canadiancow

I had an exceptional YVR-YYZ flight on Sunday.

Ryan, a YYZ In Flight Manager, was on board, training the crew on the 787. He was the same guy who was on board my YYZ-ZRH flight on its second international flight who got me into the flight deck for a photo . Unfortunately, he did not remain on board that flight.

But this time, he and Jerome, the SD, were both awesome. I was thanked numerous times, and they came over to talk to me. I spent some time in a galley with Ryan discussing various things, and then in another galley with Jerome.

I was actually a little disappointed at first because the SD didn't come over to take meal orders (a FA did that), and then they had to suspend drink service before serving 5G or 5K (i.e. they had served 18 of the 20 of us ) due to turbulence. But once he finally made his way over, it was extremely pleasant.

And the best part was that he addressed by my first name by the end of the flight. I'm not Mr. Cow. I AM CANADIAN! He also joked about me working too hard on the flight (which made me feel bad... I like relaxing on flights ).

But yes. I was thanked. It was pleasant, as was the rest of the flight.

SparseFlyer

Did they really refer to you as Mr. Canadian?

canadiancow

No, they said Mr. Last Name. But I don't want to be addressed like that. I've had one or two SDs address me by my first name, and I enjoy that experience so much more. I like chatting with these people, and it's so much more difficult when they're addressing me like I'm their boss.

jaysona

Funny, I prefer the opposite, it just feels more professional and appropriate to me. Even those that I know personally address me as Mr. JaysonA on the plane while they're working and then just Jayson as soon as we're off the plane.

PLeblond

I have an idea that might have something to do with age. For the longest time, I used to protest that Mr. Leblond is my father. Now, I'm with you. In a professional setting, I understand...but nothing more.

My only exception was on a flight from DEN-KOA. The FA was celebrating 50 years as an FA. She used to fly the Hawaii route with Pan Am's pacific division before they were merged with United in 1985. She first started working the route on propeller planes. I insisted she not call me sir or Mr. anything. We agreed on Honey....

somedude3210

When I was younger, being addressed as Mister or Sir would throw me off. Nowadays, I find it to be just the norm in a professional/service setting when there's no established familiarity with the other person.

Also, with regards to the OP's reference to Starwood service, one oddity for me at one particular Sheraton is the room service delivery guy thanking me for being a loyal platinum guest. I stay at the property fairly regularly and will get room service occasionally when arriving late. Every time this particular employee has delivered food, he's acknowledged my status. It never would have occurred to me that in-room dining people would make note of it. It's the only hotel I've stayed where room service thanked me for my loyalty.

SparseFlyer

I was thanked on YYZ-HND, the SD took the time to go around the whole J cabin before landing to say thank you and ask how everything went.

^ good business practice

superangrypenguin

I got a few PM's about this the last time we talked about this. I think it's becoming more and more prevalent, and kudos to AC for this ^

I even had one extreme example from flights lately. I was in Y headed to...heck I forget. Anyways, I see the SD in the J cabin, and i'm like OMG OMG it's that awesome SD I had from a flight last year. So after she's done serving meals in J, she walks back to help with BoB. I said...I remember flying with you, and she counters and says, ah, welcome back Mr. SAP (my real name, not SAP of course), this time I see you're flying in the back. (so she remembered me, that I was flying up front, and my name!!). Awesome job. I wish I had remembered her name

SparseFlyer

It helps when you answer these (also testing image resize feature, you're welcome mr cook ):



I wonder if these surveys have any impact on employees. I know of a few lines of business where these actually have a major impact on performance reviews.


It's also too bad, because the segment that it is inquiring about is one where the crew was very average, but the ground staff was very good (usually the opposite for me), but I feel bad dragging the whole team down since there doesn't seem to be segregation of the services.

Edit: I take it back. There is segregation of services.

superangrypenguin

Wait, do they have an impact? Not sure if you know, but hell i'll fill these out more often if they have an impact with employees for sure!! The English version though

Yyttraveler

I think it would awesome if a FA called you Mr SAP! Flight attendants seem to acknowledge my brother who's a 100k occasionally when we travel together, but as a measly 50k, I rarely get any acknowledgement. Although when there were only Elite and Super Elite tiers, FAs used to comment that we were so young to be frequent fliers.

SparseFlyer

So I do not know about all the different industries, but USUALLY, these are conducted by a third party because they have very big impacts on employee reviews, and often acts as a direct multiplier to their bonus (so a bad year end review could cut the bonus by 50%, like it could increase it by 50%).

Of course, this is mostly when done in relations to service coming from frontline staff, and usually from telcos and banks.


I spoke with a Bell employee once, and he told me that anything less than the best response is not acceptable.

superangrypenguin

There's only one SD who knows my FT moniker, where's flygirl30 when you need her

Although my recent SEA YYZ flight, the SD knew who ACYYZ/SD was, and flygirl 30, it made me a really happy passenger. That SD also knew that AC YYZ/SD was a frequent poster on FT, even though he didn't know what FT was Suffice it to say I went out of my way to thank them.

jbb

In response to the OP's question, my answer is no, I have never been singled out to be thanked by an AC staff member in an airport. That said, some of the better SD's will come by if I'm flying J to say hello and thank you, but this has not been consistent.

But as a Cathay Pacific Marco Polo Gold, I get thanked personally by a flight attendant every time I fly with them, even in economy class. A flight attendant will also come back and check on me individually during the flight and ask if I need anything else...

superangrypenguin

Wow. Are you a one off or is this normal? I would certainly appreciate this as a passenger.