How do you handle grumpy Flight Attendants ?
 

How do you handle grumpy Flight Attendants in your cabin ?

• Confront or comment directly to the grumpy FA about their grumpy attitude
• Make a passive-agressive comment to the grumpy FA as a way to point out their grumpyness
• Smile and be extra pleasant to the grumpy FA in the hope they become aware of their grumpy attitude and change it
• Be grumpy, unsmiling and unacknowledging back to the grumpy FA
• Comment about the grumpy FA to other FAs
• Comment about the grumpy FA to seatmates who are not your travel companions
• During the flight, request and fill a complaint-form (is there a more specific name for this form ?), and hand it back to crew
• After the flight complain to the airline's about the grumpy FA, with or without expectation of a compensation
• Put on your headphones, avoid interacting or making eye contact with the grumpy FA
• Do you handle the grumpy FA in another way ?

Does the presence of a grumpy FA considerably ruin your enjoyment of the flight or trip ?

I just don't let it impact my flight or my day to begin with. As long as I received the products and services (food, drink, etc.) that I was supposed to for that cabin and flight, I'm not all that concerned with their demeanor, really.

All of those sound like horrible ways to handle such a situation. Maybe assume that the F/A has a bad day. Everybody has those and it is difficult to keep smiling when you have a sh** day. Even F/A have days where everything goes wrong (from minor stuff to major things such as breakups, death of a relative, serious health problem of a child, etc.). If you really feel talking about it, then try having a productive (as in friendly, understanding, supportive, etc.) talk rather than complaining or being grumpy to the FA.

FWIW I apply my #1 maxim when it comes to interacting with staff (as a customer or a co-worker/superior): Treat them as you expect to be treated.

I do one of two things.
1. Smile and say goodbye, have a nice day.
2. Scream that this flight is going to Cuba on my orders, now!

Some of those things might get you thrown off a flight if the grumpy FA is also vindictive.

Headphones and hand signals.

Still treat them as I would normally then ignore it. On a 6 hour flight they don't spend that much time with me.

No excuses. No excuses. Such excuses devalue the majority of service employees who have bad days yet continue to provide excellent service.

I don't confront grumpy FAs, I just keep my interactions with them to a minimum (they'll miss my jokes) and I'll make a note of the poor service in a post-flight survey if I'm sent one.

If the grumpiness is absurd I'll write in proactively to the airline, but I've never met any FA so egregious - only a GA whose employment was summarily terminated (and I noticed because she worked at my relatively small home airport at the time, and I never saw her after my complaint).

I try not to fly longhaul on US airlines. Give me CX, JAL, KE or SQ any day. The service level is miles apart.

Just say "C'mon, give us a smile, sweetie. You look so much cuter when you do." People love that. :rolleyes:

Longhaul US airline flights are the least likely to have grumpy FAs due to the seniority level required to work those flights.

IME the senior (read "burnt out") FA's are most likely to grumpy/rude/nasty, especially on UA.

In general, I try to have as little to do with the FA's as possible. Often my interaction with them is limited to "Ginger ale, please. No ice" followed shortly by "Thank you".

If I had to deal with customers like me and an employer like most airlines these days, I’d be grumpy too. ;-)

Anybody can have a bad day. I've done customer service in the past, and I always tried to be my professional best no matter what was going on with me at the time.

I try not to make assumptions, but just smile at the people taking care of me on the flight. I say please and thank you. I do that because I want to be a kind person.

Make 'em laugh.