Originally Posted by
Antarius
Not to mention, the issues with AA's staff long predate the concept of DEI.
IMO, the bigger problem is the retention process. Between a seniority based system and a seeming inability or unwillingness to fire poor performers, the process grinds people. The rotten apples poison the barrel, resulting in people putting in less and less effort.
AA 3 class F is a perfect example of this. You have 2 polar opposite personality types that have made it through the years, those that do a great job because they take pride in what they do and those who are absolutely horrid. Anyone in the middle slowly slides into the latter category over time.
While acknowledging that I only get to see a very small subset of the FAs for any carrier, my experience has been that AA has a wider variance of FAs than DL or UA, so I agree. I flew SYD-LAX-JFK once and the SYD-LAX FA in J could not have been less interested in her work, her passengers, or doing anything besides passing the time until the flight was over, to the point where it honestly felt like she was putting on a performance to show off how little she cared. And then the LAX-JFK FA in J was so spectacular that I wanted to start a company just so I could hire her to work there.