Gino Troian

Been flying a lot of international F and wow, could AA just stop? I cannot remember one flight where service was decent. Wide open cabin day before departure, only to fly out 8/8 with chatty off-duty FAs.

Why doesn't AA keep their flagship product exclusive for paying customers?

bse118

I'm so sorry that your F seat doesn't come with an guarantee of an empty cabin; and that the other people had the gall to talk.

Suggestion: What's the stupidest, least substantive thing you can complain about?

(Here's a thought: maybe if we want pleasant, service-oriented, in-flight crews we shouldn't begrudge them the travel perks of their job? Or try to get those perks reduced.)

C17PSGR

Well ... that is part of their compensation package for being an AA employee.

And ... I like FA's who think of travel as an adventure and get excited about it, rather than a chore. So, we benefit from encouraging their wanderlust.

FlyerTalker688786

You have been too harsh. In my own experience, out of the 8 seats, there are a lot of last minute upgrades and revenue bookings. Non-rev always hope for the 8 flagship seats but you are lucky to have 2-4 actually got the seats among whole AA network daily. Sometimes you watch the flight one week out and there 6 free seats. But 3 days before the flight there are full of last minute revenue booking, flight date or time change and upgrade request. By the time non-rev reach airport there are already 5 to 10 J pax waitlist for upgrades to the last remaining F seats.

What you saw people chatting with FAs might be regular flyers who likes to chat with FAs and gossip about the company so that they can write in their blogs or forums. Non-rev does not like to do chatting with FAs as they are normally conscious about travel and company guidelines (yes there is a rule about not to disrupt flight attendants work or passenger relaxing). And after waiting in airport for so long and anxious about whether they can get on flight for 48 hours the last thing they want is to waste whole flight chatting while they can finally relax in their seats.

eponymous_coward

I had a great crew out for HKG-LAX. Cabin was 8/8 though.

Because they wouldn't have a product if they kept it exclusively for customers who paid cash money for an F ticket. AA barely has their flagship international product at all any more, compared to but a few years ago. Between SWUs, awards and non-revs and actual paying customers, I guess there's justification for it. At the moment. We'll see how it goes over the next few years.

I hear flying private is nice if you don't like sharing cabins with the help and the peasantry.

Often1

OP complains about the service, but does not provide any facts. If there was poor service in F, OP should complain about the poor service. "Chatty" means a lot of things. If the employees were noisy, discretely ask for some peace and quiet. If they were merely "chatty" OP is in a multi-passenger cabin and it is to be expected.

The underlying issue is none of OP's business. There are a ton of threads which start with "UA / DL / AA nonrevs in premium....] The answer is the same. The seats are AA's to sell. Whether those employees were headed off to operate another flight, on vacation or whatever, is irrelevant because the seat is not OP's and it is AA's to sell, give away or leave empty.

WPFNJ (Want Private, Fly Net Jets.

Gino Troian

I'm glad many feel the same way as I do

Maybe I've just had bad luck, but I am not pleased at all with paying $15,000+ for terrible service and annoying (non-revenue) neighbors. And yes, this group of four (EZE-JFK) were flight attendants discussing their routes, schedules, and random/annoying stories. Sorry I expect a quiet, professional environment when flying first?

Gino Troian

Mods, please feel free to delete this thread. I'm just bitter about spending money on a sub-par product.

enviroian

Your first mistake is paying $15,000 for $15 airline food and a cramped lie flat seat.

Austin787

Flying is public transportation, even in first class. I find noise cancelling headphones (which AA hands out in international business and first) helpful in blocking out noise. Even paying first customers can be noisy or chatty.

If you want to guarantee total privacy, either buy the entire cabin or fly private jet.

Gino Troian

I completely agree.

Gino Troian

I understand it is public transportation, but you'd expect better service and decent neighbors when flying first, wouldn't you?

Would you be mad if you booked a presidential suite and you find .... in the toilet, slow room service, and neighbors blasting music in the other room?

AANYC1981

If the seat is not purchased some way......employees get to enjoy it......deal with! That's one of the major perks for airline workers so relax dude/maam.

Antarius

I don't disagree that AA service is hit or miss. But the service isn't going to get much better whether the cabin is empty or not.

As for the routes, schedules and stuff - they may or may not be FAs. I routinely shoot the .... with FAs as an interested party.

enviroian

Depending on your route, I would spend that type of money on an Asian or European carrier. I would or could never understand paying that type of money for an US based airline.