FA with Bluetooth Earpiece
 

Hi there,

I'm a Chicago-based United flyer, but US Airways (and PSA) was the best way to travel to some small places in Alabama and Florida I just visited.

When boarding my first flight home from VPS to CLT last week, the flight attendant was wearing a bluetooth earpiece. I was totally shocked to see that, since I don't ever recall seeing a member of the flight crew on any other airline wearing a cell phone accessory attached to his or her head while on duty. Was he seriously going to place or take a call during boarding? He took it off shortly after the door closed, but still this strikes me as incredibly unprofessional behavior for a representative of the airline.

I've flown intermittently on US Airways over the past several years and have noticed that a lot of the front line employees I've dealt with seem a half a notch or so below most other US carriers in terms of professionalism, presentation, and, to put it bluntly, class. Something frequently seems a little "off" with the people I've come in contact with on US Airways, at least compared to United and Continental (and obviously also the European and Asian Star Alliance carriers), where I do most of my flying.

Is it just me, or has anyone else ever felt similarly?

Just you :)

Ha! +1

I wouldn't assign the characteristics of this one person to an entire employee class. Each airline has their good and bad, but I don't find US to be materially different from other domestic carriers (Southwest excepted - not better or worse, just different).

btw, I've always wanted to make up business cards with the following and hand them out, courtesy of Wired magazine

He can barely pull it off and you are not him.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_M8jjJIXbsP...th+250x348.png

Don't be a BlueTool

Just like all the other threads about employees this one is no different. Do you know why he had it in? Maybe waiting on a call from scheduling to make sure hes working the flight as a stand in? Maybe he forgot it was in? Maybe something happened at home and he needs to to know something? So many reasons it could be..... Just like passengers forgetting to turn theirs off or not wanting to comply with the rules.....

Petty post. There are much bigger fish to fry in the world.

And it's express besides NOT mainline.

Sheesh. I suppose if the FA had forgotten his/her sunglasses were slid up on top of their head, it'd be a low class thing too. FA probably had the Bluetooth on between flights and just forgot about it. I'd rank this up there with a FA not realizing their fly was down (as long as nothing was popping out).

Yep, +1!

Petty either way.... The grannies at Mainline forgot they left Ethel Mertz on the line of the rotary phone before they left for their day trip..... Who the heck cares....

Maybe it was a hearing amplifier as seen on TV.

http://www.drleonards.com/health-pro...c-xl/13516.cfm

Generally, you will find that the East based crew members take customer service much less seriously than the West based crew members. At least that has been my experience. It all goes back to the US / AW merger.

Well. given that it's been almost 7 years, one would figure that the "superior" west training would have made its way across the rockies by now :rolleyes:

In fairness, I haven't been exposed to the west side of the operation, but for the most part the east crews are cordial and professional. There will be lemons in any group larger than 1, but painting the majority of the operation as unprofessional strikes me as an unfair generalization. Even more so when the management team from west is in charge, and ultimately managment is responsible for the whole organization - their authority doesn't stop at the mississipi river.

Yes it has been seven years, and still there are seperations before east and west. Untiil the contract issue are hammered out, there will be problems. Since you haven't really flown with much west crew, I can tell you first hand there is a big difference between the two.

Unless, of course, they are PHL based.