Originally Posted by
Dr. HFH
They're plenty
able, they're just not incentivized to, and they know that failure to serve PDBs doesn't hurt them in any way.
Or when incompetence or laziness leads invariably and quickly to termination.
Almost all of my travel is in international J, I do very little domestic flying. I like the AA hard product, but it stops there. Cabin crew is nicer, friendlier, more helpful on foreign carriers. IIRC the APFA contract
prohibits AA cabin crew from helping put carryon bags in the overhead, while on foreign carriers it's part of the job. And food? Compare business class appetizer courses from AA (FCO to U.S.) and QR (DOH-JFK):
AA:
QR:
Even forgetting the caviar, which I don't expect from AA in business class, which of these would you rather see in front of you?
Fine points made. I do think though if this is just standard practice among U.S. airlines with unionized FAs vs. AA-specific. I find it annoying how in comparison to foreign airlines, FAs aren't required to tidy up lavs at least on long-haul international flights. Ideally, American passengers would do their best to keep it clean, i.e. throw their trash away in the actual trash receptacle and not get piss all over the floor, but respect for public spaces is at an all-time low so I've lost hope of that happening.
The plating is something I'd say is standard for the legacy 3 though. In all honestly, with the push to increase J seats without adding additional FAs, I wouldn't be surprised if the quality of service on all of them takes a dip, thus individual plating is likely never going to happen.