T
his fall, United’s Heather Adams
celebrates her Sweet Sixteen—the
number of years the New York–based
flight attendant has worn the uniform.
Adams has spent most of the past decade
working United’s “p.s.” premium service
flights, jaunts connecting New York with
San Francisco and Los Angeles that are
often packed with celebrities and tech
firm executives. She works to deliver a
flyer-friendly experience to road warriors
and infrequent flyers alike.
“We get a lot of famous people on the
p.s. flights, of course, and a lot of regular
customers we know on a first-name basis
by now,” Adams says. “I believe it’s our job
tomake sure that everybody on the plane
is made to feel special and will choose
United again.”
Some customers board having already
had a bad day, and Adams takes extra care
to make their flights pleasant. A er all, no
crewwants anunhappycabinfor sixhours.
“For each person who comes through
the door, there are things we just don’t
know,” she says. “Everybody is flying for a
reason, and we don’t know that reason or
what else happened. We’re there for their
safety, to make them comfortable and to
make their flying experience as pleasurable
as possible.”
Making the travel experience a positive
one can involve undoing a problem that
started in the terminal, or even a problem
that may have had nothing to do with the
trip. Adams recalls one man on a flight
she recently worked who was “ready to
explode” by the time he sat down. He and
his familywere on their highly anticipated
annual vacation. When the airline needed
to make an aircra change to avoid a long
delay, the familymembers were separated
throughout the cabin.
“I couldn’t get him his seats back, but I
could let himvent a li le and tell his story.
A er he calmed down, I talked it overwith
the rest of the crew, and we made sure his
family got excellent and personalized ser-
vice the whole flight,” Adams says.
It worked. Afterward, the customer
wrote to complain about the seat-assign-
ment changes, but said, “… because of
Heather Adams, I will fly United again.”
Adams says that when she was hired in
Southern California in 1997, she felt hon-
ored tohave beenpicked fromanapplicant
pool that numbered in six figures, and to
this day considers herself lucky to serve as
a United flight a endant. Her friend, fel-
lowflight a endant KathyGoldstein, says
she’s inspired by the “dignity and respect”
Adams shows everyone in the cabin.
“Respect and dignity go a very longway
to making a flight a good experience for
everyone on the plane,” Goldstein says.
“The rest is easy, because the fun always
comes easy. Working flights with Heather,
we all have a good time.”
Adams says she still treats each flight
like a unique, special experience, “Because
for some of my customers, that’s exactly
what it is.
“I really like taking care of our custom-
ers,”shecontinues.“Ienjoytheinteractions.
I like making a difference for people, and
I know that I can make a big difference in
whether they come back for another flight
or choose another airline.”
Adams is also a big promoter of the
new p.s. cabins, which feature lie-flat beds
for the Premium cabin customers and a
greatly improved Economy cabin, with
Wi-Fi and personal on-demand entertain-
ment at every seat, among other things.
“I was on the team that helped introduce
the new cabin to other crews, and I love
it,” she says. “As a workplace, it’s second to
none in the skies. I have noticed, however,
that everyone is enjoying the entertain-
ment and using Wi-Fi so much, we don’t
get asmany requests for serviceon thenew
planes. Sometimes I look around the cabin
and everyone is so occupied, it’s almost like
they don’t need us as much.”
As if that were possible.
Coast-to-Coast Class
Flight a endant Heather Adams serves up can-do
spirit all across the country
BY PETE RAPALUS
12
NOVEMBER 2013
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
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