KenHamer

bingocallerb22

I am a bit surprised AC FAs do not wear disposable gloves more often. In Peru almost everyone dealing with food and the public (including LAN FAs) wear gloves. Heck, in Colombia go to a chicken place and they provide you gloves to wear.

24left

Front page of FT had the piece

"Crewed Talk: Let’s Have a Serious Talk about Germs in the Cabin"

While there were some amusing bits in the column, I thought this was clever
"I wish amenity kits included antibacterial wipes. If flight attendants airlines were smart, they’d start selling them onboard! It’s about time airlines were more supportive of crew members who choose to wear gloves...."

.... "Just do yourself a favor and never dive an ungloved hand blindly into a seatback pocket or eat directly off a tray table, alright?"

So, my suggestion back when the earth cooled that there be a container of wipes at the door like you have when you enter some U.S. retail chains - was not so far off base. I just didn't think of charging for them.

http://www.flyertalk.com/story/crewe...the-cabin.html

KenHamer

Travel bans: Green Coffee Extract Doesn't Reduce Weight, and Travel Bans Won't Stop Ebola

2MM

Which European airports are most likely to have transit passengers from the 3 affected African countries?

Stranger

1. BRU.

2. CDG.

No other one really. AFAIK only other connection point is Casablanca which is not in Europe.

This said, I do not believe transiting to any of these airports is a serious risk. The airlines obviously check carefully the temperature of embarking passengers. FRlight times are not enough for any passenger to become contagious during the trip.

This said, my wife takes biologics for her arthritis, which lower her immune system, and she is a bit concerned. I am not convinced she should worry, but next trip we'll go to FRA instead of either CDG or BRU, which is not a big deal since at this time of the year upgrading to FRA is not too bad. This is even though the trip will take us to both Brussels and Paris, in addition to the Eifel.

Indelaware

Ebola, not ebola. That said, death rates, as we have seen, albeit with a small n, in the United States are much lower owing to early diagnosis and treatment.

In addition to AF's CDG-CKY service, AT's service ex-CMN to CKY, FNA, & ROB, and SNs service to ex-BRU to CKY, FNA, & ROB, HF was to resume service to ex-ABJ to CKY, FNA, & ROB last week. I assume that they did.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-1...d-nations.html

TravellingSalesman

Come now. Latex gloves are essentially free. Think about the PR if AC actually did that.

I don't see why FAs shouldn't get gloves for their work.

That said, the Ebola hysteria in North America (mostly the US) is probably the only funny aspect of this terrible disease.

You want to go where?

If the FAs actually use the gloves the way they should be used, they won't be 'essentially free', but they won't, so I don't see the point of them. You have to replace them every time you touch something that could be contaminated. You have to take them off each time you need to arrange your hair, touch your face, etc.

Should they have gloves on board in case an emergency generates something that could be seriously contaminated (not necessarily with Ebola, I might add)? Sure. Should they use them for all aspects of the service? No.

24left

Originally Posted by 24left
I do however expect to see a new line item under surcharges, taxes and fees on airline tickets:

Big Blue Gloves 4.75 plus HST, PST, QST, GST.....

I am NOT making light of the concern by FAs, I'm just thinking that someone will have to pay for this plus any other costs involved in airport Ebola screening, should that get implemented.



Nothing is free.
I was making a point AND looking at the cost issue.
There is no way an airline would give them to staff and not find a way to add some or all of the cost to the pax ticket, thus my line
"I do however expect to see a new line item under surcharges, taxes and fees on airline tickets:
Big Blue Gloves 4.75 plus HST, PST, QST, GST....."

I don't have to think of the PR since I did not come up with the glove idea in the first place. The mod posted the news item.

I just flew 4 AC domestic & trans-border flights since Friday and not once did I see a FA or anyone else wearing gloves of any kind. The only people with gloves were those "security" people - and that is a whole other conversation. (However, walking through terminal and airside at YVR this morning, I saw more than one person wearing a mask.)

TravellingSalesman

They don't have to replace them during a meal service, they would just have to avoid touching themselves during this relatively short interval. Then you might have a few dozen of these to be used per FA and flight (let's be generous), which doesn't really cost anything: these gloves can be had for fractions of cents per unit if bought in bulk.

This I fully agree with, by the way. But if the FAs feel better having them on all the time, why not go to the small expense of letting them have their way.


Absolutely; you wouldn't have to think of the PR. But AC management would have to: imagine they let the FAs have the gloves and then passed the cost on to the customer with a totally disproportionate mark up. I don't think that would go down too well.

You want to go where?

Given that an airline once cut the a single olive out of the salad they were serving to save money, you can be certain that they will perceive the cost of the gloves as an expense, and not free.

PR is actually the big problem. Imagine they let the FAs wear these gloves. What does it suggest to the customer? Gloves suggest two things to me - cafeterias and hospitals. Is that really the image that Air Canada (or any airline) wants to portray? No, they want to project luxury and easy living - even as they cram you into less and less space. That is why in their advertisements airlines spend far more time showing you the destination than the onboard experience. When they do show the onboard experience, it is smartly-dressed FAs, slender, smiling customers exuding comfort and confidence. Now square that image with the FA pulling on the latex gloves as if he/she was about to give you a prostate exam or draw blood. Or the industrial food service worker glopping some unidentifiable slop on your tray.

24left

So, once again, let me remind you of the first post of this thread.


If the FAs want gloves, they may get gloves. PR and perception are irrelevant if the employees are concerned about their safety. I'm less bothered by crew wearing gloves than all of those pax wearing face masks who are currently wandering around airports.

If I were crew, I'd be more annoyed at all of the J pax sitting in my cabin on yesterday's YVR-YYZ flight, coughing and sneezing and not a single one of them could be bothered to cover their mouths. That behavior has an equally bad impact on the FAs serving them as well as the rest of us pax.

BTW, It is now Oct 28, I have been on 6 AC flights since this thread started and have not seen a single AC crew wear them.

TravellingSalesman

A bit OT, but why are you bothered by other people wearing face masks?

Of course, most people use them in such a way as to render them completely useless...

Stranger

Because sick people around bothers me.