‘We love this job’ nd
Women who started on same day 35 years ago retiring on same day
“We always knew we could depend on each other.”
Clare MacDougall
SYDNEY — Clare MacDougall and Leslie MacArthur have seen a lot of changes in the airline industry over 35 years as customer service representatives.
Air travel consisted of paper tickets, complimentary inflight liquor and no identification needed for boarding when they started their careers in the late 1980s.
The two Sydney natives were with different airlines when they were hired at Air Nova in 1989.
They started on the same day — May 15, 1989 — and now are set to retire on the same day when they do their last day at the J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport on May 16.
Neither expected they'd be with Air Nova, which became Air Canada Jazz, for 35 years.
Nor did they expect to experience momentous historical events like they did, both in the industry and in family life.
"I thought it would be a place to start," said MacArthur. "But then we were able to work here and not have to commute."
"We were all connected as, you know, a second family," said MacDougall. "But also leaving here to go home after (our shift) was a big benefit … People even now say, 'Oh my gosh, how do you fly out all the time?' And I say, 'No, no, no, I'm out at the airport.'
I'm where I want to be. Having our families, we get to go home to them at the end of the shift. And we love this job. Otherwise, we wouldn't be in the industry for more than 30 years."
EARLY DAYS
MacDougall, 60, and MacArthur, 58, knew each other through junior high and high school but didn't hang around together.
They did cheerleading together and both pursued similar educational paths — bachelor of arts degrees in speech communication at U.C.C.B. (now Cape Breton University). MacDougall minored in French and MacArthur minored in psychology.
After graduating, MacDougall went to the Université de Nice in France to study French and lived with seven people from Cape Breton.
"I couldn't perfect my French because I live with too many Englishspeaking people," said MacDougall, laughing. "We came back that summer and I had the travel bug."
MacDougall's travel bug was also influenced by her aunt who worked at the
United Nations. Each time she came home she would show them photos of the different countries she was at.
This drew MacDougall to the airline industry. Along with travel perks, which at the time were free standby flights, the job entailed meeting travellers from around the world.
For MacArthur, being an airline customer agent was something she wanted to do since she was young.
"I always loved the airline industry," she said. "I think as a little girl flying, the agents — Kenny MacDonald, the ones out here — they would make it so good. I wanted to do what they were doing."
When she graduated from UCCB, MacArthur got a part-time job at a Royal Bank branch but continued to look for work at the airport.
Both women were very persistent in trying to get jobs at the airlines, continually going to the airport to ask the managers when they were hiring.
"I remember my mom coming out with a blazer telling me, 'Put this on,' before I went out, so I would look professional," said MacArthur.
AIRLINE CAREERS
MacDougall was first hired by the short-lived Bras d'Or Airline in 1986 and then in 1987 made the move to Air Canada, working part-time.
Later that same year, MacArthur was hired by Canadian Airlines and joined MacDougall at the J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport at a different kiosk. She was working part-time at a Royal Bank location and kept that job while also working parttime at Canadian Airlines.
In 1989, both Air Canada and Canadian Airlines announced they were leaving the Sydney airport.
Neither MacDougall nor MacArthur wanted to move with the airlines so they applied for Air Nova, a Canadian regional airline based in Enfield, N.S. Founded in 1986, Air Nova became a part of Air Canada regional in 2001.
A merger in 2002 resulted in Air Nova becoming a part of Air Canada Jazz airlines, which was purchased by Chorus Aviation in 2019.
Known as Jazz now, Air Canada buys their flight blocks from Chorus.
The company name and owners are only a small fraction of the changes the airline industry has gone through over the three decades MacArthur and MacDougall have been agents.
Originally it was paper tickets for flights, which included different ones for each leg. If a flight was delayed or routing changed, it took phone calls and new tickets to get customers re-routed. Now, technology makes it easier as it's done through the computer.
Along with paper tickets, when the women started in the airline industry, complimentary alcoholic drinks were offered to adults during flights and smoking was allowed on Canadian airlines until 1994, although it was prohibited on flights under two hours before that.
The two have gone through pilot strikes and changes to boarding after 9/11. MacDougall was working the day of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the U.S. which involved four planes being hijacked.
As the news broke of planes crashing into specific targets like the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, MacDougall watched her manager run from the office down to the restaurant where there were televisions.
After 9-11, people needed to have identification to check in and board plans and restrictions on carrying liquids onboard were put into effect.
Through the years there have been other airline disasters the women worked through, like the Swiss Airlines flight 111 crash in 1998 off the coast of Nova Scotia.
Both women worked through the COVID-19 pandemic, on shift for the last flight out of the airport before the national and international air travel ban.
They were also kept on to work during the pandemic flight shutdown as they were senior staff. It was backshift they worked and they kept themselves busy in whatever way they could, even without customers to check in our help with routings.
There were times when the women had to help with baggage and went above and beyond for their passengers.
"There are so many people we could mention, who became more than passengers," MacArthur said. "They were our friendly faces, too."
WRONG SYDNEY
Some of these friendly faces have been travellers who arrived at the Sydney airport expecting to be in Sydney, Australia.
"There have been so many of them over the years," said MacDougall, who keeps in touch with some of them.
One was a 16-year-old from Vienna, Austria, who couldn't get on a new flight until the next day. MacDougall brought her home with her for the night until she could fly out.
Now an adult, the woman is a journalist and fashion designer whose line (which is done with her mother) has been featured in global fashion magazines. MacDougall said they email each year.
Another couple from Paris, France, arrived in February in the wrong Sydney. They have kept in touch with MacDougall and have invited her to stay with them if she comes to France, now that she's retired.
"It's a beautiful message," she said, showing a selfie the couple took and sent to her. "He's messaged me a few times."
Along with lost travellers, they've met sports greats like Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr. They've also met politicians like Stephen Harper.
The customers aren't the only friendly faces the women will miss when they work their last day on May 16. They'll also miss their coworkers and remember former staff fondly.
FRIENDSHIP
When working at Air Nova, MacDougall and MacArthur were pregnant at the same time, along with two other co-workers.
Their children ended up going to some of the same schools together and even though they were often on opposite shifts, this deepened their friendship.
However, their connection was started even before the two women worked for the same airline.
One of the seven Cape Bretoners MacDougall lived with in France was MacArthur's husband.
While the two women were working at different airlines at the Sydney airport, MacDougall mentioned to MacArthur's husband he should ask MacArthur out.
The women laugh as they reminisce about all the memories they share and all the things they will miss when they hang up their blazers for the last time.
"We were the last ones standing," said MacDougall, who is senior lead customer service agent. "We always knew we could depend on each other."