Julie Neal is a corporate flight attendant based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada who loves her career and the fact that every flight presents a new challenge to be conquered. She has 15 years of experience as a flight attendant, with the last four years being dedicated to private aviation, and has completed training with Bombardier. Being from Montreal, Julie can tell you how amazing her hometown is both French and English, but first we would like to give you some background on her.
Julie has not only trained with Bombardier, she also has experience flying on several of their aircraft including Bombardier Q400, CRJ200/700/900; GEX and Challenger 850/605/300 and soon – the CSeries. She has also flown on Lockheed 1011, Boeing 737/757 and AirBus 310/320/330.
One of Julie’s career highlights was being selected to participate in the evacuation certification test for the CSeries, one of the many unique opportunities she has experienced working for the manufacturer. “We were very proud to evacuate everyone under 90 seconds,” she said. In 2011, Julie had another career highlight when she won a National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) scholarship to attend training at Beyond and Above.
Throughout her career, Julie has a few distinct favorite destination that have emerged. “I really enjoy Asia for the culture, Prague for the architecture and Italy because it’s Italy,” she said. While she has had many memories of trips to points around the world, she also has many suggestions on making the best out of a trip to her hometown.
“Montreal is full of amazing restaurants, so it is hard to pick just one! For delicious high-end pizza, I go to Geppetto,” said Julie. “For some comfort food with an international inspiration and a good glass of wine, le Bon Vivant. I can’t forget to mention Jatoba for their amazing seafood platter, Milos for exquisite Greek food and Park for sushi.”
“If you are visiting Montreal for the first time, you absolutely need to go in Old Montreal, then walk along the canal or rent a bike (Bixi) to the Atwater Market,” said Julie. “Then you must go for a walk on the mountain Mont-Royal, a beautiful park located right in the city, and once at the Belvedere you have a spectacular view of Montreal! We also have so many festivals both in the summer and winter, and most are free. You should also watch a hockey game, our national sport, at Bell Centre.”
For getting around Montreal, Julie says to “grab a Bixi, it’s the easiest and nicest way to visit the city. There’s bike path everywhere and, if you want stop to shop or to grab a coffee, you leave your bike at any bike stand. In the winter, we have the subway. There’s actually a whole underground city, so you pretty much never need to go outside in bad weather.”
When it comes to in-flight challenges that Julie has experienced, one in particular comes to mind. “I had a guest who was vegan, the challenge was not as much with the in-flight catering, but more with all the furnishings of the aircraft and the products (no animal by-products allowed). I only had a few hours to shop for everything – linens, duvet, pillows, creams and, of course, the catering! I managed to get everything done by being organized and focused.” The next time you are looking for a corporate flight attendant in Montreal who can rise to any challenge, contact Julie Neal at julieneal80@hotmail.com.
This article is part of a series of interviews we are conducting with corporate cabin crew members; individuals who are not employed by Air Culinaire Worldwide. If you would like to be considered for an interview, which is posted on our blog and all of our social media accounts, please contact socialmedia@airculinaire.com.
