Back In Reservations

Episode 8

After the crash of Continental flight 1713, I was sent back to reservations to get through the holiday rush. With a major incident about one hundred agents were pulled off the phones to assist with the emergency, including management. When an airline has a crash others say thank God it wasn’t us, but the industry rallies around the airline involved to provide assistance where ever necessary. When the plane crashed, no one knew it had crashed or how long it had been there until a United Airlines pilot alerted the control tower.

Before I was sent back to reservations and even after, I had to deal with the Federal Aviation Administration’s questions. They asked me if I noticed anything wrong and I explained it was my first day on the ramp and the interview/inquest for me was pretty much done and over with. But the emotional damage was starting to take it’s toll on the workers. I didn’t get tasked with calling family members and telling them that their family members had perished or had survived but was in the hospital.