bocastephen

Here is problem #1 - allowing the unions to dictate the job description is a weakness of management and should never be allowed. There are plenty of people who would take these jobs if the current crop of staff don't want to offer the services that should be required by the company. I don't see the unions dictating Southwest's work culture, and IIRC, Delta doesn't even have a flight attendant union.

A company should not need to "ask" or "plead" with front line service workers to be nice to customers - the concept of going above and beyond to delight customers should be naturally ingrained in every flight attendant's daily mantra, and either you want this job and can demonstrate a desire to do it right, or go find something else to do. If you don't think you're a "waitress in the sky", I got news for you - that's exactly what you are....and if you prefer to match the service acumen of a waitress at Denny's vs striving to deliver the top notch service of someone working at, say, Ruth's Chris, then you're in the wrong business. Go find something else.

fezzington

I usually stay away from threads like this one, but I couldn't help myself this time... First of all, the Blogger in the OP is getting fed some misinformation. None of my currently flying FA friends have that memo in their emails. I suppose it's possible it's a targeted email (to a certain base?). w.r.t. the (older) post linked in the article... all I'll say is no one on this board was on the flight.

As far as recognition... YMMV. Some FAs take the time to look over the manifest info in the LINK. Pre-Covid, Y-flying GS and 1K info was called out during the crew briefing -- particularly on widebody international flights -- but I don't know what the crew briefs look like anymore. It's something the working FAs have to go looking for in the manifest -- I suspect this is why flights with BoB see a higher recognition factor. As an anecdote, I have been berated in the past for "loudly exposing personal information" for saying "Thanks for being a valued GS member" in Y, so I do understand FAs who refuse to do it - another case where a few bad apples ruin it the rest.

In regards to customer service... I don't know where you guys are looking, but the first sentence on the FA recruitment page reads "At United, our flight attendants aren’t just the face of our airline, they’re the heart and soul." Customer Service was repeatedly asked about during the interview process, taught at multiple steps during the training process, and reiterated during the probationary period supervisory meetings. It's important, the company recruits and trains for it, and frankly, most FAs do a fantastic job. Having said that, I'll agree with HNLbasedFlyer's GF -- FAs are not, and will never be "waitresses in the sky" (at least, not on US3 carriers staffing at FAA minimums). It's not a dig at waitstaff, but a reality that when I was flying and evaluating priorities onboard, the dining experience rarely cracked my top 5 unless it was the most routine, smooth flying, trouble-free flight. This doesn't preclude FAs from delivering great service, but their attention is sometimes (rightfully) directed elsewhere.

Now... all that being said: there are definitely some people who shouldn't be flying. Those kinds of people exist in every workplace, and most FAs dislike them just as much as you do. (See: AA's semi-famous ORD based FA... he's not famous for being exemplary)

Happy flying,
Fezzington.

deniah

Providing "good service" isn't any more time-consuming or cognitively-taxing than providing "sub par" service. It doesn't require being substantially more talkative or more conversational -- the most pleasant people you know arent all this way. It's just mindset and mentality.

Over a large enough sample set, one can observe the stratigraphic differences in service between many Europe/Asian flagship carriers over the US carriers. This doesn't mean they're less safety-focused, or that there aren't tails/exemptions to the distribution. Recognizing a status is a bit of a weird thing to analyze by itself - and most people would feel awkward if that was highlighted out of the blue - but it can be representative of good service culture, e.g. part of the predeparture greeting in premium cabins. "Welcome on board, mr xxx, thanks for flying with us and being a member of yyy, my name is zzz and ill be serving your flight today. could i start you off with a PD Beverage?"

MatthewLAX

Blog author here. The memo that was forwarded to me was dated 07 April and titled, "Our most loyal customers." It was intended for all FAs. Not sure how United sends out its updates.

As for the older linked article (snack box issue), I trust the account of my colleague and hope that the FA who threatened him is re-trained...

Kacee

I would have been satisfied with a bottle of water in F on UA396 last night (HNL-SFO).

HNLbasedFlyer

They boarded no bottled water or the baggie with water/snacks? I regularly take that flight including another next week - my only gripe with that flight is the UC closing at 9:30 - I've always gotten the baggie with water/pretzels etc....

lincolnjkc

You didn't get the stale snack bag with its disturbingly awful contents including an "airline size" Dasani? That's the one thing that UA has been very consistent about in F throughout the pandemic on all of the routes I've flown... Had I known I have several unopened extras I'm saving for people I don't like random guests... would have been happy to share

Kacee

Nope. No beverages (i.e., coffee) offered prior to landing, either.

About all the FAs were able to manage was getting the police to kick a passenger off at HNL. Here's how UA described the resulting delay:

ExplorerWannabe

I'm not a fan either of people saying things pro forma when it's clear they don't mean it. OTOH, the thank yous for flying (and I'm not even 1K anymore) have felt sincere post pandemic. I appreciated it -- it told me the crews really understood what my travel meant to their livelihoods.

HNLbasedFlyer

You had quite a trip between that and the Kahala hotel

TomMM

Sad being berated for being nice. A few years ago I was flying FRA-ORD on my birthday and the crew made a birthday card from a Polaris menu. It was given to me very low key by the head FA who whispered "Happy Birthday". From further conversation I learned that some people get really upset with a simple Hello/Happy Birthday Mr TomMM. Told her I wasn't one of them.

MatthewLAX

I have to question that. Is there any 1K here who does not like a simple cheerful greeting or thank you? Who would possibly be offended? Someone celebrating their 39th birthday for the 14th time?

TomMM

I've seen a few posts over the years around here that would indicate otherwise. We've encounter the issue at work in the past with birthday and job anniversary announcements. My experience has been those types have a chip on their shoulder to begin with.

lincolnjkc

Sometimes there's a trauma related to it -- not sure exactly how it would be 1K -- but, for example there's a shoemaker in the UK I've bought shoes from and about a week before UK Mothers/Fathers/etc. day they'll send out a "we know this might be sensitive for some people, so if you'd like to opt out of receiving our communications surrounding the day, click here" -- maybe it shows my relative emotional immaturity but until I got the first one of those I had never thought that for someone who has (recently?) lost a mother or father how troubling those reminders could be.

Again not sure how someone would be triggered about being reminded that they were a 1K (unless you really hate flying that much but have still somehow made it to being a 1K) but there can be subtleties -- maybe being reminded of a trip with an ex or an emergency landing or lost luggage or....

(And for what its worth my personal triggers are always just met with a cheerful "thank you" -- some random stranger hasn't checked my emotional baggage [don't feel like paying the excess weight fees ] )

st530

Pretty remarkable reading all these. I don't think I've ever been recognized as *G on LH, including in any of about two dozen segments in F.