When a flight attendant talks too much
 

I’m sure some of you are going to argue that this belongs in the “least substantive things you can complain about” thread. I vehemently disagree. To me this is very substantive. And although incredibly annoying, I don’t think I should or ever would complain about it to either the FA or to AA.

I flew BOS-LAX in J this morning. As I boarded the flight, the J FA was standing in the row behind my seat engaging in enthusiastic conversations with passengers as they boarded, some of whom she apparently recognized from prior flights. I get that the fact I found this bothersome is my issue, not hers; she was doing nothing wrong, even if I would have preferred less chatting.

But then throughout the flight, her long and enthusiastic conversations continued. I slept for the first two hours of the flight (listening to music through noise canceling ear buds must have blocked her out), but when I woke up she very enthusiastically came to me to tell me she has saved my breakfast for me. That was unbelievably kind of her, but when I declined the breakfast, telling her that I had had breakfast in the AC before boarding, she launched into a long story about her recent big birthday, and her friends having bought her an F ticket on DL, and how that allowed her access to the DL lounge, whereas almost all of her personal travel is standby on AA, which doesn’t permit her access to the lounge, and how delightful she found the DL lounge.

Again, she was doing absolutely nothing wrong, and I hope I came across as polite and interested in what she was telling me, but I just wanted to put my ear buds back in and close my eyes again. When she was done with me, she moved on to the couple across the aisle and engaged in an even longer and equally enthusiastic conversation with them, but at least at this point I had my ear buds back in.

I’m not sure what point I’m trying to make in posting this. I suspect I’ll enjoy some responses I illicit and will be annoyed by others. As I said, I don’t think she did anything wrong, and she really performed her job responsibilities very well. I just want more quiet on flights! Amtrak has a “quiet car” on many of its trains. Maybe we need that on airplanes too!

Back in the day, we were required to chat up, and be friendly with our pax. That crew falls into the category of "old school"! they called it Phase 3

I remember some delightful conversations with you when I used to fly JFK-LAX more regularly. Maybe I’m just getting grumpier as I get older. (Although I had a very serious bicycle accident three years ago — traumatic brain injury; three weeks in the hospital. Perhaps the biggest blessing of my accident is being able to blame everything on the accident and not on getting older. So perhaps that it why I found it annoying today. 🤓)

Oh, and it my post revealed enough for you to figure out which FA I’m talking about, please don’t say anything to her! She really was great!

I miss crew like that. Good old days.

Send her my way! - As long as she's not ignoring other passengers requests, I love chatting about our respective travels - a few months ago I spent a few minutes in the galley chatting to a crew fresh out of IOE - they were confused why so many passengers booked incredibly tight connections, so I told them about how the ticketing system works, and how they are unable to book long connections due to the "next flight" rules.

Also, that FA was incorrect, crew (not in uniform) are allowed into the Admirals Clubs on standby tickets if they have a membership, just like anyone else flying AA. It's DL (and Amex) that removed the access from standby tickets.

I actually enjoy a chatty FA.. especially on long haul fights.. made many friends that way
some of whom still stay in touch after 20 years..
now if you dont feel like taking.. you can always just let the FA know

I also enjoy chatty FA's. Frankly, I'm more annoyed by some chatty pax. If I'm not interested in hearing chatter then I break out my Bose headphones.

I was prepared to light into you, but on a morning transcon I might be inclined to share your views, depending on how well my Bose block out the sound. (Sometimes they make conversation even clearer by blocking out other background noise, which is annoying.)

On a morning flight like that, with nearly 7 hours in the tube, I sometimes stay up all night and (assuming I'm in F) plan to sleep all flight so that I can wake up on west coast time ready to roll.

That said, I typically enjoy chatting with the FAs.

AA is somewhat unique in that Admirals Club members have access to the Admirals Clubs even when traveling non-rev/standby. The biggest requirement for employees regarding this is that they are not in uniform while in the club.
SOOO - you should have given her a Citi Exec World Elite credit card pitch!

This is an issue for Miss Manners, not Flyertalk.

"Pardon me for interrupting ma'am, but I was really hoping to use this time to rest. Would you mind if we didn't converse right now? Thank you so much."

I agree. The same thing hold true for a chatty seatmate. Any frequent flyer should know how to say "Nice chatting with you, but now I'm getting back to my book, sleep, my music, movie, daydreaming, whatever."

just waiting for someone to start a thread: "So annoyed by the FA who chatted with everyone else but me on my Flt from BOS-LAX....AA sucks!" LOL

I do miss the Phase Three days....Phase Three is the Phase that Pays!!!

Sadly, many pax don't like to continue on conversations anymore...I know when I'm flying, I don't want some chatty Kathy talking to me....FA or pax!

When I read the title of this post, I expected it to be a complaint about flight attendants talking to each other non-stop vs. talking with passengers.

For me, there is nothing quite as annoying as drink service being delayed while the flight attendants chat it up with each other.

But I can't recall a situation where the flight attendant has talked too much with me or at an inopportune time. If they are talking with passengers, to me that is them doing their job or even going above and beyond.

It's an unspeakable outrage. How dare a flight attendant be friendly, engage with passengers, be pleasant and accommodating. Just who does she think she is!

If it bothers the OP that much might I suggest he fly Air Canada more often? Small chance of it happening again.