Airline Employees: We Appreciate You
Airline employees get the work done, even on Christmas day, with patience, flexibility and good cheer. Photo courtesy of British Airways.
The holidays are a stressful time for many of us. Those pressures are even greater for airline staff with the increased demands of the job including moving heavier loads and navigating bad weather. Although the season is challenging even in optimal circumstances, this year it has been compounded by understaffing, increased safety protocols and unruly passengers.
Yet the work gets done, even on Christmas day. It is notable that this is also an exceptional time of giving by the airline teams. We wish to commend airline staff for their patience, flexibility and commitment to care for travelers and for each other. That care continued even with the accelerated pressures of 2021.
Although the examples are too numerous to fully describe, here are a few based on personal experience: senior staff without young families take shifts for fellow employees that have small kids. Others open their doors to flight crews on layover to visit their homes for a holiday meal. Yet other employees help by offering boarding to pets in transit.
John is such a person, someone I know well. He worked at the airport and also drove the shuttle, taking people from the airport to their hotels. John regularly invited flight crews on layover to join his family for Christmas dinner. One year, bad weather caused a plane to divert to our community on Christmas. A storm made it impossible to continue on. John discovered what happened, showed up at the airport and invited the stranded passengers to his home. That year, John’s dinner table was filled to bursting with 10 crew members on layover and 20 more grateful travelers from the cancelled flight. That action truly demonstrates the meaning of the holidays. And, although these examples are acts of kindness and caring at Christmas, airline employees make it happen every day, 12 months a year, often unnoticed.
To airline crews everywhere from the Ramper Innovations team: our sincere appreciation and gratitude to you at the holidays and all year round. We couldn’t do it without you.
