Sandgroper From Australia, joined Mar 2008, 53 posts, RR: 0 Posted (6 months 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 2866 times:
According to a recent survey of 700 Flight Attendants they voted their perfect passenger as Male, single, in his 30's and not on business....mmm, I think there could be romance in the air???
Flight attendants' biggest gripes about passengers:
1. Clicking fingers to get your attention 26%
2. Leaving seat at the end before the light goes off 13%
3. Stuffing too many bags into overhead locker 11%
4. Complaining there's no space for their bag in the locker 10%
5. Talking through the safety demo 9%
6. Asking for more blankets/pillows 8%
7. Stuffing rubbish in the seat pocket 7%
8. Asking for a different meal 6%
9. Ringing the attendant bell to complain about temperature 6%
10. Asking for a specific brand of drink 4%
MEA-707 From Netherlands, joined Nov 1999, 4117 posts, RR: 37 Reply 1, posted (6 months 6 days ago) and read 2879 times:
Flight attendants shouldn't be so whiny.
Many of their gripes are something which is part of their service, if they don't like these requests I'd suggest applying for another job or do something about it.
Comments
1- well flight attendants are also good at ignoring passengers; they often do their mid flight drink rounds from the back forward and passed your seat already so you can't have any other way then snapping the fingers or ask 'hello?' to catch their attention
3+4- well maybe their airline is asking $30 to check in a bag
7- well they often refuse stuff like newspapers in their collection rounds, no wonder they end up in the seatpockets.
6+9- well I can't understand why for instance they put the temperature on 17C when they fly from one tropical destination to the next. Maybe they wear long sleeve suits and run around sweating and feel fine but most pax would prefer 24C in that case and otherwise ask for blankets.
nobody has ever died from hard work, but why take the risk?
OB1783P From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 325 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (6 months 6 days ago) and read 2883 times:
I am a single male and I never, never, never make a special request from flight attendants. I consider they have a lot to do and I don't want to be a bother. However, I always compliment at the end of the flight if there was anything to compliment about. That was true in my 30's and it will be true until I need a wheelchair. I just flew UA IAD-IAH-MEX-IAD, and those F/As were busy, the planes were full, and some of them were extra gracious to boot. I respect those folks.
I've flown thousands of miles and I can tell you it's a lot safer than crossing the street!
DeltaMD90 From United States of America, joined Apr 2008, 5297 posts, RR: 47 Reply 3, posted (6 months 6 days ago) and read 2873 times:
Quoting MEA-707 (Reply 1): Flight attendants shouldn't be so whiny.
It's not like FAs are going public and complaining... they were asked their biggest gripes. If I ask what your biggest gripes at your job are and you tell me, does that mean you're "whining" about your job?
RussianJet From Kazakhstan, joined Jul 2007, 6276 posts, RR: 23 Reply 4, posted (6 months 6 days ago) and read 2871 times:
Quoting DeltaMD90 (Reply 3): Quoting MEA-707 (Reply 1):
Flight attendants shouldn't be so whiny.
It's not like FAs are going public and complaining... they were asked their biggest gripes. If I ask what your biggest gripes at your job are and you tell me, does that mean you're "whining" about your job?
Indeed. What were they supposed to do? Lie about their peeves and say nothing bugs them? Pretty ridiculousto suggest they are whiney.
Also, I don't care who you are and what the service is - clicking your fingers at someone like they were a dog is rude, rude, rude.
I just had first hand experience of this - last week I was in on Delta in FC on a ORF-ATL. I was in a window seat and the woman sitting in the aisle was talking very loudly to me and her friend in the seat in front of her. A male FA was going past and since it was loud I instinctively snapped my fingers (I didn't do it on purpose). The FA abruptly stopped and told me not to snap my fingers (he wasn't rude about it, but still). I apologized and quietly asked for a refill of my drink. Anyway, lesson learned - I won't be doing that again!
usdcaguy From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 754 posts, RR: 2 Reply 10, posted (6 months 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 2871 times:
Many of these complaints might be addressed more systemically;
- People stuff trash in their seat pockets because there are trash runs only after a drink service. Often, especially on flights with amenity kits and wrapped pillows and blankets, trash is produced as soon as one sits down. Why not do a quick run shortly after takeoff and once every 90 minutes?
- Planes are loud and many think that they shouldn't ring the call button if it's not an emergency. Why not have a special call button for non-emergencies that will be answered within a certain amount of time instead of forcing people to snap their fingers so they're noticed?
- Why in the world are planes always so darn cold? What could be done to control the temperature more proactively?
- Will we ever see new ways of getting bags on the plane at the same time as passengers? It would be interesting to find a way of dropping one's bag directly at the hold instead of checking it. I know many of you are rolling your eyes, but perhaps planes designed with lots of in-cabin storage and less hold space would be better, although that means less room for cargo.
gegarrenton From United States of America, joined Aug 2012, 77 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (6 months 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 2868 times:
Quoting nws2002 (Reply 9): Well we usually only have one type of vodka, one type of whiskey, etc. So even if you say you want a specific brand we can't deliver it.
Sorry, I read it more as asking for any particular liqour, ie Jack Daniels instead of Glenlivet. They are both whiskey, but obviously one Tennessee and one Scotch. Most airlines have both types.
Tomassjc From United States of America, joined Jan 2010, 657 posts, RR: 1 Reply 12, posted (6 months 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 2873 times:
Quoting usdcaguy (Reply 10): Why in the world are planes always so darn cold? What could be done to control the temperature more proactively
Not all the time! You'd be surprised how many F/As ask the Flight Deck to turn up the heat and lower the cabin pressure just a bit to get people to fall asleep!
When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth with your eyes turned skyward -Leonardo DaVinci
catiii From United States of America, joined Mar 2008, 2276 posts, RR: 3 Reply 13, posted (6 months 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 2867 times:
Quoting Sandgroper (Thread starter): According to a recent survey of 700 Flight Attendants they voted their perfect passenger as Male, single, in his 30's and not on business....mmm, I think there could be romance in the air???
This is a somewhat misleading thread title and statement. The story in the link says: "The results also showed that, according to cabin crew, the perfect passenger is male, travels alone for pleasure rather than business and is aged in his 30s."
In the context of the story, I read it as this type of passenger is the "lowest maintenance." I don't think it has anything to do with romance.
AR385 From Mexico, joined Nov 2003, 4844 posts, RR: 28 Reply 14, posted (6 months 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 2873 times:
Quoting MEA-707 (Reply 1): 1- well flight attendants are also good at ignoring passengers; they often do their mid flight drink rounds from the back forward and passed your seat already so you can't have any other way then snapping the fingers or ask 'hello?' to catch their attention
In some parts of the world, like North America and Latin America it is considered very, very rude and condescending to snap your fingers at someone. I know in Europe maybe not so much, as I´ve seen that done often over there. However, many of my European friends, have quickly discovered not to do it on this side of the pond.
Quoting RussianJet (Reply 4): clicking your fingers at someone like they were a dog is rude, rude, rude.
Agreed. Customary or not, I find it very rude and don´t expect a nice answer from me if you do that. Then again, there are entitled, patronizing jerks everywhere.
ryanov From United States of America, joined Nov 2012, 17 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (6 months 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 2867 times:
My offhand comment after reading this thread is that several of the posters appear to NOT be on the perfect passengers list. You do realize that just because it is a flight attendant's job to deal with jerks all day does not mean that one has to actively contribute to it/resent them for sharing their preferences.
U.S. airlines often keep the temperature so low you're freezing. Never understood the American fascination with being cold. Not "not warm". Cold. When you're sitting down 17C is not acceptable. This gripe can be easily remedied by keeping the cabin at a higher temperature.
This one can be easily solved by passing every 5 minutes to collect trash (not just at the end of the flight). So they shouldn't complain about it as it's got an easy solution...
Quoting Sandgroper (Thread starter):
1. Clicking fingers to get your attention 26%
2. Leaving seat at the end before the light goes off 13%
3. Stuffing too many bags into overhead locker 11%
4. Complaining there's no space for their bag in the locker 10%
5. Talking through the safety demo 9%
ryanov From United States of America, joined Nov 2012, 17 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (6 months 5 days 21 hours ago) and read 2867 times:
Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 16): This one can be easily solved by passing every 5 minutes to collect trash (not just at the end of the flight). So they shouldn't complain about it as it's got an easy solution...
I don't know if you fly much, but I fly pretty regularly. They come by frequently for trash, right around the time you'd need them to. At most, you're holding onto it a little while. There is no need to stuff it into the pockets, but people do it anyway. And the FA's know this.
RyanairGuru From Australia, joined Oct 2006, 2506 posts, RR: 2 Reply 20, posted (6 months 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 2874 times:
Quoting dc9northwest (Reply 16): U.S. airlines often keep the temperature so low you're freezing
I actually think that SQ is the worse for this. In my experience their aircraft are always chilled to arctic temperatures. Sure, I prefer to be "too cold" than "too hot" on an aircraft, but there is a line. The one thing I don't understand re-SQ in particular is that their FAs must be freezing, just wearing a sarong style dress!!! My mother's theory is that they all wear thermal underwear beneath them.
Quoting ryanov (Reply 17): There is no need to stuff it into the pockets, but people do it anyway.
If it is a drinks service and you shove you cup into the seat pocket and leave it there even though they come by 5 minutes later that is one thing. As somebody said above, though, on long haul flights you generate a vast quantity of waste within minutes just by unwrapping your blanket, earphones etc. 99% of the time that either goes in the seat pocket or on the floor. Also, when I've finished reading my newspaper I put it in the seat pocket. Admittedly if they do a rubbish run thereafter I will take it out and hand it to the crew, otherwise I'll leave it there when I disembark.
N62NA From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 3676 posts, RR: 4 Reply 21, posted (6 months 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 2873 times:
Quoting usdcaguy (Reply 10): People stuff trash in their seat pockets because there are trash runs only after a drink service. Often, especially on flights with amenity kits and wrapped pillows and blankets, trash is produced as soon as one sits down. Why not do a quick run shortly after takeoff and once every 90 minutes?
On AA, they do numerous walks through the cabin to pick up trash. And they ALWAYS do it about 15 minutes before landing as well.
Quoting usdcaguy (Reply 10): Why not have a special call button for non-emergencies that will be answered within a certain amount of time instead of forcing people to snap their fingers so they're noticed?
I'm surprised this snapping fingers thing is such a big deal. I wouldn't think you could hear fingers snapping with all that noise during flight. Or is it the visual of a person snapping fingers that is what they are talking about?
mogandoCI From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 22, posted (6 months 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 2874 times:
Quoting Sandgroper (Thread starter): According to a recent survey of 700 Flight Attendants they voted their perfect passenger as Male, single, in his 30's and not on business....mmm, I think there could be romance in the air???
Makes sense. I'm grossly stereotyping here, but take out all the straight girls or gay guys from the pool of flight attendants and not many left over. "Male, single, in his 30's and not on business" exactly fits the "type" of what the flight attendants are interested in dating/flirting.
So the least desirable customer would be .... Meg Whitman ?
s5daw From Slovenia, joined May 2011, 170 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (6 months 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 2873 times:
Quoting Sandgroper (Thread starter): 4. Complaining there's no space for their bag in the locker 10%
On my last flight the passenger to board last was a mother with a small child. She had a carry on, and she needed it on board because some baby things were in there (it was about 4 hours flight). Yet all the lockers were full. FAs wanted her to put her bag somewhere "below" (I guess in the baggage compartment?) where it would not be accessible during flight.
So the question here is, why do passengers traveling on "normal" (non low cost) airlines even have to rush to board among the first to make sure there is enough space??
Quoting Sandgroper (Thread starter): 9. Ringing the attendant bell to complain about temperature 6%
On the same flight as the baggage problem, we also had very chilly temperature. Flying from Africa, a lot of people were dressed for nice and warm weather. FAs did raise the temperature after someone complained though.
25 ozark1: You are obviously from somewhere overseas and I have to tell ya, those are some of the dumbest anwers i've heard. In the United States, we find space
26 AAMDanny: I can assure You that MY ideal passenger would be cargo. I want to be a F/A for FedEx. Cargo can't talk back! Ha, I like this post, but in all serious
27 aklrno: I'm really good about making sure my trash gets picked up, but a lot of FAs don't make that easy for me. WN seems to me to be the worst case. The FAs
28 delta2ual: We would make an announcement before landing and specifically say "check your seatback pockets" and we would still find trash stuffed in them on the
29 MotorHussy: NZ gets around this to some degree (in long-haul) by allowing passengers to order drinks etc through their seat-back IFE screen. Witnessed a very eff
30 airdfw: When you are in F they are all attentive aren't they?
31 DeltaMD90: Honestly I feel that some "gripes" are on the list just so they could fill 10 positions... can you guys think of anything that is more "worthy?" Maybe
32 vatveng: It reads like the publisher of the survey came up with whatever "gripes" they could think of and then sent it out to FAs to rank their top ten. This h
33 Mir: Keep it on your tray table for the extra few minutes it takes for the crew to come around. It's one thing if the trash is something that won't make a
34 RWA380: Every time I fly J/F I feel rather attended to as well, not a good example, as we all know Y is a whole different experience. Or blurting out, "hey y
35 sweair: Fits me, but I am closer to 40 than 30, I never fuss about anything during a flight. I guess most service personnel love a customer like me, I am not
37 babybus: I agree with you. According to that list I'm surprised they didn't put 'serving meals and drinks' and 'leaving the galley'. The job of FA is all that
38 United_fan: This too would be very annoying to me.
39 YYZBound: I agree with ozark1. Those are immensely stupid answers. On occasion, someone will attempt to get my attention my yelling, "oh steward!" I always resp
40 SCQ83: I would be curious to see how nationalities have to do with this. I flew earlier this year KIX-FCO (full B777) with AZ and I was one of the very few W
41 factsonly: Airline crew: The job that no longer is...........what it used to be !! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioGM7d81ufQ
42 GentFromAlaska: Reading between the lines I think what they asking is for pax to familiarize themselves with the beverage list placard in the seat back. Even WN has
43 anstar: You don't want to have it too hot - otherwise it will be pax fainting - especially on night flights! Really? Some - yes, but certainly not all. So yo
44 kl911: One per row? That is poor..... Even Ryanair hands out a full menu to all pax, and you can keep it as well. ( Its a small magazine, menu, and duty fre
45 panova98: I wonder if you took a survey of flight attendants concerning their gripes about male, single, in their 30s, not on business passengers, the results w
46 LV: I don't know about that, I am 32... I joined Match.com about a month ago, sent messages to two flight attendents (including one that had her profile
47 Stratofish: Well, I do snip my fingers ...every time I want the attention of a cat or dog (which is like 5 times per year) but never at FAs. It's rude just about
48 sweair: I had a very cute FA on my last flight, she was constantly smiling, it´s something that attracts me, women who smile and it looks natural. I guess I
49 manny: How do you know they were too afraid to answer and they would have answered quite similar ? I believe the would not have. Because they are too focuse
50 lightsaber: When I was single and in my 30's, there weren't any female f/a's in their 30's! But people sometimes just say 'coke' or 'sprite.' I know my grandma w
51 Stratofish: The HR departments of these airlines are known to be very strict. I'm sure they do have their gripes on certain customers as well. Enjoying disgustin
52 Antoniemey: umm... no. A fitting punishment. While in customer service I never experienced snapping of fingers (fortunately)... but nothing annoyed me more than
53 lewis: I would go as far as to say that even snapping fingers would be fine. It would still be frowned upon but would not result in a rude response like in
55 gigneil: I haven't been on a plane in the US in years that wasn't so swelteringly hot that i had to ask for it to be turned down. I'm sorry but my comfort is
56 infinit: A single male in my 20s. I have never pressed the button to get the FA's attention even when I flew F and J with SQ. I rather just walk to the galley
57 warden145: I'm with gigneil on this...I can't think of a single flight I've been on in the last 15 years that wasn't either right on the borderline of being too
58 WNcrew: The PROBLEM isn't that people shove their trash into the seatback pocket, it's that they DO NOT REMOVE IT! I know I walk through the cabin at LEAST 6
59 dc9northwest: I've only been on one "swelteringly hot" flight in 306 flights I've taken. That was on Air France. Also, a DL flight from FLL had a cooling problem f
60 MCO2BRS: As an FA I'll tell you what I LIKE about my job, since the gripes have been chewed over repeatedly above. 1. Passengers who say 'Thank you' 2. Passeng
61 gigneil: I think we can agree 17 degrees is a bit on the cold side. 20 to 21 is fine. More than that isn't. I was apologizing to the people in the customer se
62 dc9northwest: Yeah, I was thinking about the ideal temperature yesterday on the way to the airport, and came to the conclusion that most people would agree on 20-2
63 zippyjet: In F that's 62 and 24 degrees. At least on the Boeing 717-200 and 737 300, 400 and 700 series the temperature of the cabin is controlled from the coc
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