A TRIBUTE TO TIGERAIR… MY FLIGHT ATTENDANT JOURNEY!

Seven years ago, I started my career as a stewardess. However, earlier this week I received the devastating news that my cabin crew career has come to an end. (View my previous post here). So, for now at least, I’m hanging up my wings. And whilst 2020 has brought a lot of challenges our way, for me, this is by far the biggest.

Sadly, the airline that I’ve worked at for the past seven years will leave our skies forever as a result of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

And naturally, I’ve spent the past few days in tears, as the memories flooded through my social media feeds. The crew and I have all been sharing snapshots of what truly was the best job in the world, as a Tribute to Tigerair! And as the weekend comes to a close, it still doesn’t feel real. However, tomorrow is a new week and it’s onwards and upwards from here, so it’s time to start the next adventure!

This video is my final TRIBUTE TO TIGERAIR AUSTRALIA, as I say goodbye to the airline that I’ve loved working for all of these years. Thank you for the BEST 7 YEARS OF MY LIFE!

THINGS I’LL MISS!

– Having a Job that Never Really Felt Like Work!
– Working with the BEST Group of People
– Hotel Overnights (They were rare for us when flying Domestically so I still enjoy them!)
– Staff Travel (With up to 8 Weeks of Annual Leave per Year)
– Being Paid to Stay at Home on Standby if I wasn’t Called in to Fly and Having Days Off During the Week
– Feeling Proud to Put on my Uniform and Walk Through the Terminal when I arrived at work, and
– Having a Job where every single day was different and I never really knew where I could end up!

THE NOT SO GLAMOROUS BITS!

– Waking up at 3:30am to a call from Crewing and Falling into Bed at 3:30am Later that Same Week (my Body Clock now hates me!)
– Flying for up to 12 Hours a Day, 6 Days in a Row (with only 12 Hours Break Between Duties)
– Delays and Duty Extensions (As unfortunately we can’t control the Weather or avoid Air Traffic Control constraints)
– Trying to Make ALL of the Bags fit into the Overhead Lockers!
– Cleaning the Aircraft on every Turnaround
– Working on Christmas, Easter and all of the Public Holidays, and
– Constantly studying for Safety and Emergency Procedure Exams

THE HIGHLIGHTS!

– Operating Tigerair’s first ever International Flight from Bali to Australia – the energy on board our international flights was incredible and we were always run off our feet!
– Flying to Bali, every week for a whole year, with my Best Friends!
– Training with the Crew for the Proving Flight when the B737 Aircraft first joined our Domestic Fleet, and
– Hiring and Training New Cabin Crew Recruits as they too started their Flight Attendant Journey!

HANGING UP MY WINGS

When the news of coronavirus crippling China first broke I had no idea that it was beginning of the end.

Of course we were taking all of the necessary precautions, yet I was working on the front line long before the virus had been declared a pandemic, not knowing I was at risk, that millions of people would contract coronavirus, nor that thousands of people would die as a result of this disease. And of course, when put in perspective, I feel so fortunate to be healthy and still have a roof over my head as a result of financial support from the Australian Government and emotional support from the Virgin Group. However, now that the incredible little airline that we built has come to an end, I am also sad that we didn’t get one last flight! Here in Melbourne we are still in Stage 4 restrictions, as the virus continues to spread and I haven’t seen my family in seven months which has been incredibly hard.

It’s also been almost five months since my last flight and I miss our amazing team at Tigerair Australia so much.

I have been fortunate to have worked with the BEST Cabin Crew and Pilots (both at Tigerair and within the Virgin Australia Group), to have formed friendships with the Ground Crew and Engineers and to have been led by a dedicated Management Team who worked incredibly hard to keep our little airline running. I have learnt from the best and loved sharing my passion for aviation with the new recruits, who made me fall in love with my job all over again!

To everyone I worked with over the past 7 years – you are all such amazing, genuine people who truly cared about each other and our airline. I wish we could all catch up for a final Tribute to Tigerair and celebrate what truly was the best culture, where crew treated each other like friends and our customers commented on how we were always smiling! Thank you to every single person that I worked with for making coming to work something I loved, every single day!!! This was so much more than a job to me – it was my life and it was the people that made Tigerair Australia the most amazing airline to work for!