avidflyer

I have to admit that one of the issues I had making the move to UA was in-flight CS. Delta does a great job, for the most part, in the air and the FA's are friendly, helpful, and generally good. I have read here (and on the DL board) that UA has a horrible reputation for nasty, surly FA's. My direct BOS-LAX today will make 62 UA flights since I moved and frankly I have only seen one FA who appeared to be in a bad mood but her partner in F was fantastic so it did not matter. My question is; is this a new effort by the UA Flight Attendants to improve the product/perception or have the stories I read been overblown all along? I can say that I am extremely pleased with UA so far on all accounts and I went into it expecting to have the FA's in the "better at DL" side of the ledger and that is definitely not the case so far. I will say the domestic flight attendants are a bit more personable than the INT I have encountered but that seems t be more about the work load.

I am 100% positive today's flight will have a horrific flight crew given what I just posted

London Control

They're on the long haul fleet! I frequently notice a large difference between the customer service, personability and general attitude of the FAs when I connect from long haul to domestic or vice versa.

I understand what you say about the workload of the international crews but having been on plenty of empty flights, the attitude didn't change. If anything, the service has been worse on the empty flights.

I must emphasise that it is a very rare occasion for a FA to be outright rude. The long haul girls and guys just seem to treat their work with more apathy than the younger domestic crews. Am I right in thinking the long haul routes are given out to the more senior FAs? If so, United would do themselves a big favour to open those routes to younger, more enthusiastic staff.

One thing I miss about crossing the Atlantic with BA or Virgin is the eye candy

born sleepy

Eh, all of my recent UA and CO long-hauls were staffed by various members of the Bitter McSurlypants clan. The FAs on my recent LH flights BOS-FRA-TLV were all very pleasant and friendly by way of comparison; for example, I requested a gluten-free meal and it was stinky baked salmon which I cannot even smell without gagging and they quickly replaced it with the chicken dish stating "nobody goes hungry on Lufthansa!"

Codeblue009

I travel mostly international and I use CO & LH for my travel destinations in Europe. I have not had a negeative experience with FA on the international segments. What I have seen are passngers disregarding the rules and had to be reminded to comply with the rules. Sometimes, the FA was strn, but I don't blame them one bit in that regard. I would expect passengers to obey the rules, especially if they are FF. If people disregard the rules, then I do not feel sorry for the way they are spoken to. But all in all, I usually have a good experience with CO/UA & LH. The only thing I didn't like with UA before the merger was the On Time Performce (OTP). Now, hopefully after March 3 things will improve.

elitetraveler

Plenty of people have - it is not a question mark.

malgudi

OP, some of them are on FRA-SFO.

The service in C (on the UD) last week was abysmal. The FA's "welcome" consisted of rudely telling us "you cannot be bringing those rollaboards on the upper deck, there is no room to store them overhead. Sit downstairs if you want more space" as we made our way up the stairs ... you could see everybody just go and the service was all downhill from there.

Perhaps she was having a bad day!

fwiw, I had just flown SIN-FRA a few days ago in SQ (also in C) and the difference couldn't have been more stark.

On the flip side, I have already completed 4 flights on UA this year and can now consider other *A flights

boss315

For the most part, people will treat you the way you treat them, no? So many people enter a plane and expect to have their every whim catered to and are nasty if the coffee is only 80% full instead of 90% full....if you go into a store, or on plane and expect people to be nasty, your wishes will be fulfilled.many times over, I'm sure.

UnitedFlyGuy

It's all seniority. Usually, the more senior FAs bid for the long haul/international routes. I know quite a few FAs who have 25-30 years and that is still considered junior. Unless you know a foreign language you won't be getting those routes anytime soon.

PotomacApproach

I recently switched most of my txcons from UA to AS, and noticed a huge difference in FA attitudes.

AM-PM-DM

Like to OP, I am a recent DL transplant. I have seen DL/NW crews go through a similar rut a couple of years ago. And like avidflyer I prepared myself for some unpleasantness considering the reputation of UA crews to start with. And maybe because of these very low expectations I am too pleasantly surprised.
Not that things are fine and dandy, there is still much room for improvement, it is just not as bad I assumed.

I seem to notice, however, much bigger differences between crews, depending on their home base, than this was the case on DL. It seems to me that crews reflect the "rudeness-factor" the area they have their home base in, in a quite predictable fashion. So a lot might actually depend on your routes and crews.

itstimetofly

Yep. All about seniority, which is why you often see some of the most senior FAs within United on the long haul routes.

No one does surly like United! But as a passenger, I have yet to experience a passenger-facing employee who has been downright rude to me. All of my experiences have been generally positive.

If you want truly positive service and a better product though, fly a non-American carrier. The bottom-line is that US airlines just do not provide the level of service that, say, British, LH or Emirates provides their customers.

glx

Noticed a particularly nasty M/F pair on my flight LHR->EWR last week. Constantly .....ing about UA/CO merger issues at louder than normal volumes in front of the C cabin in their jumpseats - nearly two hours of non-stop gabbing. Extremely annoying.

emcampbe

I've been flying UA for the last 6 years, though mostly domestic/Canada flights. I've had a handful of bad apples, but to be honest, would expect that anywhere with a carrier as large as UA. The strong majority of the crews I've dealt with range from average to amazing.

100countrygoal

I rarely find a United flight attendant rude. The difference between them and some foreign airlines, especially Asian airlines like SQ, TG, etc. is that they don't seem to ever try and go out of their way or try to anticipate your needs. . . like many attendants at foreing airlines do, at least in C and F. If you nicely ask for something, UA attendants oblige, usually relatively pleasantly. Nonetheless, you still feel like you are asking for something (which of course you are). Truly great attendants act as if it is their pleasure to serve and that they enjoy their job. Maybe I just got spoiled flying outside of the U.S. for so many years. . .

Flyer420

Quote<I seem to notice, however, much bigger differences between crews, depending on their home base, than this was the case on DL. It seems to me that crews reflect the "rudeness-factor" the area they have their home base in, in a quite predictable fashion. So a lot might actually depend on your routes and crews>

I think there is some merit in this. I find the Seattle crews to be very friendly and attentive (most of the time) and 'neutral' for the rest. But it is also true that I rarely have encountered a rude FA from any station on UA. What I do see from time to time is a sort of "time serving" mentality, and it is not the speciality of older FAs--among whom are some of the very best. Younger folk can be rather clueless on customer relations--and the acid test is not the simple aisle patrols for water refills etc., but reacting effectively to unusual situations. The capacity of any individual person to have empathy with others is not something that gets instilled by customer training, for some folks is is 'natural' to see the situation from others' eyes, and for others, it's just hopeless.

I do not associate rudeness or indifference to the longterm effects of looking forward to, or dreading, the merger. Most crew members I've talked to have rolled their eyes at 'things from the other side'--(this from both UA and CO crews), but all of them expressed the sentiment of "well, we hope it will be all ok, or better.

Flyer 420
at rest in Seattle for a whole month!!!

ps. (added) Maybe this relates to the thread--I have flown a lot more on CO in the past six months that before. Is it CO policy or just a chance that when I have thanked FAs for anything, most have said "my pleasure." while on UA, the response is usually 'you're welcome." This is not an absolute distinction, and may have to do with CO Houston based FAs, but it struck me as something that I had not heard on UA.