AS service reductions. Mediocrity by a thousand cuts.
Jul 18, 2019, 10:30 am
#31
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 5,953
OK, another flight in Premium, ORD-SEA, in late May... 3h 45m in the air... the first (food) cart did not appear in the aisle until 1h 40m had elapsed, and it took another 20m after that to get a drink. For almost half the flight the cabin staff were entirely not visible. Would that count as "poor performance" worthy of comment, or merely adherence to a really minimal service script?
Jul 18, 2019, 10:33 am
#32
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS MM, MVPGold100k, Hilton Diamond, Hertz Presidents Circle
Posts: 1,475
I really must be lucky, I actually enjoy my flights and have good service as a rule. My recent (June and July) experiences were SEA-CMH in FC, SEA-OAK-SEA in FC, SEA-SAT-SAT in PE, SEA-ORD-SEA in FC. I am not looking for a drink other than water on my departure flights, and don't care if I get one or not on my return home flights as long as I get some on that return, that may skew my perceptions of what is a "lack of service". The service I did experience on each flight although different (sometimes orders were taken at 10k others before departure) each was well within acceptable times. In years past, I have been on a flight where the food service came out to row 4 and about 2 minutes later the descent started, but not lately. During each of my most recent flights, the FAs were walking through the cabin often when I was in FC checking to see if passengers wanted more/or something. When I am in PE I have been told often that if I need or want more to ring the button or come back and they will gladly provide it. I believe others
have perceived a lowering of offerings or service through their experiences, but I also know that I have not. The FAs I interacted with have all talked about how they love to fly, love the company, and really enjoy interacting with passengers. I have to go find some wood to knock on now I guess, to ensure my CMH-SEA flight home goes well
have perceived a lowering of offerings or service through their experiences, but I also know that I have not. The FAs I interacted with have all talked about how they love to fly, love the company, and really enjoy interacting with passengers. I have to go find some wood to knock on now I guess, to ensure my CMH-SEA flight home goes well
Jul 18, 2019, 10:34 am
#33
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 5,953
Well to be fair, it does follow a common theme which is inconsistency and management’s failure to set proper expectations and hold those not following standards to account. If one crew goes way above standards and the next crew on the same route meets or is below them and the customer never knows what to expect, this can have an impact on customer perception of the airline.
I know that that on most US airlines you don’t get much on shorter flights so if I fly first or premium, I just expect more leg room or a bigger seat. So I won’t be upset if I get nothing else worthwhile. On Ansett when they existed they had full meal and drink service on a flight from Sydney to Canberra which is less than an hour. They worked like mad and yet you could still feel relaxed and have time to finish the meal and I still remember the experience years after the airline went bankrupt. I wasn’t expecting anything and got much more. That said, if the next time I flew there was no service at all and management didn’t really care about the inconsistency, then I would be more likely frustrated—wondering whether the crew does nothing, goes above standards, or somewhere in between.
Jul 18, 2019, 10:39 am
#34
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Bay Area, CA
Programs: UA Plat 2MM; AS MVP Gold 75K
Posts: 35,067
SEA-YVR on a mainline plane is scheduled for no service. PDB should be happening, but there is no scheduled service in the air. While the FA on the flight back may have seemed to be going above and beyond, s/he was also setting her peers up for failure - as seen by your comment here indicating that the other FA simply just didn't want to do the service. The company has not scheduled a beverage service on this flight that is about 20-25 min. air time.
Jul 18, 2019, 11:06 am
#35
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 5,953
AS should be doing the pre-depart (as prescribed by AS management), but again, I don't set the service levels, just telling you what they are.... I'm glad that DL (or Skywest, or Compass...) is able to pull it off. I imagine, given the tools and the instruction to do so, AS FA's could as well.
Jul 18, 2019, 11:17 am
#36
Join Date: Apr 2003
Programs: B6 Mosaic, Bonvoy LT Titanium (x SPG LT), IHG Spire, UA Silver
Posts: 5,844
The question to which fly18725 is referring doesn't have anything to do with inconsistencies. I'm pretty sure anyone here knows that it's not the service standard to wait nearly 2 hours to begin service and to ignore the passengers before they do that. I don't even know what the point of the question was. To your point - yes, inconsistency is bad. That was my point in my answer to Bear about the flights they experienced to YVR - which seemed pretty clear to me.
Jul 18, 2019, 11:53 am
#37
Join Date: May 2003
Location: SFO, mostly
Posts: 2,203
I really must be lucky, I actually enjoy my flights and have good service as a rule. My recent (June and July) experiences were SEA-CMH in FC, SEA-OAK-SEA in FC, SEA-SAT-SAT in PE, SEA-ORD-SEA in FC. I am not looking for a drink other than water on my departure flights, and don't care if I get one or not on my return home flights as long as I get some on that return, that may skew my perceptions of what is a "lack of service". The service I did experience on each flight although different (sometimes orders were taken at 10k others before departure) each was well within acceptable times. In years past, I have been on a flight where the food service came out to row 4 and about 2 minutes later the descent started, but not lately. During each of my most recent flights, the FAs were walking through the cabin often when I was in FC checking to see if passengers wanted more/or something. When I am in PE I have been told often that if I need or want more to ring the button or come back and they will gladly provide it. I believe others
have perceived a lowering of offerings or service through their experiences, but I also know that I have not. The FAs I interacted with have all talked about how they love to fly, love the company, and really enjoy interacting with passengers. I have to go find some wood to knock on now I guess, to ensure my CMH-SEA flight home goes well
have perceived a lowering of offerings or service through their experiences, but I also know that I have not. The FAs I interacted with have all talked about how they love to fly, love the company, and really enjoy interacting with passengers. I have to go find some wood to knock on now I guess, to ensure my CMH-SEA flight home goes well
Jul 18, 2019, 2:22 pm
#38
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 5,953
It is precisely due to various inconsistencies that people are unclear what the standards are. If one flight attendant says the standard is to not give a PDB and another gives it, what should the passenger expect? If a flight attendant says management tells us to serve the meals later in the flight while another does it earlier who knows who is right? If both happen and management does not care, it becomes a problem. Passengers have no idea whether it is AS just cost cutting, employees taking their dissatisfaction out on passengers, flight attendants just not doing their job, or any combination. This is the point of the whole thread.
Jul 18, 2019, 3:39 pm
#40
Join Date: May 2013
Location: SEA
Programs: AS MVP Gold 100K
Posts: 2,029
I have seen very different levels of service on transcon and Hawaii flights. That said, I can't say service was ever bad, just varying degrees of good. On a recent flight from SEA-HNL and SEA-JFK the first class FA's were totally top notch in every category going well above and beyond. On my return on both of those flights the service was fine and met standards, but didn't go much beyond what was required. Every time I start feeling like AS service is slipping I take an AA flight to bring me back to reality!
Jul 18, 2019, 4:47 pm
#41
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: PDX
Programs: AS MVP Gold 100K
Posts: 2,989
Jul 18, 2019, 5:06 pm
#42
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: SFO/SJC/OAK/STS
Programs: Alaska MVPG, Delta PM, AA EXP, Wannabe SkyWest 1K
Posts: 644
That said, future Seattle to Vancouver flights will have neither a drink nor a snack basket because the seaplane ride at 1,000 feet the whole way blows DL and AS away.
Jul 18, 2019, 10:51 pm
#43
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SEA (the REAL Washington); occasionally in the other Washington (DCA area)
Programs: DL PM 1.57MM; AS MVPG 100K
Posts: 21,359
Yeah, just flew DL in F SEA-YVR and got a PDB and a drink during flight. PDB on any flight is good when you're sitting on the ground for nearly 1/2 hour waiting for everyone to board.
That said, future Seattle to Vancouver flights will have neither a drink nor a snack basket because the seaplane ride at 1,000 feet the whole way blows DL and AS away.
That said, future Seattle to Vancouver flights will have neither a drink nor a snack basket because the seaplane ride at 1,000 feet the whole way blows DL and AS away.
Jul 19, 2019, 9:36 am
#44
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,830
Technically according to whom? In Canadian aircraft regulations, it's consistently called "Seaplane" and not "Floatplane"
https://www.tc.gc.ca/en/transport-ca...21.html#421_38
Looks like the USA call them Seaplanes as well
https://www.faa.gov/regulations_poli...lane_handbook/
https://www.tc.gc.ca/en/transport-ca...21.html#421_38
Looks like the USA call them Seaplanes as well
https://www.faa.gov/regulations_poli...lane_handbook/
Jul 19, 2019, 6:48 pm
#45
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Salem, OR
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold75k, WN A-List, AA, FI, DY, UA, Marriott Lifetime Silver, Hilton Diamond, Amtrak
Posts: 129
Southwest gives drink service to a packed 737 on a 25 minute flight with no problems
Southwest repeatedly over the years - since I was a little kid - has given drink service on 25-30 minute short flights to a completely full 737 (the only time it doesn't happen is bad weather). I never missed a drink when flying home from college AUS to HOU in the early 90s. I flew that route a few months ago, and same great service to make sure everyone gets a drink. WN is king when it comes to service on short routes. Other airlines, including AS, could easily do the same; they are just not interested.