There have been some recent threads that suggest that the in-flight service in J/F internationally ranges from blah to truly substandard to abysmal and worse.

Whether it's due to lack of supervision, lack of discipline, lack of punishment, lack of pride, or the seniority system itself, there is a solution out there.

I pose the question: Why doesn't AA use "Secret Shoppers" to at least try to upgrade a theoretical "upgraded" experience?

My suspicion is that the unions are vehemently opposed to it.

Flying UA or DL transcon at least once a week, plus more, in the '80s, into the '90s, I know both used what the FA's called "Ghost Riders". They were/are a variation of the "secret shoppers" that Nieman-Marcus, Saks, Nordstrom's, high-end restaurants, and other companies currently use today to measure both employee performance and insure employee adherance to company service standards. Perhaps, you can see why the FA'S hated them.

I can speak from experience, that if a UA or DL FA in the late '80s even suspected there was a "ghost rider" somewhere on the plane, there was a truly noticeable uptick in the level of service.

On one occaision, an FA that had been put on warning after being "Ghost Ridden", recognized me from that flight and accused me of being the "Ghost Rider "(I wasn't), and "ruining her life and career." Her service had been memorable in its terribleness the 1st flight, and was text book perfect on the 2nd.

As I said, whether it's due to lack of supervision, lack of discipline, lack of punishment, lack of pride, or the seniority system itself, there is a solution out there to poor, sub-standard, "don't give a crap", (burned-out, should have retired years ago) service.

It's a shame (for whatever reason) that the airlines don't use ghost riders today.

IMHO-AA SHOULD BRING BACK/INSTALL GHOST RIDERS! It would probably assure a PDB, timely meal service, reduced FA to FA pre-boarding chit chat, and a 100% delivery of the total company brand standard, or in other words, FA's at least meeting expectations.

And in a non-union environment, "meets expectations" in a performance review, does not necessarily mean continued employment.