An air passenger treated all 40 members of her cabin crew to handmade, personalised gifts on a Christmas Day flight - and was given a Champagne party in return.
Whitney Steel, a 36-year-old from Auckland, New Zealand, was flying from Melbourne, Australia to Johannesburg, South Africa.
She flew on Christmas Day 2019 when she handed out personalised gifts to 40 crew members on two different flights.
Whitney's auntie was a long haul flight attendant for 15 years and she remembers her auntie's devastation every time she had to work during the Christmas holidays.
“Every year she’d DREAD seeing the Christmas rota, hoping that she could spend the day with her family.
"I remember her devastation at working so I knew that the cabin crew would probably feel the same way.
“I spoke to my auntie and asked her what the crew would actually need and appreciate.
"We decided on lip balm, eye masks, some Australian chocolate and personalised cards detailing how thankful I was for their sacrifice this Christmas.
"I was up until about 1am the night before and I spent around 100 AUD so I hoped they’d appreciate it!”
The journey included a layover in Dubai, so Whitney, a marketing manager, knew she needed enough gifts for all the cabin crew on both flights.
Armed with 40 presents stashed in her carry one, she boarded her first flight.
“I didn’t know how many staff would be on each flight but I knew each would be an Emirates A380, which is a double decker. I had to guess how many staff would man a plane that size, so I just overestimated and hoped for the best!
“I travel A LOT, so I knew when the staff would have some downtime. At the back of the plane there’s a galley where the crew get to relax after our mealtimes, so I went up there after dinner.
“They looked at me like ‘What the f*** do you want? Are you serious?’ but their faces quickly changed when I showed them the gifts.
"I left pretty quickly so they could still have their break but once I sat down, the gifts just kept on coming!
“Someone came down with champagne, the inflight service manager came down with toiletry sets and little gifts - people thought I was a celebrity! They brought so many desserts I had to share them with the passenger next to me.
“The cabin crew had props and accessories set up to take polaroids so they posed for some fun photos with me. Quite a few of the staff got teary, telling me how nice it was to be seen as a person, not just a worker."
After the success of the first flight, Whitney was excited for her next flight and to see the reactions of the other crew:
“On the second flight from Dubai to Johannesburg, the crew threw me a whole a** party! They had another set of gifts, they took me up to the business and first class bar and surprised me with the crew holding a Merry Christmas sign.
“They gave me all the food and cocktails I could dream of. Literally anything I wanted, they gave to me - it was amazing. After about an hour I returned back to my seat.
Whitney had no idea that the video would gain the attention it did.
She collated all the clips she had from the day and posted it on a whim, hoping that the power of social media would connect her with one of the crew on the flights.
It did that, and so much more:
“I was secretly hoping one of the flight attendants would see the video so they knew just how much it meant to be as well as them.
One of the flight attendants did see it! She was so thankful and I’ve had many messages from cabin crew staff around the world who really appreciate what I did."
“It was the last Christmas before Coronavirus so I thought I could potentially inspire someone else to do the same.
"A lot of people probably don’t have jobs with Emirates anymore, or at least the past couple of years have been very stressful, so I think people need gestures like this more than ever."
