'Hello mate!'
 

is the greeting I just received upon boarding my (eurofleet) flight.

Now, I pride myself on being very laid back and informal, including in many professional contexts where I would be entitled to a certain formality, but maybe there are limits to all good things, and even by my informal standards, this is beyond it.

Did your greeting seem genuine orbitmic? For me personally a smile and a genuine welcome are more important than the actual phraseology.

I see nothing wrong with it.

I'd say the crew member just looked zombie-ish and uninterested. If I were to describe his demeanour, I guess 'bored' and 'sad' would be my two top words of choice.

I am with orbitmic on this.

Ahh... I thought you had taken a First flight with a MF crew who just turned 17 :D

Jokes aside... nothing against MF or any other crew... Had a r/t to BEY in CW with Eurofleet... Average service on the outbound, but superb service on the inbound. Both Eurofleet, chnages with crew, I guess

i do, but let it not stop you - everyone have their own perimeter of familiarity. If you like the 'hello mate' type, I suspect you might like joon, the new airline where crew wear white sneakers and sleeveless recycled duvet waistcoats, and VS which has prided itself on the 'hello mate' style for years. 😉

How were you dressed? Jeans and a hoodie and I reckon it's spot on. 3 piece suite and pocket watch, probably not

Look, I know that BA's cabin baggage allowance is generous, but even so isn't a 3-piece suite a bit over the top?

:D :D

Don't forget the dinner jacket for evening flights.

I think there's a lot of merit in this, although there is a limit to how informal one can be with a stranger, particularly when one's job is to provide customer service.

Interestingly I've just come up a Virgin flight from Seattle and the crew were unfailingly polite and didn't address me as 'mate' once!

A few weeks back my mother was greeted by 'mornin' pet'.

She reports delivering a stern lecture on over familiarity which left the female cabin crew member blushing. When she starts, my mother has a voice that would shatter plate glass and I can cringe at the thought of it.

How delicious that this has happened on BA after it formed the basis of much of the derision of VS' service...

Dinner jacket in J, white tie in F, lounge suit in W and shell suit in Y.

Complete agree with Orbitmic on the mate comment. Unacceptable in a customer service environment anywhere outside a hipster, jam-jar place.