the phoenix

It's not all glorious, like Paltrow in that flick "A View From the Top."

Unfortunately, I do not feel it typifies the feelings and behavior of all FA's.
Let's face it, just as in any job, some of them are just there for a paycheck.
And they are lousy at it.

The only thing I really took issue with is the bit at the end, regarding respect and courtesy. It's a two-way street. I give it and expect it in return.

lastly, regarding 9/11, its not an FA's job, its the air marshalls job to make sure the plane is not taken down by the terrorist. end story

pjoalfa

Didn't you know? They refer to us as 'self-loading freight'.

CABNcrew

You couldn't be MORE correct. ALL pay, contract, pension issues aside, some FA's have not adjusted well to the changes (and neither have MANY MANY pax)...and they should re-evaluate whether they really want to still be flying. I LOVE my job and MOST pax are really nice as long as I'm nice to them, but it can be hard at time providing service where you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

True, WHEN the Air Marshalls are onboard. They're not on EVERY flights so the FA's are trained (and have the option for intense additional FAM provided training) to supplement everything else.

Pac don't like to think of the FA's as having any say-so, any power, but the truth is that it IS that way now. We are expected to be extremely vigilant and aware, to be firm in our stance on regs and rules. Part of the problem is that SOME people can't handle being compliant in the shadow of someone elses requests, and SOME people like to push boundaries to see how far the FA's will go. You couple all of that frustration with a bad-apple FA who already is a miserable person and it's a recipe for disaster.

gatorray

Explain to me how the FA up front is keeping me safe by sitting in the empty FC seat across from me and reading a book? Just admit that it is a perk of the job. You serve the drinks and dinner, you take up the trays and you make sure everyone is happy. You are then lucky enough to have a 60% full FC section, so you can sit down and chill for a bit. I don't see a problem with that until you roll your eyes when I ask for a refill of my drink.

CABNcrew

First of all, I already addressed lazy FA's.....

Secondly, you're pointing out one experience, it's not as if ALL FA's on ALL flights sit in ALL empty FC seats EVERYday... come on now....

Third, there is much more going on with most flights than YOU the pax can see, and part of MY job is to make sure that it remains transparent. If it looks like all I'm doing is serving food then I'm doing my job THAT much better.

If a FA is sitting in a seat reading or what-have-you then nothing needs to be done to keep you safe in that moment, but, rest assured that should the need arise, most crews...and I stress MOST, have the ability to carry-out whatever is needed to keep pax safe. This could be anything from a medical emergency to something security related.

Until you've actually done the job, don't assume that we don't do anything. Do we have downtime? some of us (depending on the route, load-factor, airline, service standards, turn times, cabin etc). This is not to say that we ALL just sit around and read and even if we ARE, as long as our service is done and people are being tended to then there's no problem.

There is NEVER any excuse for FA's to be rude, lazy or anything else anti-customer service, but I'm not speaking about those particular bad-apples, I'm speaking for those of us who DO our job. Believe me, for every bad FA I'm sure there's a few difficult pax as well so let's steer clear of focusing on that and stick to the facts:

We ARE there to keep you safe.... just because we may bot be walking the aisles fire-extinguisher in hand doesn't mean we're not ready to act. That's like asking what fireman are doing to keep you safe while they're sleeping? Well, if you house is not on fire then there's not much for them to do.

aviators99

This thread is humorous, in the context of this thread:

Sleeping FA

It's good to know that someone whose primary responsibility is searching for terrorists sleeps through the flight, and then when I suggest she get fired I get trounced upon by other (mainline) FAs.

ajax

You've forgotten the cardinal rule of airline travel: ever since 9/11 (and especially because of 9/11), flight attendants can do no wrong. We are at war here. It's because of the children.