PDXPremier

Last night my wife (who is MVPG) was flying from MCI-SEA in 6C with our two kids (who were in 6A and 6B) and there was a gentleman in 6D (non-MVPG). When the flight attendant came with the free Digi "for the Gold", she looked at the gentleman in 6D and my wife in 6C and asked if they had traded seats. It wasn't a big deal, but we both thought it was odd that she would assume a female traveling to two young children couldn't possibly be an MVPG

This reminded me of AKCuisine's comment the other day in the food thread:

"One other comment. I noticed during the flight that the crew preferentially freshened the drinks of male passengers or offered to get them another beverage. But I did not see the same level of service being offered to the women in the cabin.

Others may disagree, but I think that good in-flight service should be gender neutral on the part of a flight crew. Just my two cents."


Has anyone noticed situations similar to this or do I chalk this up to a few odd, isolated incidents?

Points Scrounger

I have mentioned the first class FA to Hawaii who announced that he would be taking meal orders from females first.

PDXPremier

Wow...that's an interesting twist....I guess it happens both ways.

IceTrojan

Taking this to the extreme, it seems like an employee deviating from the company's established policy based on gender seems to be a violation of the Civil Rights Act.

WinSea

I thought only 75kers are offered with FREE DigEPlayer? Or am I wrong?

Don't overthink it too much, I ended up at coach a few times this month, sometimes they don't even ask me if I would like to have a free DigEPLayer, sometimes they just miss it on their lists. ( even tho I never needed one)

PDXPremier

I thought the same thing....thought it was strictly a 75K perk, but I guess not...they offered her a free Digi on her last two mainline AS flights (in coach since she was flying on miles).

dayone

You're not wrong, according to this.

That said, I'm MVPG and I was offered a free one last week on DFW-SEA.

AKCuisine

I've also been on a number of flights when the FA asked men if they wanted their coats hung in the closet, but the same was not offered to women in the cabin.

Or another discrepancy that really sticks in my craw -- when the FA addresses male passengers as "Mr SoAndSo" but then calls female passengers by their first name. That is not okay. Either call everyone by "Mr or Ms," or address everyone by their first name.

The majority of the time, it's my experience that the FAs do seem to treat all passengers equally.

But when these things do happen - even on a small number of flights - it does leave a negative impression.

WinSea

I think this kinda of issues are mostly depend on the FA, it is just their own preferences ( but I do agree that sometimes the gender issue needs to be addressed more carefully. ) Last week when I was flying EWR to SEA, this FA firmly told F class passengers, she will take order from 75 first, then paid FC then MVP Gold then MVPs, so she walked back and forth several times and took orders with her list, which was a little odd, I am not sure it was because they didnt have enough meal options or whatnot, but I do think it depends on FA's own preference a lot.

IceTrojan

Maybe missydarlin can help us out here, but I thought on AS the meal orders were supposed to go front-to-back. Seems to be other deviations (back to front, by elite status, by gender, by age, by hair color) aren't in line with company policy (if, in fact, one does exist).

Westcoaster

Having traveled with my husband many times I definitely have noticed a difference in treatment from some GAs and FAs. It isn't happening nearly as much as it used to so that's progress. But just recently an FA offered to hang my husband's jacket and completely ignored me so there's still progress to be made. I don't believe the FAs do it consciously -- they just see my tall distinguished looking husband and somehow decide he deserves attention. A little training might rectify this type of issue.

In years past worse things (i.e. embarrassing things) happened. One GA stopped the boarding process just as I was trying to hand her my boarding pass, went over to her microphone and announced that "We are only boarding FIRST CLASS at this time" -- all the while looking directly as me. People turned to look at me. When I didn't leave the line the GA took my BP and seemed surprised to see that I was in F. She had just let my husband board without incident. He and I were both dressed in clean-but-casual attire so I don't think clothes made a difference. I think I was the only female in F on that flight. This was years ago so things are better now. But I still remember being embarrassed.

Another embarrassing incident occurred years ago when I boarded a flight and started to put my carryon in the overhead bin above my seat in row 2. The FA quickly came over and said rather loudly that I couldn't put my bag up there -- I had to store it "back there", indicating coach. When I showed her my BP she backed off. I don't know what she was thinking of course. But she didn't question my jeans and sweatshirt attired husband when he put his bag up.

Anecdotal stuff for sure, but it seems like that's the type of thing the OP is asking for.

IceTrojan

Wow, my reply would have been, "And why is that?" just to see if I can draw out her answer.

Westcoaster

I believe AS Flyer confirmed the front-to-back policy a while back. I could be wrong.

gaiusbaltar

I like that order!

But I think paid full fair F should always get first dibbings (especially paid full fair F 75ks).

For that matter, why doesn't AS bring a golf cart to take me from the security checkpoint to my plane's jet gateway when I arrive at the airport?
AA used to that for my fatherinlaw when he was an executive platinum!

Jimgotkp

On my recent flight (BWI-SEA) I noticed that the FA proactively offered refills to everyone except my brother and I. We're both in our mid/late 20's, so maybe we got discriminated since we're the youngest ones in the cabin. :/