My first flight with ONA
by Joyce Olson Mathews

To my fellow crew members, here is a short 
story I authored about my first flight on 
ONA. Hope you enjoy reading it.  

April, 1972

It was my first flight after graduation from 
Flight Attendant training.

I was nervous but the senior flight attendant 
introduced me to the cabin crew and I began 
to feel better.  After that, I was taken to 
the cockpit to meet the captain, co-pilot, 
and flight engineer.

We took off from JFK on a stretch DC-8 
chartered by 258 passengers heading to 
Malaga, Spain.

Once we reached our cruising altitude of 
30,000 feet, the captain turned off the seat 
belt sign and the seven flight attendants, 
which included me, began the in-flight service.

I was assigned to the forward galley with 
two other flight attendants; the other four 
were stationed in the aft galley.

There were two liquor carts (one from the 
forward galley and one from the aft galley) 
that were stocked with ice, plastic cups, 
swizzle sticks, cans of soda and juices, 
condiments, and hundreds of miniature 
bottles of liquor. 

The flight attendants, from each galley, 
wheeled the carts to the middle of cabin 
and then worked their way fore and aft.  
The process was repeated so that everyone 
would be served at least two soft drinks 
or cocktails before the meal service began. 

As a new flight attendant, I was the 
delegated small-job person.  If a passenger 
pulled their call button, wanted a pillow 
or desired a cup of tea I would respond 
with a smile.

If the carts needed more ice or the 
lavatory was out of toilet paper, I would 
remedy the situation.

Then, without warning, came an assignment 
that took my breath away.  The head flight 
attendant instructed me to go the cockpit 
and report to the captain.  She said that 
the he had called and needed something 
from the cabin right away. She explained 
that the other flight attendants were busy 
with the liquor carts and the meal service.  
I was the only person available to handle 
this most important request.

I went straight to the cockpit, earnest and 
ready for any task.

As I entered the flight deck, the captain 
turned to me and said, “I need box of steam 
and I’m going to need it pretty soon.”

“Okay, Captain.  I’ll be right back,” 
I replied.




ONA PASSENGER MEAL

I left cockpit and went straight to the 
head flight attendant who was in the middle 
of serving meals.  I felt like a little girl 
tugging on her mother’s apron as I sheepishly 
and quietly whispered to her, “The Captain 
told me to get him a box of steam.”

Without looking up or missing a beat, she 
replied, “find out what kind of steam he 
needs.”

I headed back to the cockpit.  “Captain, 
what kind of steam do you need?” I asked.

 “Find out what kind of steam she has left 
and then report back to me,” said the captain.

Again, I tracked down the head flight 
attendant.  Now she was in the aft galley 
rotating the meals in the ovens so they would 
cook more evenly.

“Tell him that I have a blue box of steam and 
a red box of steam but that I’m out of the 
green boxes of steam,” she shot back as she 
moved about the galley.
 
This was clearly not a good time to ask her 
follow-up questions.

Back to the cockpit I go to explain the choices 
to the captain.

“A blue box of steam will do,” he quickly 
replied.

At this point I asked another experienced 
flight attendant where I could find a blue 
box of steam. 

“A blue box of steam, what blue box of steam?!” 
she shouted.  “Go back to the cockpit and tell 
the captian that we only carry purple boxes of 
steam on the stretch DC’8s.”

With some anxiety, I entered the cockpit once 
again.  The captain seemed to take the news 
in stride and simply said, “Oh, never mind, 
I don’t need it anymore.”

Several hours later, after we landed and the 
passengers deplaned, we were all on the crew 
bus headed to the hotel.

During this time, the flight attendants shared 
stories with the pilots about the flight and 
vice versa.

The captain turned to me and asked, “So Joyce, 
how do YOU think things went on our flight?”

With all eyes on me, I blushed and apologized 
profusely for not being able get the requested 
box of steam.

My sincere apology was followed by raucous 
laughter and congratulations for completing 
my in-flight initiation. It was not until 
that moment that I realized I had been 
taken-in by one of the oldest tricks in the 
book.

Five years later…………….

We are on a DC-10 with a cabin crew of twelve 
flight attendants.  I am now the head flight 
attendant.  The galleys are below the passenger 
deck and the crew is spread out between the 
front section, the aft section, and the galley 
below.  Elevators are used to transport the 
liquor carts and meal carts to the cabin for 
the in-flight service.

A new flight attendant is on board.  
It’s her first flight after graduation from 
Flight Attendant training.  She spends most 
of the flight taking the elevators up and down, 
fetching things for passengers and trying 
to find a box of steam for the captain.

Joyce Olson Mathews
Flight Attendant 1972-1978, 
Overseas National Airways

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