jcatman

If you are alluding to Doug Parker, my recent mileage run to HKG will confirm that many AA flight attendants refer to Mr. Parker as "Chugalug Doug".

bocastephen

This is what you need to do:

1. go to this link - it is the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System - start here - https://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/report/cav...formType=cabin
2. file an ASR report which focuses on the fact that you observed behavior by a crew member on AA flight xxx on day xxx at time xxx which clearly showed the crew-member was mentally incapacitated, unfit and not safe to do their job. Keep it at that, neither NASA nor the FAA care about service issues or drinks or whatever - you want to report a mentally incapacitated crew member whose behavior represented a threat to the safety of passengers, and that's it for this report, no further details needed relating to service issues
3. file a report with the DOT basically alleging the same thing - a mentally incapacitated crew member on flight xx/dayxx/timexx whose behavior indicated a lack of ability to do their job
4. contact AA - since you're not the aggrieved party, you're not asking for compensation (right?), but inform them of what happened and also explain you've already filed reports with NASA ASR and the DOT requesting an investigation outside of AA's control that will establish this employee's mental capacity and fitness to fulfill their job duties and you will provide additional context to the FAA if requested

This should be more than enough incentive for AA to take action - in fact they will be very unhappy with the ASR and DOT reports, as it takes the course of action out of their control, and they won't have much of a choice but to address this issue asap

davie355

I’m with @bocastephen in spirit, and I will caution I’m not a lawyer. But, is there any sort of penalty for filing a false report? It could be argued that claiming “incapacitation” is hyperbolic to the extent of falsehood. I wouldn’t want to be tied up in a legal debacle over this.

I don’t want to lose track of the main message here, which is that any FA with this sort of temperament is absolutely unfit to service a flight, because they’d be useless in an emergency.

bocastephen

I don't see this as a false report - from the OP's description, assuming it is devoid of embellishment, accurately describes a crew member who is mentally unstable and likely ineffective at performing their regulated and required duties. An argument over drinks is not the disease, it is a symptom of what appears to be an underlying problem that needs further investigation by regulators who will be able to determine the employee's fitness to continue their employment. It is not up to the OP to make this determination, but to describe accurately a crew member acting in a fashion that appeared to be mentally unstable, detached and a potential threat to the safety of passengers. Also, it should not be left up to AA to determine the employee's fitness for duty given the gravity of what the OP described, hence the need to inform the FAA and DOT. If neither agency feels interested or bothers to look into this, that is their call, but at least the OP has done their duty to make an informed report of a crew member who could present a danger to customers in the future.

PUCCI GALORE

Indeed so. The woman sounds completely unbalanced to me - she has no business being in charge of safety. I would not want her near hot liquids or sharp objects,

simpleflyer

FWIW, I have just read that research shows human behaviour in general is more influenced by 'rules' about how things are 'supposed' to work over actual experience.

For example, just about everyone here is citing a 'rule' to warrant their demands - FAs "should" be polite, or "should" have said x, y or z. Before I get jumped on, let me declare that it isn't that the 'rules' everyone is citing wouldn't make sense - I can see lots of reasons why if such a rule were followed things would go more smoothly for AA and flying public alike, but the point is, people from all walks of life are not always the height of politeness or even close - there's the experience we ignore. We also ignore the experience of DOT which is that they have enough on their plate without chasing down staffing issues. I suspect they would not, unless the instance were of a FA who didn't know how to operate the door and emergency exit chute or whatever..

ianj844

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Unfortunately I think people take the job of FA for all the wrong reasons. The job can get boring (spending your day making the same announcements, rolling a beverage cart and and down the aisle), today's flyers can be real PITAs, you spend a lot of your time unpaid (like when the a/c sits at the gate on a 2 hour maintenance delay) and of course family stress from being away from home. Suddenly all the "adventure" of the job is gone and the person is left into an undesirable situation. Since FAs are not for example working with the latest technologies their career alternatives become limited.

With no onsite supervisor FAs can get away with a lot from everything from not doing PDBs to as in this case being outlandishly rude to paxs, even worse to those that bring in the most revenue to the airline. Possibly if a Captain witnesses the behavior he.she can report the FA but other than that FA are allowed to act according to their own discretion. The OP can report her but in the end I'm not sure much can be done since it would boil down to a he said/she said situation.

San Gottardo

Nah. A freshly squeezed blueberry nectar served in a Lalique crystal glass, adding "is that going to cause a problem?"

bobnchi

FAA = Flight Attendant Attitude!

ShortDog

What's wrong with instant coffee? I don't think I've ever heard rave reviews of the brewed coffee on flights, and switching to packets of decent Starbucks powdered coffee might solve more than a few problems. And the marketing team could go to work trumpeting their latest service innovation.

mvoight

This was not just an issue with politeness, the FA was trying to remove 3 passengers from a flight, because of some stupid disagreement over coffee, after the FA first said it would be ready in a few minutes, then decided she couldn't serve coffee on the ground.
(and lied saying it was an FAA restriction)

ijgordon

That's like $0.75/cup -- no way will AA spend for that!
(But of course if you want coffee as a PDB, bring your own Via!)

mvoight

It's not like they wanted an olive in it

AA100k