It’s been a minute since I’ve last been on the ol’ blogosphere. But this past year and some change I’ve been working as an airline caterer. Fun job, good benefits, pays very well (especially if you have a CDL and a few years of Commercial Driving under your belt-which I do, seven years strong now), and that’s just the good part! And sadly, this gig (where I’m at) currently has more bad points than good.

–But that’s anywhere these days!

The bad points: Despite professionalism as a CDL Driver, you are prone to injury (and I’ve had a lot of them), no life outside of work, drivers come and go as if they’re walking through a revolving door, which means mandating OT even on days that you don’t work overtime, and the biggest kick-in-the-you-know-what-of-them-all is no flight benefits! That’s more than enough to make any sane person wanna quit!

But after 30 plus years on the work force (I started working at 15, I’m 47 now), it took some time for me to learn how to adjust accordingly. In other words, take the good with the bad, the butter with the sweet, you know the deal! But with that said, being a photographer (who’s heavily inactive, BTW), I take my little iPhone 13 Pro Max and sneak as many pics of the tarmac as well the jets (and I’ve catered many of them, too! Not to mention the sunsets every other evening.

But I’m gonna get down to the nitty-gritty of what I do! As an airline caterer, we’re assigned a truck and back it into the uploading dock. And depending on the size of the vehicle that we drive, we load up anything within the region of 1-6 flights!

So once we approach gate-where we’re gonna cater a flight-we call for a guide and let them know that we need a guide to approach the jet. I also have to mention that paying strict attention to the guide’s instructions are a definite must! Period. The rule is no physical contact between the truck and the jet! If there is, and it’s caught in time, that one thing, but if becomes even remotely routine, that’s a problem! I was present when it happened, but one driver and a guide had gotten fired because the driver hit the fuselage of the plane and the guide either inadvertently misled the driver, or the guide let his guard down and wasn’t paying attention! In either case, when a driver is being guided either to a plane to cater it, or leaving a plane when they’re done catering it! It is imperative that the communication between driver and the guide are crystal clear! One wrong move could be your last. Period!

Before I go any further, I want make clear that I’ve worked for two catering companies this past year and some change. Gate Gourmet (which totally sucked), and Do & Co (named after Turkish billionaire Attila Doğudan). I don’t go too far in on the latter, but for now, I’ll take the latter over the former any day! Now that I’ve got that out way…

We cater both Domestic and International flights. I’ll take the former over the latter as well. At Gate Gourmet, all we did was International! And that was a pain in the butt. Once you got guided to a plane, you had to wait until you were cleared by security to board the plane and be searched (imagin having to go through that 2-3 times a day!

You could see why I didn’t last long there! Another story for another time.

But with this company, I do mostly Domestic flights, and I’m fine with that. I also must mention that as an airline caterer, you have to have a ramp seal (which grants access to the air field), and a Customs seal (which grants access to an International flight). With that said, having done IT (International) flights in the past day in and day out, I’ve only been doing the inbound flights. In other words, the flight came in from another country, but not only do we cater the flight, but we take out the trash as well in orange trash bags (we don’t carry out trash on Domestic flights). But even the IT inbounds are a pain in the butt! Once we approach the gate, we have to wait for dispatch or the control tower to let us know whether not the gate is “Customs Cleared” for catering, but the beauty of that is when the drivers cater an IT inbound, we convert it from International to Domestic. The biggest drawback is that if we have a series of flights that leave at a certain time, and yet that IT flight has to be done first, there’s no telling how long it’ll be until you can cater the flight! Again, it’s a hassle. That’s why I-despite having a Customs Seal on my badge-am in no hurry to work an IT flight! True, theropod money in it, but I prefer sanity over a few extra dollars in my pocket knowing that any extra money we get, we’re gonna pay it back to Uncle Sam come April 15!

So many things that I could say about what I currently do. This is a good job, but if you’re like me, and wanna enjoy life outside of work, you might wanna review your territory! But again, taking the bitter with the sweet, having done aerial work in the recent years, I can truly say that I’ve had some adventures. Having worked for Hertz, Gate Gourmet, and Do&Co, outside the air field and on the air field. I can truly say that I’ve worked a huge majority of DTW (Detroit Metropolitan Wayne)! I’ve catered Delta, Frontier, American, Spirit, Lufthansa, Royal Jordanian, and Air France. I’ve catered jets as small as the CRJ9000, and as large as the 3500 (and trust me, the 3500 galleys are like a maze)! I was above ground anywhere between 6-50-plus feet in the air! Again, one wrong move is all it takes, I’ve heard about the horror stories about flight attendants and caterers who fell to the ground from the jet’s cabin door open, as well as from the trucks being in the air. Heck, I almost fell off the truck while catering 10-15 feet above ground (another story for later, if I’m up for convo). Thankfully my quick reflexes (and recent weight loss) was able to break the fall!

Fun job, but a very dangerous job indeed! We’re up there with the utility workers, firefighters, even the Cirque Du Soleil acrobats! The common thread is we’re in the air, literally!

A few more images… Enjoy!