Why Was Jumpseatnews Created?

Here's what I originally wrote in June of 2000:

“Hi folks!

Welcome to Jumpseatnews.com!

This web site was born on June 20, 2000 and you are looking at history being made in our profession. Finally, in one central place, we have a useful 'home base' for UAL flight attendants, a good information source, and a forum for our ideas and opinions.

United Airlines is a huge Fortune 500 company. And we're a critical part of its success. What must happen is for us to involve ourselves in the direction our career is heading.

Creating that kind of thing takes work! But it's also very rewarding because for the first time in our profession's 70-year history, we can truly be connected on a global level.”

Where Are We Now?

We're not exactly the strongest Fortune 500 company any longer. Nor is flying as much fun as it used to be since September 11, 2001. And the idea of using a website to provide flight attendant information isn't as new as it was back in 2000.

Since then, the other communication resources have grown. SkyNet expanded (it sure as heck didn't when JSN began), a F/A Service Center was created, Onboard Service produced new publications like Food for Thought and Scheduling Outlook, AFA's MEC website has quadrupled in size during the past two years, and independent flight attendant discussion boards/personal web sites/e-mail newsletters have stepped in to help fill the information and resource gap that continues to exist for UAL flight attendants.

That aside, some things have not changed: We're all still using decades-old Unimatic to manage our schedules and connecting to it with America Online. Enough said. There also seems to still be a pervasive attitude that the all-knowing/all-powerful 1-800-FLTLINE solves all flight attendant support needs. It doesn't.

The ongoing problem with flight attendant resources is that they are 1.) scattered all over the place; and 2.) oftentimes difficult to find and/or use.

We will always need a source of real experiences, real problems, and real solutions--written by flight attendants--with non-textbook, non-generic advice provided by our peers. I think that the collective feedback, advice, stories, and opinions of line flight attendants are more valuable to our group than all the corporate 'reminders' or awareness campaigns combined. Nothing is better than the real jumpseat, but this site tries to help!

Nobody paid me to create Jumpseatnews.com. In fact, I have to pay a monthly fee just to keep this site up and running. This means that there are no banner ads and no content 'editing' from anyone.

You are looking at the 3rd major site upgrade for Jumpseatnews. This time, I've focused on bringing web standards and XHTML into the design. It's been a long and difficult project---over seven months of work. But I just wouldn't have it any other way. Flight attendants deserve the best, and I've tried to produce the possible site for UAL flight attendants today.

Enjoy and fly safe out there...

Sincerely,

Christopher Lee
Creator, Jumpseatnews.com

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Page Updated: October 13, 2004

Printed from www.jumpseatnews.com. Have a nice day!

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