Do we need that many FA???
 

Do we really need that many flight attendants on a flight??
They say they are there also for our safetey but the truth is in case of emergency the plane blows up or crashes so there is no need......percent of times they actually need to help is low.......
plus why pay that great salary???? FA should be paid the same rate as the waitress in Denny's.
FA has been the glorified maid service job........I vote to eliminate some flight attendants and reduce cost........only good service in FC!!!!!

The minimum number of FAs on a flight is mandated by the FAA, based on the number that are reasonably needed to manage the number of pax on the plane during an emergency. Emergencies come up all the time, the unexpected mid-air total explosion that you talk about is probably the least common emergency; certainly after other problems such as difficult pax, sick pax and dangerous landings.

Second, FAs make almost as little as waitresses, except that they don't get tips. If each pax started tipping them $3-5 like we do at Denny's, most FAs would make a lot more money than they do now.

Third, I'm not sure what airlines you're flying, but the one I do don't exactly have a surplus of FAs. On a narrowbody, three FAs (on for first class and two for about 100 coach pax) seems like the minimum that could reasonably do a beverage service. As you stated, you want good service in first, so in this case we could only reduce the number of FAs down to two - one for first and one to handle 100 coach pax. I have a hard time believing that having one person manage 100 pax is a good idea.

d

Good idea! Let's apply the same reasoning to the existence of, say, hospitals and EMT's. After all most drivers don't need these services on any given trip. You first.

Quote:

---

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">plus why pay that great salary???? ....

---

Nothing like a troll who is ignorant of the facts, plus can't read the description of this forum -- "Discussion of the latest frequent flyer program buzz..."

Sigh. If any of the great FA's who inhabit FT are reading this, know that most of us are very appreciative of the FA's who are professional, helpful, enjoy their jobs despite the cruddy pay and who post on these boards despite threads like this one.

Now let's hope the Moderator quickly moves this to the right category ("Fact-Free Posts" or closes it.)

The FAA requires one F/A per 50 passengers.

That's why lots of planes seat 100 passengers or 149 passengers, etc. to get the maximum workload placed on each F/A.

I don't think any airline has "extra" F/A's.

They work hard and dealing with the public has to be challenging, especially with all the service reductions that various airline management teams make. The F/A is the one who gets all the complaints and is hassled for decisions that someone else made.

you guys.........
you must be business people....overworked......relax and have a bit of humour
i guess you didn't see the "other side" of my posting.......LOL
as for Mr.cblaisd........if you wanna use insulting words at least send a personal mssg and don't embarrass yoursefl in front of everybody!

Actually, I'm pretty certain some of the FAs whom post on the UA board have said UA often puts on more than the FAR-required number of FAs on some a/c. I've also been on Aloha flights with more than the FAR minimum.

(I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the union has negotiated for FAs above the minimum required at some airlines. FAs then get additional pay if the number falls below the union-mandated level but is above the FAR-mandated level).

[This message has been edited by letiole (edited 09-01-2002).]

A lot of big planes have a lot more FA's than the minimum required by FARs.

A United Boeing 747-400 holds 347 passengers, so the minimum number of FA's is seven. However, most longhaul UA 747 ops have around 15 FAs (not sure of the exact number).

I don't know what the rules are for long haul flights and F/A staffing requirements.

It would seem logical to have more than one F/A crew on a 12 hour flight because the F/A's would need time for breaks. If you need 7 F/A's for a 347 seat 747 than you would need extra F/A's to cover coffee breaks and F/A meal/break times.

Isn't there also a lead F/A that's more of a supervising F/A on long haul flights?

1. This seems to be the wrong forum for this topic.

2. This post is very demeaning to FA's. If, as later suggested, there was to be humor in this post, I, for one,do not find it.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif IronyDar has yet again exploded.

Two issues. First the flaming is not going to be tolerated, regardless if there is a misunderstanding of the originator's attempt to be humorous. Second this post does not belong is "MilesBuzz". TravelBuzz or Omni is more apropos.

I think the best thing is to close it, and if someone wants to discuss this subject further, start from scratch somewhere on the "FT Travel" board.

------------------
Craig6z
Buzz & United Moderator
[email protected]