Most of us here on the AA board are FFs and we want better service from FAs. We recognize that there are some great ones but there are also some that really act out in strange ways.

On another thread here there is a link to a story about an FA calling the police because an passenger complained about being poked. It doesn't seem to be an isolated incident. Things like this are reported nearly weekly.

I've been thinking about the problem a bit, and I think that the central dilemma for FAs is that they are essentially hospitality workers with police power. I'm not calling them hospitality workers as any form of slight. Hospitality is an important function and it makes passengers choose one airline over another. I've been very appreciative for much of the hospitality I've received in the air.

The truth is, that it is hard to do hospitality while also being in the position to order the people you are serving to obey your instructions. It is nearly a schizophrenic condition, to try to accomodate people with different personalities and get their repeat business while also having the power to have them detained for police questioning at a destination. If, at any point, an FA resents a passenger it is hard not to fall back on the thought "I am in charge here and if a passenger gets to be too much trouble I'll threaten them." This isn't theory, it happens quite often.

We've come a long way from stewardess to "passengers are required by federal law to obey crew member instructions" and "flight attendants are here primarily for your safety."

I think that if airlines want to be serious about restoring service then should adopt a different policy. Return most flight attendants to hospitality work and designate a senior attendant as an enforcer, the one on the plane who is authorized to deal with unruly passengers.

In an emergency situation, naturally, all attendants should have authority to take the lead, and I expect that passengers naturally look for that leadership in those situations.

I'd like to hear some AA FA's opinions on this. I expect that many wouldn't like the idea or consider it some sort of a demotion, but daily I see FAs having trouble reconciling their roles and it really impacts service, and dare I say, revenue. I've seen people in other industries do the sort of role split that I am suggesting and even though some of those impacted miss the responsibility, others are just as glad to be rid of it and didn't realize it until they'd adopted their new role.

Thoughts?