Flight attendants: Ready to welcome Tet in COVID-19 quarantine facilities

A group of Vietnam Airlines' flight attendants (Photo: Vietnam+)

Hanoi (VNA) - At the first moments of a new year, everyone has the desire to gather with family, extend New Year wishes to their family members and friends. However, there are still people who have to sacrifice their personal feelings.

They are the ones who are always diligent with the journey to serve passengers and people back home safely and conveniently. Although they welcome Spring and celebrate Tet late, all the Vietnam Airlines staff are still happy and excited because of safe and sound flights.

Flights through Tet

For a long time, flight attendant like the Level 2 Chief Steward of Vietnam Airlines Nguyen Phan Thuy Duyen hasn’t thought of a weekend or a Tet holiday. Flight attendants like Duyen calculate days and nights based on the working schedule, days with flights, days without flights, days away from family.  Sometimes, they even joke that there is no need to buy dress for Tet because they wear uniforms for flying.

On flights through Tet, when seeing the joyful smiles of guests, Duyen is also happy, too.

Having working as a flight attendant for 3 years, Luong Nguyen Huynh Nhu still remembers flights on the last day of the 2019 Lunar Year from Paris (France) to Hanoi.

On New Year Eve, sitting on the plane, Nhu reminded herself that she had to try a little harder so that she would return home after Tet holiday. ‘I try to complete the task because if I don't do this task, who will take everyone home,’ according to Nhu.

Ready to enter the hot spots

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has shaken and affected the lives of people around the globe, and Vietnam Airlines chief flight attendant Tran Thi Phuong Ly herself is no exception.

Ly is working in Da Nang city. Due to the pandemic, flights from and to the city were limited, leading to resource redundancy. Ly and her colleagues had to take unpaid leave for six months consecutively and experience two times of social distancing.

According to Ly, currently, the flight attendants at the Da Nang base have been rotated on duty. Despite difficulties, they feel lucky to have the opportunity to continue working and pursue their passion

“This year Tet holiday will be very different from other years because if you fly to bring passengers or goods (to or from abroad, you will have to spend 14 days in quarantine. Every flight attendant is ready to wait for the task and is ready to be put under quarantine through Tet,” Ly said.

Recognizing the Year of the Rat (2020 Lunar New Year) as a very special year when the whole world has to find a way to live in a new normal, according to Huynh Nhu, in Vietnam, families have spent the longest Tet holiday history, 2020, while those working as flight attendant have to face changes and difficulties that they have never been encountered.

As a subject of the group of jobs directly affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, Huynh Nhu said that staying with the profession until now is a huge challenge. Her work is temporarily stopped, affecting her income; high risk of infection when on flights bringing Vietnamese people home from pandemic-hit areas.

However, thanks to material and spiritual support from many people, especially the care of the Board of Directors of the Corporation, up to now, this young stewardess feels that after many difficulties, she is not left behind and has the opportunity to contribute to society. That will be the motivation for Nhu to always remind herself to try harder in the New Year of the Buffalo, 2021.

Huynh Nhu has equipped herself with the spirit of accompanying the Corporation to overcome difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Year of the Buffalo.

“If I am given a task, I will be ready to go, regardless of difficulties and dangers. Even if I have to be quarantined, I will happily accept it," said flight attendant Huynh Nhu./.