Originally Posted by
Dr. HFH
AA cabin crew pretty much do what they want, knowing that:
1. There is no inflight service manager or equivalent to hold them to service standards, and
2. They won't/can't be fired for skipping PDBs or only doing a half service (e.g., refuse a request for coffee) or most any other non-safety related service omission or deficiency.
I have said this for a long time. There are FAs out there who do the minimum required. A friend had one recently. She was positioning from ORD to AUS. There was no PDB. When aloft, the FA working F came out and did a drink service. With that, she retired into the galley and that was that. Except that my friend wanted another drink. As the seat belt sign was still on, she rang the call bell. Out came the FA and said "Was there something?". My friend was asked for a drink and was told that the call bell was for emergencies only. She replied that as far as she was concerned it was an emergency as she had been waiting 20 minutes for her to appear. At this point that man next to her said that he'd like one too. When she served them, others joined in. Things improved after that.