Originally Posted by
Winkdaddy
Is it as simple as saying that many American FA's in general have grudges or resent their job/company while foreign based FA's are happy to have the job and may even be a symbol of prestige and pride where they are from? Or something else? (Just thinking out loud)
Don't know what causes it, but as someone who does a lot of TATL flying on DL (and sporadically US and CO) and on European carriers, I see more service-oriented FAs on European carriers than I do on American carriers.
Originally Posted by
pbarnette
You are joking about the European carriers, right? I can't think of any that I would categorically say are better than DL in terms of service. Maybe BA, but that would be about it. I will agree on the Asian carriers. My one flight on EK had an exceedingly inexperienced, if well-meaning, crew in J, but there sure were a lot of them.
Ever heard of Virgin Atlantic? Heck, I flew AF long-haul a few times this year and even their FAs always treated pax with much more respect than DL FAs seem to. While European carriers can't stand up to the likes of EK or SQ in terms of service - far from it - most of them are more service-oriented than DL or other American carriers.
Originally Posted by
pbarnette
I've never seen this with DL. Heck, for every flight to or from CPH I've taken, they have not only had Danish speakers on board, but also at the gate in the US.
That's great. However, I have witnessed way too many times where FAs just speak louder and louder and always in ENGLISH when a pax clearly doesn't understand the language. On the recent flight from FCO I mentioned, an Italian pax who couldn't understand the FAs question about landing cards was treated to the FA standing up, rolling her eyes at the passengers nearby, sighing, and then saying loudly and in an irritated voice, 'Is there anyone who can translate for me here?' Not exactly an advertisement for cultural/language awareness, eh?
For the record, I'm not saying all DL FAs are bad. In fact, the ones on RJs etc. are fine - young and friendly. And I have had no complaints on many TATL services. It's just that so many FAs on long-haul often act as though they are dealing with prison inmates, not customers.