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“It means we’re the happiest we’ve ever been tonight.”
Elle couldn’t argue with that.
Chapter 24
“It’s true that it would be easier to touch base for a chat if you lived in LA.” Isaac lingered past the scheduled ending time of his video meeting with Elle, as he usually did because this was one of the few times the work pals had to catch up when they weren’t at a board meeting. “But that’s a big move. We’ve thought about moving to LA because it’s technically cheaper in some ways, but we still haven’t because the culture… well, it sucks.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice. The biggest motivators for me are wanting to get out of Seattle and be closer to LAX. Even when my flights to Singapore scale back, it makes much more sense to fly out of LAX than Sea-Tac.”
“Why do you want out of Seattle? I thought you liked it.” Isaac laughed. “Only reason we haven’t moved up to the PNW is because my fiancée has to live in Cali for her job.”
“I’m… ready to move on.” Elle said that while gazing out her office window. A Bowen plane with Alaska branding passed the city by, sunlight reflecting off the tail and making Elle close her eyes as she leaned her head back against her desk chair. “I’m still living in the same place I kept with Pam. Wouldn’t you want to move on from San Francisco if you broke up with your fiancée?”
“Depends. Do I have other things tying me here?”
“I do not.”
“Well, I’m not you, Elle. But I hear you. All that rain and those cloudy skies probably aren’t good for your mood. Weren’t you dating someone new, though?”
Elle knew better than to divulge something in the company call. I’ve long known better. She never said anything she wasn’t okay with the entire company knowing. And possibly the entire industry. Who knows who’s reviewing these calls? They were all recorded and stored on company servers. Elle had left crumbs about a new relationship in its early stages, and it wasn’t like nobody knew she was gay… but…
They could not know anything about the woman she was dating. It was too dangerous.
“Yes, being in LA would mean I’m closer to her,” she said. “There are a lot of reasons.”
“From the company’s perspective, it would be helpful. Cheaper to fly you to Singapore from there. Changes are coming, you may have heard.”
Elle lifted her head back up. “Hm? You mean things we haven’t discussed yet?”
“It’s slowly getting from one department to another. Guess you’re at the end of the need-to-know chain about the upcoming shakeup to personnel.”
Nothing caught Elle’s attention quite like that. “Tell me. If you’re allowed.”
“It’s nothing wild for the industry.” Isaac shrugged, fidgeting with office supplies on his glass desk in some hot and sunny office in San Francisco. “Talbot tells me that as soon as we add the new Hawaiian and Sydney routes we’re going back to the standby method of route staffing.”
“What?”
“You know… seniority trumps all, but a lot of those flight attendants we’re used to seeing on the same flights are about to hit a shake-up. It has to happen because a lot of the routes are increasing in frequency later this year. Especially the Singapore and LA routes. Don’t know if you’ve noticed all the times your ass has been on it, but it’s always sold out. We’re killing it!”
“You’re right, I haven’t heard about this.”
“It’s being announced sometime in the next month. The planes have already been purchased from France and there’s going to be a hiring fair at the end of the season. We’re expanding before the year is up. Way ahead of schedule.”
Elle hid her grimace behind a neutral mien. “I imagine the crews will not be happy.”
“You know them more than I do. Sounds like Talbot has his work cut out for him because the whole reason we poached so much great talent is because we offered them stable routes and fixed schedules.”
“And the better pay than where most of them came from. We’re leading all of the East and Southeast Asian airlines.”
“Yes, but Southwest is still beating us out for best-paid flight attendants in the industry.”
“Yeah, well, Southwest is Southwest.”
Elle sighed. What does this mean for Arianna? She knew. Her girlfriend could say goodbye to the LAX route, assuming she didn’t use her seniority in the industry to fight for that route. But she’d be on standby. Far from stable. Elle had dated flight attendants on those kinds of schedules before. Even the ones based there in Seattle were often canceling or otherwise not available to meet up at the last minute, due to work calling them in to fly to Ohio, Florida, or even Italy.
Even if Elle moved to LA to have better access to her girlfriend, there was now a lot more drama added to the picture. And not only because Arianna would be pissed to learn this. Should I tell her? Elle felt morally obligated but also knew she couldn’t divulge where she heard that information. And if Arianna blabbed to some of her coworkers? The other board members would want to know how she found out.
“I hope Young over in PR knows what she’s in for,” Elle muttered into her mic. “That’s going to cause some waves after we made such a big deal about no standbys as the norm.”
