MiAAmistew, based on your posts over the past several months, it's plain to me that you are a cut above the average flight attendant that many of us find flying today. Your comments are always clear and fair, and also make as much an attempt to understand other's positions as you do to explain your own. You're clearly an asset to AA and I hope they realize that!

I think much of the frustration we frequent flyers feel about FA seniority with respect to poor job performance stems from the fact that there is clearly no effort on the part of U.S. airlines to correlate seniority with additional responsibility and higher levels of customer service. There is also no real system for recognizing good and bad performance, and I fear that the union has convinced it's membership that this is a good thing.

As you say, there are probably many more great senior FAs than bad ones, but the problem is that bad ones ever get to be senior in the first place. Your earlier comment about writing reports about FAs who receive passenger complaints is an interesting one. While I understand your hesitancy to criticize another FA because you may be working with him or her in the future, if no one ever stands up to these bad attitudes then they will only get worse as they discover they're not accountable to anyone. I think people like myself who work in environments where performance is judged often and swiftly by superiors, peers, and clients find the existing union system somewhat archaic when it comes to performance management.

From another perspective, I have about eight friends and acquaintances who are AA flight attendants. All have at least eight years seniority, but only two have chosen to become pursers. The rest readily admit they don't want the additional responsibility that position entails, and in fact prefer to bid coach positions because they feel that's where the least amount of work is. Though all FAs should be expected to know their jobs well, it's frustrating to sit in F class and watch a new FA struggle with the service while more experienced FAs pass out trays and sodas in the rear cabin. This seems to happen more and more of late, but especially on flights where there isn't a purser position.

As much as I love AA and as well as I'm treated by the majority of AA employees I deal with, in my experience I would say that FAs like you are the exception rather than the norm. You're not rare, but the company could use many, many more with the type of service attitude and pride of career that you seem to have. I would venture a guess that you fall in a group comprising maybe 25% of FAs, while 50% simply do their jobs in the easiest way possible and the remaining 25% are the "bad apples".

I've really enjoyed having you on the boards here at FT and I hope you'll continue to post often. Your perspective is good for all of us and reminds us that there's always two sides to every issue. Keep up the good work, and Happy New Year!