I realise that in much of the world English is the lingua franca (although I get along in many places in French, where English wouldn't work as a lingua franca) My most recent UA flight to CDG was certainly interesting. I alternated speaking with the one French FA in French, and the purser in English, with no issues.

But near the end of the flight an American FA with a very strong regional accent was conducting service, and I frankly couldn't understand almost anything she said. After my asking 'pardon me?' several times she said something in an exasperated tone about my very poor English skills. When the purser came by to chat with me before landing (and she was excellent) I mentioned this as I do think that there has to be some understanding of passenger diversity. (And certainly on a flight to Paris, it is to be expected the some people will not speak 'American' English; I saw several non-Americans on board)

I often fly AC from LHR to Canada, and they make announcements of course in English and in French, but also usually have a German speaking FA on board who makes announcements in German.

I do believe that language should be a consideration when it comes to international routes, regardless of the carrier.


And on a side note, I must say that I was very impressed with the ground handling prompted by the purser at CDG. I had a passing musing question more to myself than to the purser in conversation, as I am not at all familiar with UA services at CDG. When I deplaned, she introduced me to the ground staff greeting the aircraft, who welcomed me to Paris, offered me a fast track pass, and offered to guide me (all in accented English) My response in French of 'er, thank you, none of that is required, I'm local!' resulted in a pleasant exchange. It was rather an unusual way to arrive back in France, and well above and beyond what I would have expected flying UA TATL.