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FA of the Decade - very poor experience, threats to disembark

FA of the Decade - very poor experience, threats to disembark

Old Feb 6, 2019, 6:05 am
  #91  
nrr
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Originally Posted by newyorkgeorge
Not to mention "standing up for yourself" won't probably end well for you. In the end maybe your ego is bruised a bit but it's far better being told to deplane and being given a seat for a later flight, likely back in Y. Also, if the GA is also a bit loony (a real probably) he/she might tell you find your own way home and write AA for a refund. There you will be shelling out big $$ for a walk up fare on another airline. Sometimes one needs to just shut up, swallow their pride and see a bigger picture-namely your not as miserable as the FA is about life.
In many hubs AA (probably a carry-over from LUS) have (re)booking centers--you don't have to deal with GAs to get rebooked.
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Old Feb 6, 2019, 6:57 am
  #92  
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Originally Posted by nrr
In many hubs AA (probably a carry-over from LUS) have (re)booking centers--you don't have to deal with GAs to get rebooked.
I would think that if the GA off loaded you he/she would hold the power on whether to let you travel. Most reasonable GAs will simply allow you to simmer down and rebook you. But if they decide to bounce you all together you have zero recourse, other than apply for a refund.
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Old Feb 6, 2019, 7:00 am
  #93  
 
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Originally Posted by TheSkyGuy
Chugalug Doug, DUI Duggie, Discount Doug...

Obviously, the behavior is not acceptable and that FA needs to be talked to. But I think everyone is far too quick to forget, FAs are humans too.
Probably asking too much these days, but, while it's fine for employees to share complaints amongst themselves, I'd rather they stick to the time honored tradition of not showing public disloyalty to one's employer. After they've moved on or in private, fine, gloves off; but, to do so while receiving a paycheck, and to voice it in public while on the clock, in plain view of customers no less, is just distasteful, in my view.
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Old Feb 6, 2019, 12:36 pm
  #94  
 
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No excuse for this behavior. I'm all for retraining in situations where the employee cares and is trying but doesn't succeed. This is a different matter though, and should be an immediate termination.
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Last edited by zeer0; Feb 6, 2019 at 2:36 pm
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Old Feb 6, 2019, 12:53 pm
  #95  
 
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Originally Posted by Visconti
Probably asking too much these days, but, while it's fine for employees to share complaints amongst themselves, I'd rather they stick to the time honored tradition of not showing public disloyalty to one's employer. After they've moved on or in private, fine, gloves off; but, to do so while receiving a paycheck, and to voice it in public while on the clock, in plain view of customers no less, is just distasteful, in my view.
To be fair, they're not collecting a paycheck when the door is open. A woman asked a FA if she could use the restroom during boarding, and he said "For a small fee" as a joke. Then as the FA walked away to let her through, he turned to me and goes "Oh jeez, I hope Doug Parker didn't hear that. He'll get ideas." If I'd had an AApplause cert I'd have handed it to him right then.
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Old Feb 6, 2019, 2:13 pm
  #96  
 
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Originally Posted by Visconti
I'd rather they stick to the time honored tradition of not showing public disloyalty to one's employer.
while I kinda agree, I think it's all about how you pull it off. Absolutely, a humorless and charmless FA should not belittle the company or its leadership. But a charismatic, energetic FA shooting the crap with non-uptight passengers should have no problem making jokes at DUI Dougie's expense.

I think it's absolutely crazy that a multiple DUI offender can be CEO of a major company, but that's a separate discussion.
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Old Feb 6, 2019, 2:50 pm
  #97  
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Originally Posted by newyorkgeorge
Not to mention "standing up for yourself" won't probably end well for you. In the end maybe your ego is bruised a bit but it's far better being told to deplane and being given a seat for a later flight, likely back in Y. Also, if the GA is also a bit loony (a real probably) he/she might tell you find your own way home and write AA for a refund. There you will be shelling out big $$ for a walk up fare on another airline. Sometimes one needs to just shut up, swallow their pride and see a bigger picture-namely your not as miserable as the FA is about life.
Good god, this is what is wrong with society. Too many people just willing to "take it". Scared because it won't end well for you? Come on, grow up, be a man for crying out loud. I will not cower in fear of someone just because they are wearing a little name tag with wings on it.

By the way, an FA absolutely cannot kick you off a flight. You don't even know what you are scared of here. The captain was brought into this and the FA clearly lost, and ended up having to sit in the galley for the whole flight while someone else did her job. Undoubtedly the captain ended up filing an incident report over this. If this ended poorly for someone, it was the FA.

As for the GA situation... no, they cannot cancel your ticket and tell you to contact AA for a refund. Again, you don't even know what you are scared of here.
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Old Feb 6, 2019, 4:10 pm
  #98  
 
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Originally Posted by VegasGambler
Good god, this is what is wrong with society. Too many people just willing to "take it". Scared because it won't end well for you? Come on, grow up, be a man for crying out loud. I will not cower in fear of someone just because they are wearing a little name tag with wings on it.
I'd love to agree with you, but I'm more inclined to say "what's wrong with society" is people like the FA, and companies' (not just AA's) reluctance to implement proper feedback mechanisms for their customer-facing employees.

AA and other airlines love sending me surveys about my general travel experiences. What they need to be sending is a list of pics and names of each employee I interact with, along with a rating and comments box for each employee.
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Old Feb 6, 2019, 4:40 pm
  #99  
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Originally Posted by VegasGambler
Good god, this is what is wrong with society. Too many people just willing to "take it". Scared because it won't end well for you? Come on, grow up, be a man for crying out loud. I will not cower in fear of someone just because they are wearing a little name tag with wings on it.

By the way, an FA absolutely cannot kick you off a flight. You don't even know what you are scared of here. The captain was brought into this and the FA clearly lost, and ended up having to sit in the galley for the whole flight while someone else did her job. Undoubtedly the captain ended up filing an incident report over this. If this ended poorly for someone, it was the FA.

As for the GA situation... no, they cannot cancel your ticket and tell you to contact AA for a refund. Again, you don't even know what you are scared of here.
Yes by all means a FA can request to have you removed and its up to the GA. Ive seen It occur several times. You should not assume the GA or even the Captain will take your side even if your are in the right. And yes the GA can deny you flying. As I said most of the time the GA will reaccomodate you while you cool down but give him/her guff and the repercussions might not be good.

This has nothing to do with standing up for yourself. This has everything to do with complying with crew member instructions even if they seem outrageous.
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Old Feb 6, 2019, 4:58 pm
  #100  
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Originally Posted by newyorkgeorge
Yes by all means a FA can request to have you removed
By all means anyone can request to have you removed. Anyone can request whatever they want. We all read about what happened when the FA requested to have passengers removed in the post that started this thread.
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Old Feb 6, 2019, 5:14 pm
  #101  
 
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Originally Posted by davie355
I'd love to agree with you, but I'm more inclined to say "what's wrong with society" is people like the FA, and companies' (not just AA's) reluctance to implement proper feedback mechanisms for their customer-facing employees.

AA and other airlines love sending me surveys about my general travel experiences. What they need to be sending is a list of pics and names of each employee I interact with, along with a rating and comments box for each employee.
I have not received a request for feedback on a flight for quite some time (> 1 year?) Sometimes when I have received an e mail requesting this feedback, it has been nice to recognize good service when it is provided. Conversely, when it has been bad, it has been nice to offer that feedback too (providing something is done with it!). Have others seen a decline or discontinuation of a request for feedback?

Personally, I wish there was a system to provide feedback for ALL flights during or immediately after the flight (like SuperShuttle and an increasing number of service providers - e.g. Uber). When this is done, it has been my observation that the service provider seems acutely aware of the impact of their performance in the feedback they are likely to receive, and presumably being held accountable for. AA should do this.
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Old Feb 7, 2019, 1:52 am
  #102  
 
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Looks like this one has some legs - saw it on my Google News page this morning:

A Passenger on an American Airlines Flight Asked For an Irish Coffee. Then, a Horrific Escalation
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Old Feb 7, 2019, 2:25 am
  #103  
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Originally Posted by remedy
I have not received a request for feedback on a flight for quite some time (> 1 year?) Sometimes when I have received an e mail requesting this feedback, it has been nice to recognize good service when it is provided. Conversely, when it has been bad, it has been nice to offer that feedback too (providing something is done with it!). Have others seen a decline or discontinuation of a request for feedback?

Personally, I wish there was a system to provide feedback for ALL flights during or immediately after the flight (like SuperShuttle and an increasing number of service providers - e.g. Uber). When this is done, it has been my observation that the service provider seems acutely aware of the impact of their performance in the feedback they are likely to receive, and presumably being held accountable for. AA should do this.
But that can get screwed up as well. If you rate an Uber driver less than 5 stars, you get banned.
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Old Feb 7, 2019, 2:28 am
  #104  
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Originally Posted by josmul123
To be fair, they're not collecting a paycheck when the door is open. A woman asked a FA if she could use the restroom during boarding, and he said "For a small fee" as a joke. Then as the FA walked away to let her through, he turned to me and goes "Oh jeez, I hope Doug Parker didn't hear that. He'll get ideas." If I'd had an AApplause cert I'd have handed it to him right then.
No, they are collecting a paycheck. If the flight gets cancelled, they still get paid something. They are required to do work before the door is closed, and if they don't like that, they are free to resign and make less money elsewhere.
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Old Feb 7, 2019, 2:31 am
  #105  
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Originally Posted by VegasGambler
Good god, this is what is wrong with society. Too many people just willing to "take it". Scared because it won't end well for you? Come on, grow up, be a man for crying out loud. I will not cower in fear of someone just because they are wearing a little name tag with wings on it.

By the way, an FA absolutely cannot kick you off a flight. You don't even know what you are scared of here. The captain was brought into this and the FA clearly lost, and ended up having to sit in the galley for the whole flight while someone else did her job. Undoubtedly the captain ended up filing an incident report over this. If this ended poorly for someone, it was the FA.

As for the GA situation... no, they cannot cancel your ticket and tell you to contact AA for a refund. Again, you don't even know what you are scared of here.
There are plenty of stories of people who tried to speak up for themselves and ended up getting screwed.

If you have to deal with crazy people, the best thing to do is to say as little as possible, even if you would like to stab the person in the neck.
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