Disconnect between FA's and PAX
 

Flew on AC897 (LHRYVR) on June 9 and AC896 on June3. If I were to rate the J cabin staff on a scale of 0 (bad) to 10 (excellent), respectively:

Friendly - 3 and 2
Care level - 2 and 3
Service - 2 and 4

I got thinking about the different perceptions of the PAX and the staff.

The staff are there doing the same thing they always do. It is routine, sometimes irritating, tiring, etc.

For PAX, it may be the trip of lifetime, 1st time in J, first time overseas, honeymoon, business trip, etc.

I really saw this disconnect on 897. An older couple so happy to be in J and taking it all in, another couple snapping photos, a younger girl stunned to be there. There was certainly palpable excitement in some people. Even my girlfriend was excited to be on a new Dreamliner (her comment to me when deplaning at how lame the staff were is what prompted me to start this thread). Then there was myself and some others, where it was more 'routine'.

I felt bad for those that were excited to be there, as the stuff SUCKED. Even the In Charge showed terrific indifference to the PAX. One FA just never moved slightly out of the way for PAX head to the lav...over and over. I thought in my head 'what a b*tch'.

I believe this is what many of us love about Asian and the ME3 airlines. Although a chance it is all just a faceplate....it makes us feel good.

Totally agree on this.
I sometimes book business class tickets for others, and many of them have never flown in business class before.
Naturally they look forward to the trip and board the plane with full excitement, but realize soon enough the FAs don't care about them and feel the disconnect Dorian mentions.

I was watching a video the other day about how NH trains their FAs to try to make their pax feel "special" onboard, and I think this is the biggest area where AC lags behind its so-called Asian competitors.
For anyone who's interested, it's a fun clip to watch:

I use the contact us feature at the bottom of the aircanada.com page after about half of my flights.

I'd say it's an even split between great service (ie Bruno from LGA to YYZ this week) versus awful service (last month coming back from HND). I want to give feedback so Air Canada knows who are the good staff and who are the bad.

Also, I usually wear comfortable clothes while flying, so when I'm in business class in my loose jeans or hiking pants with a shirt and hoody, I get treated differently. Sometimes I get better service (they think it's my first time in the front) and other times they ignore me and think "look at that punk/slob/trash" because I am not in a suit and tie, especially coming out of LGA.

tl;dr leave feedback for both good and bad staff so that Air Canada can keep track of their customer service

I agree with the value of feedback but I am skeptical about whether the value is exploited. What I get back is a bunch of defensive stuff about how they are meeting their legal obligations. Yes, but, (a) maybe that is debatable from my perspective, and (b) that's not the same as crappy service. It's like they think of that form as only a crass ploy to get a code or a first salvo in a lawsuit and they circle the wagons.

Forgot to add on 896 I was asked last for meal choice. My girlfriend on a J reward with no status, who was asked well before me, got a good laugh.

Corporate culture is so hard to change, especially when it's one of indifference or even disdain towards the customer. I'm not sure there's anything that can realistically be done to improve things without doing a complete reboot à la Air Canada rouge.

And no, I'm not talking about sending the existing cabin crew for Disney training; I'm talking about replacing them altogether with new bodies who share the same excitement as the pax described in the OP. Wiping the slate clean, if you will.

The unions will prevent this from happening.

Oh definitely! I'm not suggesting it's realistic at all, just that it's demonstrably the only way to change a culture. Out with the old, in with the new, as it were.

FWIW, anyone who's been following Quebec news over the past week or so will have read much about the "culture" at the Ministry of Transport. For those who haven't been following, the down arrow is "it's bad and no one has had any success trying to change it."

Did a TATL in J recently. When deplaning, thanked FA at exit (not SD who stayed in J). She had not been working in the J cabin but it was obvious where I'd been seated, not that it should matter. What I got in return was a grunt and someone who continued to stare at the floor. If it had been a complaint, can't begin to think what the response might have been. Glad she wasn't in J for the actual flight. Bad hair day, I guess.

When I flew in LH F YUL-MUC last fall, there were a lot of op upgrades to F (I was alone until right before take off). The people were pretty chuffed to be in F and the FA's made sure to match their enthusiasm (with the usual German restraint). Everyone left that flight happy, as it should bé in F, but I felt that crew were great ambassadors for LH.

I gotta say my last AC J TATL flight I'd rate the SD a 10. He personally introduced himself to everyone which I hadn't seen before, though I don't fly Intl. J regularly. Asked everyone if they wanted duty free then didn't mention it again, and checked everyone had a good flight afterwards. All staff I dealt with were friendly and attentive and I didn't get a hard time forgetting my pen.

And I very rarely post good things about AC. On which note... for my most recent domestic J flight the plane got downgraded and the crew were very much just going through the motions.

I had an AC employee throw an amenity kit at me while sitting at my seat, all the while grumbling about "revenue passengers" (the words used) to the SD. This is after politely asking if indeed he was in the right seat and after the third inquiry realizing his BP said 1D, not 1A. Personally, I just wanted to know where he was supposed to be and offer to switch if he wanted. I probably should complain, come to think of it.

To be fair, he was not crew, but clearly flying on behalf of Air Canada as he pointed out that, unfortunately (his word) he works for Air Canada. The crew were awesome on that flight, I think partly trying to recover for their execu-colleague's behaviour.

The same thing was going through my mind... I am not worried about another bus ride, but what if this was my first TATL in J? Seasoned traveler or newbie would be equally confused if someone was in the wrong seat.

I think it's just a cultural thing in Canada? Disdain towards those who actually buy their tickets? This is certainly what I'd read from Air "Canada" from that behaviour. Or maybe just from this one small-cap poorly named company...

To be honest, I don't feel it's right to use more of my time to offer my consideration of good/bad stuff in addition to the consideration of my airfare. Other airlines have been good at offering compensation for feedback, but with Air Canada I have only received "good will" gestures, and that was easily 5 years ago.

I don't think anyone sues Air Canada. You must be joking.

Wouldn't it be easier to just fold the company and start over? Should shareholders just pull out entirely and dump into WS then? I'm sure they'd offer Ben Smith a job.

I believe all people are innately well-intentioned, despite outward behaviour. But culture transformation is like being everyone's shrink, which feels insurmountable. But "out with the old" just turns a big chunk of last-resort-employed into the next wave of welfare recipients.

This reminds me of a recent TG F; half empty F, with this older couple who were clearly excited to be going on a trip of a lifetime. Given their age, I felt this really took a lifetime to accrue, perhaps scrimping LH SmileMiles-or-whatever and planning for months, possibly years. The gentleman couldn't sit still for the first hour of the flight. Seatbelt sign goes off, he's walking around, checking out all the other empty seats, taking pictures... I never saw an FA walk up and say "Dude, sit down. You are bothering other pax." These are the pax I gladly let Zone 0 in front of me. Just seeing happy pax around is a good feeling, not pax who are playing forensic evidence detective or lawyering for basic entitlements. AC has a way of getting that righteous response out of me, which is really not a good way to spend 8+ hours. I am accustomed to smiling. I do that more frequently elsewhere.

The culture starts at the top.

The very top.

Wow. We must watch the same kind of stuff as I saw this clip about 3 days ago as well. (I really enjoy watching Japanalogy Plus), You can tell the gentleman doing the training really has a passion for his job. He clearly does not see it as a "do the minimum to get it done) kind of endeavour.