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In the world of Corporate Flight Attendance, especially as it concerns VIP luxury service, Jamie Gibson has earned herself a spot among the impressible and prominent in the business.
Going by the moniker, “flightess” – one truly earned by experience and acute perception – Jamie Gibson is an accomplished flight attendant, leading luxury hospitality expert, chef, mentor, and tutor, whose skills are sought after both domestically and internationally. Through all the experience Jamie developed an acute perception of customer’s needs, and got herself the moniker of “flightess”. We all agree that no one’s earned it better.
In 2018, she founded her brand and business, Flightess, a platform that helps bring together Aviation flight attendants from all over the globe in the hopes of bringing talent and innovation into the dimensions of VIP hospitality and onboard culinary services. Flightess has fast become the largest online resource and platform for Corporate Flight Attendants in the world.
Recently, we had the opportunity to interview the great achiever that is Jamie, and she gave us some insights into her work and passion, and how our product has helped elevate her work experience.
Q: Tell me a little bit of what a day as a flight attendant looks like?
A: There’s like two series to the flight: the prep for the flight and the day of the flight. The prep for the flight could be anything from lying around, going for shopping at Whole Foods or Trader Joes, picking up the items you’ll need — your cold storage items, things of this nature — and placing catering orders whether that be to your hotel, a restaurant, or an inflight caterer.
On the day of the flight, you’re obviously getting ready like two hours prior to the flight. Normally, you will have multiple bags of things you are carrying with you for the plane, whether that be your flower arrangements or any catering that you have brought with you. Once you arrive, usually two hours prior, you begin prepping the plane, putting away all your catering as well as your cold storage items, doing last-minute cleaning, making sure that there are no fingerprints anywhere, you check to make sure the toilet is flushing, the water is working.
Then you will prepare a welcome set-up, prep up any of your catering that needs to be prepped up, get your oven ready, line with foil, repackage any catering that needs to be repackaged, communicate with the pilot to ensure that the cabin is ready to go, and perhaps get some of the bedding ready that you will need to prepare on flight as well.
Q: What would you say is your favorite part of the job?
A: Having the runway; pun intended. To be creative and really curate the experience for the guests. I mean, they are paying very premium dollars to fly private and although it is a transportation from point A to point B, I don’t think that excludes it from being a really creative and specialized experience for the guest themselves whether that be customizing it to the magazines that you think they will find interesting or securing one of their favorite dishes or dessert. I really like having the ability to make it an experience. It’s not just a transportation. It can actually be something that is memorable.
Q: How did you find MY DRAP?
A: I came across a contact on a plane that had this roll of napkins, and they were linen-like. I was told that they could be washed as well as used for single-use. I started using them in so many ways, not only to present in cocktail napkins in different cocktail napkin forms but also as a way to buffer a charger plate: like say I was presenting soup or a beautiful salad and I wanted maybe a crown plate underneath it, I would put a MY DRAP down as well. Not only to add a contrasting color but to also make sure that it’s not clanking a bit – you know, as a result of the china on china.
I discovered it on the plane. I also remember being in Spain for culinary school, and I believe MY DRAP originally started in Spain. So, I walked into this gorgeous boutique store and it had a whole wall of MY DRAP in different colors and sizes. I remember it being my first real formal introduction to the brand, but I had seen it on the plane that I had contracted with.
Q: How does MY DRAP facilitate and elevate your work?
A: It’s a hundred percent nicer than having and using a paper napkin. I do use them for the guests actually, but it also helps me to enhance the presentation of the food.
Here’s another way I use them. I always believe that no matter what, if you are serving any type of alcoholic beverage, especially when you need to accompany it with some kind of snacky item, there should be a level of class to it. Being able to deliver a beautiful cocktail next to a little ramekin of nuts with an MY DRAP napkin, both of the items together are beautiful, but I feel that the little MY DRAP napkin marries the two products together in a presentation. And it’s not just for show, it’s actually used for people to have folds on their fingers for the nuts, but it kind of marries the presentation together for that mini-cocktail service.
Q: What’s your favorite MY DRAP product?
A: Mm. O, God. The cocktail napkin is the most universal and versatile product to have onboard. It is so much better than having a paper cocktail napkin. It’s really luxurious and I use it for a lot of things even as a little charger when going around to offer lotion after hot towel services. I don’t use it within the singular service of serving a beverage, I use it for multiple purposes. I also use the luncheon napkin frequently, most especially for the welcome table.
Q: Which color?
A: The cream. I love the cream. I also think the Petrol Blue color is super classy and very versatile. It goes with so many different things and really helps the products onboard pop next to it. The cream is just classic. You can’t go around without cream with the little gray border on it. Yep, those are my favorites.
We are glad that MY DRAP can feature so nicely in Jamie’s endeavors and help her achieve pleasant results. We hope our relationship stretches longer and stronger.
