Today I am taking a new required eight hour customer service class. At the end of the day I will have the opportunity to fill out a form asking what I would like to see the company start doing, continue doing and stop doing.

I have already put a lot of thought into it but would love to hear your imput. Please keep it tactful.

 

If I'm reading your other posts correctly you're a flight attendant and I think you work for ExpressJet, right?

In that light should we try to keep our comments focused to the 'on airplane' and gate area experience and possibly just to the ExpressJet or RJ experience?

I'll try to keep my answers limited to that context for now:

1) Making a firm, UA wide policy of not closing the doors of a flight more than 10 minutes prior to scheduled departure time would be a good start. Concerns about FAs wanting to get ahead of the game and destroying connections are common.

2) Make a firm, UA wide policy allowing the coach class snackboxes as an alternate meal for F pax at no cost. This doesn't affect me often but would provide greater choices for F pax.

3) Continue trying new and better coach class meals for purchase, including hot meals. I've found this to be a refreshing change recently and I like the variety and reasonable quality of what is on the new coach BoB menus.

If you'd like I can expand the responses to things well outside the scope of the FA arena and you'll get a much longer list of suggestions but they'll go way outside of the on aircraft experience.

 

Yes. I am an ExpressJet flight attendant. :-)

 

Adopt the same customer friendly carry on policies as UA mainline and the number 1 UX carrier: SkyWest. Indeed, SkyWest is the number 1 regional jet carrier period, and for good reason.

The FA does not close the door to a gate.

 

I have not had a lot of experience on UA regional jets, and most of those have been very short hops. I am often surprised the one FA on the plane finds time to do anything. That said, I do have my first fairly long trip on Expressjet (ATL-IAH) coming up this week.

The one thing that I see on RJ's from time-to-time is the crew, particularly pilots, acting in a less-than-professional manner. That is, a lot of joking around that the passengers can hear or complaining to passengers about the equipment, long hours they are flying, etc.

I think that hurts the image of RJ's in the minds of fliers (it does for me certainly). I don't like being reminded that my RJ pilot has a lot less experience and personal discipline than main line pilots.

I want to be clear that I am not referring to Expressjet in particular or even the majority of my flight experiences on RJ's. This only happens occasionally, but when it does, it really annoys me and makes me think that I am not flying on a "real" airline.

 

You are aware that ExpressJet is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SkyWest, right? Only difference in ExpressJet is union while SkyWest is not...

 

I am aware of that, and that the FAA considers ExpressJet a separate airline with its own safety procedures including the carry on rules. Thus there are other differences than the union. @:-)

I suppose if a customer has a choice between ExpressJet and SkyWest and selects SkyWest for the carry on rules, SkyWest might not care.

I don't know why SkyWest would take on the hassle of replacing one RJ carrier's culture with its own.

 

1) Proper first class mean (on par with mainline). No more of the stupid snack boxes with processed food. Silverware, drink cups, etc. on par with mainline.

2) Pillows and blankets in FC

3) WiFi

4) Lav up front (in addition to one at back)

5) Larger overhead bins (like ERJ 170) to eliminate gate checks

 

In F, pre-flight service on UX is much less consistent than on UA.

Pre-flight drinks and hanging coats are two services that are much less common on UX.

And when pre-flight drinks are offered, it is often water or OJ, unlike UA's open bar.

 

I fly mostly UX (regionals) from spoke to hub, then mainline UA to destination.

Congratulations and respect on your career choice ..it's a tough business for both employer and employee.

I will echo a sentiment that you do have to remember at all times, as an FA, you are in public scrutiny at all times. Complaining about work conditions, management belongs in the staff room.

You will see a lot of venting at FAs here mostly because those who seek power don't like to be put in subordinate positions such as you are on an aircraft.....misbehave and you get tossed off.

Please remember this is a small fraction of frequent flyers represented here...I'll argue 1% or less.

One annoying policy...gate checked luggage. I travel domestic typically 3 days with no requirement for gate check luggage. Some regionals allow deplaning on arrival, while others hold all passengers on the plane whilst gate check is unloaded. Security and weather permitting, I prefer the former.

It's generally a pleasure and privilege to fly with you and the pilots, 99% of the time.

 

We are on our lunch break so I'm taking notes! Thank you for your feedback thus far! :-)

 

Have FA talks slower when delivery safety briefing, etc. They often talk so fast, is like a contest to see if they can complete their obligation in record time. From having done much public speaking in my life, I know if you talk too fast people just tune you out. Either those messages from the FA have meaning - in which case, talk slower - or they don't have meaning, in which case, why bother. This is something I have seen only on regional jet service.

Also, bring carry-on baggage limits in line with UA regarding roller bags. Just because a bag has wheels doesn't mean it isn't small enough to easily go in overhead bin, even in the small regional jets.

 

On the erj, close the curtain to the galley at night. The bright light coming out into the cabin is very hard on the eyes.

 

Regional jets have a wide range of overhead space. Some will take a carry-on, while others require most anything be gate checked, so I dont think you can make this a 'regional rule'

I think the FAs usually do a good job of catching obvious 'aint gonna fit' bags on RJs

Thats a tough one. Pilot as career is an archetype "prestige profession' with a lot of people scrambling for flight hours to get a mainline job down the road - I think that must be frustrating at times. When I learned the rules for rest time on flights, I was pretty shocked. Your RJ flight is still 5-10000x safer statistically than your drive to the airport, no matter how good a driver you think you are.

,,,I have to give you ALL thumbs up for never telling the passenger who tells you "Ive been flying all day" ....Really? Ive been flying all year...

 

Since the FA here, kind enough to solicit suggestions, works for Express Jet, my comment was specifically to address those circumstances where Express Jet FA have said "If it has wheels, it gets gate checked even if small enough to fit in overhead."