Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet [Kindle Edition]

Heather Poole (Author)

Book Description

Real-life flight attendant Heather Poole has written a charming and funny insider’s account of life and work in the not-always-friendly skies. Cruising Attitude is a Coffee, Tea, or Me? for the 21st century, as the author parlays her fifteen years of flight experience into a delightful account of crazy airline passengers and crew drama, of overcrowded crashpads in “Crew Gardens” Queens and finding love at 35,000 feet. The popular author of “Galley Gossip,” a weekly column for AOL’s award-winning travel website Gadling.com, Poole not only shares great stories, but also explains the ins and outs of flying, as seen from the flight attendant’s jump seat.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Whether you’re a frequent or once-a-year flier, there’s something for everyone in this witty tell-all.” (Publishers Weekly )

“[An] insider’s perspective on the friendly skies . . . [an] entertaining, gonzo account.” (Booklist )

“A veteran flight attendant’s hilarious take on what really happens behind the scenes at 35,000 feet.” (People )

“Fun airplane reading.” (Washington Post )

“Poole knows what her readers want[:] juicy tidbits about celebrities (she delivers, with no names but sometimes enough description that you can figure it out), to know if flight attendants ever date passengers (yes) and the dirt on whether pilots are as skeezy as they sometimes seem (yes and no).” (Denver Post )

“Heather Poole is the fly-and-tell queen of the skies.” (Los Angeles Times )

“A charming and funny insider’s account of life and work in the not-always-friendly skies.” (Huffington Post )

From the Back Cover

Flying the not-so-friendly skies...

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 passengers and coworkers alike escorted off the planes by police. She can tell you why it's a bad idea to fall for a pilot but can be a very good one (in her case) to date a business-class passenger. Heather knows everything about flying in a post-9/11 world—and she knows what goes on behind the scenes, things the passengers would never dream.

Heather's true stories in Cruising Attitude are surprising, hilarious, sometimes outrageously incredible—the very juiciest of "galley gossip" delightfully intermingled with the eye-opening, unforgettable chronicle of her fascinating life in the sky.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 542 KB
• Print Length: 275 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0061986461
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (March 6, 2012)
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004XVN14O
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,342 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #3 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Transportation > Aviation > Commercial
  • #8 in Books > Travel > Food, Lodging & Transportation > Air Travel
  • #9 in Books > Professional & Technical > Transportation > Aviation > Commercial

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Quite What I Expected February 7, 2012

By Orianna VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

As the personal life story of a woman who decides to become a flight attendant, this book is mildly entertaining. It tells plenty of stories about what it's like to be a flight attendant: the crazy hours, the insane living arrangements, the kooky passengers.

If you're thinking of becoming a flight attendant, this book should be required reading. She details the process of interviewing and the intense training that she endured, along with what her schedule is like and how miserable the existence is for the first few months.

The trouble I had with the book was that the more interesting experiences were, for the most part, quite short. A paragraph about the time she caught someone having sex in the airplane bathroom, a sentence about the time someone threw up on her. It seemed a bit frazzled, always jumping from one anecdote to another, without fleshing them out. The longer stories tended to be about the author's personal life--her struggle to find someplace to live in New York City, what it was like to be a flight attendant on a privately owned jet, her attempts to find someone to date. Many of these experiences seemed to begin abruptly, without any introduction or transition. One second she's talking about serving lunch on a flight to Paris and the next she's talking about her mother becoming a flight attendant as well, and the next, she's jetting off to Las Vegas on a celebrity's private plane. I found it a bit confusing, to be honest. I couldn't keep track of when or where the story was taking place, because she jumped around so much.

There were a few useful tips. For instance, if you suffer from motion sickness, book a seat as close to the front of the plane as possible. There's less turbulence up front as opposed to the tail section, which tends to be quite bumpy. It was also interesting to learn that flight attendants don't get paid to stand around and greet you, or help you with your luggage. They're only "on the clock" once the plane is in the air.

Three stars, because while it is an interesting peek into the life of a flight attendant, it was quite scattered and hard to read at times. Take my review with a grain of salt, however, because memoirs aren't my usual cup of tea. This one looked interesting, so I thought I'd give it a shot, expand my horizons and all that--but I wasn't wholly impressed.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT FUN! May 18, 2012

By Vicki Howell

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book caught me by surprise. I didn't expect it to be so amusing. I expected to read some stories about passengers, and since I am a retired flight attendant after 42 years, I expected to skim it, and if it had a juicy part, to slow down. Not only did I slow down, I enjoyed the ride, or shall I say, "flight?" The book was fun. Not only did the author write about passengers, but she showed the readers the real flight attendant experience and how strange and weirdly crazy it can get. I found myself snort laughing. If you want to know what it is really like to be immersed in the life of a flight attendant, you will love this book. I have given a copy of the book to all of my friends. Men like it as much as women. It's readable, breezy, funny and real.

26 of 35 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Highly entertaining stories of passengers, pilots, training and flight mishaps January 31, 2012

By K. Polzin

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

This book reminded me of the Nanny Diaries and Kitchen Confidential, in which you get to hear all of the crazy things that go on and you wonder why anyone would keep a job like that. It's a fun read, especially if you fly a lot.

The author has an amazing attitude considering all she has had to deal with on a daily basis in her career. There are funny and interesting stories about celebrity encounters, medical injuries from turbulence, airline rules for employees and, most of all, crazy passengers.

This is a quick read, and it would be great to read on a plane. The book jacket says she is still is a flight attendant, and I hope the proceeds from the book get her a better crash pad apartment. A few nights living where she has to would have been enough to make me quit.

More About the Author

HEATHER POOLE has worked for a major U.S. carrier for more than fifteen years. Her work has been published in The Best Women's Travel Writing 2010, and her column, "Galley Gossip: Confessions from the Jumpseat with Heather Poole," can be found on AOL's award winning website, Gadling.com. She has been mentioned in or on People Magazine, Good Morning America, 20/20, Fox and Friends, The Weather Channel, New York Times, NBC New York, CNN, National Geographic Traveler, MSNBC, USA Today, The Times online, The New York Post, FoxNews.com, Entrepreneur Magazine, Marie Claire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Frommers.com, and more