Originally Posted by
fumje
From my read of the OP: I would guess if there is a there there, it's not that the FA's are in general actively hostile to people of Asian appearance — rather that, for some reason, the FA's have some level of discomfort for quick interaction with such people. And for some reason it happens more commonly with UA.
Maybe UA's large TPAC network and *A agreements mean they see more non-American / non-English-language Asians and have more numerous awkward interactions with them, so they default to silence out of uncertainty. Maybe attendant training doesn't emphasise greeting each passenger, and they don't as regularly stay 'on' during boarding/alighting as DL attendants do. Those are speculation on my part.
Or maybe OP is mistaken in his perception. But honestly it seems like a convincing accounting to me. It's just that after noting the observed experiences, it's hard to figure out where to go next. (Maybe the other airline.)
aside: the changed text colour palate is really messing with my quote technique.
This is suggesting to me that perhaps the FAs are less comfortable interacting with customers who appear to be Asian in less formal settings (hi, bye-bye) versus the more formal "what would you like to drink with your dinner sir?". Maybe FA training tells them that Asian culture is more formal.