Newsstand - Discrimination takes an unexpected turn

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22595136/

Kathleen Anderson was the only woman in business class on a recent Northwest Airlines flight from Düsseldorf, Germany, to Chicago. And it cost her.
A flight attendant waited until she had taken all the other meal orders before asking Anderson what she wanted for dinner. By then, only one entrée choice was available. Later, the same attendant offered her mixed nuts in a shotglass, while the men were given their snacks in a larger bowl. “I sat there wondering, ‘Is this the way women are normally treated in World Business Class on Northwest?’” she remembers.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22595136/

Kathleen Anderson was the only woman in business class on a recent Northwest Airlines flight from Düsseldorf, Germany, to Chicago. And it cost her.
A flight attendant waited until she had taken all the other meal orders before asking Anderson what she wanted for dinner. By then, only one entrée choice was available. Later, the same attendant offered her mixed nuts in a shotglass, while the men were given their snacks in a larger bowl. “I sat there wondering, ‘Is this the way women are normally treated in World Business Class on Northwest?’” she remembers.I would have asked the FA exactly that question. (My only two international NW flights have been on a tight budget so I don't know what their business class service is like, but on AA meal orders are taken in a fixed order. Skipping a woman, a black person, a Scot in a kilt or anyone else, and coming back to them last would be instantly and blatantly obvious to anyone so is probably never done, definitely never that I've seen in many international trips in AA J. Doesn't NW have something similar?)

If she was truly bypassed, it is clearly discriminatory and there is no excuse.

Having said that though, there are usually two sides to every story and the story is silent on a couple of important facts.

Where was the woman sitting? If it was the window of the last row, and orders went front to back, then anyone (man, woman, Scot in a kilt) sitting in the last seat would get the last selection. And when you are the last one to select, the popular choices are unlikely to be available.

As for the snack service... if catering shorted the flight on ramekins, or a FA broke one in the galley, they would have run out of ramekins by the time they got to her seat, and the FA would have had to improvise.

Was the woman an elite, did the woman pay full C/J or was she an complimentary upgrade? Not sure about NW, but UA's pecking order for meal selection goes by elite status, some airlines maybe even fare status.

As for the FA attitude about the lavatory door, that can happen to anyone.

But you have to wonder how frequent this woman has flown and what her frame of reference was. We've all had crappy service and FA attitude on flights... its part of life on the road. But most of us don't call the media once we land.

This doesn't surprise me at all.

I'd be very curious to hear the other side of the story as well.

I didn't think NW flew DUS-ORD...

I got skipped for drink service in NW first class. But there was a good reason. The FA got interupted by a call on the interphone, when he resumed service he simply forgot who was next. An innocent mistake. So I'd like to hear the other side of the story.

But, if I had known I was entitled to $150 voucher, I definitely would have written a complaint letter. :D :D

I don't know if NW has a "FEBO" policy or not, but as a DFW based (domestic) F/A who works more than my fair share :-: of flights in F, I would never single anyone out without explaining the reason. I usually make sure all customers are aware of FEBO, if they seem disappointed about meal choice. You'd be surprised how many will inform me they have flown very frequently and are unaware of the meal choice policy. As for the running out of nut cup supply, IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME, and again, I would have mentioned it and apologized. The F/A should have explained that, and she probably assumed the woman knew about FEBO. This woman, IMO, seems overly sensitive, and makes me also doubt the credibility of her "nasty comment from the F/A" remark re: the opening of the lav door.

I wasn't there, but I can imagine the scenario and I call ever-so-slight BS on this story.

Just my 2 cents, but if anything,I usually go out of my way to make a female (business-type) flyer MORE comfortable. Is that considered discrimination?

Treating women better than men would be. Just treat everybody the same, it's not rocket science. :D

JP
Just my 2 cents, but if anything,I usually go out of my way to make a female (business-type) flyer MORE comfortable. Is that considered discrimination?

as a young female flyer often in biz (work trips), i have had slights that I think were based on my age and/or sex. I've had my boarding pass checked AFTER i was seated in my seat (just me, more than once), I had FAs direct me not to put my carryon in overhead in biz because "it's for biz pasangers only. for economy, please use those above your actual seat"..annoying! haven't had issues with food (well aware of FEBO), but every now and then have to put in a little extra effort to flag down an FA for refill on drinks. I've joked about this with my female coworkers, and they all have stories on their own. Seem flights to/from Texas are the worst. had coat-check issues as well (last one taken or received). Nothing to make a big stink over, but definitely noticeable.

Don't feel so special. I'm a 6'4" (male) consultant that flies all the time, often upgraded to F. When I'm at work, I dress clean but when I'm off, it's jeans+t-shirt, or shorts+flipflops. I've had the same thing told to me as you have.

It's not because you're a woman or this or that, it's just a wild guess from the FA's that you MIGHT be sneakin' into F.

And likewise... I get treated like any other Joe Schmo when I ride the back and the USAir FA's don't know that I'm CP. :D

JP
as a young female flyer often in biz (work trips), i have had slights that I think were based on my age and/or sex. I've had my boarding pass checked AFTER i was seated in my seat (just me, more than once), I had FAs direct me not to put my carryon in overhead in biz because "it's for biz pasangers only. for economy, please use those above your actual seat"..annoying! haven't had issues with food (well aware of FEBO), but every now and then have to put in a little extra effort to flag down an FA for refill on drinks. I've joked about this with my female coworkers, and they all have stories on their own. Seem flights to/from Texas are the worst. had coat-check issues as well (last one taken or received). Nothing to make a big stink over, but definitely noticeable.

Ahh -- I see that the linked-to story is a Christopher Elliott piece. That's all the info I need to discount it as overblown crap. He's got a flair for getting things wrong, not checking his facts, etc.

In this case he seems to have been contacted by a host of victims but he hasn't contacted any of the alleged perpetrators. He feels he can get away with a one-sided story by writing drivel like this:Before you airline apologists out there rush to the defense of your employers, I’ll give you two things. First, there’s another side to these stories — there always is — which may well exonerate the carriers. The point is not that they are practicing discrimination, at least in the legal sense. It’s that passengers feel as if they are being discriminated against.Oh -- so there's another side? Where is that viewpoint? A professional journalist would have presented it. Why he didn't contact any airlines about this? That's inexcusable. I'll give him one thing -- people these days always seem to blame their problems on someone else, in this case the airline. That doesn't mean they are always correct or that they should be portrayed as victims when they aren't.

Was on a UA flight DEN-IAD in December. Seat 1A i was always last to be served or asked my choices.It all started because when i was preparing to put my HL in the overhead pins the head F/A closed it i told him i was still using it and he ignored me.Saw him talking to other F/A's.When i asked him why was i singled for this poor treatment he aswered that all other pax have a higher Premier Excutive status than mine even if i was on a full paid ticket.The strange thing is that 6 of the seats were occupied by UA flight crew.
As i was on my way out of the plane in IAD i told very nicely how bad his atitude was. Never saw a face turn that red before.:mad:

I've seen some flight attendants discriminate against women, some ethnic minorities and younger passengers when it comes to on-board service. When called on it, the person called out on it often gets defensive and in turn denies it or even lies about the situation.

Some non-US carriers have a history of being worse than US carriers when it comes to on-board service discrimination. And sometimes the discrimination is "self"-directed in that crew members of the same national origin or ethnicity as the passenger are discriminating against one of "their own".

Don't feel so special. I'm a 6'4" (male) consultant that flies all the time, often upgraded to F. When I'm at work, I dress clean but when I'm off, it's jeans+t-shirt, or shorts+flipflops. I've had the same thing told to me as you have.

It's not because you're a woman or this or that, it's just a wild guess from the FA's that you MIGHT be sneakin' into F.

And likewise... I get treated like any other Joe Schmo when I ride the back and the USAir FA's don't know that I'm CP. :D

JP

clothing is controlled for. I usually fly in a suit (turnaround daytrips). so, it's either age or sex. the other side though, is that any perceived discrimination is just more obvious on a plane because you see how other pax are treated. It's probably not better or worse relative to the rest of the world, but it's just harder to notice at other times. when checking in hotels, do they really give you the same room they give the next person, mortgage discrimination is well documented, restaurants, etc. but it's still annoying. when i'm in coach, i don't expect any extra service because of status because it means nothing. i expect to be treated the same as other pax, in coach or biz.

I didn't think NW flew DUS-ORD...
As far as I can find, no SkyTeam carrier flys DUS-ORD.

NW flies DUS-DTW-ORD
KL flies DUS-AMS-ORD
DL flies DUS-ATL-ORD
AF flies DUS-CDG-ORD

Others do more complex and codeshare routing, like AZ DUS-FCO-JFK-ORD
For that matter, I couldn't find anything direct on AA, UA, or LH, so I'm doubtful anyone flies that route???

Start the story with a big error and the rest of the story starts getting questionable; or at least the quality of journalism is called into question.

I think Lufthansa partner Privatair flies either an A319CJ or Boeing BBJ on ORD-DUS. Don't remember which one.

Would be a MUCH better choice in biz (the planes are all business)

-A

as a young female flyer often in biz (work trips), i have had slights that I think were based on my age and/or sex. I've had my boarding pass checked AFTER i was seated in my seat (just me, more than once), I had FAs direct me not to put my carryon in overhead in biz because "it's for biz pasangers only. for economy, please use those above your actual seat"..annoying! haven't had issues with food (well aware of FEBO), but every now and then have to put in a little extra effort to flag down an FA for refill on drinks. I've joked about this with my female coworkers, and they all have stories on their own. Seem flights to/from Texas are the worst. had coat-check issues as well (last one taken or received). Nothing to make a big stink over, but definitely noticeable.

I've had similar experiences as well, but it's sporadic-so likely an issue with the individual FAs.

I don't know if NW has a "FEBO" policy or notNope, NW is a FEFO airline, not FEBO.

My male colleagues usually comment that I'm served and recognized before them for meal/drink services, etc, and I think in general, my observation is that I (and other women) do receive better treatment. Not that I've conducted a study or anything, it's just an observation.

Don't feel so special. I'm a 6'4" (male) consultant that flies all the time, often upgraded to F. When I'm at work, I dress clean but when I'm off, it's jeans+t-shirt, or shorts+flipflops. I've had the same thing told to me as you have.


JP

Travel very casual myself and frequently and hear the same story as well. Have even been told to use the restroom in my section.