What can I say. We finally boarded and wheels left the ground at around 1:15 AM. Everyone knew connecting flights would be missed. No one spoke about it. By this time everyone just wanted to sleep. One baby cried for a very short while and then it was quiet the rest of the way.
The female flight attendants all had long hair worn in a braided ponytail. Stepford Wives crossed my mind. I wondered if the style was required or if they showed up for work and made a group decision. There were no male flight attendants in the rear section at all. One thing I noticed was the flight attendants were chatty with French speakers where the rest of us received the turn up the corners of the mouth "I'm smiling at you because I have to." grin. I got to thinking about it today. They were diverted and had to wait around too.
I apppreciated the way AF took care of the feeding and watering of waiting passengers on the ground and in the air. We were served dinner in the morning but who cares. It was so delicious. I had a curried chicken with orzo, salad and a dessert. Spectacular,
They were also very good about alerting those that missed connecting flights about what to do & where to go. That made everyone feel reassured. However, there was still that overlying feeling of aloofness toward non French speakers. Upon landing, the staff around the terminal was not very helpful at all. I had been warned about this earlier in the week. Those missing connecting flights were sent to the service desk to be reticketed. The French are not loud like Americans when speaking in a crowd. I was standing in line with two guys from the Detroit area headed out on a medical mission in Southern France. We couldn't hear what the counter girl was saying so I asked a man about it. He looked at me and kept talking. I then walked up to the counter and asked the frazzled gal what she had said. She passed me to a man that began looking for a connecting flight for me. The man I had asked for clarification began yelling, "No! No! We are first. We need a flight!" I told the counter guy he could take care of the man first. His reply? "He talks too much. He will go last." My new flight was on Egypt Air two terminals away. On the shuttle I met a woman from the Detroit Area traveling with three small children. She used my cell to text her husband & give her new flight
The female flight attendants all had long hair worn in a braided ponytail. Stepford Wives crossed my mind. I wondered if the style was required or if they showed up for work and made a group decision. There were no male flight attendants in the rear section at all. One thing I noticed was the flight attendants were chatty with French speakers where the rest of us received the turn up the corners of the mouth "I'm smiling at you because I have to." grin. I got to thinking about it today. They were diverted and had to wait around too.
I apppreciated the way AF took care of the feeding and watering of waiting passengers on the ground and in the air. We were served dinner in the morning but who cares. It was so delicious. I had a curried chicken with orzo, salad and a dessert. Spectacular,
They were also very good about alerting those that missed connecting flights about what to do & where to go. That made everyone feel reassured. However, there was still that overlying feeling of aloofness toward non French speakers. Upon landing, the staff around the terminal was not very helpful at all. I had been warned about this earlier in the week. Those missing connecting flights were sent to the service desk to be reticketed. The French are not loud like Americans when speaking in a crowd. I was standing in line with two guys from the Detroit area headed out on a medical mission in Southern France. We couldn't hear what the counter girl was saying so I asked a man about it. He looked at me and kept talking. I then walked up to the counter and asked the frazzled gal what she had said. She passed me to a man that began looking for a connecting flight for me. The man I had asked for clarification began yelling, "No! No! We are first. We need a flight!" I told the counter guy he could take care of the man first. His reply? "He talks too much. He will go last." My new flight was on Egypt Air two terminals away. On the shuttle I met a woman from the Detroit Area traveling with three small children. She used my cell to text her husband & give her new flight
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