Assignment #1
This article profiles Karen Andrew, a flight attendant for Delta Airlines who like many on September 11, 2001 was in the air. On a day that many Americans remember Karen has a story that few have heard or even have thought about.
A Story Without a Voice
Karen Andrew runs around her apartment that is on the second floor of her building and looks out across the street to the Gloucester fishing docks. The sky is overcast but the humidity makes the living room stuffy and the sounds of the fans block out the traffic below the window. It’s been ten years since the day that changed her life but you would never guess that this women with dirty blond hair styled in a bob, high cheek bones that accent her big smile, and a laugh that is contagious has a sad story to tell. For most Americans the subject of September 11th is one that should be remembered and memorialized every year but for Karen Andrew it is a day she does her best to avoid. Staring at the floor she confessed “I live that day everyday”.
When most people think about September 11th they tend to focus on the firefighters, police men and ordinary people who under extreme circumstances showed a bravery and courage that is very rarely seen in a country where individuals are more focused on themselves then others. What most people don’t think about was how that day affected the airlines industry. Not only did the airlines lose millions of dollars or “bleeding money” as Karen said when they were forced to cancel all of their flights the days following 9/11 but also the emotional and physical affect it had on airline crews, pilots, and flight attendants. When Delta Airlines, the company that Karen worked for, started booking flights a couple days after 9/11 there was no thought as to the emotional status of their employees and frankly 9/11 was a subject that was never discussed or brought up. In a country that has suffered such an extreme physical and emotional attack the people who were on the front lines that day, in the air, were forgotten about. “Flight Attendants” Karen said “have experiences of that day but were never given a voice to tell them. Most people don’t know that the first person to die that day was a flight attended named Karen Martin who was attack by the terrorists to get the attention of the entire plane by cutting her throat. Flight attendants became the first target in order for the hijackers to get into the cockpit.”
In October 31, 1977 Karen Andrew, after graduating from college with some serious consideration on what she wanted to do with the rest of her life decided on becoming a flight attendant and joined the Delta Airlines staff. When I asked her what made her choose this specific profession she answered with a smile on her face, “I wanted to see the world and I love people and I thought it was the perfect job for me.” Laughing that this statement she then confessed “Unfortunately the job made me hate people.”
From 1977 to the 1980’s the airlines industry was primarily filled with business passengers who were the only ones that could afford the air fare but by the early 1980’s flying became more affordable and more people were choosing to fly rather than any other type of transportation. During this time Karen lived in New York and would regularly work three flights a day, flying from New York to Fort Lauderdale to Boston and back to New York. In the late 1990’s Karen’s mother got sick so she moved to Boston to take care of her. While stationed in Boston she would fly the international flights to Ireland and England. Talking about the history of Delta Airlines leading up to 2001 Karen had a slight smile on her face remembering her life before she retired. She loved the interaction with people and the traveling she got to do on the job. “Most of all” Karen said “was studying the psychological behavior of people while flying. I came to notice the different opinion on flying depending on where the customer was from.” Then that smile that reached into her eyes faded away when I asked her to tell me about the morning she will never forget.
On the morning of September 11, 2001 Karen was scheduled to work an international flight to London but traded with her friend for a domestic flight to Sacramento, California. The flight left Logan Airport at 7:00 AM. Reflecting on that morning months later she could not stop thinking about how Delta Airlines and American Lines shared a terminal and how she was in the same area for a short while with not only the passengerswho would fight for their lives in only a few short hours but the men who had caused our country so much pain. While looking across her apartment out the window to the docks across the street she said, “that morning was nothing like today, that sky was a crystal blue, a gorgeous morning; I can still remember thinking what a great flight it was going to be.” She still refers to days with a beautiful clear sky as September 11th days.
“Months latter” Karen said, “After everything had settled down, I found out that the flight I was on, was on the original list the terrorists made to plan that day. The reason why the terrorists chose another flight may have been because the airlines switched the air crafts. The aircraft we were on that day was a 737 instead of the 757 that was originally planned for that flight. The difference between a 757 and a 737 makes all the difference in the world especially if you have been trained on a 757.”
The flight to Sacrament California departed Logan as scheduled at 7:00AM. There was a total of five flight attendants working on the air craft and two pilots. Karen was working at the rear end of the plane and everything was going smoothly until the phone rang around 9:00. Karen picked up the phone and was told by the pilot please come up to the cockpit right this minute.
“I knew at that moment something was wrong,” said Karen “in a normal circumstance the pilot would have explained what was wrong and what was going to happen, but being called up to the cockpit was very unusual.” After reaching the cockpit Karen was told by the pilot that “There has been a hijacking, the FAA are grounding all flights, we are landing in Milwaukee in fifteen minutes, that is all the time you have to clean up and lock everything away.”
After hearing this news Karen and the other flight attendants rushed to put everything away in time to land. While descending the pilot called back through the phone system on the aircraft and told them that it had been an American Airlines flight that was hijacked.
“My biggest concern at that moment,” Karen remembers, “was landing an airplane the same time as every other airplane was landing in the country which can be very dangerous. At this point in time we had no information on what was going on. I thought that if there was a hijacking the FAA was taking the threat away by landing all flights.” The flight landed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at exactly 9:15AM.
While the passengers exited the plane Karen was saying goodbye until she heard something in the cockpit. Excusing herself she opened the cockpit door and there still seated in his chair was one of the pilots hunched over sobbing into his hands holding a cell phone. “I ask him if the American Flight was ok,” Karen said “he just shook his head and said two planes have hit the World Trade Center.” Leaving the cockpit Karen relayed what she has just been told to the other flight attendants then took her own cell phone and tried to get in touch with her brothers and sisters. After getting her sisters answering machine she called her brother who picked up and told him that she was grounded in Milwaukee and she was fine. After getting of the phone with her brother her sister called her back.
“At this point I was still on the plane heading up the terminal to enter into the airport. As I was walking my sister said to me ‘the towers are gone.’ I did not know what she meant so I asked her what she had said and her reply was the same ‘the towers are gone’. At that moment I walked through the gate and into the airport into complete and utter silence. There were people everywhere sitting where ever they could. The majority of the people were crowded around the TV at the bar. At that exact moment I went into shock. I knew that things would never be the same.
After being stuck in Milwaukee for five days Karen was finally able to get a flight to Manchester New Hampshire airport and make her long was back home. The airport was crazy when she and the other flight attendants and pilots arrived where they were scheduled to fly to Atlanta. “ I was so scared to get back on the plane,” Karen said “ I had a breakdown and had to go to the bathroom to get control of myself. I told myself that all I could do was take one step at a time.” After calming down Karen called her brother and told him all the information of her flight letting at least someone know where she would be if anything happened.
The flight from Milwaukee to Atlanta went as planned and all the passengers were extremely nice except for one. “This one women,” Karen remembers “was a real witch and gave some very unneeded attitude to one of the women I was working with. This flight attendant had just about enough and told the women off. All of a sudden it was ok to speak your mind and demand respect.” When the plane landed in Atlanta Karen and another flight attended were able to catch a plane to Manchester New Hampshire because at that point Logan Airport was still closed. Her brother picked her up from the airport and she finally made her way home.
When she finally arrived back to her apartment Karen said “I had travelled back in time, my apartment was still on September 10th shown by the newspaper that had the front page covered with the story of a southern women who had killed her children. I knew that nobody would remember that story.” Looking at her expression it was clear that she still wished she could go back to that world where nothing so tragic had happened.
The months following 9/11 all of Karen’s flights were cancelled and she was finally able to scheduled work again in November but the thought of returning to work was too much for her. “I remember calling my supervisor telling her that when I was deciding on where I wanted to fly I did not want to go anywhere. Her suggestion was to take a medical leave and go see a therapist which I did and it was more than helpful.” Although Karen was able to take time off from work to focus on her emotional problems resulting from September 11th the Airlines did not supply their employees with any sort of help only letting them get help from outside the company. After a month of medical leave Karen returned to work on December 10, 2001 with a flight to London. With some words of encouragement from herself and the support of her coworkers she was able to step on that flight with little difficulty and everything proceeded as normal.
The year following September 11th the Airlines continued to go through a procedural upheaval as well as numerous pay cuts. Karen reflected “the new normal was that nothing was normal. Every day there was new procedure that needed to be completed. For example some days you would have to show your badge and others you did not need it. A couple of times we had to go through security twice and the things we could bring were forever changing.” The flight attendants were made to go through self-defense training and were taught on how to look for bombs in every seat. “Most of us were just waiting for the other shoe to drop,” said Karen “I knew that if anything like 9/11 happened again the airlines would never recover.”
After numerous pay cuts and the ever evolving airline regulations Karen was forced to retire fifteen years to the day from when she started working on October 31, 2008. However she was able to work as a Patriots flight attendant for several years before retiring which is one of her favorite parts of her old job. No wonder to this considering there was some incredible perks to this job including tickets to the away games as well as two super bowl games and meeting all of the players. Reflecting on her career as a flight attendant and September 11th Karen said that she would never go back but it’s a time in her life she will never regret.
In a post 9/11 world many people overlook the role that flight attendants played that day but these flight attendants who you may look over or through when you are on a flight survived a day in American history that many did not and continue to come to work knowing the risk. For the lives that were lost that day we remember every year but for the lives that were affected and have stories to tell may never get the voice they truly deserve. For Karen she hopes that one day the voice of the flight attendants will be heard and acknowledged as just one part of that very long day that many still carry around with them.
When most people think about September 11th they tend to focus on the firefighters, police men and ordinary people who under extreme circumstances showed a bravery and courage that is very rarely seen in a country where individuals are more focused on themselves then others. What most people don’t think about was how that day affected the airlines industry. Not only did the airlines lose millions of dollars or “bleeding money” as Karen said when they were forced to cancel all of their flights the days following 9/11 but also the emotional and physical affect it had on airline crews, pilots, and flight attendants. When Delta Airlines, the company that Karen worked for, started booking flights a couple days after 9/11 there was no thought as to the emotional status of their employees and frankly 9/11 was a subject that was never discussed or brought up. In a country that has suffered such an extreme physical and emotional attack the people who were on the front lines that day, in the air, were forgotten about. “Flight Attendants” Karen said “have experiences of that day but were never given a voice to tell them. Most people don’t know that the first person to die that day was a flight attended named Karen Martin who was attack by the terrorists to get the attention of the entire plane by cutting her throat. Flight attendants became the first target in order for the hijackers to get into the cockpit.”
In October 31, 1977 Karen Andrew, after graduating from college with some serious consideration on what she wanted to do with the rest of her life decided on becoming a flight attendant and joined the Delta Airlines staff. When I asked her what made her choose this specific profession she answered with a smile on her face, “I wanted to see the world and I love people and I thought it was the perfect job for me.” Laughing that this statement she then confessed “Unfortunately the job made me hate people.”
From 1977 to the 1980’s the airlines industry was primarily filled with business passengers who were the only ones that could afford the air fare but by the early 1980’s flying became more affordable and more people were choosing to fly rather than any other type of transportation. During this time Karen lived in New York and would regularly work three flights a day, flying from New York to Fort Lauderdale to Boston and back to New York. In the late 1990’s Karen’s mother got sick so she moved to Boston to take care of her. While stationed in Boston she would fly the international flights to Ireland and England. Talking about the history of Delta Airlines leading up to 2001 Karen had a slight smile on her face remembering her life before she retired. She loved the interaction with people and the traveling she got to do on the job. “Most of all” Karen said “was studying the psychological behavior of people while flying. I came to notice the different opinion on flying depending on where the customer was from.” Then that smile that reached into her eyes faded away when I asked her to tell me about the morning she will never forget.
On the morning of September 11, 2001 Karen was scheduled to work an international flight to London but traded with her friend for a domestic flight to Sacramento, California. The flight left Logan Airport at 7:00 AM. Reflecting on that morning months later she could not stop thinking about how Delta Airlines and American Lines shared a terminal and how she was in the same area for a short while with not only the passengerswho would fight for their lives in only a few short hours but the men who had caused our country so much pain. While looking across her apartment out the window to the docks across the street she said, “that morning was nothing like today, that sky was a crystal blue, a gorgeous morning; I can still remember thinking what a great flight it was going to be.” She still refers to days with a beautiful clear sky as September 11th days.
“Months latter” Karen said, “After everything had settled down, I found out that the flight I was on, was on the original list the terrorists made to plan that day. The reason why the terrorists chose another flight may have been because the airlines switched the air crafts. The aircraft we were on that day was a 737 instead of the 757 that was originally planned for that flight. The difference between a 757 and a 737 makes all the difference in the world especially if you have been trained on a 757.”
The flight to Sacrament California departed Logan as scheduled at 7:00AM. There was a total of five flight attendants working on the air craft and two pilots. Karen was working at the rear end of the plane and everything was going smoothly until the phone rang around 9:00. Karen picked up the phone and was told by the pilot please come up to the cockpit right this minute.
“I knew at that moment something was wrong,” said Karen “in a normal circumstance the pilot would have explained what was wrong and what was going to happen, but being called up to the cockpit was very unusual.” After reaching the cockpit Karen was told by the pilot that “There has been a hijacking, the FAA are grounding all flights, we are landing in Milwaukee in fifteen minutes, that is all the time you have to clean up and lock everything away.”
After hearing this news Karen and the other flight attendants rushed to put everything away in time to land. While descending the pilot called back through the phone system on the aircraft and told them that it had been an American Airlines flight that was hijacked.
“My biggest concern at that moment,” Karen remembers, “was landing an airplane the same time as every other airplane was landing in the country which can be very dangerous. At this point in time we had no information on what was going on. I thought that if there was a hijacking the FAA was taking the threat away by landing all flights.” The flight landed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at exactly 9:15AM.
While the passengers exited the plane Karen was saying goodbye until she heard something in the cockpit. Excusing herself she opened the cockpit door and there still seated in his chair was one of the pilots hunched over sobbing into his hands holding a cell phone. “I ask him if the American Flight was ok,” Karen said “he just shook his head and said two planes have hit the World Trade Center.” Leaving the cockpit Karen relayed what she has just been told to the other flight attendants then took her own cell phone and tried to get in touch with her brothers and sisters. After getting her sisters answering machine she called her brother who picked up and told him that she was grounded in Milwaukee and she was fine. After getting of the phone with her brother her sister called her back.
“At this point I was still on the plane heading up the terminal to enter into the airport. As I was walking my sister said to me ‘the towers are gone.’ I did not know what she meant so I asked her what she had said and her reply was the same ‘the towers are gone’. At that moment I walked through the gate and into the airport into complete and utter silence. There were people everywhere sitting where ever they could. The majority of the people were crowded around the TV at the bar. At that exact moment I went into shock. I knew that things would never be the same.
After being stuck in Milwaukee for five days Karen was finally able to get a flight to Manchester New Hampshire airport and make her long was back home. The airport was crazy when she and the other flight attendants and pilots arrived where they were scheduled to fly to Atlanta. “ I was so scared to get back on the plane,” Karen said “ I had a breakdown and had to go to the bathroom to get control of myself. I told myself that all I could do was take one step at a time.” After calming down Karen called her brother and told him all the information of her flight letting at least someone know where she would be if anything happened.
The flight from Milwaukee to Atlanta went as planned and all the passengers were extremely nice except for one. “This one women,” Karen remembers “was a real witch and gave some very unneeded attitude to one of the women I was working with. This flight attendant had just about enough and told the women off. All of a sudden it was ok to speak your mind and demand respect.” When the plane landed in Atlanta Karen and another flight attended were able to catch a plane to Manchester New Hampshire because at that point Logan Airport was still closed. Her brother picked her up from the airport and she finally made her way home.
When she finally arrived back to her apartment Karen said “I had travelled back in time, my apartment was still on September 10th shown by the newspaper that had the front page covered with the story of a southern women who had killed her children. I knew that nobody would remember that story.” Looking at her expression it was clear that she still wished she could go back to that world where nothing so tragic had happened.
The months following 9/11 all of Karen’s flights were cancelled and she was finally able to scheduled work again in November but the thought of returning to work was too much for her. “I remember calling my supervisor telling her that when I was deciding on where I wanted to fly I did not want to go anywhere. Her suggestion was to take a medical leave and go see a therapist which I did and it was more than helpful.” Although Karen was able to take time off from work to focus on her emotional problems resulting from September 11th the Airlines did not supply their employees with any sort of help only letting them get help from outside the company. After a month of medical leave Karen returned to work on December 10, 2001 with a flight to London. With some words of encouragement from herself and the support of her coworkers she was able to step on that flight with little difficulty and everything proceeded as normal.
The year following September 11th the Airlines continued to go through a procedural upheaval as well as numerous pay cuts. Karen reflected “the new normal was that nothing was normal. Every day there was new procedure that needed to be completed. For example some days you would have to show your badge and others you did not need it. A couple of times we had to go through security twice and the things we could bring were forever changing.” The flight attendants were made to go through self-defense training and were taught on how to look for bombs in every seat. “Most of us were just waiting for the other shoe to drop,” said Karen “I knew that if anything like 9/11 happened again the airlines would never recover.”
After numerous pay cuts and the ever evolving airline regulations Karen was forced to retire fifteen years to the day from when she started working on October 31, 2008. However she was able to work as a Patriots flight attendant for several years before retiring which is one of her favorite parts of her old job. No wonder to this considering there was some incredible perks to this job including tickets to the away games as well as two super bowl games and meeting all of the players. Reflecting on her career as a flight attendant and September 11th Karen said that she would never go back but it’s a time in her life she will never regret.
In a post 9/11 world many people overlook the role that flight attendants played that day but these flight attendants who you may look over or through when you are on a flight survived a day in American history that many did not and continue to come to work knowing the risk. For the lives that were lost that day we remember every year but for the lives that were affected and have stories to tell may never get the voice they truly deserve. For Karen she hopes that one day the voice of the flight attendants will be heard and acknowledged as just one part of that very long day that many still carry around with them.