focus your anger where it is deserved: the airline industry executives and the immense bonuses they get, all because flight attendants and passengers are the ones jointly taking a hosing.
As for me, I want to fly even less now than I did before I read it. I wonder if it's occurred to the author that this sentiment isn't really going to promote greater job security in her field.
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| Editorial Reviews: |
Don t forget to pack this book for your next vacation or business trip! Along with your boarding pass, you must obtain a copy of 99 Ways to Make a Flight Attendant Fly Off the Handle! before boarding your next flight. Never again will you experience that perfected flight attendant eye-roll when following this first guidebook to the etiquette of air travel. Whether you are a frequent or novice flyer, you will be educated and entertained by JoAnn Kuzma Deveny's insider's narration of airline tales and humor. Also, it's a perfect gift idea for your oblivious fellow flyers!
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