How to deal with poor flight attendants
 

I have notice that many flight attendants are very burnt out and many got mistreated by the public. How do we keep the good ones and report the bad ones? I have written many praise letters and some got immediate attention but some just went by the sidelines even though I usually give constructive criticism and I do wait 48 hours before I write letter of concern (I don't like to use the word complaint) because it doesn't fix the problem. Many airlines these days offer great incentives for their personnels for a job well done. Do the FA actually get terminated for bad behaviour? Does the airlines actually look at those suggestion letters? I really wonder

Complaints (suggestion lettes etc) in most industries are not taken seriously. That is why so many people continue to get away with unprofessional behavior and make excuses for said behavior that always gets them off the hook.

Power corrupts...FAs have too much power to lord over passengers...you see the result daily.

And the few good ones are drowned out by the majority of those with issues.

Same as any field really.

Poor flight attendants? - Why not tip them?
 

Oh, you meant poorly treated flight attendants.

Funny, Kate_Canuck. My exact response was, "Why would we deal with them any differently than rich flight attendants?" :D

LOL

If you write too many letters of any kind, praise or complaint, they might no longer be taken seriously and go by the sidelines

What kind of incentives (all I've seen are takeways)? I suspect a lot of F/A's are burned out because of salary and benefit cuts. Not much you or I can do to restore those, unfortunately.

NIce.

My first thought was:

"Let them eat cake."

I agree. If you have exceptionally good service, write a letter of praise. If you have exceptionally bad service and have a suggestion of what the airline can do about it, either to compensate you or to fix the problem so others won't have it in the future, write a letter of complaint. But you shouldn't be writing "many" letters in any given year. On average, most people will be performing about average, so you shouldn't be having HUGE numbers of plaudits and groans to hand out.

The OP's policy to wait 48 hours before writing the letter is a good one, but if your calendar shows that you have written more than a couple of letters a month (or maybe even every three months) to various business handing out praise or complaint, then maybe try sitting on the letters a further 48 hours before you mail them. Sometimes if you think about it, you realize your letter just sounds...petty.

Some people carry small gift cards for $5 or $10 at Starbucks and give them as instant "thank you's" to FAs who perform exceptional service. I guess I've been too shy to do that. But I'm sure that's a nice boost to the good ones. It's a little more challenging to figure out what to do about someone who is obviously stressed or demoralized. Honestly, when I've noticed an FA who seems visibly stressed, I just try to stay out of her hair. As the other poster said, we can't do anything about the labor issues that are taking such toll on salaries and benefit packages.

But what is it about humans that makes us think "good service" (which should be normal...) is such an unattainable concept that when it does people think it should be rewarded?

Bad service should not be tolerated and good service should be the standard.

Rectify The Situation In-Flight; Not After.
 

On the odd flight - not very often at all, mind you - when we've encountered a particularly surly F/A at the beginning of the flight, and have been loathe to put up with 5 1/2 hours of it, I've called the culprit over, and addressing them by their name off their tag, said nicely, with a big smile: "I just want to let you know that as Platinums, we LOVE writing letters of COMPLIMENTS when we receive excellent service: I hope we'll be writing a COMPLIMENTARY letter about you, when this flight is over."

Oh how the service turns from bad to excellent with just that little prod.

And that really works? Wow...if I was a nasty burned out FA and someone said something like that to me (a veiled threat essentially..or a potential kudos on the other side) I think it would piss me off...like when sales people use your first name over in over because they are taught that in sales psych 101...it is clear what they are doing and it annoys the hell out of me.

But if it is working for you I am glad...we need every angle we can get to survive the circus.

If you get great service from an FA, I'd say write a letter or an e-mail the airline's customer service and let them know what specifically you appreciated about their work and in what way said excellence would motivate you to keep flying with them.

If you get attitude, laziness, etc. than I would similarly write or e-mail the airline, conveying your understanding of the challenges FA's face, AND objective, succinct, non-emotional descriptions of what was improper. A note of what the "proper" way to have done things could have been, or the proffered manner of handling things. (posit a solution, not just the problem). I don't think the threats of "Ill take my flying elsewhere" really get far, unless you're the head of a corporate travel office with substantial airline revenue generation under your thumb.

In wording these, I'd say the shorter the better, stick to the point, eliminate emotional & ranting lingo.

Yeah, it really works! I think I may have even prefaced it with something like "You know, we fly in these seats once a month or more, and we're actually used to a better level of service than we're currently receiving: you know: drinks refilled, a hot wet washcloth, some snacks......." And then I mentioned we like to write letters of compliments to acknowledge excellent service.

In fact, what we don't like doing is writing letters of complaint. We prefer to have the situation rectified and resolved in situ, not after the fact. So yeah, I don't have a problem communicating my wishes to the actual person I'm dealing with face to face, and have found a way to phrase it that get's results!

Cheers!

Ok but here is the realist in me thinking...while it may get the FA to turn on the smile and give you faster service you have also pissed her off likely...so I can see her spitting in your food or dropping it etc...all those little things service people do all the time to get back at customers they find annoying.

I know I am a misanthrope...but experience has born it out. Very few people do the right thing because they should...they do it out of fear of reprisal or for reward.