Maybe I'm a bit old-fashioned, but I believe that they are there for *both*, and glad they got rid of the ill-advised slogan that "we are here primarily for your safety".. Although well-trained (I hope) in emergency procedures, FA's spend a great majority of their time providing service to passengers, and should clearly have that mindset. It's the more-than-occasional low level of that service-mentality in some FA's that causes UA to constantly rank low in the soft product. Yes, we know that they have a safety role, but so do we as passengers in following the rules, learning how to open the exit doors etc.