On my first United flight this morning, I got a rude awakening to the possible future of air travel. I got my first hint of things to come when, on the Public Address System, the head Flight Attendant repeatedly referred to the cabin crew as "Safety Personnel" instead of Fight Attendants. I've often heard FA's announce that they were there "primarily for your safety", but then they have always added that "if there is anything we can do to make your trip more enjoyable, please don't hesitate to ask." This is the first time I've ever heard them refer to themselves as "Safety Personnel" and absolutely no mention of service of any kind. I know that many FAs hate having to wait on customers and think that safety should be their only concern, but this is the first (and thankfully so far, only) time I've heard such a complete change of mission from a cabin crew. Personally, I didn't like it one bit. Of course I expect safety to be a major concern of the cabin crew, but I also would like to believe that the company and it's personnel are equally concerned with our comfort. And, needless to say, the service on this flight sadly reflected this new attitude and after our meal service, I actually overheard on FA ask another to call the cockpit and ask the Flight Crew to turn on the seatbelt sign, and it remain on for most of the rest of the flight, despite absolutely no turbulence! Can they do this?! Again, thankfully the other flight that day had great service and this is the only time I've ever had this happen, so I hope it was just a fluke. I hope.

I think you'd be doing us all a favor by writing to UA about this. Immediate negative customer reaction may temper this attitude.

While no one is more concerned about safety than I am, service is a key component to air travel, and while US-based airlines all seem to have lost sight of this, I guess it has to be up to us to remind them...

BTW, usually the FA making the announcements will say his/her name at least once. Making a note of this may help UA ferret out the problem.

[This message has been edited by Matt Wald (edited 02-04-99).]

Thanks Matt. In fact, that was the first thing I did when I returned home. The letter's in the mail.

I flew during the past week and the annoucements were the same as usual. Maybe you got an FA who lost sight of what the job entails rather than some ego trip idea of what he/she wants it to become.

It is sad when the service is compromised by people who do not want to do the job they were hired for. However, I am sure we see examples of that everyday in other industries.

Good for you for not letting it go unreported to UA. We all need to have that attitude.

It's also possible that the coach cabin had some uncooperative passengers (the air rage stuff) and the announcement was meant for them. ...still no excuse to be unattentive to FC during the flight.