As much as management says it would really like to move us around more so that we get to “enjoy” shifts which would have us “visiting” as many different destinations as possible, the reality of it all dictated by practicality I guess, is that we sort of fall into a routine of sorts. You kind of work on the same flight route for quite a bit of time, but it never really gets boring because of the many different faces you’re sure to serve each time.
If exciting means challenging in many ways then yeah, you never really feel like you’re falling into a routine as part of the cabin crew. New faces which belong to new passengers come with many different challenges, most of which thankfully form part of a pleasant experience, but you do indeed get the occasional passenger who just seems to take crazy to a whole new level.
As much as one generally deals with new faces pretty much every time however, there are some travellers – particularly business travellers – who travel the same route(s) with such regularity that you get to know them a little more closely and personally. One such traveller is one who actually trades human hair, believe it or not and he insists on going to source the product by touching it and holding it in his hands to “ensure its quality,” as he says, so he books a passenger seat to go along with his cargo consignment.
Here’s the thing though, this particular gentleman is loaded. He is a regular Mr. Moneybags and yet he insists on flying economy class. I know this because I engaged him once on one of the emptier flights of the month and he told me all about his business dealings.
He insists on flying economy because he’s “trying to make money, not spend it” as he says, so he sees no value in spending unnecessarily on flying business class. In fact, Mr. Moneybags is such a frequent flyer that the points he accumulates add up to about a third of his flights enjoyed completely free, so I guess I can truly say that he is a businessman through-and-through!
I suppose there’s a lesson to be learned out of all of this because as much as I might suggest that the truly loaded passengers fly business class all the way, that would sort of point to how they make their money. Those who work incredibly hard for it and value it only fly business when it’s absolutely necessary, like on a long-haul direct flight, while those who became rich through something like an inheritance hold a different view on the value of the money they spend.
Either way, the fact that you get loaded individuals both from the business and economy class cabins asking for last night’s lottery numbers suggests that the advantage the wealthy have over the rest of us is the fact that they always maintain a positive value flow, i.e. in every situation the total money coming in must exceed the total money going out, and also that they’re always on the lookout for opportunities to make more money.