The Flight Attendant assigned to my line is very senior. He doesn't care to work much as I've only seen him once.
Sure enough last night a reserve Flight Attendant was assigned at the last minute.
Somehow we blocked out 7 minutes early. Captains leg.
Flight was planned at FL200. We stopped at 12,000 as it made little difference in fuel for climbing all the way up for a 90 NM flight.
Blocked in an astonishing 20 minutes early. This didn't hit me until I was filling out the paperwork at the hotel.
"Hey Jim, it's 9:50PM" I said.
"And? " asked my Captain.
"We're early...we weren't due to arrive until 9:50PM." I continued.
"Holy smokes you're right, first time all month we're at the hotel at our arrival time!" he said.
Same room 419.
Van scheduled for 5:20AM like always.
This cab driver is unique in many ways. One way is she bakes for flight crews. Sometimes a meal...often pastries. This morning she had fresh blueberry bread and chocolate bread.
I was sipping coffee and noticed it was 5:23AM.
"Hey guys, ya think we should head to the airport?" I said.
Off we went.
This station is very good. I was walking around for my preflight at 5:32 AM. Scheduled departure was 6AM.
At 5:50AM boarding was done, bags loaded, weight and balance computed....and away we went....10 minutes early. Well oiled machine...every now and then.
My leg airborne at 5:57 AM. Blasted off and immediately noticed lightening in the distance. The forecast was for scattered storms. I saw a thick line.
If the weather had not been there we would have been 35 minutes early (for a 50 minute blocked flight. With the weather we had a big detour.
We were vectored in between two minor weather systems. Heavy rain but a fairly smooth ride.
Wipers on high. We picked up the runway about 2 miles out. Lightening to the west of the runway. Lots of it. I mentioned if we went missed I would go north and then east. Thankfully an uneventful landing at 6:28AM.
With the lightening the ramp was closed meaning no one to park us. The rain and lightening got worse. Finally at 7AM a ramp manager guided us in and we parked.
After a quick bus ride I was eating donuts with my family at 7:50AM.
Done until tonight.
Sound kike a well-oiled system with few bumps. Well ahead of schedule and early in the AM, I gues you can afford to fly around the weather. The storms on landing grace with additional (paid) block time, but without being truly late. Is that bad? Home before 8 and paid to snooze cannot be all that bad.
ReplyDeleteDoes your airline slightly over-block that route just to compensate for seasonal weather? It would seem almost normal... Stuff happens and in that area it is almost expected. If you can cope with the slightly shifted clock, that is truly not a horrible schedule.; enjoy it while you can.
When you migrate to the 'other' seat, later this year or early next year, you may collect a bit more, but some of the schedule options will not agree with you. I'll be interested to hear how you cope with the competing forces. Best wishes... -C.
This flight is about 10 minutes over blocked. We have done that are over blocked by an hour as they go to very busy airports known for delays.
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