Originally Posted by DCA Blondie
I'm kinda curious about your definition of filthy. Newspaper left in the seatback pocket? A soda cup left there as, well? Crushed pretzels on the floor? What constitutes a pig sty in your mind?
All of the above...and more.
Can't tell you how many times I pass through a cabin (I'm Eagle) trying to get that soda or newspaper...even asking on my last trip through before landing "Would you like me to take that for you?" and the answer is generally, "no, I am going to take it with me." and it, of course, stays right where it was when I asked. I have to straighten a plane at each outstation, to include picking up a passenger's trash, and slappin' seatbelts together. (Oh, and folding those blankets that a passenger received folded, and then wads up and throws on the floor.) Other than that, I'm not sure what else you would want a flight attendant to do. Anything MORE than that would most definitely delay your departure.
I hate to state the obvious, but Southwest handles this one pretty well. Flight attendants don rubber gloves and clean up the cabin starting almost immediately after the cabin door opens for deplaning.
I realize AA FAs' hands are tied because of their union-negotiated contract. It's a bad contract provision, in my humble opinion. As you pointed out, you know exactly who did or did not surrender the newspapers, pretzels, cups, and other refuse from the just-completed flight. You know where the bodies are buried, so to speak. In extreme cases you'll point that out to the ground staff, but it just isn't the same thing.
By the way, I suspect that some of the extra mess is due to the fact that passengers now have to bring their own food aboard. They now get to choose cabin-hostile entrees like BBQ ribs. There's also the fact that AA's management has cut back on cabin refurbishment. (There are some very rAAty interiors in the fleet. It's bad when you still see Airfones labeled "disconnected March, 2002" in those interiors.) Yes, I know cabin refurbishment is expensive, but passengers will treat those cabins with reciprocity. Much like New York City's graffiti problem.
Sorry, but this one really bugs me. (No pun intended.) "Clean" is a basic attribute of the product. Soy nuts are tolerable, but filth is intolerable. And honestly I am moving more business to Southwest largely for this reason. ("At least McDonald's is clean," basically.)