Originally Posted by
andrewwm
Indeed. From wikipedia:
It's an archaic term that doesn't describe their actual function and for pax not steeped in airline lingo it is confusing as to what they are supposed to be.
If you didn't know what a purser is, when a FA announces that they are the chief purser on the flight, what are supposed to make of that? How about when a FA announces that they are the inflight service manager?
Flying yesterday, I had the International Service Manager, with a pin on her saying that, introduce herself personally to each of us in BF. I imagine anyone who saw her would know what her job is. If that pin had said purser instead, something tells me most non-FTers wouldn't even think of going to her as the "lead FA."
But again, the spin will be that it's not an airline's job to cater to its pax...only to the GS and 1K pax on the flight
