Jimbo

I flew AA 938 from SJO to LAX last Sunday. Prior to leaving my hotel, I checked AA.com and found that my upgrade had cleared and I was booked into seat 5A (757). Upon boarding I settled into my seat and was pleased that 5B was not taken so I was going to enjoy the row to myself. Shortly before takeoff, one of two matronly FA's in F approached me and informed me that I needed to move to 2A. She did not ask if I could please move or would I do her a favor of moving, but it was a direction to move. I asked why and she said it was because there was a sick flight attendant. I glanced forward and noted that 2B was occupied by a pax, so I told her that I did not want to move. She answered that 2A was a window seat just like mine. I indicated that 2B was occupied so I liked my seat better. She asked if I had purchased 5B. I answered, of course not. At that point she got huffier and said, all right, stay there then. She gave me the evil eye the rest of the flight and while she was professinally taking meal orders from other pax, when she came to me, she gruffly asked.."are you going to eat anything", rather than a more polite, "what would you like". I never did see the sick flight attendant, even though 6E and 6F were unoccupied. I have a colleague in my office who was previously in the industry and he surmises that the FA wanted to use my row as their rest seats, but this seems kind of weird. In any case, I did not appreciate being directed to another seat. If she was more gracious, I may have been more willing to consider moving.

seaskybound

That sums it up.

JDiver

Did you write?

freeupgrade

This "story" is an outstanding example of why people, in general, are fed up with AA - sounds like another very rude FA to me.

Really, sounds like the FA had a lot of nerve not even politely asking the OP to move.

JDiver

Ah, if only AA had some rude FAs! Some airlines have more than others - fortunately for us "geese," most FAs are professional people with considerable training in emegrency procedures like evacuation (I imagine those skills came in handy for UA and AA last weekend in EZE!) first aid and using AEDs.

I have a tendency to write the airline involved when I run into an outstanding exemplar, or a very poor one such as you seem to have encountered. I'd probably also have been calm and direct in telling her why I took offense at her approach - not everyone shares ideas or values about courtesy, directness, customer service, appropriate intimacy, communication, etc. etc.

crAAzy

Gracious or not, does not excuse the fact that she asked a paying customer (whether it be an upgrade or not you still paid for a ticket) to move seats to for an employee. Prime example of the "customer service" that should not be tolerated at AA.

If the employee was that sick and you were still at the gate, she should not have worked the flight. If it was an employee that was not working (deadhead), her behavior is even more atrocious.

In the end, I tend to agree with the assumption of wanting "crew rest" seats for a flight that can't be more than an hour or so in length (right?). If that is the case, I would urge AA to adopt the following policy. If their FAs are so "matronly" they can no longer stand for an hour long flight or fit in a crew seat comfortabley that they feel the need to harass paying customers, their employment should be terminated immediately.

BenjaminNYC

I agree. By the way, this is SJO, San Jose, Costa Rica, not SJC, which is in California. It's about 2,700 miles from SJO-LAX, so more like 6 hours.

crAAzy

OH yeah SJO, SJC, SJU always getting them mixed up . Anyway, what the heck is a sick FA going to do on a 6 hour flight anyway ... prepare your food ?

JustSayGrr

Appalling.

At that point I would have graciously asked her for her employee number for later use in a letter to HDQ Customer Service. I generally let minor transgressions slide, but in extreme cases (good or bad) I always write.

And what possible difference would it have made if you had purchased the seat or used upgrades? The "phantom" sick FA certainly didn't pay for it, so the full-fare vs. upgrade argument doesn't apply.

Flyer4life

Am I missing something? If 6 E and F were empty, why couldn't the FAs use those for rest? Doesn't make sense.

JustSayGrr

Unless the "sick" FA was equally as matronly as the one requesting the seat change, in which case there may have been a weight/balance issue to be on the opposite side from the galley

Flyer4life

Or maybe each was "matronly" enough that they each needed their own row?

xFlagger

You took the time to mention this here, but did you take the time to report it to AA?

If not, you've failed to make it better for any of us. That's the problem, people vent but don't bother to take a proactive approach.

By alerting AA you would have put the FA on notice.

CF

WingNaPrayer

Do you suppose the employees report plats or other passengers to the company when they are out of line, or throw fits because they can't get what they want?

Oh wait . . .they do! I've seen many FAs crawl off a flight and head right to a sabre set and start entering notes into customer PNRs, or give notes to a gate supervisor and ask them to do it.

While this incident clearly sounds like some FAs looking to clear a little party space, there are many times when your complaints will fall on deaf ears when the company matches it up to the notes that may or may not be in your PNR.

HeadInTheClouds

The problem is AA has bad apples like these. The customer has the right to vent however they please and no obligation to be proactive whatsoever. At least here AA could monitor these boards and try to find out details as other companies do (i.e. Starwood). If they cared that is. But that is not the customer's problem, it's AA's. I hate taking my energy to complain to compaines about THEIR problems... I have enough of my own to worry about!