Patrick,

I assume you are talking about Northwest 255 in the list below. There was one survivor of that crash.

Her name is Cecelia Marie Cichan-Lumpkin.

I had the honor of meeting her several years ago.

Much like the TSA concentrating its efforts on nail clippers rather than the mulititudes of employees with little to no attention paid to that have unhindered airside access, its not surprising that politicians want to ban laptops from the flightdeck. Much easier than actually introducing legislation that would regulate flight time and duty limitations to ensure that pilots were properly rested and attentive to begin with.

Someone once told me that there were more regulations regarding the working hours of truck drivers than there were for pilots and cabin crew. They also told me that there were more regulations regarding the conditions that cattle were flown in, than there were for passengers. (ie. operative air conditioning). I have no reason to doubt either theory.

and meant to read it then. So glad I remembered and came back today.

I've never had a cleaningperson and probably never will. I figure if I can't find the time to clean up my own mess, then something is really wrong. Thats just me. Granted, my house is not spotless and I have a hard time keeping up with the dust (big city 'n all) but I'm light years ahead of people whose houses I see as a matter of course through my own business. Real estate agent.

Rebecca you're a very good writer and I have nothing but the most respect for you and others who do the work you do. I've seen how filthy people can be and know enough wealthy people to know how cheap they can be. The Toronto Star did a bit of an expose a few years back and mentioned many of the same "lets rip of the cleaner" stories that you did. Appalling.

Good luck with the book. I'm off to try ordering a copy.

I had to laugh at the picture of the fairing with speed tape on it.

Back in the late 80's early 90's there was a Canadian charter airline called Nationair - no longer around. (fortunately?) It was notorious for making the news, garbage bags being used to cover air leaks due to leaky door seals, parts falling off airplanes, blown tires, the worst crash involving a Canadian company/aircraft in 1991 due to negligence, falsified documents and under-inflated tires. They made extensive use of speed tape since parts were apparently short on hand due to overly "thrifty" management.

"By "parts" do you mean speed tape?"

-Mechanic commenting on the shortage of real parts for aircraft fixes

You could give them 3 feet of leg room and many (note I didn't say all) people would still leave the area looking like a landfill.

I've seen it all. Babies in overhead bins, shit in the sink (and other locations) wiping snot on the wall or the seat in front of them, masturbation, changing babies on tray tables. There's nothing passengers do that faze me anymore. For what its worth, the picture accompanying this weeks article is tame compared to with what I've seen thousands of times over. I used to hear other FA's say, "do they act like this at home?" Truth is, I think some of them do. Maybe it's the "bring your bags, check your brains" theory in action.

Granted, there are some people that would clean up better if there was more room, but business class and first class areas I've seen after any flight longer than 3 hours would tend to contradict that theory. There seems to be a prevailing North American sense that if something falls on the floor, someone else will pick it up.

Its always interesting to see the reactions of cabin crew after they've done their first flight to or from Japan with a high percentage of Japanese on board. There's comparatively very little rubbish on the floor, and what is left is usually in the back of seat pockets in neatly folded sick bags, headset bags or other bag that the passenger provided. It's the same on trains and busses. Why Mt. Fuji is covered in litter amazes me, but thats beside the point.

RE: Cold comfort (By JorenCarlson, July 10, 07:13)

>I've never had to circle an airport for over an hour while the pilots radio Toulouse to find out how to get the airplane to stop circling the airport - in anything other than an Airbus.

Supposing that such a thing even happened, it would most certainly have nothing to do with the difference between a computer augmented flight regime (Airbus style) versus Non-Airbus style, because that computer regime has nothing to do with navigation, it purely controls the immediate flight.

Oh it happened alright. What, you think I made it up? My point remains. I've never had an airplane "lock-out" inputs or controls from the pilot in anything but an Airbus. Yes, yes, it was only once, but once was enough.