PDXPremier

Just flew AS #245 from PVR-PDX with a stop in SAN yesterday and thought I would share the stark contrast in FA service on these two segments, both about the same length, both with meal service, and both with
a friendly SAN-based FA (crew change in SAN).

PVR-SAN (service in F provided by "Jay")
1. No pre-departure beverage other than the water bottles at the seat (none expected)
2. Took drink orders after take-off and although some passengers received pretzels with their drinks, none were offered to either myself nor the passenger sitting next to me.
3. No hot towel service.
4. No prior description of the meal service....trays were set-up, brought to our seats, and at that time we were asked if we wanted the meal or not.
5. No offer to re-fill beverage--had to ask...the passenger next to me rang their call button and requested more water.

SAN-PDX (service in F provided by "Ken")
1. Offered each passenger a PDB (whatever they wanted) along with the standard water bottles at the seat.
2. Walked through the cabin prior to meal service to take our drink/meal orders and let us know what the meal was going to be.
3. Served beverages and, as far as I could tell, pretzels to all passengers.
4. Handed out hot towels that I noticed had a few small lemons sitting on them which provided a nice lemon scented towel...I've never seen them do that before....not a big deal, but a nice touch.
5. Meals were served and re-fills or additional beverages like coffee were provided.

As I mentioned before, they were both friendly and got the job done, but it's amazing how much range there is in soft product delivery in F.

On a side note, SAN is definitely the place to go if you have to go through customs, especially compared to the zoo over at LAX....I think the whole process of getting through customs took a grand total of about 10 minutes from the time we walked off the plane to the time we dropped off our checked bag for the next flight. The TSA checkpoint over at the AS domestic terminal, however, was a joke....lots of staffing but only one body scanner so there was a constant back-up of people....being in F helped avoid some of the wait, but it was a still a slow process and one I would not want to repeat if I were in a hurry to catch a flight.

PV_Premier

Nice report and summary. I think all the airlines have a huge variance in the "delivery" of the on-board product, but I will say that I find it more noticeable on AS when service falls on the lower end of the distribution, because the overall mean of the on-board service distribution is higher on AS than on AA, UA, or DL...and is skewed positively in the passengers' favor.

dave1013

This is the sort of situation that alaskalistens.com is geared toward. Please consider submitting a report.

PDXPremier

I agree and plan to do that.

Westcoaster

I think we may have had "Jay" or his twin on HNL-SEA recently. Actually this "Jay" wasn't what I would call friendly. Bare minimum service. No offers of drink refills, at least to us, although he did top up my husband's water glass once without asking. No snack basket. Lots of time spent sitting and reading -- not just the usual amount for well deserved breaks. I did give feedback to AS regarding the disappointing service.

This was in stark contrast to the great service we had received from "Mary" on our SAN-HNL flight a week before. She was wonderful. I gave her a rating of 5 out of 5 on the survey I received after the trip.

tusphotog

I've had consistently mediocre FAs based out of SAN this year. A couple of the super senior ones are good, but the difference between PDX/SEA/ANC and SAN is startling.

Makes me wonder who AS is hiring these days...and I write in about this every time it happens.

SNA is another great entry airport. With GE I was through SNA and in line for PreCheck at C before my WN crew was off the plane. The regular line was maybe 5 minutes.

Let me guess, PreCheck was closed too?

PDXPremier

There was no separate lane that I noticed for PreCheck....I heard them tell one guy who had PreCheck that he didn't need to take off his flip flops...that was the big "benefit" of PreCheck in SAN...he still was funneled through the same single scanner that the rest of us were going through...what a crazy operation in SAN

ANC

It comes down to 2 types of employees. One doing the bare minimum to stay employed
and one trying to go above and beyond. Of course you always have the 3rd type that does a great job but just flows with it. Just remember though. We all have good days and bad days. Well rested days and very tired days

johnp012001

I'm pretty sure those flights are turns now, so they do something like PDX - SAN - PVR - SAN. The SAN- PDX crew seems to be at the beginning of their journey as I recall. So, you're comparing someone at the beginning of their workday to someone just finishing up a 13 hour workday.

PDXPremier

13 hours...wow....I thought that would be over their max time for the day.

AS Flyer

It is, generally speaking. Irregular ops can cause days to go longer but typically speaking, the max duty day is 10.5 hours with the exception of a few Midwest turns from Seattle.

mr_sparky

Is there official policy about hot towels? Are you supposed to always get them in F? Only on transcon? At start of the flight? At the end? Seems like every time it's different.

AS Flyer

they are supposed to be distributed prior to any meal or snack service, not including the warm cookies or cheese plates. That's the official policy.

ANC

interesting :/ my experiences have for the most part receive them at the end of the flight. In any case when I receive it changes how I use it. Before meal service I use it to wash my hands. If it's later or near the end of flight use use it to clean my face primarily :/

BOB W

I hate to say this and know there will be flames for it, but I also have noticed that the newer (younger) FA's are more likely to provide a lower level of service than those with more experience. The last two times I sent a positive note to Alaska Listens it was for a more senior FA. I don't send negative comments about FA's because I believe it can effect someone else's employment, but the last few flights with younger FA's have been less than stellar.

Not saying all younger FA's are bad, it just seems to me you are more likely to see a lower level of service for the younger generation.