Originally Posted by
CPH-Flyer
I once checked in at Heathrow with a Japanese friend, one of the Japanese ladies being at the counter. My friend afterwards remarked, "she does not really understand how to speak properly to a customer". Which she absolutely did not, I had noticed that as well. My guess is that some of the staff were born and raised abroad, and did not really get the polite Japanese phrases ingrained to be second nature. More like a Japanese translation of the standard local terms.
I would say she was rude, just not how you'd expect the Japanese to flow at a JAL first class counter
It surprises me that JAL doesn't train these people better. Someone doesn't have to be born and raised Japanese to provide quality service. My experience with non Japanese FAs on JAL flights is that they are as gracious and polite as the Japanese FAs. So at least with FAs, JAL is training all of them (non-Japanese as well as Japanese) well.