Originally Posted by
Spounce
In what culture is it a taboo that screams out rudeness for a FA not to crouch down to be at eye level with a passenger? I have lived in Japan, flown on NH, JL, SQ, TG, KE and CX and I have never seen this crouching down thing you refer to. It's often done at izakayas in Japan, but not on airplanes as far as I have noticed. I haven't seen it at restaurants in Asia either.
On every EVA flight I have been on, the FA gets down to my eye level. On ANA and JAL flights the FAs most certainly always get down to eye level with the asian pax and almost always with the western PAX. On SQ, every flight I have been on and I am not asian. Now this has always been in business or first, and I admit I am never in the back on these flights, so maybe they don't do that there. You are right on TG, the FAs never do this with western PAX, not even in First, but they always do it with the Thai pax. I have however, seen the Swiss FAs do it with asian pax.
I suggest you read up on some of the cultural norms. For example, in Thailand one must never tower over an older person as it is an offense. There are similar customs in Japan. A pax paying a large sum for a business or first class ticket is hardly comparable to some salary man stopping off for a bowl of noodles in Roppongi.