Horrific United Flight Attendant - what to do
Jun 15, 2016, 11:05 pm
#61
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: SFO
Posts: 3,938
Can't be chatting up every FA!
We had a very surly "senior mama" FA recently LAX-NRT BF on the dreamliner. I asked if the chicken dish was white meat, to which she said "I don't eat the food. I don't know." After some more surliness, my very friendly wife chatted her up - and from that point on we got on great. Been flying 43 years she said, and started sharing some of her interesting stories.
I guess sometimes it is just making a bit of an effort on our part to be friendly, and that probably goes a long way in their minds.
I guess sometimes it is just making a bit of an effort on our part to be friendly, and that probably goes a long way in their minds.
Last edited by goalie; Jun 16, 2016 at 9:32 am Reason: edited quoted post to match edited original post
Jun 15, 2016, 11:51 pm
#62
Suspended
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: CA, FL, and China.
Programs: UA1K (no longer serviced!), Bonvoy P, Hyatt G
Posts: 704
Jun 16, 2016, 12:35 am
#63
Join Date: Jul 2013
Programs: DYKWIA, But I'm a "Diamond Guest" UA 1K/2MM
Posts: 2,250
It should not be incumbent on the customer to make every FA feel good to elicit the sort of behavior that's required by their job.
Last edited by goalie; Jun 16, 2016 at 9:29 am Reason: removed quote of deleted post
Jun 16, 2016, 1:53 am
#64
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Paris, France
Programs: United, TAP Victoria, AVIOS
Posts: 480
I asked if the chicken dish was white meat, to which she said "I don't eat the food. I don't know." After some more surliness, my very friendly wife chatted her up - and from that point on we got on great. Been flying 43 years she said, and started sharing some of her interesting stories.
Jun 16, 2016, 3:17 am
#65
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: LHR/LGW
Programs: DL Gold, CO Silver
Posts: 1,036
I don't want to have my day defined by whether a FA is having a good day or not -or that I need to "talk them around" get get civil (or any ) service.
My employers have always expected me to take the lead in ensuring clients or customers have a positive experience and that I promote a positive image for the company to them I doubt this is different for many others in most roles from junior to senior. As a paying customer I see no reason why it should be any different for FAs. I actively avoided flying UA for years solely because I knew an employee in the frontline at LHR and the way she talked about customers and described how customers were treated by herself and her colleagues gave me no incentive to want to fly with (pm) UA . I pretty much flew "anyone but UA" up to the merger as a result (most of my travel is and was TATL).
My employers have always expected me to take the lead in ensuring clients or customers have a positive experience and that I promote a positive image for the company to them I doubt this is different for many others in most roles from junior to senior. As a paying customer I see no reason why it should be any different for FAs. I actively avoided flying UA for years solely because I knew an employee in the frontline at LHR and the way she talked about customers and described how customers were treated by herself and her colleagues gave me no incentive to want to fly with (pm) UA . I pretty much flew "anyone but UA" up to the merger as a result (most of my travel is and was TATL).
Jun 16, 2016, 8:02 am
#66
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2008
Location: CHA, MAN;
Programs: Delta DM 1 MM; Hz PC
Posts: 11,169
Jun 16, 2016, 9:52 am
#67
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: Nursing
Posts: 8
We just returned from an international flight in Business First. We had a horrible flight attendant. She scolded and yelled at us twice. The first time, we had stacked our plates on our tray and she firmly told us that we were making her job harder and to stop messing with her. Ok, just trying to help but fine.
Next, she takes our drink order then promptly forgets it. We get no drinks through our entire dinner service. 45 minutes later we ask if we could have our drinks ( we did not ring the call button just caught her eye) We waited until she was done serving ( there were 4 FA's at least in the cabin). She came back and told us to stop bothering her and that every time she comes over we ask for something and she's tired of it. She had raised her voice and the other passengers were staring at us. It was embarrassing as we had not asked for anything other than the drinks we ordered that she had forgotten. She then came back and plunked down the drinks. I later asked another FA what the mean ones name was to complain.
My question is, should I have addressed it with the Purser? We had a tight connection so I would not have had time to deal with the Purser or the FA after landing and make our connection ( thanks EWR). The woman was so strange I did not want to end up in some odd situation or confrontation while flying. We kept our mouths shut, never asked for anything else and I wrote an email to UA To which I got the general we're sorry response. I can't imagine this is the first time this woman has acted this way.
Next, she takes our drink order then promptly forgets it. We get no drinks through our entire dinner service. 45 minutes later we ask if we could have our drinks ( we did not ring the call button just caught her eye) We waited until she was done serving ( there were 4 FA's at least in the cabin). She came back and told us to stop bothering her and that every time she comes over we ask for something and she's tired of it. She had raised her voice and the other passengers were staring at us. It was embarrassing as we had not asked for anything other than the drinks we ordered that she had forgotten. She then came back and plunked down the drinks. I later asked another FA what the mean ones name was to complain.
My question is, should I have addressed it with the Purser? We had a tight connection so I would not have had time to deal with the Purser or the FA after landing and make our connection ( thanks EWR). The woman was so strange I did not want to end up in some odd situation or confrontation while flying. We kept our mouths shut, never asked for anything else and I wrote an email to UA To which I got the general we're sorry response. I can't imagine this is the first time this woman has acted this way.
Jun 16, 2016, 9:57 am
#68
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Central Texas
Programs: Many, slipping beneath the horizon
Posts: 9,859
You should have called the Purser and related the incident as well as writing a note to the captain describing the incident and asking the purser to deliver it. Upon return, both and email and a snail mail account should have been prepared and sent. Award or paid, there's no difference. You "paid' for award tickets.
Service only improves when folks respond to bad service or actions and reactions like those of this FA.
Service only improves when folks respond to bad service or actions and reactions like those of this FA.
Jun 16, 2016, 10:30 am
#69
Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 989
UA customer service is the worst of all the airlines I've flown. They just don't understand customer service. Their FAs often talk down to passengers like we are a nuissance to them. I'm an AA ExPLT, but unfortunately, had to take a UA flight from EWR-HKG earlier this year and the FAs were down-right rude. Not saying it doesn't exist on AA, but it is rare compared to UA.
Jun 16, 2016, 11:40 am
#70
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 948
Jun 16, 2016, 12:02 pm
#71
Join Date: Mar 2014
Programs: Mileage Plus Global Services 2MM
Posts: 1,200
UA customer service is the worst of all the airlines I've flown. They just don't understand customer service. Their FAs often talk down to passengers like we are a nuissance to them. I'm an AA ExPLT, but unfortunately, had to take a UA flight from EWR-HKG earlier this year and the FAs were down-right rude. Not saying it doesn't exist on AA, but it is rare compared to UA.
Jun 16, 2016, 12:30 pm
#73
Join Date: May 2014
Location: DMV
Posts: 2,092
My admittedly flippant comment about the mental health issues in the customer service industry was deleted. But from my experience at various levels at that industry, I'd say that it takes a very specific type of person to do a customer-facing job very well for 30+ years. Most people will either get sick of it or simply fall into a very lazy routine mode. In the open market this leads to high turnover. The people who stick around typically either advance or have a natural affinity for it.
Cabin crew generally have a very flat hierarchy and you will have people doing very similar work for very long periods of time. At the same time the job is fairly well-compensated, seniority is rewarded, and there's much better than average job security. In other words, there are many factors which will keep people in these jobs who would prefer being somewhere else. There is very little incentive for a FA who is sick of it to pursue another opportunity - because there is not going to be a similarly paid, similarly secure opportunity out there. They're stuck to their own and the customer's detriment.
In my view FA should be essentially a gap year type job, something people do in their early to mid 20s, an adventure before the real career starts. If you could start over with zero FAs, make it temporary contracts only.
Cabin crew generally have a very flat hierarchy and you will have people doing very similar work for very long periods of time. At the same time the job is fairly well-compensated, seniority is rewarded, and there's much better than average job security. In other words, there are many factors which will keep people in these jobs who would prefer being somewhere else. There is very little incentive for a FA who is sick of it to pursue another opportunity - because there is not going to be a similarly paid, similarly secure opportunity out there. They're stuck to their own and the customer's detriment.
In my view FA should be essentially a gap year type job, something people do in their early to mid 20s, an adventure before the real career starts. If you could start over with zero FAs, make it temporary contracts only.
Jun 16, 2016, 12:51 pm
#75
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: 4éme
Posts: 12,019
I've encountered a couple of situations like this but they have always been a failed attempted at humor by the FA.
