FiveMileFinal

American Airlines is garbage [...] as a carrier, but when their people do good, I want to give them props.

Was on 41 BCN-ORD yesterday in J with the ride-or-die. She somehow managed to drop her phone into the gap between the wall of the plane and the edge of the business class seat. She realized this about 45 minutes into the flight, which exacerbated an already bad day overall; without getting into specifics, she's dealing with the loss of her mom, and we're flying from the comfort of our temporary European summer digs headlong into some family [business].

Anyway, I pass out shortly after; while I'm asleep (in 3L), the FAs and the guy in 5L are tearing up her seat (4L) looking for the phone, to no avail. Even the captain gets involved apparently. I wake up, she's a mess, and I see if I can find it, with no luck obviously as it's likely dead, and even if it weren't, there's no way to locate it because it has no internet connection. One of the FAs sees that she's upset, calls her into the galley, gives her a drink of water, and hugs her over losing her mom. They tell us that once we land, there'll be a mechanic who can come in and sort it out so they can turn the plane around.

Fast forward. We land about 40 minutes early and coast into M16. As soon as everybody leaves their seats, I see if I can see the phone where they think it is. Initially I don't, but then I find it wedged deep down in the crease between the seat and the wall, abeam her seatback. I try to fish it out with no luck, as does the FA who consoled my partner earlier. The other FA, the purser of the flight, comes over, climbs over my seat, hangs nearly upside down, legs flailing in the air, and is somehow, after a couple of minutes, able to snatch the phone out of the crease. Of course, it was dead. But we had it. The rest of our trip went well, with our connection leaving and arriving early.

So, how do I give this crew the props they deserve? They said "go to the website", is there more than that?

enviroian

This post made my day. I find it sincerely amusing.

I would have loved to see a pic of that flight attendant with his legs pointed towards Polaris.

AANYC1981

I had a similar incident with my phone on a recent flight (without the death in the family) and the FA's were amazing getting it out of my lie flat seat. I didn't realize it until we were deplaning in an int'l destination so time was of the essence.

I wrote in to AA to praise the crew and they got back to me within 5 minutes.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Yeah that's a nightmare. One time on a flight to SJU maintenance had to come on and take the seat apart so (J seat) so the guy could get to his phone. I guess one AAdvantage of Y-you're never lose your phone in the that seat.

luv2vacay

I go to the website and submit the feedback with the flight # and date/time along with departure/arrival just in case. I try to get the name(s) of the crew as well.
Not sure if AA ever really responds (it's been a while since I had good feedback for AA--haha).
I know UA and DL have replied back after some time letting me know (not the automated one, but a real composed email) that they've forwarded onto the appropriate people.

miadukes

The only time I went online and submitted something positive about an AAngel, I never heard back. I do hope it made it to her file or something acknowledge her. I know make sure I carry the papers that they send me in my gold packet I have 2 left this year. Crew seem genuinely appreciative to receive them. So I would still go and submit something but know, you may never hear back.

JBauer

This actually happened to me about two years ago. The staff did a great job trying to retrieve my phone. I was sitting in first class and it slid under the seat of actor Michale Douglas. He didn’t care. When we landed in New York a mechanic came on, but could not move the seat. I went to lost and found at JFK, but they wouldn’t let me file a complaint because the phone wasn’t lost. People knew exactly where it was, under a seat on the plane. A week later I got a call from American Airlines, and during a maintenance stop they removed the seat got my phone and sent it back to me.

This was LAx to JFK

HofstraJet

On QF (and, IIRC, EK and other foreign carriers), there is an announcement during the safety video stating to not move your seat if you drop your phone into it and to call an FA who will assist. Never saw that on a US carrier.

redtop43

I dropped my phone there once (in 4L). Fortunately I was able to extricate it myself. The moral is, be wery wery careful about your phone in those window-flush seats.

jcatman

Ride or die? I had to look that up.

SeeBuyFly

This happened to me nearly 8 years ago on DEL-ORD, slantboard J seats. The FAs said, basically, that it wasn't their problem. Fortunately we were able to call the phone from another phone, while still on the ground, and that helped us find it. The FAs on the DEL flights were the worst of the worst; recent reports suggest that those who have not retired now work HKG flights. FAs on Europe flights are distinctly better.

AA2070

AA has made this announcement on every flight I've been on in the past few months with electrically-operated seats (77W, 772, 789, 788, 763, 75L, 321T) No idea what they do in on the garbage LUS fleet - I assume the area under the seat is full of empty liquor minis from when Doug non-revs.

travelingdrsuz

Twitter! And the Website under Compliment. They DO read it. I witnessed an incident of an irrational and ridiculous woman going off on a gate agent in an airport when we were delayed this year. The agent's supervisor happened to walk up not long after and I asked him how I could best give her accolades with AA. (He, of course, was quite happy and that was part of it). He told me if I had a Twitter, that was the very best way. So I tweeted about her with her name. I fly into that city often, and it's midsize so I see a lot of the same people. I saw her again three months later and actually called her by name. I introduced myself--she had also helped me with my connection. I thanked her for being so awesome and mentioned tweeting about her. She said, "That was you? That was HUGE. They sent that tweet to me. It made my day. You just don't know what a big deal that was to me." I later learned that AA team members can get bonuses or prizes, drawings (maybe someone knows exactly?) from getting praise and compliments like that. So AA really values that within their culture. And for the most part I see it. Every company has some bad eggs, but my experience is mostly positive like this. By the way, I just saw this gate agent again last week. She is STILL thanking me for that tweet. We chatted for several minutes--at 11 p.m. as she was cheerfully guiding passengers behind me to the right airport exit. I went straight to my hotel--and tweeted about her again!

David Ramsey

To answer your question, each time we get a Cert or a customer compliment we get 100 points that we can build to redeem for items. We also get an entry into a quarterly drawing for “Above and Beyond” where the employee can win anywhere from $250 to $10,000
thanks for taking the time to recognize us. Its nice to be appreciated.

travelingdrsuz

It's great to know the specifics, thanks. I'm flying in again in about 2.5 weeks, and it will be, barring any flight changes, during her shift. I'm LOOKING for good things now, not just for her, but all AA employees once I learned that. FAs too, who have a hard job, but after watching this woman that day, I decided she deserved sainthood or something. The things gate agents must put up with--as if they personally shut down the flight because they felt like it and controlled the airways. I was incredulous. After witnessing that, I have gone out of my way to recognize anyone I could. I am glad to know exactly how it helps! I don't think I could do the jobs. Free flying would be amazing, but people can be too awful!