Positioning Etiquette
We refer to a positioning when you are travelling to meet the jet and the crew at the beginning or at the end of your rotation (in this case will be home positioning).
The operation department can organise for you an airline flight, a car rental or a train ticket.
If you are flying commercial, you have always a booking for luggage in hold, because, ideally, you are leaving for a few days.
My strong recommendation!
Never-ever put your uniform in the check-in luggage!
If the suitcase doesn’t arrive or gets lost, you will find yourself in the hotel without any single item and with no time to go shopping for uniform items.
Put the working cloths it in the cabin bag if possible, and remember to put all items!
The only inconvenience is that the uniform will be full of wrinkles.
You will need to iron or steam them before your flight.
My cabin bag is rather small: it’s a laptop bag.
And I carry another bag which is my personal bag with documents, wallet, phone etc.
For my friends of the Middle East: if you think about using the cabin bag you used to use at the airline, that’s far too big for a private jet.
What if you are flying with a low cost that doesn’t allow you more than one piece of cabin bag?
In this case, I have to take out my laptop and put it in the personal bag, and the laptop bag goes inside the suitcase.
This means no more space to squeeze the uniform….. and then?
….Then I wear it.
When you wear it, you wear the complete set, of course.
This makes you recognisable from the airline crew as “one of them” and, sometimes, this ends up in being useful.
This is not the most comfortable way to travel, but it saves you from potential headaches.
On the contrary, when you do home positioning I change in normal cloths either in the jet and or directly at the airport.
I put the uniform in the suitcase, because, at this stage, is not vital if they lose my luggage and arrives one or two days later.
In my first airline they taught me that you always wear the crew ID and you introduce yourself to the cabin manager or purser.
Whether you are flying dead head (on duty as a passenger with or without uniform), for holiday or any other situation, you always wear the crew ID.
This is not necessary when you are a VIP flight attendant (because you are not a cabin crew), unless you are in uniform.
What are your secrets for uniform packing when you are positioning?