Chocolates Work Wonders 🍫

Just a little add-on to yesterday’s trip.

One of the things we love to do is bring the air hostesses / cabin crew chocolates when we board flights. In most airports round the world there are good deals in Duty Free when it comes to chocolates. A little exploration will usually reward one with a treasure of a bargain.

Airline crew often endure quite the “attitudes” from passengers. Just think delays, demands for help with overweight cabin luggage, disliked food service, etc. Passengers frequently do not look at their smiling faces nor respond to “Welcome aboard!” comments.

It really does change the atmosphere on board when you smile back, engage them and then hand over chocolates. I have too many stories on what can happen sometimes.

Yesterday, after a “random security check” on us at the gate, I was left with a scattered array papers, my passport, a file of papers and lots of bits and pieces balanced in my hands as, once cleared by the two checking us, we rushed to get on board our plane. Well, when I got to my seat my passport was not present with me!

After some panicked minutes raking through all my stuff, I was just walking back to let the cabin crew know of my problem, when one air hostess, holding up my passport, asked if I was the “chocolate man”. They had recognised me from my passport photo and were looking for me, because they saw me when I gave them the ‘sweeties’.

So the LORD used chocolates to save the day.

And then the air hostesses began to play what they called “Human Tetris”. You see my wife and I were separated by our seat allocations. Of their own initiation the cabin crew saw this and jumped into action to find us a way to be together despite the very full flight. Moments after take off I was seated beside my wife for the flight, and one air hostess after another came by checking to see if we were OK, thanked us profusely for the chocs and told us how we had “made (their) day”.