calitequilasippergirl

Obviously you didn't read the original post well - otherwise you wouldn't have made this statement

Ring Call Button First Time

Waited
Waited More
Captain uses lab
Captain returns
CO exits
CO chats with FA's

Ring Call Button Second Time

I am guessing this happened over at least 15 minutes more likely more. Since the Captain and CO were out of the cockpit, the blockcade was up and the passenger would have been requested to return to his seat if he had gotten up. I don't think ringing the bell the second time was at all out of line.

I've actually had a similar incident which I was denied a drink late in the flight. I had actually slept through most of the flight and meal service. I requested a drink when she went by. After 30 minutes, I went to the galley to request the drink. She was reading and didn't look up until I said excuse me ma'am, may I get vodka and sprite? I was asked 'don't you think I have had enough'. I said 'excuse me?' She told me if I was going to get angry about it she would need to report it to the captain. I politely told her that I had been sleeping most of the flight and this was the first drink I had requested and asked her to check her meal distribution paperwork. She told me to sit down or she would have me arrested when we landed. Like the OP that shut me right up and I sat down bewildered. I dealt with it when I got off the plane

geminidreams

Mike the Op wrote his perspective that if correct from his viewpoint justifies a complaint. Im sure that the airline will return the favour from their perspective so whats your point? It is all from his perspective unless the airline chooses to post their comments here. From his perspective I support his claim. If he wants to clarify his perspective and not complain its his issue.

I am saying that whether or not he was deemed intoxicated he was ignored then basically threatened by the reporting rather than the FAs dealing with the issue in the first place directly with the passenger.

We dont need to consider the other side as it is all assumption and would undoubtedly be addressed by the airline if they bothered to respond. Based on the Ops viewpoint a complaint is certainly warranted and if we dont complain when we receive poor service then we should have no expectation it will get better.

3card

Nope, don't believe it and didn't say it. My point was that the OP's message had additional credibility for me because I've seen exactly the type of attitude and behavior he was describing at UA. Strangely enough, you seem to imply that you've seen this plenty, too, yet you called into question the OP's story.

Um...ok. Pretty surprising given your attitude on the board, but hey, even though I've never been there to see the other side of the story from these beneficiaries of your fabulous generosity, I believe you 100%!

While I (and the vast majority of the fellow travelers I've seen) don't go looking for trouble, I don't think it's my responsibility to change anyone's attitude either. Call me crazy, but I expect professional and respectful treatment by employees at United, especially given the respect that I show them.

cyclogenesis

Wow.. this one is still alive
I received a nice response from United.

Nice thing is I received GREAT service in Y a few days ago.. One thing I noticed early on is everyone was wearing bold, easy to read name tags.. meant when I went and submitted positive feedback to United I could name the crew (first name only of course).

Beerman92

Unfortunately as clear as it is to you, me and others that it shows a flight attendant delivering a beverage there are probably some pax who see that picture and construe it as a flight attendant delivering an oxygen mask.

geminidreams

Good to hear Cyclo the positive response. Dont know how a FA could have resisted an Aussie accent in the first place. Guess the interest is the feature in the recent FT newsletter!

Mike Jacoubowsky

You mentioned that "anyone" who had traveled much on UA had seen lazy & angry UA employees. That's what I was responding to. And thinking about it, you're correct, do enough flying or anything else and you will come across angry & lazy employees. But it's not the norm on United, at least not in my experience.Sounds like I'm in need of an attitude adjustment, and I think you're right on that one. I'll try to do better and be more consistent with my core beliefs. Need to get back to my lowly 2P roots. Seriously.What you should get, and how you respond, are two different issues. Related? Yes. Tit-for-tat? I think that's a road that goes nowhere good. I should have made a stronger case on that precise point.

Thanks for the wake-up call on the attitude. Crossed my mind on another issue the other day. I need to do better.
Glad to hear it! The fact that UA responded and you have a dialog is a good thing, regardless of the circumstances. And my apologies if it appeared that I was targeting you, specifically, in my remarks instead of a more general situation (like the one I experienced on my SFO-LAX flight, which influenced my thoughts on this thread).

3card

Thanks for your response, Mike. I should be less snarky in my reponses. Just frustrated that a few (really a very small few of the total) bad apples at UA have given me some bad experiences this past year. I feel that's not only unfair to me but also to the wonderful UA employees who I've seen try incredibly hard to get through a tough merger.

takeahike66

Having digested all the various opinion, and having to work with many people who wear their emotion on their sleeves, let me play out various scenarios, which described what might have played out.
OP asks for "a last drink" and, the OP did state, "Now was I sober? No..".
If the FA, for whatever reasons, believes the OP "appears to be intoxicated", maybe because of his accent or some other action, the FA would not be allowed to serve the drink because of the rules. The FA has to think about several options at this point.
1) Inform the OP he "appears intoxicated" and the rules state she cannot serve the OP the drink. This would most likely will lead to a confrontation on whether the OP is intoxicated or not. Does the FA inform the OP at seat in the presence of all the other passengers and embarrass him? Does she call the OP back to the gallery so the confrontation is not in front of the other passengers? If the confrontation happens, is it going to be brief or become emotional?
2) Ignore the request for the drink, and hope he falls asleep. If this happens, there is no confrontation, and after he walks up, he may not “appear” intoxicated anymore. OP rings call button second time, but FAs continue to ignore the button, knowing that option 1, is just about ready to be played out.
Note in the original post, the second FA already knew why he was not being served the drink. And the call button was used while the CO was still in the gallery. This is most likely when the CO was informed of why the OP was using the “call attendant” button and why they were ignoring the call.
So when OP pressed the issue about not having been served the requested drink, the 2nd FA had to invoke option 1.
The OP action of returning to his seat was his best choice at the time. Any further confrontation and depending upon the loudness, he might have been met my airport security upon arrival. If it had happen just after takeoff, the plane might have returned back to SFO, and the OP removed from the flight.
A question for all the posters, how many times have you seen a FA ignore a call button in FC?

EsquireFlyer

OH!! An oxygen mask! And all this time I thought it was a bandage! (an EMERGENCY bandage of course)

uwr

I'm glad you received the nice response from UA. They can still be classy when they want to be.

If I may venture a guess, I suppose that having had to pay for your drinks in Y prevented you from having a "few" glasses of wine with dinner and from being perceived as intoxicated. Therefore, you were treated well.

As others have mentioned, the FAs have an obligation to decline alcoholic beverages to anyone who appears intoxicated. They could be held responsible if they serve the alcohol and the passenger becomes boisterous and has to be restrained or if the presence of a rowdy passenger causes the pilot to make an unscheduled landing.

It appears that the mistake the FA made was related to communication: not telling you promptly that they were declining to serve alcohol to you and speaking too loudly about it in the galley.

Orwaid

When I fly foreign carriers in F or C, I never get any thing like this. Rather, I cut myself off when I feel myself getting drunk. Alcohol or Non-alcohol beverages are always by my side and never allowed to be empty until I plead " no mas".

Instead of posting perceived bad service experiences, just take your business elsewhere as I have. With minimal effort you can find better service, better FFP benefits and usually, lower fares.