Do you ever wonder what it would be like to have had a 30+ year career with the airlines? I know people who are currently working in the airline industry, but I’ve never had the chance to really sit down and talk to an airline veteran of so many years… until the other day. I was on one of my walks in Coronado making notes for my Coronado / San Diego series when I struck up a conversation with a woman who was also taking a walk. I figured she was a Coronado local, which she was, but I came to find out she was also retired from a 30+ year career with the airlines. So later that week, over coffee and scones at Tartines, I talked with Janet. I figured if I was intrigued by the changes she’d seen in all those years, and her other impressions of the airline industry, as well as any places she’d been and enjoyed, you might want to eavesdrop on our conversation and hear what I learned from Janet.

I’ve always wondered how people got started when they work for the airlines for so many years. Janet had one of those I-guess-it-was-meant-to-be stories. In her early 20s, she and a girlfriend came out to San Diego from the east coast. No job. No plans. They stayed with a friend and, one day, a neighbor came by. Naturally, he asked Janet what she would do for work, and when she said she had no idea, he said he worked for the airlines, they were hiring, and she should come by and see about getting a job.

That was the summer of 1968 and the airline was PSA! Pacific Southwest Airlines was the first large discount airline and billed itself as the “World’s Friendliest Airline”. Maybe you remember PSA, I sure do! At first, they only flew intra-state in California. So imagine a lot of up and down and up and down in one day kind of flights. Janet mentioned that this was great for the women crew because they could be home with their kids every night.

Another interesting fact she mentioned was that one of the reasons the PSA crews were so young was because they could hire 18 year olds. PSA didn’t cross state lines. They did, however, serve small bottles of alcohol, but didn’t open them for you. The bigger airline carriers did serve alcohol, so they couldn’t hire anyone younger than 21! The crews were young and fun, and Janet told me they still have PSA get togethers and parties :)

Fast forward to the late 1980s and US Airways acquired PSA. I wasn’t surprised to hear that this was a challenge for Janet and the other PSA employees because there was a huge culture clash between PSA and US Airways. The fun-loving PSA people didn’t quite fit in with the east coast more serious US Airways folks. But it did present some opportunities for PSA crews to move around and base themselves out of some different hubs. Janet actually shifted over to the Pittsburgh hub, and became part of the ground crew, and really liked her years of living in Pittsburgh.

For people who have long careers in the airline industry that span both pre- and post-9/11, it seems impossible for them not to mark 9/11 as the start of big changes. When I asked Janet about the biggest change she saw in all her working years, she too pointed to 9/11. She noticed passengers were now scared and suspicious when they flew, and agitated by all the security changes. For crew, before the post-9/11 security changes, it was easy to take short trips, like head from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. for a day or two. After 9/11, traveling, even for the crew, became a hassle and she noticed they all stopped taking those short trips.

Regarding the US Airways and American Airlines merger, Janet said it seemed like most of the airlines were buying each other or being bought!  You would think that people who work for an airline know what is going on, but she said that is not always the case, so it came as a surprise to her that US Airways did not survive on its own.

When I travel, I like to ask the crew where they go when they have some time off. After all, don’t you image the crew using their flying benefits to see the world? And yet, time after time, I’m amazed that crews often tell me they don’t really travel much. So I was glad to hear that Janet had traveled a lot and enjoyed her bucket list trips. She loves France and discovering all the different regions of France. She’s been to France 15 times and liked to travel there without hotel reservations *gasp*! Her three other favorite bucket list trips were to the Galapagos Islands, Machu Picchu, and Hudson Bay to see the polar bears. (Image Janet instead of Grant at the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu)

One aspect of travel Janet commented on is how bucket list trips have changed so much from her day. She’s observed that people today want more adventurous trips, which makes sense. Years ago, the world seemed bigger, so the trips she went on might not seem as adventurous today, but they seemed like plenty of adventure for her then. But Janet and I see eye-to-eye that travel is whatever creates meaning for you. And that’s always good to remember!

I always assume people who travel for a living travel light. I asked Janet if she traveled light and when she said she did, I asked her for some tips. She said she wears a lot of black, or at least plans her clothes around one color and mixes and matches. She’ll also layer clothes to create outfits. She’ll often take older clothes and leave them behind. She told me a funny story about doing this in Colombia many years ago. She left her old clothes behind in her hotel room and the hotel laundered and mailed her clothes back to her! She’s a big fan of packing cubes and so am I.

It was a pleasure to sit down and talk with Janet. She still, after flying for so many years and seeing so much of the world, has an appreciation for travel and a great sense of adventure. And we agreed on perhaps the most important aspect of travel. We both feel strongly that travelling without many expectations is the way to go. Allow each trip and every place to reveal itself to you. Each trip will create a special memory and if you can travel like that, you’ll never be disappointed. After all, how amazing it is that we get to travel at all!

If you know people who have spent their careers working for the airlines, does Janet’s story sound familiar? If you have any questions, please let me know.