Christmas Day at 38,000 feet: how crew actually do it, the traditions, the passengers and the family guilt
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#1 I have worked six Christmases in five years, and every November the new crew ask how it works and every January the same new crew post about the guilt. So here is the whole thing, from someone who has stopped fighting it.
The flying
Christmas Day flights are real and they are often the nicest of the year. Half full, everyone on board has chosen to be there (or has no choice, and those people need looking after), the crew are in a specific mood. On a leisure carrier the Christmas Day flight to Tenerife or Cancún has families who saved for it and are already happy. On a network carrier it is the people flying home late, the students, the ones who work Boxing Day.
The traditions
Every crew has one. The tinsel on the trolley, until someone reminds you it is not allowed. The Santa hat on the PA, which some airlines allow and some do not. The crew Secret Santa in the galley with a five pound limit and a lot of hand cream. The captain's Christmas PA, which ranges from lovely to a legal disclaimer depending on the captain. On my last Christmas flight the purser had every crew member write a message on the paper napkins and we handed them out with the mince pies. Small thing. People cried.
The layover Christmas
If you are away, the crew Christmas in the hotel is a genuine event. Someone finds a supermarket, someone finds a room with a table, everyone brings something. I have had Christmas dinner in a Cancún hotel with fourteen crew, three nationalities and a chicken from the local shop and it was one of the best. The people who stay in their rooms alone on Christmas layovers are the ones who struggle. Go to the dinner.
The guilt
The family side is real and it does not fully go away. What helped me: we moved the family Christmas. Ours is on whichever day I am home between the 20th and the 30th and it is now a tradition in itself. My mother resisted for one year and then admitted the shops are quieter. The children of crew grow up knowing Christmas is a movable feast, and honestly they seem fine.
The money
At most carriers Christmas Day duty pays extra or gives a day in lieu. Check your contract. It does not make up for it but it is not nothing.
For the new crew
You will work at least one. Volunteer for the first one rather than being rostered, because the volunteers get the nicer flights and you get to choose the year. Then move your family Christmas and stop counting.
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#2 Jet2 Christmas Day to Lanzarote, three years running, and the napkin message thing is being stolen for this year. The moved family Christmas is exactly what we did. The 27th is now Christmas and my dad calls it 'the real one' to annoy my mum.
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#3 Emirates, and Christmas Day is a normal operating day in Dubai, which is the strangest version. The crew who celebrate find each other in the accommodation and it becomes a very international Christmas. Last year: a Brazilian, two Filipinos, a Scot and me, in a flat in Silicon Oasis, with a turkey from Spinneys. Best one in years.
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#4 Domestic with kids, and the moved Christmas is standard in crew families. Ours is whichever day mum is home. The kids have never known different and they get two Christmases some years, which they consider a win.
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#5 Lufthansa, and the German Christmas is the 24th, so the flight on the 25th is already the day after and everyone on board is relaxed. The 24th evening flights are the emotional ones for us.
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#6 @hannahfra the 24th evening flight with the German families is the one I would want to work. Different day, same feeling.
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#7 Qatar, and for the Muslim crew Christmas is a normal day and we swap with the Christian crew for Eid. The swap culture around religious holidays is one of the things I like most about a mixed crew. Everyone gets their day, eventually.
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#8 Reserve, so Christmas is whatever the phone says. Two years in a row it said nothing and I was home. This year I am not counting on it. The layover dinner advice is right: go to the dinner.