FA Training on Regionals?
Jun 13, 2019, 8:50 pm
#17
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: BOS/UTH
Programs: AA LT PLT; QR GLD; Bonvoy LT TIT
Posts: 12,755
That precise conversation happened to my dinner companion at the Savoy Grill, a Gordon Ramsay restaurant (!!), in February of this year. She ordered a scotch neat; the waiter came back about 10 minutes later to ask what "neat" meant. One might have thought that between being at the Savoy in London, and being in a Gordon Ramsay restaurant, SOMEONE would have known what neat meant. But it was not to be.
Jun 13, 2019, 9:03 pm
#18
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: NT Australia
Programs: QF WP
Posts: 4,160
I’m team “cut the FA some slack” but also team “the company should provide more training”
this is a worldwide problem from what I can gather. Pay and conditions have been slashed to the point that post people who are attracted to these jobs are lacking in life experience, cultural immersion etc.
Here in Australia the regionals is basically a minimum wage job for FAs. I’ve not run into problems with drinks as I suppose drinking culture is different here but they often struggle with the meals for example detecting if the wrong thing has been loaded (because it’ll have some fancy descriptor like “cafe de Paris sauce” on one of my flights, FA obviously had no idea what that was and therefore was totally unable to detect that the wrong meals had been delivered, or to explain to a pax who asked what said sauce actually consisted of
this is a worldwide problem from what I can gather. Pay and conditions have been slashed to the point that post people who are attracted to these jobs are lacking in life experience, cultural immersion etc.
Here in Australia the regionals is basically a minimum wage job for FAs. I’ve not run into problems with drinks as I suppose drinking culture is different here but they often struggle with the meals for example detecting if the wrong thing has been loaded (because it’ll have some fancy descriptor like “cafe de Paris sauce” on one of my flights, FA obviously had no idea what that was and therefore was totally unable to detect that the wrong meals had been delivered, or to explain to a pax who asked what said sauce actually consisted of
Jun 14, 2019, 2:47 am
#21
Join Date: May 2019
Programs: World of Hyatt, AAdvantage
Posts: 179
Good Lord, did you mean to walk into a bar and got on a plane instead?
You’re on a short flight. Would you like us to come to your job and post all your shortcomings? You’ll survive the less-than-stellar service you feel you received.
You’re on a short flight. Would you like us to come to your job and post all your shortcomings? You’ll survive the less-than-stellar service you feel you received.
Jun 14, 2019, 5:05 am
#22
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: USA
Programs: Chase Sapphire Reserve, WFBF
Posts: 1,573
I know people who went through the mainline training at US before the merger and they got pretty specific training regarding how to serve drinks.
Jun 14, 2019, 8:49 am
#23
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: SLC/HEL/Anywhere with a Beach
Programs: Marriott Ambassador; AA EXP 3MM; AS MVP, Hilton Gold, CH-47/UH-60/C-23/C-130 VET
Posts: 5,234
Mainline definitely.
But this is a regional.
I'm often on SkyWest operated flights and like their FA's. But ... I wouldn't be surprised if they have 30 percent turnover in the first year so I suspect they meet the FAA safety requirements in training and figure people can learn most everything else on the job. Some will know what a Gin and Tonic is and some won't. I'll confess that when I was 19 or 20, I didn't have a clue what tonic was. Other than maybe one of those hair products which would have really been confusing.
Jun 14, 2019, 8:50 am
#24
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 170
Back in the glory days (mid-2017 through mid-2018) when AA served New Belgium Voodoo Ranger instead of that Budweiser-made Goose stuff, I ordered a Voodoo Ranger and an FA looked at me like I had a third eyeball. I had to pull out the inflight magazine and point to what I wanted to prove to her that it was a real thing. AA had been serving it for several months at this point.
While we're all ranting about drink service, is it part of the training to require FAs to put a stir stick in drinks consisting solely of whiskey and ice? Why?
While we're all ranting about drink service, is it part of the training to require FAs to put a stir stick in drinks consisting solely of whiskey and ice? Why?
Jun 14, 2019, 8:56 am
#25
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Stilllwater OK (SWO)
Programs: AAdvantage ExecPlat, World of Hyatt Globalist, plain "member" of Marriott, IHG, enterprise, etc.
Posts: 1,848
Well, I actually see that gin and tonic can be confusing for a young-not-yet-drinker. It's not like most kids (in the US anyways) grow up drinking tonic water* or have any real familiarity with "tonic", and many youths won't have gin in their repertoire of party drinks yet (even kids who drink will usually gain much faster familiar with vodka than gin). So "ginentonic" may not make any sense to someone with no experience (training). My parents didn't drink gin and tonics when I was growing up, and so I wasn't familiar with the drink until I was in my 20s. My partner, on the hand, grew up in a house where her parents drank gin and tonic on the regular, so she was very familiar, and in fact, she is the one that really introduced me to the drink.
On airplanes though, FA's usually pour a bit too much gin per tonic for my taste, so in F I have learned to avoid ordering them -- In Y I get to pour and mix myself though.
(*my 8 year old, btw, prefers tonic water to any coke/pepsi type drink; she usually asks for "tonic" on flights, nearly always to a FA expressing dumbfoundedness).
Jun 14, 2019, 9:32 am
#27
Moderator: American AAdvantage, Travel Safety/Security & Texas, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: AUS / GRK
Programs: AA, HHonors, Hertz
Posts: 13,488
Most of the time on airlines, I've found with all the aircraft noise and other noise around the cabin, that I really have to yell for the FA to hear my drink order. I'm sure they have a zillion things to worry about that my drink order is just another thing they need to get done.
As for FA's on regionals, I've found most are some of the best FA's I encounter.