narvik

Maybe factually true, but there is a HUGE difference between 0.1% rude FAs on, say, Air China, and 8% rude FAs on UA.
All a matter of scale!

(note: percentages quoted above are completely subjective, and not scientific)

bonoglobetrotter

Mike Rivers

It's been more than 15 years since I've had "status" and would sometimes use points for a first class upgrade when on a cross-country flight - most often on United. It used to be that I was treated like any other passenger in the first class cabin, but then I noticed that as the cabin attendants were taking orders for lunch, that they didn't just go from seat to seat, row by row, but were skipping from one passenger to another throughout the cabin. Often I was the last one to order my lunch, and more and more often they were out of my first or even second choice. I once asked a CA if she was taking orders in sequence of how much the passenger paid for his set, and she said that, yes, that's how they did it now.

Airline service gets worse and worse, so I'm not surprised that Tony had a bad experience. . . . and I remember when lunch WAS a buffet. I rather liked that. Nowadays I sit in coach, bring along a bagel, and eat when I get to where I'm going.

jsloan

That is not, and AFAIK, never has been, the meal order on UA (or any other airline I've ever flown).

UA officially prioritizes meal selection for 1K and GS. Some flight attendants will ask the GS/1K first; others will ask in order but prioritize after the fact. I prefer the latter approach. (Well, I'd prefer pre-ordering meals as the OP suggested, but...)

jrpallante

Spoken language is very different from written. When you read anybody's account of an incident, "quotes" are rarely accurate, and you get no indication of body language, inflection, mannerisms, facial expressions, context, and all the other variables that affect oral communication. My impression is that the FA was engaging in friendly banter, and it may have been poorly executed and/or poorly received. Nothing I read from the OP would have stopped me from enjoying this flight with my wife and having a wonderful day. Regarding meal selection, I appreciate that AA lets you choose in advance (meager as those choices may be), and I do not understand why all airlines have not adopted this, especially for long hauls.

davie355

I've won national awards in journalism. My "quotes" and those of all my peers (except one cheater) were exactly accurate. You're correct that unspoken body language won't come across in a quote, but the very simple fact is OP was offended, so the language was offensive.

chavala

Friendly banter my arse.
FAs should address pax by their name (along with Mr. or Ms., not first names!), or Sir, or Ma'am. There are no other options as far as I'm concerned. If someone calls me honey or sweetheart one more time I'm gonna start screaming ; )

letsgook

Just seems so wrong to have to put up with this type of behavior from flight attendants. In any other customer service job they would be gone. Don't believe either that UA can't address this with the union..although its a strong union I guess. I am sure there is something UA can do to address this behavior, especially if there is a formal complaint, but they can't be bothered because no real effect on their bottom line.

BB2220

FlyerTalker70

The one other salutation, which sadly UA removed from their traveller profile was DYKWIA! It was always nice boarding a UA flight and people would address me by my formal name, "Thanks for choosing United, DYKWIA Simpson!"

-James

chavala

Absolutely. Or don't call me anything if your manners are that atrocious. That's fine. But Papa, Sweetheart, Honey, Baby or any other "endearment" is off the books as far as someone in the service industry is concerned when speaking to a customer. Oh sorry I forgot -- they're really only there for my safety.

RobotDoctor

It seems that we are in an ultra sensitive society today. Be sure to keep the coloring books and crayons close by and maybe the next configuration of the planes can include a safe space.. While I do believe siding on Mr,/Mrs. XXXX or other formal references is the safest thing to do in a customer service field, it's not something I would get bent out of shape with. I have a habit of referring to a female person as "Darlin' " but not as a disrespectful term. It's a southern thing that I picked up years ago when conducting business in the south. As long as someone doesn't call me some derogatory name or kicks me in the shins for no apparent reason life if too short to always be offended. And yes, the FAs are really in place for the safety of the flight, whether that's a health related issue or aircraft emergency. I appreciate it when the FAs take that seriously and don't congregate in the rear galley, draw the curtain and all are asleep.

joelliot

I think the challenge here is that, I as someone who is an "occasional" paid flyer also feels "entitled" to the benefits of the F ticket. Hopefully at some point United will be able to figure out a preorder system. There are airlines like Norwegian that can barely pay their bills that manage to get the meals passenger want to the passengers with much less trouble.

JimInOhio

This is constructing an extreme case, IMHO. There are plenty of Platinum and maybe even some Gold status peeps who have higher annual spends than some 1K's. Are they less important to UA? They certainly aren't less important when they actually buy an F ticket.

HNLbasedFlyer

When it comes to meals - the answer would be yes. They'd rather try to please GS and 1K (pleasing the many) more than the edge cases of fliers who have Plat with no status and have the spend requirement but not the BIS miles (pleasing the few).