Arrogant goof
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to see the other side of the coin -- why some FAs get absolutely frustrated with passengers who lack civility and courtesy.
We were on a morning YOW-YYZ flight. I held a D award ticket (but only had a Y seat confirmed expecting no problem in obtaining a gate 'upgrade'). Turns out one of my employees was on the same flight and I did something that would be unthinkable any other time of the year -- burning a SSWU for the shorthaul.
We take our seats in row 5, the employee suitably impressed since I would never allow anyone in mycompany to actually pay for a J seat (for myself or anyone else!).
I didn't eat breakfast beforehand, expecting the unique "fast food" service on this flight -- with less than 40 minutes in the air, there is absolutely no time to waste but J passengers are served a hot breakfast.
When the FA reached my row, she said "we won't be able to serve you breakfast because they didn't load enough meals and as an upgrade passenger, meal service is not guaranteed." I said, "Fine, could I have some muffins from economy," then noted that technically I was not travelling on an upgrade certificate -- I actually was a ticketed passenger on a D award ticket. The communication was with civility and respect that a breakfast, while nice, is not the main purpose of flying to Toronto! The FA took this news very seriously, saying she would check what she could do.
I found out after the plane landed why this matter was so serious to the flight crew. It seems there was another passenger, with exactly the same "problem", and he insisted on making it a problem, berating the flight crew and customer support service staff to whom we were referred groundside. As my befuddled employee watched, this passenger lashed out with venom about the fact that not only was he denied a meal, someone on a regular upgrade got full service, and in fact he didn't even receive an offer of something to drink. (I suspect that he was so obnoxious the FAs decided to 'ignore' him -- certainly the FAs offered us coffee and juice, like everyone else.)
The ground supervisor offered us meal vouchers and said further measures would be up go customer relations. This was fine with me, especially since my employee also received a voucher, and, anyways, we are only talking about a breakfast on a one hour flight! But not this other passenger. As I left with my employee to do our business in Toronto, this other passenger was lashing out asking where he could file a report, and how unjust and unfair everything is, and how discourteous the flight crew was to him.
Shucks. A few clients like this would drive ME to drink, and well before 10 a.m. If passengers expect service and courtesy from flight crews, surely flight crews have the same right. I was embarassed to be in the same "class" as this guy.