Thursday, August 5, 2010

Hold On Tight

Many of  you know that I am a former flight attendant for Delta Air Lines. I resigned almost 6 years ago and have not worked since. Recently my sweet hubs and I have undergone some major changes in our life. He resigned from his job of over 33 years and has started with a new company. He is very happy where he is, but it has been a bit scary giving up the comfort of such a long, lucrative career...he definitely made the right choice to leave; he loves what he does now and our future will be much more secure.

During these past few months of "change", I have contemplated going back to flying. While virtually no airline is hiring flight attendants, I decided to apply for whomever was hiring and it happened to be SkyWest. This is so interesting to me as Delta and SkyWest are so closely affiliated and I never thought I would work for a regional commuter carrier...

I went to the interview on Tuesday in SLC and almost 200 people showed up. I quickly met 2 of the sweetest people, Billy and Mary. They made me laugh and we decided to hang out together for the duration of the day. We made it through the group interview only to find out that the other Mary was cut :'( Billy and I made it through to the one-on-one interviews. I happened to be the first name called for the one-on-one and when I was done, I went back into the holding room to say my good-byes to my new BFF Billy and he gave me a big hug then he loudly said, "O.K Everyone say good-bye to Mary"...they all said goodbye and I took a bow and gratuitously waved to the crowd! He was hysterical...

Yesterday I received a text from Billy saying he was in and had I heard yet...I checked my email and up until yesterday, I wasn't sure if I'd even accept the position...there it was..."Congratulations, New Hire". So now Billy and I are in the same class and he will MOST definitely make the intense 24 days of training more bearable. The good news is that training will be in SLC and since I live more than 40 miles from the SLC airport, they will put me up in a hotel. Training starts on August 17...YIKES...so soon...then on to wherever I get based and I'll be back in the skies.

Now that the decision has been made, Brad and I are very excited and feel really good about it all. I am so happy to be with a solid company and I am excited to see a bunch of new places...I am also SUPER stoked that their seniority is so different from Delta and after one year people are holding great lines and getting weekends and holidays off...if I were still with Delta, I'd still be holding a crappy schedule, working some holidays and weekends and I would still be considered "junior" after 12 years!

I'm not gonna lie, I'm not excited about the training, hopefully my past experience will be an asset. But I am most excited to get my flight benefits back...AND I get privileges on Delta and United as if I were an employee of theirs, not to mention the other carriers that I get to fly on free or for a very discounted rate. So watch out world, I'm Back, and I'm loving it!!
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7 comments:

Love Being A Nonny said...

Great story Mary and Yeh for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am excited to hear about your adventures and so glad you have something that keeps your mind (and body) really busy!

Lynn said...

Wow! Congratulations Mary! Sounds like it's just what you wanted and needed. The Lord's blessings.

Linda said...

Congratulations on this new adventure you are about to embark on! I'm so happy for you!

It's funny that you should write this because after years of being a nurse, I've recently thought that becoming a flight attendant would be a fun career change. I dismissed it because I didn't think any airlines were hiring at all. Maybe I should rethink this! Any advice or pointers? How did you know they were hiring?

Tales From My Empty Nest said...

Congratulations. I always thought I would have liked being a flight attendant. Best of luck on your new venture. If I ever fly this airline, I will have to look for you. Love & blessings from NC!

...You May Say I'm A Dreamer said...

Linda, Just go to an airlines website and click on careers. SkyWest is still hiring. I do know that airlines LOVE to hire nurses. The pay is less but the benefits FAR outweigh the pay in my mind! On their website they show you "base pay" only...you have to take into account "delay pay", "per Diem" etc. I can honestly say that it is the BEST career I have ever had. Good luck!
~Mary

BARBIE said...

Congratulations! How wonderful to be back in the skies. I once thought I would be a flight attendant, but then again I really don't like to fly that much. It's a fear thing I need to get over.

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