bfisk

This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a while. Part of the priv of F is looking any way you want. Nobody's business but yours.

raehl311

Do you guys who have issues look like you know what you're doing?

I'm not sure that's the best explanation, but I really don't have the problems you guys have and I'm sure I look at least as not-F-material as anyone else. Some suggestions:

1) Act with confidence. I pretty much NEVER get anything less than good service from NW/DL employees, but I think part of that may be my take-no-prisoners attitude, i.e., I just walk up the breezeway and hand the boarding pass to the GA like I EXPECT them to scan it. (Not in any way an aggressive manner, but definitely with some level of confidence that I know exactly what I'm doing.)

2) Note how others are treated. I do get asked "Are you flying F?" in various circumstances, but 99% of the time, the guy in front of or behind me in the business suit gets asked the same question. For example, flying out of SAN this past weekend, the TA was on the ball and made a point of telling me to use the First/Elite line to get through security faster (I probably would not have noticed it without the suggestion), but when I went to get into the line the line dragon made rather rudely asked me if I was flying F. But he then proceeded to rather rudely ask the next 10 people who got in the line the same question, so it wasn't an issue of a judgment of me personally, just that this particular minimum-wage security guy wasn't particularly pleasant. So be aware of how others are treated - being questioned is not, in and of itself, an issue, if all others are receiving the same treatment.


As for odd looks from random PAX, I think anyone who flies F with some frequency understands that F has all sorts of PAX. I get my odd looks from folks who seem to have paid for F and may not understand that us frequent travelers get upgrades, and from random coach PAX who I'm sure have no idea a frequent traveler upgrade program even exists and assume (because all information they have access to, like TV sitcoms) F is the domain of the rich and famous. So I'm fine with the odd looks there - they just don't know any better.

Gynob001

I have Ph.D and MBA degrees and I always am well dressed. I am an Asian American who have lived in the US for over 30 years. You wouldn't believe how many times I have been asked by flight attendants whether I speak english, how many times I have been seated with "my own kinde of people" etc. Just a couple of months back, a gate agent who couldn't pronounce my name and gave my seat away to another person...
I could go on and on...In the beginning I used to get angry and upset, but these are ignorant employees who are in control of that moment.
You know well that there is no dress code for first class, but there is a conduct code for airline employees.

gitismatt

if you frequently pass through DTW or MSP, i wouldnt be surprised about someone asking an asian passenger if he or she speaks english. those are gateways for the pacific destinations. it's probably a little presumptuous, but it's a fair question in those locales

kenrph

In my experience being 35 yo white male, when i in shorts/nice t-shirt/sneakers (summer), jeans/polo (winter) on sundays when heading to a client that about 10% of the time i get a funny look/questioned about my elite (plat) status/first class seat etc. but when i go home on thursdays dressing business casual, i almost never have an issue. When I have an issue, it disapears once i show my boarding card.

With that being said i find delta FA/GA/Sky Club attendants are great in general, but whenever dealing with people in large numbers, there will always be that one person that's an ... or just having a bad day.

macoz

Agreed.

When I pay, I dress as I want. When someone pays me, then dress code can be negotiated along with my fee.

Don't body stank me, don't spillover into my seat, and don't snip toenail clippings into my wine...which apply anywhere, not just in FC on an aircraft.

FC is now equivalent to back of the bus treatment in the early 80s. Nothing glamorous about riding Greyhound.

Folks needing their glamor fix (delusional or non) might get more of what they need with fractional ownership. You gotta pay to play.

If there is a dress code and I ain't getting paid, then I ain't attending the function.

Madefornow

Fellow elite passengers are definitely rude and pathetic.....especially the "biz gate lice" according to MnRedFox ^


Experience - I walked up to the counter to ask if First was checked in full and the gate agent was a little loud with the response, "YES!!! First Class is checked in full, no more UPGRADES!!!!" Am like, okay! I only asked if First was checked-in full, so I could change my seat to a window.
I walked away after everyone was staring at me thinking i was hustling for an upgrade...I was actually booked in First(may I add, paid out of pocket)

When GA announced Elite/First boarding, Passenger dressed in a suit with crackberry in hand, looked over and said "only first class passengers are boarding now, the gate agent has not called regular boarding".....I was like, oh no he didnt! The busy body passenger(PM) was in an upgraded seat and not paid F....hiss

I believe i look better than the stereotypical first class passenger (I always give the FA's a tingle) .....aoow!!! my only pet peeves are passengers dressed up in sleeveless clothes(tank tops,wife beaters, ladies in tube tops,etc).....eewww, dont spill all ur under arm grossness on the seats.....lol!!!! I hate flying in and out of florida.....

...if u did not pay for your First class seat, then dont complain how fellow first class passengers look! If you want to complain then your pocket better be fatter than theirs!!! lol!!!

wearing your best outfit to seat in a wretched Delta First class cabin is sooooo 2000 & Late

Madefornow

LoL!!! Thank God, online check-in cant judge based on any of the above.....if not, I will be sent to the back of the plane based on age....lmao

I will like to suggest that Delta upgrade female passengers before male passengers...hehehehehehehhe.....women are more deserving.....

Where are those angry male passengers that dont agree with my proposal????

pbarnette

Considering that there are 15 million people who identify as Asian American in the US, I think it more than a bit presumptious to ask if they speak English. I would strongly suspect that both MSP (esp MSP) and DTW see far more Asian Americans than they do foreign-born Asians, despite being gateways. Would we all be okay with folks in ATL asking random African Americans if they speak English, just because they have a few flights to Africa?

It might be a fair question if you are working a flight to a foreign locale, but at security at the airport, for instance, it does strike me as pretty ridiculous and more than a little presumptuous.

fedup flyer

I am just elated that you did not show up wearing your pajamas and had taken a shower in the past 18-24 hrs.

remedy

I for one, lament the days where folks dressed a little better in general, in general on flights, and particularly in first class. I still do this (not necessarily a coat and tie, but business casual), including international travel, and think I get treated better when I "look like I belong there." I also do not like it when people put their feet up on the bulkhead, but that's another story. I am realistic enough not to argue the point these days, but thought I would weigh in.

cullen24

Agree with you. Americans have become slobs and my wife and I are not interested in teaching our daughters to be cute and sexy at age 12. I was elated with the recent Morehouse College decision to institute a dress code. As their president stated on CNN, "the personal has become public" -I am not that interested in most peoples "personal" when I am in public.

At the same time, the longer the flight the less likely I am going to dresss for first impressions .

Moebius01

Like several folks in this thread, my dress is often based on the trip/situation. In the past at least, if I was headed to a client site the day before meetings, I'd be in nice shorts and a polo style shirt. Obviously if I had to hit the ground headed to a meeting, then I'd be wearing whatever the client site's dress code required.

Personally, I've only been questioned once (the 6'7" part might have something to do with that ) which was by a passenger, and I happened to be on a paid F ticket that time to boot. Guy in line behind me muttered something about only first class boarding and hating people who try to board when it's not their time. I ignored him the first two times, then as I got to the GA he asked the GA "Didn't you say ONLY first class was boarding?". The GA already had my boarding pass in hand and politely told him that I was traveling in first. I turned around and told him he might want to allow his brain to work a bit before opening the lips, smiled and boarded.

SamOF

Interesting—I look like I might have just hopped off a coach class from AMS, FRA, CDG, or FCO. Despite the fact that DTW has more flights to those destinations than they do to asia, I've never been asked if I speak English there.

I wonder why that would be?

El Boocho

I wore a sock RHCP style last week. It sure made the TSA process easier.