Being lied to is not acceptable. I would have no issue contacting AA and saying, "FA So-and-So mentioned that serving pre-departure drinks is against health and safety regulations. What regulations are those?"

Unclear whether it's a contractual obligation, but per post 377 it is company policy (which also seems to align with some of Gary Leff's coverage).

My understanding (and maybe I'm wrong) is that FAs have some discretion. For example, if the flight is late and every minute counts towards pax making a connection or the crew is coming close to duty limits. Makes sense and I certainly wouldn't want or expect misconnections or a timed out crew so I can have a glass of wine. But of course many FA take this as I don't have to provide the service because I'm not getting paid.

BTW, OMAT is reporting that FAs are demanding 50% duty pay during boarding. Have to wonder if that might them to be motivated to do something other than look at their phone during boarding.

3/7 PHX-CLT - No PDB - During boarding, FA's stood in the galley and chatted together - only saying anything to passengers if they were spoken to first. Service just okay in the air - it wasn't bad but the FA certainly did not go out of the way or above and beyond what they had to do.
3/7 CLT-GSP - Full bar PDB - nothing after the PDB, but this is a very quick 25 minute flight!
3/9 GSP-CLT - Full bar PDB - same as above
3/9 CLT-PHX - Full bar PDB. This was an all-around excellent flight. Greeted at the door with a smile and a note was waiting for me at my seat thanking me, by name, for flying with AA, Lead FA was excellent the whole flight - constantly walking through the FC cabin, asking for refills, chatting with travelers, food pre-orders acknowledged and other orders taken promptly, dinner served quickly and efficiently. Service was exemplary. This is how the FC experience should be and, if all FA's were required to perform their job to the highest standard like Lead FA Josh Doyle, then AA would not be bleeding customers as they are.

I hope you write into AA and commend the FA. I truly think it is our responsibility to tell AA who is doing a great job and recognizing them, and making sure we tell them who is not meeting expectations.

While I agree with you on principle in reality this will do nothing. Even more so that AA (and other airlines) get the bulk of their profits from retail partners, particularly their cc partners. It's just not a priority. I try to particularly when in a premium cabin be very warm to good FAs and let them know how much I appreciate the effort they've made. Given the way FAs can sometimes be treated as a waitress at the local Tasty Dinner I hope that encourages them even when some of their peers think that paxs are an annoyance to be ignored.

OMAT is reporting that FA are asking for 50% duty pay during boarding and I think they should get it. Decades ago when contracts were written boarding was a time of FAs smiling, find some blankets and pillows for customer and FAs up front serving drinks to the premium paxs. In all a stress free time so just bump up flight pay. Today because airlines are obsessed with filling every seat, people bringing on stream trunks, and seemingly unable to understand the concept of finding the seat number that matches their BP it's become a time of heightened stress for FAs and they deserve to be compensated. Maybe that might encourage some FAs to do PDBs.

I wouldn't hold my breath unless it's engineered in a manner that has meaningful sticks and carrots. For example, sharply increase premium cabin checkrides and dole out ad hoc bonuses for proper service levels that at least match what the same FAs get for completed credit card applications. At the same time, make a deal with APFA to temporarily reduce pay and benefits for wanton service policy failures. (I realize this will likely never happen, but it would definitely work.)

On a flight this weekend, the FA said, “is it ok if we don’t do PDBs, so that we can get this flight off on time? But if you want a drink, please let me know.”

I thought that was fine. She thanked me by name and one other guy by name, both for being an EXP. I thought that she was good.

We are? Since when?

Interested to learn the FA perspective on this subject. Clearly PDBs are very highly valued by premium passengers, as evidenced by this thread alone. They were a routine staple pre-Covid and are now far more elusive. When there is ample time to serve them and it doesn’t happen, is it mostly a result of laziness or some actual principle? And is there ever an actual consequence for not providing this part of the service?

In the 80s and 90s it didn’t matter how little time there was — it got done (almost) no matter what in domestic first. Quite often in such situations I remember being served a Coke or Sprite during taxi. It was very much an expected standard back then, as it really should still be today for the substantially higher prices being paid.

3/8 AA28 LAX-JFK in J: Yes, OJ/Water/Sparkling Wine on Tray

3/9 AA1831 JFK-MIA: No, but boarding was slightly hectic so FA gets a pass

3/15 AA2087 FLL-CLT: Was seated in the first row of Y, so was able to see a pdb service

3/15 AA1863 CLT-DFW: Fantastic crew on this flight with all hands on deck (3 FAs working F). Open bar pdb offered and stellar service all around.

3/15: AA941 DFW-ABQ: We finishing boarding 20 minutes before schedule departure, but FAs just stood in the galley. Once in the air, asked for a Woodford on the rocks to which the FA responded "and if I don't have that, what would you like?" I said Goose Island IPA, and off she went. 5 minutes later and she reported that she had neither, but was going to look in the back. She finally produced a Goose Island IPA from the Y cart. I didn't care that much, but thought it was a little strange how F was missing both of those drinks.

This exact scenario happens on my domestics an awful lot these days.

Yep, and it seems like it's getting worse.

We had FAA regulations then, and now, so not sure why they are cracking down recently. The PDB must be picked up prior to door closure, unless there is a trash can with a flap. We are not to open any carts after door closing.

Edited to add, boarding times are now contractual, and the FAs cannot board the aircraft until an agent shows up to scan us in. I'm sure they also have show times for each flight. We no longer have the luxury of extra time. Not an excuse, because I try to make it happen, just giving another perspective

This is very insightful feedback, thank you! Had no idea about the regulations in play. Carts are very heavy so such a rule makes lots of sense. I do vaguely seem to remember flap-style disposal in the 72 galleys but could easily be confusing the model. I've also seen full-sized waste trollies with top/front flaps in more recent years on the wide-bodies of a few Asian carriers. This said, collection of plastic cups during taxi was almost a standard practice back in the day so not sure if it was more procedurally lax or just a past equipment advantage. In any case, this is very helpful to know in the current context.