While I did not witness a conflict, I was actually reflecting on this difference just last night while flying MIA-GYE. The crew was all quite young - so by definition new hires. They had smiles on their faces at the right times, but seemed either unfamiliar with or indifferent to the normal standards for first-class service. They seemed particularly indifferent to the notion that speed of service is a goal for which they should be striving.

To be clear, this was the 2 -class equivalent of domestic First, and my expectations were not high. I am also not a particularly demanding passenger- eg, don’t really understand all the fuss about PDBs, don’t care too much about plating, etc. But when I asked the FA taking drink orders what kind of white wine they had, and she gave an eyeroll and hand toss saying “I have no idea what kind of wine they have back there” — my first thought was how this would have made many senior FAs cringe. And my second thought was that I’ve seen burger flippers at McDonald’s take more pride in their work.

Again, I was not expecting a sommelier-like expose, something more along the lines of “it’s a Caifornia chardonnay.”. Barring that, I’ve had other FAs say “I don’t know, but let me go get the bottle and show you.” And while I had looked over the printed beverage menu I genuinely did not know whether they would have different wines up front on a dinner-service flight, which is why I asked. I was not trying to be pedantic. I wound up saying - “Okay, why don’t you just bring me me a glass of what you have and I’ll try it.”. The kicker - when she finally brought the wine, it was a glass of red. And she looked annoyed when I pointed out that I had asked for white, as if I was being too finicky. 🤣.

Back to the point of the thread - I don’t know what kind of onboarding AA is giving its new FAs, but if a member of last night’s crew found themselves paired with a more senior FA, it’s quite easy to imagine conflicts arising.