dimramon

That's what the GA announced on my flight today.
During boarding of group 3, a groundstop was announced at MSP due to the snowy weather. The GA came on board and said that they stopped boarding, but people that were already on the plane, could stay on if they desired so.

She went on to say "that we should really thank our FA's and give them kudos for allowing us to sit on the plane. They get paid only when the plane pushes back, so they are doing this as a favor to us. So, please don't ask them too many questions or service related-things right now. Thanks again, FA's"

While I can appreciate the work FA's do, I thought this was tacky and unprofessional.
I'm curious to hear what others think, without turning this into a union debate....

fastair

After all the bad press that airlines have had for keeping people on planes on the tarmac while waiting for gates or at diversion airports, airlines have responded by trying to minimize the time people are kept on aircraft during extended or unknown delays.

This seems like the crew had the option to deboard the passengers, and restart later. Since some passengers were already onboard, they left it up to those passengers as to what they wanted to do.

Maybe the speech didn't come out as it should have, but I applaud the effort of the crew to allow each person to do as they wanted. It adds additional logistical problems when boarding is stopped and then resumed. The easy thing (from both an onboard as well as CS) to do is to deboard all, then restart when departure is imminent. As long as one passenger is on the plane, the minimum number of flight attendants per aircraft must remain on the plane.

RS250Racer

Those kinds of things would not be said on LH, or TG or ANA... I just spent 3 weeks in Europe and Asia, lots of flights on the above carriers, and when I got back to the states and got on UA again it is just so sad what we as Americans have become...it is pathetic.

dimramon

I can see your point of view, however, the GA spent way too much time on the subject, and really stressed how thankful we should be.
Afterwards, it looked like only 10 people hadn't boarded yet.

ryan182

Isn't it shocking after spending time in Asia especially but Europe to some extent, when you come back it takes some time to acclimate to the lower level of service.

MatthewLAX

From your OP, I agree. No need to use the words she did.

notquiteaff

I'd be curious to know, though, whether LH FAs are paid based on the same rules as UA FAs. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me that their pay starts when the aircraft pushes back, yet their work starts much earlier. In other industries, companies have been sued for expecting workers to do work off the clock, but I guess in this case it's what the unions and UA negotiated. Still, it doesn't seem like an approach that leads to good service (or fair pay).

Potreroflyr

Jeez, what is the big deal? I hardly think that making an announcement explaining what is going on amounts to any kind of lowering of service .

Yes, it was an unusual thing to say and probably didn't come out as intended. But there's no justification for broad pronouncements about the state of U.S. airlines based on ONE well-intentioned announcement.

And having flown a fair bit on Asian and European carriers (and living abroad for several years), you're probably right it wouldn't have happened. They would have simply herded everyone off the plane with no explanation whatsoever.

PanHam

What an idiotic and uncouth thing to say, on the part of the GA. And, seemingly, just plain out of touch! Do passengers really want to sit on a half-boarded airplane? I would've hoped, at least, I was one of the pax still in the terminal. I least I could've plugged in my laptop or found something to eat.

dimramon

Have you flown recently?

Potreroflyr

Why, yes I have. Point?

dimramon

"The state of US airlines"... it's not that good, is it?

Potreroflyr

Bolding added

ryan182

your missing the point, the "you can stay or not" part ^
The now make sure to thank everyone and not ask for things or bug us blah blah blah

Potreroflyr

Uh, my statement included the words "...based on ONE well-intentioned announcement."

Of course US airlines have their problems. So do TG, LH and ANA. My point was it's a bit of an overstatement to use one GA's announcement as proof that US airlines are declining in quality. There are surely more significant issues than that to gripe about. @:-)