QRC3288

Ah it has been some time!! I confirm seeing a bunch of memos and service instruction things back in late 2020 that describe exactly what you're saying.

The idea boils down to CX knows ISMs really are borderline dead weight for service on board. I don't mean to be rude, but the position has evolved over the years into a pretty expensive, senior position on board that doesn't really aid in the service flow and yet counts towards the crew/pax ratio.

Back in my pre-covid flying days, I cut some of my flights from CX and spread the love to other airlines. One was EK. It was impossible to miss the fact that the EK boss flight attendant person actually has a service position in F class, not just a supervisory one. And the flight worked just fine!!!! It exposed to me how unnecessary it is to have a supervisory flight attendant (ISM) who "supervises" things, which gets her/him a pass out of a formal role in the service flow.

Although that could be right, I don't think it's related. I'm pretty sure CX wants the ISMs to actually play a role in the service flow because it's a glaring waste of on board manpower to continue the way they have. Tough times make companies look hard in the mirror.

To all us pax, I think we can see the low hanging fruit. Like my description of EK above. "holy cow the flight works just fine with the ISM equivalent working just as hard in the service flow as the SP, FPs and BCs." And that adds more manpower to pax service.
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In my experience, and I suspect that of many others, is that the ISM doesn't have a defined service role in F, either! I think the best way to say it is the ISMs are being "too lay back up by door L1, shooting the breeze or staring at the iPad." You are right the ISM is usually technically "in" F, as in the F class zone. But in my experience, they're not necessarily "WORKING in F" . They're just up at their panel near the cockpit or in the seat by L1 chilling out. While the FP and/or SP scurry about doing the work.

In F, it is very ISM dependent. Some ISMs are "great" , and what I mean by that is they chip in with galley work or delivery work to F passengers. But sadly, I would say you're lucky if this happens 50pct of the time. In a full house of 6 in F, and an ISM "just doing their job" (aka lacking a defined service role and not pitching in), or running around to the back saying hi to every Gold, Silver and Green to pretend they're doing something, service can actually be excruciatingly slow to downright bad in CX F. It's a manpower issue mostly. That can be rectified by making the ISM work. One of the most annoying situations is when the SP is asleep, F class is full, and so F is staffed by the single FP. The ISM is also on duty. I've seen the FP slave away with multiple, slow food orders to F pax while the ISM sits there at L1 doing something on the iPad. Or similar during the first 2 or last 2 hours of the flight, when all crew are working and usually passengers are eating. Full house in F, both SP and FP working their butt off for orders (let's say everyone ordered food). Without ISM help, the service gets very slow when all 6 pax eat even with both FP/SP working. Yet some ISMs don't chip in during this time, instead playing with the iPad or greeting half the plane to avoid getting their hands dirty (IMO). I think it is a bad look.

On 77A, this is the clear alleviation to the problem of F's manpower problem for a full house. On all the other planes, aka most of the fleet (and all of the fleet right not until further notice), this will benefit Y, PEY, and/or J pax. I am glad to see CX do this and hope they ram it through.