Cooperations are huge. To stand up to them is a great feet.

Let me set the scene:

A crew of 8 leaves delayed out of nyc heading to a far away land. We get in later than expected after working almost 5 hours more than expected.

Their air craft, which happens to be the main reason for the delay, is the same going to the far away land and going back to nyc.

The next day after very little rest we are notified of another delay on our flight back home. 3 hours which pushes us into a later night shift of work.

The plane hasn’t even landed, it’s another 45 – hour before the plane is at the gate. We board and are told there is a technical issue and we won’t be going anywhere for a bit.

Then we are told the pilots will time out. Then that there is a solution in place for that problem. Then that the plane problem isn’t solved.

Then we are told that the plane isn’t going anywhere.

At this point it is 4 and half hours on the plane. We get to 5 hours on the plane and are told we can now leave and boarding will start in 20 minutes.

The crew is wrecked we are exhausted. Trying to figure out how to make rest work and augmented service because of the extra time and regulations.

Then all of the sudden we remember that speaking up and saying that we are not fit to fly is an acceptable option or so we think… the captain mistakenly pressures us to work. We are unfit though and to have gone would have been a mistake. To have left in our state would have been a safety issue.

Safety is important. That’s the official company line. But… if that were truly the case you would not suspend your workers for doing what they think is right and admitting to not being in the right mind to hold people’s lives in their hands.

How much is a life worth?

We were suspended for 2 months almost exactly with our base pay, which is hardly a living wage in NYC. We were all given final warnings with slight differences and our senior was demoted. The final warnings were give for violating chain of command even though one of the crew did tell the captain as already stated he did not make himself available. While the pilot did not receive any reprimand for his handling of the situation.

I reported the company to Norway’s Civil Aviation Union because this was not right.