"I didn't stick my finger in it" (FA response to type of pasta)- Recent AA Experience
 

CLT-LHR AA732 - Sept 5

It's been a while since I've flown AA long haul, but the level of service on this flight was so bad it was almost funny.

Cart rolls down with a flight attendant who looked liked he'd rather be anywhere else in the world.

FA: "Chicken or Pasta?"
Me: "What sort of pasta is it?"
FA: *Audible Sigh*
FA:"Uh, some sort of bowtie thing"
Me:"Sorry, do you know what type of sauce is on it"
FA:*Louder audible sigh*
FA:"No, I didn't stick my finger in it. Do you want chicken or pasta?"

Surely my question wasn't that unreasonable? Also I didn't realise the only way to determine sauce type with onboard catering is to stick one's finger in it. :D Life's too short to care that much, but this was a new low for me on long haul service.

I'd write in to AA letting them know that and which flight attendant it was (if you can recall at least a description).

I assume the last quote was from the FA, and not you? ;)

Maybe the FA was actually a large group of butterfly's wearing a human suit as butterfly's taste with their feet....or maybe he's just a jerk...the world may never know.

Agree 100 %. Managers need to hear feedback of good & bad service. Or else how can they reward or retrain / punish ?

:D

Good spot! Fixed :)

I don't take it as anything close to that.

I don't expect the Michelin star restaurant back-and-forth about types of pasta and sauces on a long-haul flight in Y.

Oh nice - very nice.

Not surprised though - LUS crew I will assume as CLT-LHR. Nasty in general.

It's that black and white to you? It isn't a Michelin restaurant, so we shouldn't dare ask what the meal includes?

This is the problem...some people think something as simple as asking politely what is in a meal is too much. Whether it is due to dietary reasons or just not liking certain foods, asking this and expecting a simple, polite response with the answer is definitely not too much to ask.

We are still people on a plane, not cattle. And, while I understand to a certain degree why an airline may want to treat its passengers as cattle (money), for other passengers to do the same is downright sad.

I expect something as descriptive as "Pasta with Pesto Sauce" in coach.

I suspect the OP wasn't trying to determine the cut of pasta with the original question, but had to clarify the question to attempt to get the answer he/she was looking for.

In my experience, the people who care about which cut of pasta they're eating aren't the types of people who order pasta on airplanes in any class of service.

If AA really cares about customer sat then they have 3 options

1. Expeditiously terminate all d-bag staff
2. Distribute printed menus
3. Eliminate meal choice; serve the same thing to everybody

(1) is probably precluded by labor unions, (2) adds logistical complexity and (3) reduces logistical complexity, a win-win.

A few months back I had a Flight Attendant in Business FRA-DFW actually say to me after I asked if there was any extra bread leftover.

"Didn't you learn in elementary school to only ask for seconds after everyone else is served".

I actually started to laugh because the response was so comical but I saw from the expression on her face that she was not laughing.

She then just walked on and never came back and refused to stop when I attempted to flag her down.

Another Flight Attendant was more than happy to get me another piece of bread saying we have lots left over.

Go figure.

I think DL now has menus on YC on long-haul intl.

AA attendants are just that Absolutely Annoying, AA!

Send a tweet to @AmericanAir. Include the date and flight number, and your cabin. AA will know who to write up, and they will respond.

Occasionally, one of the FAs will make an overhead announcement before mealtime describing the options on hand (i.e. "our meal options today are bowtie pasta in a cream sauce or barbecue chicken with vegetables"). This is the most effective way of doing things IMHO, and I don't get why it's not common practice.

Otherwise, asking basic questions about the meal isn't that unreasonable. Shame some people think it is when international tickets are routinely priced at $1k+.

Cheap pasta is generally served with either red sauce or white sauce

White sauce is cream based, and thus contains a ton of lactose.

Many people are lactose-intolerant.

Asking if the pasta is drenched in lactose is not a Michelin star question.

I flew for many years. I wouldn't have dreamt of, or dared to address the people who were paying the fares which paid my wages in such an impertinent and disrespectful manner. If I didnt know ( actually I get the feeling that the FA In question could have cared less but not by much). Had anyone dares to ask me about what I had or hadn't learnt in Elementary School id have laughed and id have added that I was ther much more recently than her.

How dare they! What's wrong with saying something anodyne and non offensive. I just don't understand and assume that this is a result of having no one in overall charge of the service.

Sometimes I wonder if having a service manager on every flight would make a difference.

After flying economy on Cathay and BA, I'm amazed by the difference. AA has some truly excellent employees, but the burned-out ones are some of the angriest people I've ever encountered (I'll go ahead and single out the DFW-HKG flight for this, especially). After getting scolded for walking to the rear galley for a drink of water (from the bottle and cups that they set out for the passengers) on an AA international flight, I decided that it was maybe time to try other airlines for TATL/TPAC flights. The grass isn't always greener on the other side, but at least I'm not getting fussed at for stretching my legs, getting some water, or asking for a beer mid-flight.

Heard several people on my last Cathay flight ask about the contents of the main course. Their questions were answered without a hint of snarkiness. Go figure...

We love you, PUCCI! And I, for one, heartily agree that having a "Purser" who is only another FA who earns a few extra dollars for filling out paperwork instead of paying more and boarding a proper Cabin Service Director is a good part of the problem. (Not to mention that under these conditions people often enough "buddy bid" flights so you have friends who share similar work values staffing certain flights - for bad, and for good.)

For a more humorous perspective on a similar incident, on a transatlantic J flight after being served an orange juice the FA came, asked me if my orange juice was okay, stuck her finger in it, tasted that and told me "yes, you're right; it's good." As I paled, she laughed, produced a full orange juice without digital additions and told me who she was - a FA who at one time posted here. We had a great laugh at that.

As a lifelong vegetarian I have to often ask if the dish has ANY meat products...sometimes requiring a second or third question " ......Just making sure there isn't any ham, bacon, fish etc". I often get a perplexed expression or a face like" wht the heck do you want !:(

Same on JL in coach.

I don't want to offend anyone here because it's a lovely story and the responses are very interesting, but I did wonder whether the FA was possibly frustrated with these kinds of question when they have so many people to serve. I mean, imagine if everyone asked the same question over and over and no one had informed you of what pasta dish you were serving..?

I think it's a very challenging job with all the interruptions and all the freeloaders in Y. When I used to fly in Y there were many people that would push the boundaries of entitlement - from people who came unprepared for the flight and expected everything done for them, to the people who wanted 2x of everything. And then there are the people that press the buzzer every five minutes. So I have a lot of sympathy for staff. They are per person in Y very short staffed if memory serves me right, which is no fault of the crew.

I do suspect by the audible sighs that the FA was probably already feeling a little overwhelmed / tired and just wanted to get through the activity. Of course that doesn't lessen your displeasure, only to show that nothing personal was meant by this individuals misery and miserable response.

Thank you for sharing your story and I hope that the FA is much better next time.

The sighs would have been infuriating enough for me to ask to speak to the senior purser. That's just a poor attitude and unneeded for an FA. It wasn't THAT much of an imposition asking about the pasta to make an informed choice.

Bingo. Actual issue for me and my kid. And normally I get the question "chicken or beef" in coach and ask like, what is the chicken and what is the beef? Like I don't have a chicken allergy, but if you're packing a cream sauce, I'm fecked.

But it's a total eyeroll question every.single.time. It's not unusual, and I'm just used to it. But I HATE it. It makes me feel bad for having dietary requirements.

I started my career in restaurants, customer service is an attitude that cannot be faked. You either care about customers or you don't. It's not a question whether customers act perfect or not, you're there to make their experience a positive one. If you hire people that care, you can train them to do all the other tasks, honestly it's not rocket science. The safety tasks of a FA surely take a higher level of ability but there is still a customer service element that follows closely behind in importance. If you don't feel it, at least try to fake it. If not, get into a new line of work where customer service doesn't matter so much.

Poor, miserable attitude! I'd suggest contacting AA to look into this.

If this was an Air Koryo flight and Kim knew about it, the FA would've already been 10 feet underground.

Feels also sad to go through some posts where authors try to justify this despicable behaviour ��

OP-please complain to AA. I would. There is no way this FA's behavior, in any ANY business model or industry can be justified, rationalized, and/or excused.

In a meritocracy, with a short path to the exit/unemployment for poor performance, the crappy tend to get flushed early. Burnouts take a little longer to remove.

But unfortunately, unions will defend this FA to the death.

OTOH-MrsDallas49er and I had FABULOUS AA crews in J last week ORD-PEK and this week PEK-DFW.

I think there is a cultural difference here, where in America, the service is really expected and different to Europe. Being from the UK, it would be fairly normal to receive this response on a BA flight and I suspect par for the course if the server is much older. Whether it's passive aggressive or not, there is always the feeling that you're asking for anything non-standard is a burden, even in J or F. I just find it so incredible that people don't want to consider the person had a bad day and couldn't control their emotions. I don't think it's right but it's a very normal reaction in my experience - a typical response when the FA doesn't hear what your answer is as well - whether 'chicken' or 'beef'.. I mean on a first class flight the other day we had FA slamming shut the screens without warning, and basically shouting at us for doing nothing wrong. My expectation for service is fairly low where I feel we have to respond according to their attitude of the staff.

If I go to a standard restaurant in the uk and ask to be sat in a booth rather than in the open, then we will regularly get 'back chat', a sigh and dissent in terms of body language. And then we would still be expected to tip these staff..

I should say the best service I ever received was on AA flight in first on the transcon, the FA was unbelievably good.

This consideration is valid only for students in preschool.

FAs are primarily for safety. Their words not mine. Such a role implores a calm and rational mental state. Any FA working without full control of emotions is not just rude but is jeopardizing the physical safety of passengers.

Interesting take on it. I will say that someone having a bad day is of course in the realm of possibility but when these situations are relatively common then it is more than just a one-off. Personally, when faced with similar experiences I just close my eyes and go to a happy place until the flight is over and then tweet about it. :) If it is a restaurant as you describe, I make sure to review it thoroughly.

Thank you. I think this point gets missed too often.

If the FA's attitude is too bad to complete regular cabin checks/be observant of the surroundings onboard, that's a safety issue.

OMG - again? Yes, sure - this would never, ever happen on LAA... But wait, there is another thread where LUS F/A's are praised for delivering F-class PDB on consistent basis, while LAA F/A's are not rated that highly. So maybe grass is not always greener on LAA?

IMHO this can happen on any (US) airline and OP should report it.

This doesn't accord with my experiences on BA. I find the crews are happy to serve me "non standard" things which aren't on the menu. Admittedly my experiences are from J/F not Y.

I'd be speaking with the CSD/CSM if this happened to me (and it didn't turn out to be an elaborate deadpan joke). There's no excuse for being impolite to a customer asking a reasonable question.

Having worked as a flight attendant for many years, we never stick our fingers in the pasta to determine taste or sauce flavor. The only food we stick our fingers in, are the pilot meals to make sure they are truly hot before they go up to the cockpit. It is such a process to get pilots in and out of the cockpit fed, watered and etc. that it must be hot and everything is on the tray so we don't have to open the door again because the meal was not hot....that's the only meal a has had a finger in it.....airplane food is so abysmal, don't you bring your own?

Welcome to FlyerTalk westgrl and welcome to the American Airlines forum. We hope you will stick around.

Have the pilots upset you at some point? :D

+!

Can be called the BEST post....

In my previous life as a CUSTOMER Relations Mgr. for a Fortune Ten company I started to imprint in the culture "that CUSTOMERS are our life blood." Henceforth the word customer will always be in caps to remind us who makes the paychecks possible.

Alas did not last long after my departure...company did go bankrupt 17 years later.
I used to say CUSTOMERS like that in probably the most posted airline thread in FT but the denizen objected mightily saying ai was SHOUTING...nevermind the topic hand was CUSTOMER Service .....

^

They will. But as the weight of customer complaints grows and grows, eventually this FA will change her tune or seek alternate employment, whether voluntarily or involuntarily.

I can guarantee though that nothing will happen if OP doesn't complain to AA as opposed to ranting on an internet bulletin board.

Exactly. Not all AA crews are terrible. Some are. And there's no correlation between seniority and service. You have junior crews providing terrible service and senior crews providing great service. And the opposite.

My last AA flight was SEA-DFW in F. Absolutely stellar service by a senior DFW-based FA. On the way out to LAX in F on that same trip though it was typical disinterested/minimal (though not rude) AA service by mostly younger FAs.

I know that this post is not real, but this is the funniest post I've seen in a while. ;)