Continental Flight 3407

For those of you who don't know, I work for Continental Airlines. I take reservations phone calls from our home. I was working last night when I learned about the crash of flight 3407. I have had a heavyness in my chest ever since I first heard about it. My heart goes out to the families of those who lost their lives in the crash and for the individual who was sitting in his own home. Each passenger has their own family, history and realm of influence. So many lives are impacted by something like this.

As an airline employee, everytime I hear about a crash, the first thing I listen for is whether or not it's one of our flights. Then, of course, I listen to hear if there were any fatalities. In this case, the news on both counts was very sad. I didn't have to wait for the news to tell me about it. I received an e-mail telling me to sign out of the phone and call in to our office in Salt Lake. They briefed us on the crash. As employees, we don't learn much more than what you can learn by watching CNN. The hardest part was when I started taking reservations phone calls again and had to assist passengers who had no idea there had been a crash. I had to continue being upbeat and friendly, pretending like nothing was wrong. While on the inside my stomach was churning.

It always hits close to home since so many of my friends and coworkers fly on a regular basis. I also used to fly at least once every other month. Since adopting Baylie, we have only flown twice. Ironically enough, we are scheduled to fly out today - Friday the 13th. Even as an experienced flyer, I'm a little nervous since there have been three airline crashes in such a short time frame. I think my anxiety is heightened because of Baylie. I wouldn't be so nervous if it was just me and David.

I should mention that airline travel is still the safest mode of travel. I don't have the exact numbers, but on CNN this morning they mentioned that the chance of dying in a car crash is 1,600+ to 1. The chance of dying in an airplane crash is 500,000+ to 1.

I should also mention that the airplane involved isn't actually a Continental aircraft. We market with Colgan air for them to operate some of our regional flights. It's painted like a Continental plane and marketed like our plane, but it is actually owned and operated by Colgan. That doesn't lessen the impact we feel as a company, particularly since in the public eye it is a Continental flight.

Again, my first thoughts are for the lives that were interrupted and the families that are impacted. I'll be thinking of them all as we travel today.

Be sure to hug the ones you love today and let them know how much you love them.