About the Book:
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.
About the Author:
Heather Poole has been published in The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2010. Her regular online column, “Galley Gossip: Confessions from the Jumpseat with Heather Poole,” has received more than two million views and is featured on AOL’s award-winning travel website, Gadling.com.
My Opinion
Heather Poole is a very easy to read author. Her light and breezy style takes her reader through the rigors of flight attendant training school and then into the (not so) friendly skies. The book was a lovely diversion from some of the heavier books I have been reading lately and it certainly brought a few chuckles to my day as I read it. Ms. Poole’s experiences with discontented travelers are certainly entertaining but I certainly can feel for her as she is mistreated by overbearing and entitled fliers.
Having flown in the good times (pre-9/11) and the bad (post 9/11) and in First Class and coach I have seen some of the behaviors she writes about although I have never been so obnoxious as to expect a flight attendant to wait on me hand and foot as some of her stories relate. Anyone with experience in the customer service industry will appreciate the people profiled as Ms. Poole’s worst cases.
Some of the explanations of how the industry works as to scheduling and the like gets a bit convoluted – I do feel for flight attendants in a way I did not before – and confusing. The break downs are necessary to the subsequent stories but I wonder if the reader confusion is worth the short tale after? I am sure that readers in the industry will be nodding their heads knowingly over the tales of bad living arrangements and questionable co-workers.
All in all this was an enjoyable, light read to take my mind from meatier reads. Ms. Poole has an easy writing style and even when she is sharing tales of the worst of her customers she does it with generous warmth. It would be a great book to read, erm while flying. heh
Cruising Attitude is available at Amazon.com
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Disclosure: I received a copy of Cruising Attitude from TLC Book Tours. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free book. I received no monetary compensation for my post.
