My First Flight as Cabin Crew - A Grounded Special

A little while back I did an episode of "Grounded" on Islandsflug and hinted at covering the story of my first day, well today is the day. This video could be considered a cross between an episode of Grounded and a trip report as we take a look at my first flight as cabin crew, working for Excel Airways on-board an Islandsflug 737-400 we are flying from Bristol to Rhodes and back with several twists and turns along the way so strap in down the back galley with me as we go back to May 2005 and my first cabin crew flight...

I will be honest here, I had been looking forward to doing this video and almost as soon as I uploaded it have had second thoughts so I really hope you enjoy it as it is something different and hopefully something worth watching. I know the length might be a bit much, I did actually cut a few bits out in order to keep the time down but had to leave some other bits in to explain various galley equipment, operational things etc... I did try to use as many pictures as possible but there wasn't much of a selection of the two aircraft in question that I could use. I do have more stories from my flying day so if this goes down well enough then maybe I'll do more, maybe even to camera instead of a glorified slideshow...

I know it's been a lot longer than usual since my last video and I do apologise, I got made redundant in mid October and have since started a night job in a hotel, the issue being 10 hour shifts and sleeping through the day :/ I have now got a handle on the script writing so believe me am working on several new scripts (I have got some already complete), if anything it is the recording the audio and putting the video together where I have been struggling with on average 30-45 minutes a day to work with :/

If you have never seen any of my Grounded Series episodes before, these look at the history of various airlines no longer around, be it through mergers or bankruptcy. I have published 51 episodes so far and easily have another 100+ in the works!

I have done Grounded episodes on a few airlines mentioned in this video and links to those are below;

Sabre Airways
Sabre were formed in 1994 and operated a fleet of ex-Dan-Air 727s along with a pair of 737-200s, they would be the UK launch customer for the 737-800. Sabre also operated Peach Air (covered in a separate episode) and in the spring of 2001 would rebrand as Excel Airways. The Sabre episode is available here;
   • Grounded: Sabre Airways  

Excel Airways
Sabre Airways rebranded as Excel in the spring of 2001 and through a partnership with Air Atlanta Icelandic would grow into one of the UK's largest charter airlines. This episode looks at the rise of Excel Airways and is available here;
   • Grounded: Excel Airways  

XL Airways
Following a management buyout the rebranded XL Airways would soldier on for a few years before collapsing spectacularly in September 2008. The UK's third largest charter airline was a house of cards and when it collapsed became the largest airline failure in UK history, this video looks at the fall of XL Airways and is available here;
   • Grounded: XL Airways  

XL Airways: The Final Hours
This video is a play-by-play of my final day as cabin crew, from working a flight to the Greek Island of Samos and returning to Gatwick then during the night being woken up to the horrible news that XL Airways has collapsed and we're all out of a job and gives an inside look at the immediate aftermath of an airline collapse and how it affects the air crew who are suddenly out of a job and denied their final paycheque. This video is available here;
   • Видео  

Islandsflug
Formed through the merger of a flying school and a tiny Icelandic airline, Islandsflug found a niche as an ACMI operator and placed aircraft with airlines across Europe & beyond. They were eventually absorbed into the much larger Air Atlanta Icelandic (now Avion Group). Islandsflug operated 3 Boeing 737-400s for Excel during the Summer of 2005, two in Newcastle and one in Bristol, where this story takes place. The Islandsflug episode is available here;
   • Grounded: Islandsflug / ICEBIRD Airlines  

** VIDEO CONTENTS **
00:00 Intro
00:17 A little background
01:10 Pre-flight
03:19 TF-ELY
05:09 Departing Bristol
06:01 PEA Anyone?
07:55 Meal Service Mistakes
09:46 Duty Free
10:35 Diverting to Thessaloniki
11:24 SKG-RHO
11:49 On the Ground in Rhodes
13:14 Hello Victor
15:18 Cockpit door trouble
16:48 Landing & Post-flight
18:03 Outro

I really appreciate any comments and feedback on this or other episodes as well as suggestions for future episodes. Believe me, if I say that your airline is "on the list", it really is :) Check back to see future episodes or better yet, subscribe to catch them as they land and as always, thanks for watching!

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