Alison Kjertinge was 8 years old and a Grade 3 student in Mississauga in 1971 when she first laid eyes on a flight attendant. She thought she was the coolest, most beautiful creature in the world.In those days, they were called stewardesses, and Kjertinge spent the entire Toronto to London flight mesmerized by the woman with pouffy hair and blue eyes who was so kind to her. Right then and there, she knew what she wanted to be when she grew up.
She’s done it. At 48, she flies with Air Canada and loves it, both the flying and the company. With an honours degree and four languages, she gets to fly international routes that include Sydney, Tokyo, Beijing and London.
What she doesn’t love is the monthly reviews of her budget that usually leave her tearing her hair out. She’s a divorced mother of two with 27 years at Air Canada who makes $46,300 a year when she flies.
“I’m very careful with a dollar, but we still live paycheque to paycheque,” Kjertinge said in a recent telephone interview from Guelph, where she was visiting family (she grew up in Mississauga). She flies out of Vancouver.
“I’m not slamming Air Canada. I’m the best-case scenario and I have good routes, but if I’m struggling, I look at younger staffers who make much less and wonder how they do it. They started just like me — with stars in their eyes.”