Scolded for passing my FC nuts to Y and switching seats.
 

Flew EWR to SLC on the 23rd and my wife and I got upgraded FC. We were flying with 8 other family members and they were seated directly behind us in coach. When the cashews were passed out I reached back and handed them to my brother in law who was sitting behind me in 5C. The first class attendant came over told me that this was not allowed and that I was disrupting the integrity of the first class cabin. He made a point to say it loud enough so everyone in first class could hear it and did so with a rather demeaning tone. I was rather surprised and sheepishly said "OK".

Later on I decided to go sit with some of my family members in Y and I told my sister in law to take my seat in FC for the remainder of the flight. This really PO'd the FA and he came over and said this was not allowed once again because of the "integrity of the FC cabin" and "security reasons". I said "OK" even though I knew this was not true and went back to my seat.

Thanks to others who have posted information on this board I decided to go talk to the attendant supervisor on board and I was told virtually the same thing. I then mentioned that the Continental P&P manual (Chapter 1, page 35) expressly allows this. She then said "well I don't allow this on my flights". But then, she went and got her manual (I think she was trying to see if I made this up). She read it out loud and it was funny to see the puzzled look on her face as she realized she was not following policy. At this point she just walked away and didn't say anything else. No apology, nothing.

Just thought I'd share this.

TAL - They All Lie

I think "FAA rule" means "What makes this Flight Attendants life easier" sometimes.

I never complain to the FA, just take names and fax to the EXP desk.

I have a lot of sympathy for FA's, but I never hesitate to leave them a little present in their file if necessary.

perhaps CO Insider could comment....do these little presents really matter?

And you point/question is?

I find the whole thing believable and unbelievable at the same time. "integrity" is a word used on this board all the time. I personally find it absurd that a "F" class cabin has "integrity". I wish they would stop calling it domestic First Class. It is absolutely nothing of the sort even when it's good. It's enhanced economy service. In the US, airlines are not allowed to hand pick FA"s to work F. In other countries they can. F service varies from wonderful, to piggish in the US due to that fact.

I think one in F should be able to pass their nuts to anyone of their choosing and it should not distrupt the elegant integrity of the F class cabin. I think that is comical. Absolutely comical. I mean, really.

It's time the United States of America realized that everybody is not the same, and that life isn't fair, and they should not permit numerous FA's from working the so - called F class. They are not worthy. I for the life of me will never understand how airlines get away with what they do. If any person received the kind of service they do on airplanes when they stay at a fine hotel, or a fine restaurant, they would not tolerate it whatsoever. In the air, for some reason, we decrease our expectation, that when the service is passable, we call it excellent.

I am personally sick of piggish flight attendants. Fortunately that isn't the large percentage, but it's large enough to ensure irregular service.

If it was me, I'd be tempted to say to the attendant, "This are my f*ing nuts and I'll give them to whomever I want". Of course, I'd then probably be tackled by air marshalls and arrested for not following instructions of the flight crew. :D

As a fellow corporate slave (not CO, not even airline industry...just The Man), I can tell you what CO Insider has limited options in this scenario if he values his job. He can either say in a very simple statement that CO takes all customer feedback very seriously, and makes sure to keep employees trained on regulations and customer service. That of course runs the risk of getting people grumbling that he's just feeding us PR BS, which is the opposite of what he's trying to do here.

The second option is to not respond. I'm willing to bet a round of drinks in the PC that this is the option he chooses, since it's the safest one. ;)

There's no way in the world he can come out and say: "You're right FCTSTY, those letters from people don't matter much, we just tuck them away in a file and forget about them."

Just want to point out that there are entire classes of questions that CO Insider can't touch as part of his official role here on the forum, and this is a perfect example.

Unfortunately, my experience has been that the EWR-based flight crews often are rude, sarcastic, and have bad attitudes.

Well, of course . . . how else could they exist here in the Garden State! :cool:

A$$ume
 

Gee mom...in looking on the crew list for the flight in question....it was a HOUSTON crew that worked the flight! :p

In other countries....if the first class service in the US is so horrid...why not move to the "other" countries. I am so tired of hearing how bad Americans have it regarding the service they receive. Many times it has to do with how you treat the service worker. Do you treat them as a servant? or as a fellow human being?

Of course they matter. They establish a pattern.....but just to clarify; my dogs leave me little presents and customers send complaint/compliment letters.

Everyone lies...including you: So get off the cross, we need the wood. :rolleyes:

Here is what Chapter 1 pg 35 states:

Revenue customers seated in First/BusinessFirst are permitted to switch seats with customers seated in the main cabin in-flight . Please accommodate such requests. Ensure the exchange is discreet, does not disrupt other customers, nor affect the INTEGRITY of the First/BusinessFirst cabin. Please use good judgment in-flight, keeping the customers saftisfaction in mind when dealing with gray areas such as this. Numerous switches would not be appropriate, but one time, in-flight, discreetly is permissible.

Also, remember, there are two sides to every story and so far we only have one. While the OP states his story in a very benign method; we all know sometimes this is not the case.

At the same, it seems that more and more of the F pax are lacking this very same thing.


I agree that the passing of the nuts should NOT be an issue. Perhaps the best choice would be to ask the FC FA to pass them back to someone for you. I have had this request many times and do not mind doing so at all.

No, everyone is not the same. One can definitely see that in the variey of people who are sitting in FC. Why the service may vary, and I agree that it shouldn't, so do the pax. I am sure that when you stay or dine at a 'fine hotel', you're not wearing your cut-offs, flip-flops(with gnarly feet in bad need of a pedi), and your wife beater t-shirt. If you did show up in such attire, you would probably be denied entry. Too bad we can't be this picky.


The same goes for people who think because they have made (or won because they got the 5 numbers and a powerball), that they suddenly have some class and integrity. If they did, they wouldn't show up looking and acting the way they do. Fortunately, this isn't a large percentage of people, but it large enough to disturb the integrity of the cabin and service.

I think I was the one that started this mess about switching seats between F & Y ;).

I, too, got the same attitude from some posters. Lots of "integrity" comments and a few sarcastic remarks about auctioning off my BF seat to the highest bidder.

I would ignore all of them. Some of them are such sticklers for policies, they just disappeared when a FA supervisor quote the manual. Or, they just feel like arguing.

IF I had a problem on my flight, which I did not, I would have complained when I got home.

You should do the same. After all, rules ARE rules, aren't they ? ;) :) :) :)

I have flown with family members several times where only some of us have been in FC and I always bend over backwards to be considerate of other FC passengers if/when we change seats etc. In my opinion, it's less a matter of rules than an issue of common courtesy.

I say this because it really can very annoying to others in the cabin . . .

A couple weeks ago, my entire family was flying FC to LAX (from EWR). I bought 4 tix because I knew there was no chance for transcon upgrades and just factored into the cost of a nice fmaily vacation. Anyway, there was a couple seated in the last row of FC (directly behind my husband and 12 year old son) who had their 2 children a few rows back in coach. Their kids were very young - under 5 - and I was pretty surprised that they chose to have the kids sit alone! Anyway, as you can imagine, the kids were running back and forth up the aisle into FC, sometimes one parent went back and sat with one child, but for a good portion of the flight, all 4 squeezed into the 2 seats and the kids were essentially climbing onto and banging my husband's seat. I did not want to complain to the FA because as a mom who frequently travels with kids (granted older, well behaved ones), I am somewhat sympathetic. Eventually, one of the FAs kindly suggested to this family that 2 people really should go back to their seats in coach, and I appreciated that.

I realize this was not the case with OP, but I just wanted to point out that the flight attendants have to deal with this sort of thing all the time, and often it really is disturbing to others seated in the cabin but people don't necessarily speak up so it really is up to the FA to "police" the situation.

dc

Before anyone changes country let me tell you that the service in the US is way ahead of anything we get in Europe... But if you don't believe me I'd be happy to swap passports!

I once got told by a CO FA that I MUST shut the window blind so that the video screens were easier to see (I don't think anyone was watching the rubbish). I was on holiday (sorry vacation!) at the time and wanted to look out of the window at your lovely countryside! Luckily (for me) he didn't hear what I called him... :mad:

How does a passenger have access to the Continental P&P manual?
Was it actually an attendant supervisor or the First Flight Attendant you spoke to?