Around the World in a Bad Mood! (20 page)

O
N SEPTEMBER
11, 2001, I left LaGuardia Airport at 8:00
A.M
. on what was to be a two-day trip to the West Coast. About one hour into the flight the captain called me into the cockpit. I unlocked the door and stepped in as I have done a thousand times before; however, this particular visit was unlike any other time before.

“Rene, we have an emergency situation. It seems that two planes have been hijacked and have crashed into the World Trade Center.”

I couldn't comprehend what he was saying to me. I simply could not believe it. “Do you mean there was a midair collision?” I asked.

“No, I mean that two planes have been hijacked and deliberately crashed into the building.”

At that point the voice of an air traffic controller came over the cockpit radio, “The Pentagon has just been hit. Repeat, another plane has just crashed into the Pentagon.”

With that I sat down and felt my entire body go numb. I must have looked awful because the captain asked if I was all right. I said I was fine and waited quietly as the pilots took down information about the revised flight plan.

“Rene, the FAA has declared a national emergency and all aircraft have been ordered to land at the nearest airport. We have been assigned to Green Bay. I'd like you to prepare the cabin. I don't want you to make any announcements regarding our rerouting until we are on the ground. We will be landing in fifteen minutes. Oh, and whatever you do, don't let anyone near the cockpit door.”

Somehow I stood up, walked back into the cabin, and quietly informed the rest of the flight attendants what was happening, all the while trying to hide the fear I was feeling beneath a calm exterior. What happened after that is pretty much a blur. After we landed the captain made some brief announcement, and then the ground personnel took over. The passengers deplaned very quickly, and we were directed to the other side of security; within minutes the airport looked like a ghost town. We were instructed to go downstairs to aircraft operations and wait until we had new crew orders. When we arrived, there were many other rerouted crews already there, and for the next two hours we sat glued to a small television set in an employee break room watching the terrifying events unfold before us. Later the captain informed us that we were to go to a hotel and wait until we were released to go. We spent the next four days in Green Bay, Wisconsin, waiting, wondering, and watching. When we were finally released we took an empty airplane to New York, and as we flew into the city on approach we had our first glimpse of what is now called Ground Zero. Although we had witnessed the images for the last four days on a television screen, nothing could prepare us for the actual sight of the devastation of the horror below.

I finished writing this book on September 6, just five days before this tragedy. Since then the world has changed, New York has changed, and I guess I've changed, too. However, I still believe in humor and that laughter can help us heal. Although I did not personally know any of the flight crew members who lost their lives in the line of duty, I still feel a strong connection to them. They were, after all, sister and brother flight attendants, and to me they are also heroes just like the police officers, firefighters, EMTs, and countless other people who lost their lives while simply doing their job that day. Airline employees are an interesting bunch of people with a very interesting lifestyle; in our little community we are always sharing funny stories about our flights, our passengers, our coworkers, our layovers, and our lives. Needless to say, there is always a lot of laughter. Much of this book is not only from my own personal stories but from the collective experiences of all airline personnel, which is often what binds us together. And so this book is for all of us who travel by air and who work in the industry, but most especially for those we've lost.

September 24, 2001

About the Author

Rene Foss
, a second-generation flight attendant, has been an employee of a major airline for 16 years. She is the writer and star of the musical revue
Around the World in a Bad Mood!
, which has been performed in Minneapolis, New York, and other major cities. A native of Minneapolis, she currently lives in New York City.

Copyright © 2002 I'll Be Right Back Productions, LLC

The following songs from the musical revue
Around the World in a Bad Mood
are reprinted with permission:

“The Safety Demo Shuffle,” lyrics by Rene Foss and music by Michael McFrederick, copyright © 1998 by Rene Foss and Michael McFrederick. All rights reserved.

“Around the World in a Bad Mood” and “Benefits,” lyrics by Rene Foss and music by Michael McFrederick, copyright © 2000 by Rene Foss and Michael McFrederick. All rights reserved.

“I Hate Everything” and “The WAFTI Company Song,” lyrics by Rene Foss and music by Michael McFrederick, copyright © 2001 by Rene Foss and Michael McFrederick. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information address Hyperion, 114 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10011.

The Library of Congress has catalogued the original print edition of this book as follows:

Foss, Rene.

Around the world in a bad mood : confessions of a flight attendant / Rene Foss.

   p. cm.

ISBN-10: 0-7868-9011-8

ISBN-13: 978-0-7868-9011-8

1. Flight attendants. 2. Foss, Rene, 1962- I. Title.

HD8039.A43 R67 2002

387.7'42'092—dc21

[B]

2001039884

eBook Edition ISBN: 978-1-4013-0444-7

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Cover design © Anton Markous

First eBook Edition

Original trade paperback edition printed in the United States of America.

www.HyperionBooks.com

^*
Whenever you see someone doing something that might not follow the WAFTI guidelines to the letter, turn them in! This will make you a hero with the suits. It will also make you feel as though you are making a valuable contribution to WAFTI and justify your paycheck.