rjque

Speculation is fun, but ultimately unhelpful.

When I Travel The World

There are two ways to respond to someones question. The way the FA did, or the FA could have made this entire issue go away in 2 seconds if they just said

"I'm sorry sir, these seats have problems, I'm sorry it does not work, would you like a drink at all"

All depends how you deal with people.

brewdog11

Thanks for your post. I can't really fault the flight deck for holding the line and backing up the FA, especially since the pilots are busy flying. However, some FAs are looking for a fight. It's good to know us passengers aren't imagining things.

Yep, it's not worth it. Some people are looking for a reason to throw pax off the plane.

30,000 miles? Wow, that's actually pretty good. That must have been in the LAA days. I can't so much as get a "go pound sand" message from AA CS nowadays, and I am not a chronic complainer.

I didn't even get an apology when AA failed to deliver both my and my travel companion's bags in MAD for three days.

JonNYC

Bold.


Even back then, 30K for "unhelpful crew" would, to my recollection, be the highest compensation for such a thing on AA I've ever heard of, by a lot.

ShutteLag

sorry.. my bad.. I should have clearly stated that it was 15000 to my own account and 15000 to my wife's account. (15000 x 2 = 30000) We were on the same reservation. That was the real AA. Today's fake AA doesn't give a rat's [rear end] about anything.

In sharp contrast, BA(which is AA's partner in a lot of things) gave me over US$480 in cash as compensation when my checked bag went missing for 6 days during my trip to Europe last year. They didn't seem to care that I was on the lowest fare. They also worked tirelessly to keep track my bag as it went from London to Stockholm to Oslo and eventually to my hands in Hamburg. A BA rep called me every single day to keep me updated.(by day 5, her daily calls were getting annoying, but I was really impressed by her efforts ^ )

lobo411

We actually don't know how the FA responded. We only know how the OP characterized the FA's response.

It's human nature to color the exchange in a way that makes the storyteller look good and his/her adversaries look terrible.

lobo411

I'm calling the OP human.

lobo411

He's being sarcastic, but this proves my point. Human communication involves nuance. What is intended as a joke can be received as an insult. What seems to be sarcastic can actually be serious. What is stated as a fact can actually be an interpretation.

Morph90

The quoted exchange is wholly factual - not tainted by emotion - I made notes at the time as otherwise , it could have been from my jaded recollection.

I agree with the risks of pushing crazy FAs too far - some of the responses about just dealing with it on a (real) full fair J ticket surprise me - I expect a certain level of service, all he had to do was answer my fair and reasonable question about my seat?

We are flying in premium cabins, not prison.

ShutteLag

I think you made only 1 mistake. Fly BA or another European airline next time. There's almost no reason to fly business class on TATL or TPAC flights on U.S. carriers at all. I only do it when my employer is paying for the ticket. With my own money, I *only* fly top-tier European and Asian(excluding Middle Eastern) airlines in business class.

LANDJ999

Exactly.

PaulInTheSky

Some reactions from FT threads continue to be amusing. It looks like people have forgot what really the fundamentals of service are in service industry. Last time I flew, the FAs didn't do much of the job, but continued to tell me how easy the job would be, being able to stay in top hotels for crew(UA's -> Renaissance HKG last time I saw), go shopping, slip into the F cabin when there are seats available and make a party out of it in it(You, UA, and sometimes AA). The sense of entitlement of these FAs continues to amuse me.

They forget two important things:

1. Without the customers, they are nothing.
2. the real reason they are happy to serve you is that's their job responsibility/pride to serve in the sky, not because of the job benefits.

At the end of the day, we want the service provided by the airline as advertised in the airline website, TV breaks, or in the 'During your flight' tab under 'Travel Information' at AA.com. As the FAs, not only do they have to acknowledge the customers, they have to be helpful and informative. If they couldn't fix the issues, report it, and proactively give sincere apology to the customers. How difficult is it? I had a flight in SFO-TPE last weekend, and my seatmate kept complaining about the seat not being able to recline(J in upper deck of UA 747). Had to use the call button three times to try to fix the seats. At the end, he asked for an apology card, yet the FA pretended the seat was fully functional, and refused to even document the issues. I was sitting next to him. Not only would they not seem to be willing to apologize the man, they didn't even anticipate their actions/reactions would be disturbing to the people close by, or the entire upper deck cabin.

So it looks like we have to be used to be hearing...

'You don't. It doesn't work the way it should.'
'No first or second choice for you, sir. Take the third choice, and don't blame me, I am not the one who prepares for the meal.'
'No small/medium size of pajamas, take the big one, or don't take it.'

Immediate confrontations might not work, but demanding the OPs or other people to pound sand and fly other carriers isn't going to solve the problem either.

Microwave

Alright let's bring this discussion back to reality and the topic at hand. Meta content has been removed, and members are asked to make topical posts.

~Moderator

LDVFlyer

Hardly...

carlosdca

Disagree.
The only way the carrier will change if they see an effect on their bottom line.
As a pax, all you can do is fly another carrier...if enough people would do that then you might see a change.

But, we are treated like garbage by the airline, and still, we will buy the ticket that is cheaper, even if it is just one dollar cheaper.