Flight Attendant Issues Personal Warning for Folks to Rethink Flying
Published July 3 2023, 1:21 p.m. ET
Most of us know what it's like to be on the receiving end of commercial flight woes. It's stressful enough to have to go through an airport to begin with. You have to deal with long security lines and strict bag policies. You just hope on a wing and a prayer that there are no drastic changes to your flight information before takeoff. Oftentimes, we can take for granted exactly how much work goes into making sure that nothing goes wrong when we're trying to travel by air.
A flight attendant on TikTok gives us a glimpse into another facet of air travel that essentially addresses that behind-the-scenes struggle.
In late June 2023, Liz (@lizzyfromtheblock99) took to social media to offer a "PSA about what's going on in aviation." Essentially, she's warning people to avoid flying as much as they can "for the next few days" as of her posting. Here's what Liz has to say about the current state of commercial flights.
A flight attendant issues a warning on TikTok for folks trying to fly this week.
As an airline employee, Liz offers a little insight into "what's going on in the aviation industry right now" and what people can do to avoid certain headaches.
As of her initial post on June 30, 2023, Liz informed folks that flights were getting delayed or flat-out canceled while she was on the clock.
"There were more flights canceled and delayed than there were flights going out on time," Liz recalls in her video.
Reportedly, airlines were attempting to avoid flying in bad weather. However, Liz personally attests to the idea that they either fly around it or find some way to work through it rather than cancel flights.
To make matters worse, other flight attendants have been "lost in the system" because of these scheduling mishaps, leaving many stranded in airports away from their homes without even the recourse of a temporary hotel stay. According to Liz, flight attendants have to contact a system called "crew scheduling" in order to resolve these issues and find airline employees places to stay while out of state.
However, wait times for these calls apparently lasted hours with no guarantee for success. Because of this, many have had to resort to sleeping on cots in the airport in lieu of work-mandated hotel stays.
In a follow-up, Liz revealed that flight attendants are meant to get a certain number of hours of rest before continuing on any flights. Being forced to seek shelter at an airport hardly qualifies, and not being able to stay in hotels makes things even worse.
While Liz didn't explicitly state why these delays and cancellations were occurring, there has been a perfect storm of chaos brewing, figuratively and literally.
According to a July report by CNBC, airlines like U.S. have been bracing for holiday-related travel for the Fourth of July weekend. This coupled with thunderstorms along the East Coast has thrown their flight schedules into disarray.
This has undoubtedly had an impact on other airlines like the one Liz works at, prompting her to warn other folks to avoid flying as much as they can. While folks in the comments have their own schedules to worry about in terms of returning home, potential passengers are taking Liz's warning into consideration as they prepare for the worst.