Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet by Heather Poole

Sep 10, 2012 Miles rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you're thinking about an exciting career in airborne customer service, this is the book for you! If, like me, you are not considering becoming a flight attendant, it is hard to explain why you would even pick this book up, much less read quickly through it in fascinated excitement, as I just did.

I guess this book answered a question that we all must have asked, but never really pursued, as we are served a diet coke or commanded to take our seats. Who are these people? What are their lives lik...more If you're thinking about an exciting career in airborne customer service, this is the book for you! If, like me, you are not considering becoming a flight attendant, it is hard to explain why you would even pick this book up, much less read quickly through it in fascinated excitement, as I just did.

I guess this book answered a question that we all must have asked, but never really pursued, as we are served a diet coke or commanded to take our seats. Who are these people? What are their lives like?

Heather Poole provides the real deal, the inside scoop on the glamorous flight attendant life style. And, man, is it ever not glamorous. Who would do this work? And why?

You know how much flying sucks? OK, now imagine that it's your job, and you do it for 30 or 40 hours a week, and have to smile and pretend you like it. Then imagine you get paid really badly, and have to hot bunk it (share a bed) in dingy flop houses spread around the country where fellow attendants come and go at all hours of the night. Now imagine the passengers, the whining, complaining, needy, rude mass of humanity, who hate flying as much as any sane person would, and who you must passify, calm, and herd. Then imagine the polyester uniform you must wear, and the hair and makeup codes you must conform to.

If you do this kind of work, you do get travel benefits. Sort of. But they don't sound very generous, and of course every time you use them you have to do what? Get on another stinking aluminum tube and fly. No, ladies and gentlemen, this is a truly awful way to make a living, and we can only shake our heads in wonder at Ms. Poole's excited telling of adventures and misadventures over her 15 year career in the sky. Good on her, for creating a very readable memoir. She's got some real war stories. I loved the awfulness of the life she described. But I don't think she thinks her life is awful. I believe that she thinks it's been a rollicking good ride.

I guess that's what you'd want your flight attendant to feel - that this is a pretty good life, all things considered. So it's all good. Thank you Heather Poole for sharing your experience of work.(less)

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Dec 31, 2012 Mtbike40 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: aviation

This was a fun and interesting read if you enjoy the continuing struggle of the aviation industry or fly a lot. Heater gives a fun and interesting perspective to life as a flight attendant. The glamor has certainly fallen away from flying and ever since 9/11 being a traveler has left me wondering what the heck is going on with the industry.

I fall into the category of a business traveler who has become tired of the near retirement, grumpy flight attendant that always seems to be on the flights I...more

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Oct 05, 2012 Kara rated it 5 of 5 stars

I want all my family and friends to read this book. It's my life! I have either experienced most of these stories or had coworkers survive to tell us all. I love it!

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Feb 26, 2013 Abby Moe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Cruising Attitude by Heather Poole is about the life of a flight attendant... Sounds boring right? Think again. Heather Poole wrote this memoir on her life in becoming a flight attendant. She never planed on that to be her career, but her mother insisted, and it just stuck.

Becoming a flight attendant is competitive and a small percentage of people who actually apply do not make it. Heather was one of the lucky ones. Before she attempted to become one of the big shots on international planes f...more

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Oct 28, 2012 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

You know, these days I read travel books with a whole different eye. One, I’m usually reading them in an airport or a hotel. Two, the situations and places in the books seem very familiar to me now. That’s one of the reasons I was so interested in Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet – I see a lot of flight attendants in the course of a week’s work, and it looks like an interesting, exciting job. Like most jobs, though, it’s not quite what it see...more You know, these days I read travel books with a whole different eye. One, I’m usually reading them in an airport or a hotel. Two, the situations and places in the books seem very familiar to me now. That’s one of the reasons I was so interested in Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet – I see a lot of flight attendants in the course of a week’s work, and it looks like an interesting, exciting job. Like most jobs, though, it’s not quite what it seems.

Author Heather Poole was encouraged by her mother to apply for a job as a flight attendant — the job her mother had always wanted. That first interview was a complete failure, but after college and a few years spent designing watches, she tried again. Her stories of flight attendant training school were really surprising — they are tough on those students! The whole thing seems designed to wear them down and weed out the weak. That’s probably a good thing because the job itself is not for delicate flowers. The hours are long, the schedule is unpredictable and the people you meet are crazy.

Poole does a great job of working in stories about crazy passengers and other flight attendants without giving too much away:

“I may not remember her name, but on the descent into New York she told me all about her ex-husband, a pilot who cheated on her numerous times with other flight attendants, and whose former mother-in-law is trying to get sole custody of the children using her job against her. There was another man who never told me his name, but I do know his first sexual encounter took place with a man twenty years his senior and now he only has a thing for older men — with red hair. Just like the man sitting in 22B. I couldn’t tell you their names, but I do know they’ll be spending the night in jail because he punched her after she scratched his face for daring to call his wife in her presence as soon as the flight touched ground.”

It’s like a soap opera in the sky!

And, of course, there are the celebrity encounters for the folks working in first class. That has to be one of the more interesting parts of the job. Poole talks about her time working on a private jet, the rich and powerful men that she met (and occasionally dated) as they were sitting in first class, and there are celebrity stories that read like gossip column blind items:

“So, here’s the galley gossip. He was one of the biggest pop stars of our time, and while he wouldn’t breathe the air at 35,000 feet without wearing a face mask, he had no problem scarfing down two first class meals…This actor known for having a thing for supermodels fell asleep with his hand down his pants in first class…The comedian who got kicked off of one of daytime tv’s hottest talk shows asked the pilot not to make any more announcements because her baby was sleeping…A Canadian who shot to the top of the music charts for her scathing lyrics wouldn’t allow a passenger in the window seat to pass by her in order to use the lavatory until quietly meditating with her first.”

I was really interested in the stories about the schedules and workload. As much as I travel now and the crazy schedule I keep, hers is so much worse! What they put flight attendants through ought to be criminal. The crazy hours, the backbiting, the competition for good flights — it’s all insane and one of those jobs you really have to love to put up with all of that.

This is a fun read for anyone who travels a lot. It gives you a whole new respect for the people serving your beverages (although after what she says about Diet Coke, I’ll feel guilty about asking for it!) and pretzels. It’s certainly an enlightening read for anyone interested in a career in travel. I could have skipped a lot of the stories about her love life and personal life in favor of more travel anecdotes, but it’s generally a pretty good balance.(less)

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Sep 14, 2012 Tiffany Hawk rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Believe it or not, I read this book while I was in labor. I know that’s a strange thing to put in a review, but when I tell you I finished it within a few days, you’ll see just how compelling I found it. I had been looking forward to it so much that I packed it in my hospital bag just in case I had a moment or two to peek. Anyway, a quick peek turned into “I couldn’t put it down,” so between contractions (early on), while the post c-section morphine made me itch so bad I couldn’t sleep, and pret...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Will Byrnes rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, biography-autobiography-memoir, travel

Most flight attendants are not exactly high fliers. The pay is far from lofty, they are faced with work restrictions and requirements that only a union-buster could love, and then they have to put up with the likes of you, me and much worse in the course of a normal day. Heather Poole walked the mean aisles of our (mostly) national airways for fifteen years and has some tales to tell. She writes in a breezy, easy-to-read style, and does try to keep it light. But there is enough material in the u...more Most flight attendants are not exactly high fliers. The pay is far from lofty, they are faced with work restrictions and requirements that only a union-buster could love, and then they have to put up with the likes of you, me and much worse in the course of a normal day. Heather Poole walked the mean aisles of our (mostly) national airways for fifteen years and has some tales to tell. She writes in a breezy, easy-to-read style, and does try to keep it light. But there is enough material in the unpleasantness these men and women have to cope with that she offers an eye-opening view into what it means to actually be a flight attendant. It begins with a seven-week Barbie Boot Camp that reminded me a bit of Cool Hand Luke. No box involved, but many, many ways to be invited to take a seat outside the facility. Fall asleep in class, you’re out. Late for class, you’re out. Look out an exit the wrong way during a drill, and buh-bye, and so on. She also offers slight views on her co-workers, ranging from disappointment to admiration. Poole is far too perky to really dish dirt and fess to despising anyone. If you are looking for juice on famous passengers, you might have to change seats to row Z, the one in the hangar behind the plane, ‘cuz that sort of thing just won’t fly here. She does offer a few instances of no-names-please oddities among the well-known set, and does have some kind things to say about a few celebrities. No name phobia there. She was particularly taken with how kind Mark Cuban was on her two shifts working his private jet, and gushes about the excellent manners of the members of his basketball team who were on one of those flights.

There are some amusing tales of how the ladies cope with living on fruit-picker wages, while having to find housing in not-so-fruit-picker rental markets like NYC.

You will learn a lot about the actual work involved in tending to passengers on a flight, about the hierarchy within the profession, and some surprising details about flying. Hint: ask for your own can when getting diet coke. For some reason it holds its fizziness long enough to take forever for your attendant to pour.

There are dating tales here, but nothing actually steamy. And some passing refs to some unnamed mile-high-club members. You will pick up some terminology that may or may not come in handy. My favorite was the term "air mattress," which refers to "Cockpit Connies" who have been issuing an excessive number of boarding passes.

And if you have it in mind that many flight attendants get into the profession in order to elevate their marriage prospects, you get a free upgrade. But others are there for the travel benefits primarily. And when your attendant is boasting about her grandchildren I doubt she is hitting on you.

In short, this is an informative, fun, enjoyable book. It will make you appreciate more what the attendants on your next flight have to put up with. Be nice to them. So put your book into an upright position, turn on your reading light and enjoy your flight.
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Apr 30, 2012 EinsteinShrugged rated it 3 of 5 stars

I don't know what I expected, but it certainly wasn't a book that reads more like a mass email Christmas letter. I'm sure Heather Poole is a nice enough person, but she relates her story in a way that kept reminding me of those books about girls who make bad decisions all written by John Benton and serving as book commercials for the Walter Hoving home. Everything is hands up, finger flapping SCANDALOUS ... but not really. She tries to drop bits of gossip about "celebrities in first class" but t...more

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Apr 03, 2012 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars

I had just finished Heather Poole's memoir, Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet, when the news broke about the Jet Blue pilot who had a breakdown on his flight from New York to Las Vegas. After reading Heather's book, you kind of understood how this happened.

Poole began her career on a regional airline, SunJet, that offered a $69 flight from Dallas to Newark, Ft. Lauerdale and Long Beach. The airline was often filled with unattended minors shutt...more I had just finished Heather Poole's memoir, Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet, when the news broke about the Jet Blue pilot who had a breakdown on his flight from New York to Las Vegas. After reading Heather's book, you kind of understood how this happened.

Poole began her career on a regional airline, SunJet, that offered a $69 flight from Dallas to Newark, Ft. Lauerdale and Long Beach. The airline was often filled with unattended minors shuttling back and forth between parents and grandparents, and one flight Poole flew had 12 unattended minors. She joked that the planes were literally held together with duct tape on seats, in the galley, etc.

She eventually moved on to a bigger airline, and she gives the reader a fascinating insight to the world of flight attendants. The first step was flight attendant school, or as Poole called it 'Barbie Boot Camp', which lasted for two months. Each day, fewer and fewer people would be at school; it reminded me of Demi Moore in the movie G.I. Jane, where recruits would disappear without a word.

Poole made a good friend in Georgia, a gorgeous Southern belle who had always dreamed of being an flight attendant. Her roommate was a Texas gal named Linda, who was a grandmother. Heather had her doubts about Linda, but they became friends too.

I learned many interesting facts about flight attendants. For example, they do not get paid until the plane backs away from the gate. While you're boarding and they are welcoming you and helping with your bags, they are not being paid. I think that is just plain wrong.

They must find crashpads to stay in, usually rented rooms in homes near their base airport. Heather and Georgia lived in a home owned by a Russian cabbie, where they shared a room with four other women, and there were three other bedrooms set up in similar fashion upstairs. And only one bathroom. It sounds almost like living on a submarine to me. (In fact, some people did have a bed-sharing agreement, like a submarine.)

There were even some flight attendants who lived in RVs in the employee parking lots at JFK airport.

Poole attempts to explain the reserve system, which sounded like the equivalent of hospital residents on-call system, but I didn't quite understand all of the intricacies of it. It is very involved, and the first time Heather was called to work on reserve, she messed it up and almost got fired, as she was on probation and could be fired for any small infraction.

In the 1970s, flight attendants averaged 18 months of employment, because they must be single and childless. Today, they last either a few months or an entire lifetime; there seems to be no middle ground.

Most attendants take the job for the travel passes; the ability to fly for free or for a very reduced rate. They can also have a few family members or friends fly for free. For the low pay and sometime abusive conditions, I'm not sure it's worth it. (Some of her stories of horrible passengers made me cringe. How can human beings act like that?)

Poole is a terrific writer; her book reads like a good novel. She tells her story with humor and pathos, and there's even some tension thrown in for good measure. I raced through the book, and it gave me a new appreciation for flight attendants.

One thing she said that stuck with me is that flight attendants appreciate hearing a "please" or "thank you". I think that it is only fitting that I end by saying 'thank you' to Heather Poole for writing this informative and entertaining memoir.
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Mar 20, 2012 Alla rated it 5 of 5 stars

“Cruising Attitude” by Heather Poole chronicles her adventures as a stewardess, including unruly passengers, flight attendant school, questionable living arrangements, dangerous flights, and crazy co-workers.

From a passenger willing to voluntarily switch her first class seat to the very worst seat on the plane just so she could see the movie screen better, to a fellow crew member who purposefully rammed his cart into a passenger’s seat, to encountering celebrities like Howard Stern and Oprah on...more

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Mar 10, 2012 Holly (2 Kids and Tired) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Heather Poole's book is delightfully funny. Some of her experiences and anecdotes seem too outrageous to be true, but I'm sure they are. I am so often surprised at the behavior of my fellow humans and the way we treat those who are providing services to us. I was also surprised at the level of training that flight attendants must go through. To say it was extensive and exhausting shouldn't surprise me, but did.

I'm a fairly casual flyer. I don't fly on a regular basis, but I've flown internationa...more Heather Poole's book is delightfully funny. Some of her experiences and anecdotes seem too outrageous to be true, but I'm sure they are. I am so often surprised at the behavior of my fellow humans and the way we treat those who are providing services to us. I was also surprised at the level of training that flight attendants must go through. To say it was extensive and exhausting shouldn't surprise me, but did.

I'm a fairly casual flyer. I don't fly on a regular basis, but I've flown internationally as well as within the states. I fly with my children, who are well behaved, who handle their own luggage and keep themselves quietly entertained on flights and who are always, and I mean, always, complimented by the flight crew and have been from their first flights. In my flight experience, I can't say that I've witnessed anything from fellow passengers or flight attendants that was memorably difficult, although I've had to endure rowdy children and parents who do not do anything to control, calm or care for them and I've run into the occasional, indifferent and patronizing flight attendant. I do remember one flight, years ago, that had an unplanned stop in Pueblo, Colorado because of mechanical difficulties and it turned into an 8 hour stopover, but passengers and crew handled it well as we all hung out in a small airport waiting room. I will say that my worst flight experience came on Air France (SFO to Paris). Snooty attendants, rude passengers, a "non-smoking" flight that meant smoking sections you had to walk through to get to the lavatory and then, once you got to the lavatory, the floor was sticky. I've never been so happy to get off a flight in my life, although the Paris Airport wasn't much better.

While I found some of the technical details and explanations hard to follow, I just skipped over those paragraphs. I also came away with the thought that, why would anyone want to be a flight attendant? The perks just don't seem to outweigh the grief, but these are also careers that no one will ever call predictable and once you gain some seniority, those perks do seem to get better. I will also never board another flight without looking at the situation with new, enlightened eyes.

At once entertaining and engaging, this is a light, easy read and one that will have you laughing out loud. The behind the scenes look at life in the friendly skies is enlightening and unexpected. There is mild profanity and use of the F word.
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Mar 07, 2012 Jaime rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir, non-fiction, 2012

For someone who “doesn’t read memoirs”, I’ve picked up more than a few this year. This one drew my eye because I enjoy flying, and had absolutely no idea what a flight attendant’s job was like.

After finishing the book, I’m fairly certain that I would never want to be a flight attendant. I never would have imagined a super-strict book camp, or the fact that for a long time, an attendant makes so little money they are lucky if they can afford to rent a room of their own, let alone an entire apartm...more

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Mar 07, 2012 Kathleen (Kat) Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-humor, biography, chick-literature, non-fiction, personal-memoir

I'm sure most of you have flown before and have had the opportunity at sometime to interact with a flight attendant. I think there are quite a few details we, as passengers, never consider when flying and that's just how hard of a job, flight attendants actually have. It takes more than a nicely dressed attendant who smiles graciously as you enter and sets about to make sure your flight is enjoyable.

In the book, Cruising Attitude by Heather Poole, a reader is taken on a behind the scenes tour of...more I'm sure most of you have flown before and have had the opportunity at sometime to interact with a flight attendant. I think there are quite a few details we, as passengers, never consider when flying and that's just how hard of a job, flight attendants actually have. It takes more than a nicely dressed attendant who smiles graciously as you enter and sets about to make sure your flight is enjoyable.

In the book, Cruising Attitude by Heather Poole, a reader is taken on a behind the scenes tour of what it takes to make it to a flight attendant. From the long and grueling training most don't pass, to the crazy stories of some of the things passengers expect while flying. Not to mention just where do they go in between flights, what happens when flights are delayed and what are some of the perks about being a flight attendant.

Heather Poole has been a flight attendant for various airline companies in the past fifteen years and has seen it all. Things we would never think about but that people have tried, done and some have been arrested for. She shares some celebrity encounters without mentioning the names of just how some use their status and some are strictly just like us as passengers. I think for me the most unusual story is that flight attendants don't get paid until the plane leaves the gate, which means, when faced with delays, they aren't getting paid to hear our complaints. Another crazy story is one passenger who packed his deceased mother in a garment bag to get her to her final destination to avoid the exorbitant fees to have her shipped any other way.

This book is packed with amazing and down-right shocking stories of just what a career in being a flight attendant really is like and for me, makes me appreciate what they do a whole lot more. Never will I see them the same after reading this great book. I received this book compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and LOVED it! This one rates a perfect 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion and look forward to sharing this one with my readers. If you're a frequent flyer or are just interested in what it takes to be a flight attendant, you'll definitely want to check this book out. (less)

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Jan 06, 2012 Pete Wung rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don't know how I came upon Heather Poole and her blog. I think I must have stumbled upon it when I was starting to use Twitter. She wrote about air travel and I traveled by air quite a bit, so I figured I can get some cool tidbits. Over time I came to appreciate her sense of humor and the earnestness she put into her work. And I did enjoy peekeing behind the curtains a bit, much as I did with Tony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential.

The book is structured chronologically, it is essentially her Fli...more I don't know how I came upon Heather Poole and her blog. I think I must have stumbled upon it when I was starting to use Twitter. She wrote about air travel and I traveled by air quite a bit, so I figured I can get some cool tidbits. Over time I came to appreciate her sense of humor and the earnestness she put into her work. And I did enjoy peekeing behind the curtains a bit, much as I did with Tony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential.

The book is structured chronologically, it is essentially her Flight Attendant career in sequence, from initial training to where she is now, well, actually to where she was a couple of years ago. I think she may have written the book in that sequence as well. The early chapters were a little hard to follow because the writing comes at you fast and furious. The book has a very breathless and immediate quality to it, like your BFF telling everything that you wanted to know. That breathlessness eased and the book got better and better as the later chapters came around. By the end of the book I was riveted to the apges because of the stories she was telling. Believe me, they were pretty juicy stories.

Even though I am fully cognizant of the fact that I am getting the Flight Attendant side of the story with regard to the airline industry, pilots, and passengers, it made me very much more aware of the inequities that exists in the airline industry and how little the flight attendants have in their control. the training, advancement, and pre-historic compensation and seniority system is a real shock to the system. The stories of their working condition is on a par with Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. The main difference being that we, the general public has some very unrealistic ideas about the glamour life that the airline employees lead.

In addition, the stories about the people that she came in contact with in her daily exposure to the flying public gave me pause to think about all the times that I was irate or short with a flight attendant. I am now sheepishly regretting all the times that I was cross with them. After all, the ethos in the present commercial travel ethos is nothing like that portrayed in Pan Am series. In the post 9/11 world, things changed, some due to the terrorist threats, some due to the economic travails that the airlines were forced to endure post 9/11. Travel conditions now are what traveling by bus was like during the heyday of air travel.

But most of the interesting stories come from the pilots, passengers, and other flight attendants that populate her universe. I did not realize that it was such a flying freak show up in the air, but it is. Bad behavior all around, but mostly on the part of the flying public. For some reason, bad behavior seem to be fine with otherwise sane and civilized human being. Perhaps it is the whole ritual of driving to the airport and having to go through that elaborate sequence of security checks before you pass muster to achieve the anointed status of being a passenger. Or it might be the previously exalted status of being able to afford to fly, but bad behavior seems to abound on the airplane. I have even noticed this in my own travels. But the stories in the book are far more interesting than mine.

There are also points in the book where the author begin to go down some interesting paths for reflection and rumination. I particularly enjoyed her short reflection on the connections and disconnections that seem to come in great bunches in her line of work, and how easily broken those tenuous threads of connection are for her. I also really enjoyed reading about her thought about her own emotions as well as the forced retrenchment of the airline industry after 9/11. I would have liked to have read more of her own thoughts and opinions, but alas, the stories can't wait. Maybe in her next book.

I really enjoyed the book, even though the pace seemed a bit hectic, but then again, that is a pace that one asosciates with air travel these days, so it felt familiar and apropos to the topic. I would recommend this book highly if you needed a laugh and if you wanted to really understand why the great American flying experience is the way it is.(less)

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Jan 29, 2013 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A great, humorous read about the life of a flight attendant.
She shares great stories (as most flight attendants have tons of them) with a great writing style.

On so many points I found myself smiling and nodding along in complete agreement. Diet Coke!!! takes forever to pour... also for me it is hot tea... once one person hears that we have tea it will spread back a row... then back another row. I don't know what it is about it, but 'tea' flights always leave a flight attendant stressed. Once you...more

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Aug 23, 2012 Kate rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-about-work

Heather Poole tells you what her life is like as a flight attendant. Some details were very enlightenting. For instance: flight attendants only get paid for time they are actually in the air. (So when our plane is stuck on the runway, they are bummed out about that, too.) Other aspects of this book were news to me, but just seemed odd. Like how anxious the author was about getting the drink service right. There are practically whole chapters devoted to her drink service anxiety. Lady, I do not c...more

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Mar 17, 2012 Fernanda Correia rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was a quick and delightful read. I've always had this little dream/fantasy of becoming a flight attendant but, alas, the dream has yet to come true. So, I already had sympathy/admiration for flight attendants before reading this book. I never knew just how much of a raw deal these people get. I've always heard people complain that flight attendants "don't do anything," but no one realizes how much work they have to do before you even step onto an airplane, **while they're off the clock...more

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Mar 05, 2012 Patty rated it 3 of 5 stars

Heather Poole is a very easy to read author. Her light and breezy style takes her reader through the rigors of flight attendant training school and then into the (not so) friendly skies. The book was a lovely diversion from some of the heavier books I have been reading lately and it certainly brought a few chuckles to my day as I read it. Ms. Poole's experiences with discontented travelers are certainly entertaining but I certainly can feel for her as she is mistreated by overbearing and entitle...more

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Jun 07, 2012 Becky Sandham Mathwin rated it 3 of 5 stars

When I was in my teens and early twenties I periodically would think about becoming a flight attendant. I imagined it to be a glamorous kind of life (travel, meeting all sorts of interesting people, wearing a cute uniform, etc.) and thought it would be a fun job to do for a few years while I was young. It was something I enjoyed daydreaming about but nothing I ended up pursuing. After reading "Crusing Attitude" I'm really glad that I didn't because Heather Poole's account of life as a flight att...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Feistytiger rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am always weary of these books as it always feels like everyone is jumping on the bandwagon of 'customer service stories'. However i have a guilty love for them also as I love to hear about things from behind the scenes. This one was one of the better ones.

The stories from Heather Poole, start from training to be an airline hostess to becoming senior in her job and the stories and tales along the way. It was well written and had more of a structure than similar books i have read. The writing s...more

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Mar 21, 2012 Sandra "Jeanz" rated it 5 of 5 stars

MY REVIEW

I found this book, witty and laugh-out-loud funny! It certainly gave an honest insight into the real life of a Flight Attendant. This book covers everything from the pre-conception that being a Flight Attendant is glamorous, to filling in laboriously long application forms, through to Interviews and Training.
As a member of the public I truly did not realise exactly how much training has to be done, and what small infringements can cause instant dismissal.
I was wide eyed at how many Fli...more MY REVIEW

I found this book, witty and laugh-out-loud funny! It certainly gave an honest insight into the real life of a Flight Attendant. This book covers everything from the pre-conception that being a Flight Attendant is glamorous, to filling in laboriously long application forms, through to Interviews and Training.
As a member of the public I truly did not realise exactly how much training has to be done, and what small infringements can cause instant dismissal.
I was wide eyed at how many Flight Attendants can share just one room, and how little they seem to be paid for the work they do.
Having flown a handful of times the times I came in to contact with Flight Attendants everything went well. On one occasion a previous passenger had spilled coke all over the seat I was supposed to have and no other seats were available, so the Flight Attendant calmly and very apologetically laid blankets on the seat so that I had a dry seat and asked me on numerous occasions if I was okay and comfortable. It was the comfiest seat ever!
I did notice that the flight attendants are "on the go" from boarding to disembarking.
As its a public service industry there seems to be a lot of passengers that complain (I overheard on the flights I was on) I have myself worked in a retail store and no complains louder than a customer who feels wronged in some way. I can only grimace at how bad that feels when you are stuck with that complaining or just demanding passenger on a flight with no escape.
I throroughly enjoyed this insight into the life of a flight attendant!
The characters that are met on the plane. I loved the lady "with the gift" I won't say more you will have to read this great book to find out more. I also enjoyed hearing about the hierachy of the Pilots and Senior Attendants etc, it was really interesting. It is really well written as though Heather is actually talking directly to you. Its so easy to read, I hated when I had to put it down.
So did I enjoy it? Yes, lots. Would I recommend it? Yes! Would I read more by Heather Poole, or a bk2? Yes, and YES! But it now!(less)

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Feb 02, 2012 Tara Chevrestt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir, vine, women-in-aviation

What a great book!! Though it's a memoir, it's well done. The narrator SHOWS us and transports the reader into the airplane, crashpad, terminal, bar. There's no telling here. I was thoroughly entertained and I was laughing so hard during much of it that my husband demanded to know what was so funny, and I had to read passages aloud to him.

Just some of the content: her early days as a flight attendant with an airline that actually used duct tape on the seats, flight attendant training, skirt leng...more

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Apr 20, 2012 Julie (julie37619) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crewe Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet is exactly what it sounds like - an insider's look at what it's like to work for an airline. Heather Poole is a veteran flight attendant who started by posted her stories on a blog, and has now collected them into a book.

Writing
I was actually really pleased with the author's writing. She is incredibly funny and her stories were collected well and written in an engaging way. I felt like I got to know her as a...more

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Feb 16, 2012 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

In a recent blog post, Flight Attendant, Blogger, and soon-to-be-published author, Heather Poole posted a humorous graphic of what friends, men, society, passengers, and FA themselves think of what they do. In her new book, to be published next month by Harper Collins, Cruising Attitude, Poole shares her story as a 15 year FA veteran by sharing her experiences related to each of these six categories and... so well told by Poole in the book.

This is a great book and when I saw that it was availabl...more In a recent blog post, Flight Attendant, Blogger, and soon-to-be-published author, Heather Poole posted a humorous graphic of what friends, men, society, passengers, and FA themselves think of what they do. In her new book, to be published next month by Harper Collins, Cruising Attitude, Poole shares her story as a 15 year FA veteran by sharing her experiences related to each of these six categories and... so well told by Poole in the book.

This is a great book and when I saw that it was available via the Amazon Vine review program, I immediately ordered it for a review.

With a well written, funny, and poignant insider's view of what is often a glamorized profession, Poole draws you into her story from the beginning with a story that illustrates what Flight Attendants have to deal with these days - passengers, and even some crew members, who you wonder if they are fully present when they board the plane.

Maybe you have wondered what it takes to become a Flight Attendant. Well, Heather will take you to the FA training academy (aka "Barbie Boot Camp") where for 7 and one-half pressure cooker weeks women and men are put through the paces never knowing if and when they are silently and secretly shown the door. There you will learn the difference between servicing a wide-body and a narrow-body. Jets that is and not, uh, passengers, though Heather does talk about some of those along the way.

Thinking that FA's live and travel well? Well, think crash pads and not bachelor (or bachelorette) pad. Crash pads are, in Poole's case, homes in the New York suburbs (her home base) which house often 20 FA's who share a small space (and an even smaller privacy) as they come and go all hours of the night. Which makes for some humorous stories... that you will to get the book and read!

And what about working with mom, er Ellen, who finally becomes a flight attendant and ends up serving on the same flight with her daughter? Or about how long it takes, for some strange reason, to pour a Diet Coke at 35,000 feet? (Heather I found the same thing on the ground! Must be a quirk about the mix!)

And Poole concludes with how it all changed when the tragic events of September 11, 2001 occurred and FA's had to now deal with a new threat.

Buy the book and enjoy following Heather across the friendly, and not so friendly skies, as she deals with people famous and not-so-famous, broken aircraft, and a unique set of characters... that just might be sitting next to you on your next flight!

I rate this book an "outstanding" read!

Note: I received an uncorrected proof of this book via the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a review. I was not required to write a positive review.(less)

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Mar 16, 2012 Laura de Leon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, memoir, review-copy

Heather Poole had some great stories, and I'll never look at flight attendants in quite the same way again.

This book was a mixture of a behind the scenes look at the logistics of how a flight functions (I'm a sucker for that sort of thing), and personal stories from a young woman who splits her time between flying the world and living in an apartment with many other women.

I admit, I really had never thought about what an airplane looks like from the flight attendants viewpoint-- how their sched...more

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Jun 11, 2013 Deborah rated it 5 of 5 stars

In her more than fifteen years as an airline flight attendant, Heather Poole has seen it all. She's witnessed all manner of bad behavior at 35,000 feet and knows what it takes for a traveler to become the most hated passenger onboard. She's slept in flight attendant crashpads in "Crew Gardens," Queens—sharing small bedrooms crammed with bunk beds with a parade of attractive women who come and go at all hours, prompting suspicious neighbors to jump to the very worst conclusions. She's watched pas...more

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Dec 19, 2011 Robin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books

Received this in e-galley format from Edelweiss.

This was an extremely informative report on life as a flight attendant. It's a far cry from the COFFEE, TEA, OR ME days (never really sure they existed) and I discovered lots of interesting tidbits about the training and life of today's flight attendant. At first I feared it would get into too much detail (a section on how the drink carts operate turned out to be much more interesting than I first thought) but I was soon riveted. There was also the...more

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Mar 14, 2012 Kristin (Kritters Ramblings) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: kritter-reviewed-2012

Have you ever wanted to go behind the scenes on someone else's job? For some reason I love hearing what other people do and what they love and hate about their job. I am not quite tall enough to be a flight attendant, but I am intrigued by the lifestyle of their job. This book was the perfect read to hear the ins and outs, the positives and the negatives to this unique job.

As a flight attendant Heather Poole has experienced a far share of the crazies - from celebrities to your average person cra...more

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Jun 04, 2012 C rated it 3 of 5 stars

It had some good information and it was an interesting read. Flight Attendants and their work are surrounded in a bit of romantic mystery, and it is interesting to read about the experience.

The tone throughout the book feels like it changes from formal to informal, from conversational to informational, from blog to term paper. I could never quite "get into it," but it kept me curious enough to keep reading. Because of this, it took me a while longer than I expected to get through the book, and...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Laetitia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, favourites, humor, kindle, non-fiction

I always liked planes but since I became a frequent flyer I've grown to love them. There's nothing more fascinating than seeing, or even sitting, on a double-deck aircraft, for instance. I am not a fan of long-haul flights but they're an experience. The more I travel around the globe the more I grow interested in the people working on planes. So this book by Heather Poole came in handy.

It's a great book. It's funny, informative and easy to read. I finished it in a couple of hours and I loved ev...more

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title link	preview: Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet
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Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet

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