Is JAL racist? Please read my story....
#31
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: USA
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OK, but here is a guy (OP) sitting there, trying not to look as hacked off as he really is; he has to get up repeatedly to ask for stuff, and the FA's, fully grown adults that they are, working in an international customer facing role, for an organization belonging to a country that has politeness and service down to a fine art, and they are somehow experiencing a cultural disconnect? Some things are self-evident; this is one of them.
#32
Join Date: Nov 2008
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If the FA "had the impression that the OP wanted not to be disturbed" it has to be addressed immediately after closing the door by asking directly to the passenger if he wants to sleep or going with full service. Any top airline in long haul F would ask if they see you kind of tired.
#33
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Kansas City, USA
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I think the language barrier could be an issue and I have seen situations like this happen on US based carrier too. I could see a Japanese passenger on a US carrier thinking that the FA's were racist because the chose to limit there interactions based on the language barrier. Most US carriers do have a FA or two who speak the language of the country being traveled to but they may not be working the class that the passenger is in. I have seen FA's who only speak english working the F cabin on a flight to Asia (UA, AA).
I'm not saying this is right or acceptable, but I could see it being an issue. Maybe it gets "Lost in Translation".
I'm not saying this is right or acceptable, but I could see it being an issue. Maybe it gets "Lost in Translation".
#34
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 2,558
Wow, this is a very odd experience.
It is definitely not the norm for them in F. I would be quite unhappy if that happened to me!
I am not Japanese, and neither is my wife, and we have always had excellent service in their F. Mind you, we've always been on revenue tickets and have never flown with them on award tickets.
It is definitely not the norm for them in F. I would be quite unhappy if that happened to me!
I am not Japanese, and neither is my wife, and we have always had excellent service in their F. Mind you, we've always been on revenue tickets and have never flown with them on award tickets.
Last edited by Flyingfox; Jul 29, 2009 at 9:49 pm
#36
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 2,558
I've had similar experiences on AA because they treat employees and relatives of employees like they belong in F and the paying (cash or miles) public like they are intruders in the employee lounge. Not saying that explains what happened here, but it's not always what it seems.
That is a brilliant explanation of the AA attitude in F!
"intruders in the employee lounge"!
I love it.
#37
Your experience sounds quite familiar to me, even though I have only experineced this on ANA. Every time I fly with them in premium classes I get the full gaijin treatment.
Japanese pax around me are pampered whilst I am mainly ignored.
Consequence to me: I don't fly Japanese airlines anymore.
Japanese pax around me are pampered whilst I am mainly ignored.
Consequence to me: I don't fly Japanese airlines anymore.
#38
It isn't obvious because it's a one sided story. I wasn't there. Plus, this story seems so much out of ordinary that it does raise some questions.
#39
Join Date: Jun 2002
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#40
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: NYLON - AA EXP 1MM, SPG Gold
Posts: 1,234
OK, but here is a guy (OP) sitting there, trying not to look as hacked off as he really is; he has to get up repeatedly to ask for stuff, and the FA's, fully grown adults that they are, working in an international customer facing role, for an organization belonging to a country that has politeness and service down to a fine art, and they are somehow experiencing a cultural disconnect? Some things are self-evident; this is one of them.
#41
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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I've never traveled in F but I have flown in C a number of times and this story is so far outside the norm of the quality of the service in C or Y that I've experienced that I just don't believe it happened as the OP is telling it.
#43
Japanese are known to be fairly "exclusive" at times but their gracious hospitality towards guests is also well known. You can possibly argue that Japanese are racist towards gaijing living in Japan, that wouldn't be a hard argument to make but as far as airline treatment of pax is concerned, it would definitely be quite unheard of, the type of treatment received by the OP. Then again, I wasn't there. In my experience, I have never experienced anything but very good to excellent service on JAL, while excellent to outstanding on ANA and I am a gaijing too.
#44
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 183
I saw this yesterday and wasn't going to bother posting, but I find the posts questioning the op's veracity a bit untoward. I'm a gaijin--a dark skinned gaijin. I've flown JAL a few times--maybe 12 or 15 flights total in J and F over the past 5 years. On every flight, it's seemed obvious that Japanese passengers received more attentive service than I did. The worst was a flight in first class from LAX to NRT. It was really difficult to get the FA's attention for simple things like a refill of water. I wrote it off to being on an award ticket and discomfort with language. Generally, I'm not particularly bothered by less attentive service. I don't necessarily want or need a huge amount of attention, but that flight was particularly egregious. I took the time to write a letter complaining, something I've very rarely done.
#45
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Point Place, Wisconsin
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Too bad, b/c even Lufty flies Japanese FAs in their First Class cabins between Germany and Japan - I know, because I made the mistake of flying LH F from Germany to Japan as opposed to go for ANA. Hence if your theory is Japanese FA intentionally mistreats you, then your theory should also apply to any other carriers who use Japanese FAs as well.
I now travel either on LH,BA,SQ or CX.