SEAFFLYER

Sitting in my F seat last night, SEA-BUR. Maybe 10 minutes from pushback, just about everyone on, A/C all serviced, catering truck gone. FA's doing last minute things but not terribly busy.

I'd like a little water to drink, none at our seats yet.

Not an end-of-the-world deal, so I wait patiently until I can catch a FA's eye, then ask "no water tonight?" The very nice FA explains in a very apologetic way that there is this brand new FAA regulation that prevents them from passing out our small bottles of water that we are all accustomed to while the plane is still on the ground. She mentioned that AS has yet to figure out how to deal with this.

She says if they are "caught" it's an $11,000.00 fine from the FAA!

She says they could pass them out but would have to collect them all back, empty or not, before pushback. So for now, they have decided to wait until airborne at the start of drink service to hand them out.

Anyone else encounter this yet?

Eastbay1K

Well, if it is true, it gives them no excuse not to have real pre-departure beverage service, and simply collect the plasticups before departure like most other airlines that have airport lounges.

Duckouttahere

I just flew NW on (2) FC UG's and they offered full beverage service to those in F while the rest of the plane was boarding. It sounds like the FA was making up the rules as they went.

eponymous_coward

I've always noticed the water bottles being collected before takeoff- they can't be left loose in the cabin, for obvious reasons. If I haven't finished mine, I usually stash it in the seat pocket or hold it. I suppose that's what is no longer allowed?

Also: I suppose this is where I mention getting two drink services on the ground before (on time) takeoff- in VX F last Saturday.

AS Flyer

Actually, at least one FAA inspector has decided to enforce a decades old FAA regulation. That regulation says that ALL onboard service items must be collected or stowed in an approved stowage location prior to take-off/landing. The seat pocket is only approved for soft items (magazine, newspapers, basically paper items). SO, the water bottles can not go in the seat pocket and you can not hold them for take-off/landing. Strangely enough, you can hold a water bottle YOU brought on but not the one we gave you. When another airline does a full pre-departure beverage service they generally always pick up the cups, empty or not, before sitting down. Anyway - this Flight Attendant seems to have taken it up on herself to interpret this rule on her own. The company has only asked that we pick up all water bottles prior to being seated before take-off. They (being management) NEVER told us not to pass the water out prior to take-off. The funny thing is, this has been the rule all along. The company reposted it and let us know that the FAA is, apparently, vigirously enforcing it. Odd that ANY Flight Attendant would pretend they didn't know this before.

chuck1

Water bottles not offered in F AS5 DCA-LAX on Mar. 19.

hgdf

I got my water yesterday on AS 522 from SEA-BUR. Seems like your FA was lazy and just didn't want to worry about collecting them before departure.

What's really disappointing on this route is the so called 'snack' which consisted of a small green salad and some sort of pastry thing similar to a very small croissant. If only VX would start flying to BUR, perhaps we could get some actual service.

VirgoRising

I don't think that the flight attendant was being LAZY, just overly cautious. She was correct in mentioning that the airline can be fined $11,000 per infraction by any overzealous FAA inspector. Legislation is in the works as well that would allow the FAA to fine individual flight attendants $1,000 per infraction (such as not collecting a water bottle or allowing someone to hold it prior to take-off). So, while she was technically wrong in not passing them out in the first place, I can understand her reasoning as this latest bulletin is a bit intimidating.

I think many of us try to exercise common sense when it comes to enforcing a number of F.A.R.s, avoiding gestapo tactics in order to keep the peace so long as something isn't a glaring violation. However, if this latest F.A.R. gets adopted that allows individual flight attendants to incur fines for every little thing, you unfortunately are going to see flight attendants being much more strict as they do cabin safety checks. Trust me, most of us don't like being the bad guy, but most of us aren't in the position to be paying out $1,000 here and there to the F.A.A. because we let you keep a water bottle or "overlooked" your thin notebook computer in the seatback pocket. Cross your fingers that this doesn't pass.

AS Flyer

Actually, I thought the small salad with baked brie in a puff pastry was quite nice. Not a heavy lunch, but nice none the less.

My question is this - did the flight crew ignore you? Were they not friendly and accomodating? Did they not serve you the drink of your choice when you asked for it? Odds are you probably got good "service" on that flight. Whether you got a heavy lunch or not is a whole different subject. Please don't equate a meal with "service". Flight Attendants work very hard. Sometimes service is all they have to offer when there isn't much in the way of food to offer. Saying you didn't recieve any service is an insult to those that work hard to provide "service" to you. The food is a whole different subject.

eponymous_coward

I'd say collecting the water bottles before takeoff is reasonable (since if there were drinks served, you'd have to do the same thing anyway).

Brie en croûte and a salad actually sounds pretty good as a light F snack (and better than some things I've had flying AS F on the SoCal routes, or the basket you get going SEA-LAS). Yes, VX will feed you more on their SEA-LAX route... but you pay for the privilege (no free upgrades on VX).

hgdf

I wasn't referring to the service as provided by the FA's, in fact they all did a fine job. In fact, I appreciate that lately they've taken to closing the curtain at the F divider to discourage the hoi palloi from traipsing through our inner sanctum. I suppose I should have said 'food service'. It wasn't really bad, but I wouldn't call it a meal. The BUR-SEA leg usually involves just the snack basket, which is kind of lame on a nearly 3 hour flight.

By comparison, on a flight from LAX-SEA in F on VX, they practically stuff you with a 3 course meal, and they offer not only water, but the beverage of your choice prior to departure. That combined with the vastly more comfortable seats and in flight entertainment, makes it an extremely competitive F product compared with AS. Oh, and if you actually pay for F, VX is about $100 cheaper!

Why do I fly AS instead? Free F upgrades with MVPG status, choice of airports, and schedule. If VX were to start an elite programs and offering upgrades and start flying out of more airports, I would have little reason to remain loyal to AS.

That being said, I have no complaints about AS employees in general. To the company, give us some more comfortable seats with better padding, a footrest, feed us properly, and I may stick around.

eponymous_coward

If VX did offer free upgrades into F, F wouldn't be as good as it is.

hgdf

As AS's F cabin would be mostly empty if they didn't.

maokh

would explain the less amount of water provided.

eponymous_coward

On some routes (the routes < 3 hours), yes. Some routes (long AK ones, transcons, MX, HI, Vegas during peak travel), I suspect not (well, at least before the economy went into a ditch. Might be different now). Just because there's no drink service on the ground doesn't mean AS's F isn't much different than DL's, CO's, NW's, and what everyone gets as domestic F who's not flying UA or AA's JFK-CA transcons, or VX.