What is up with United Flight attendants?

[Imachickadee75]

DS and I just came back from a 1.5 week trip to visit family-and it WAS great thank you... LOL

Anyway, over the last month, we have traveled United mainline three times (we are usually on regionals). Two of the three times our flight attendants have been awful! Yesterday, we went to get on board, realized that not only were we in first class but that our seats were across the aisle from each other. I stood waiting patiently for the f/a to have a sec to tell me what to do and was finally rudely told -"just sit together and tell whoever shows up to sit across the aisle". Then we were in the first row and I could hear one F/A complaining about her job. Then our F/A hardly made eye contact, gave my 2 y.o. son a glass glass of OJ as I held out a sippy cup and generally ignored us (and our china and garbage) the rest of the time. Three weeks ago, we were in coach and it was the same thing. Grumpy, poor eye contact, little service.

Now, I know they know we are non-rev. And, I know we technically aren't supposed to be in first class due to Jason's age. However, I asked the gate agent about it and he said not to worry. I offered to switch with someone in coach. I don't expect to be catered to but its bad enough to have a little kid in 1st class-help me make sure he's not a bother -kwim? Like, don't give me a overfull glass glass for a 2 yo at the same time you hand me an overfull hot cup of coffee! Yikes!

And, I don't mean to brag, but my little guy is a STAR on planes. He is not fussy, he responds to the seatbelts sign and acts accordingly, he quietly watches movies or listens to books that I read. No disturbance. So, DON"T BE RUDE TO US!

What is up with the attitudes? Like I said, I mostly fly regionals and have experienced much more curtious and friendly service from those F/A's than those on United mainline. When I fly mainline, I guess I expect them to be more formal, but at the same time even MORE curtious. So, I'm stumped. Any thoughts?

And, in terms of the seat assignments, I have a problem with F/A's telling me to ask someone to move so that DS and I can sit together. That is not my job, I'm basically a guest on the plane while those folks are paying passengers and I'm not about to ask them to move. I'm very uncomfortable with this situation. I really think its something the F/A should handle. What do those of you who are/were F/A's think?

Jackie

[Kristie]

from what i hear.. there are a lot of employees pissed off at mgmt right now and that can tend to reflect in customer service.

[madlibs]

I definitely know what you mean. I do A LOT of non-reving, and rude people are the worst part of it. It's not just the flight attendants, but gate agents and front counter ticket agents as well. I hate that I have to swallow my pride and bow down to whatever they ask. (Being overly nice, I mean, when they are most certainly NOT.) My fiance and I had a sort of epiphany recently. Those same people that are being rude to you can just as easily lose their flight benefits as you can. If a situation deems it, don't be afraid to ask for their name and employee number. I guarantee an immediate change in atitude.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't something we've done often. (One time only, actually, and the woman definitely deserved it.) I'm just saying you can use this as a little tool when things are really out of hand. When I was a flight attendant, I went out of my way to be nice to the non-revs because I knew what their travels were like. I'd give them full bottles of water, extra snacks, etc. (I know it's not much, but it was all I could do.) I'm not really sure why people act the way they do. I guess some people are just sad, mean individuals. I hate thinking that way, though... I'll just try and think they're having a bad day/month. Not that THAT's easy when you're in the situation.

[amelia]

DH and I have always said that United has the worst customer service. It seems like no one is happy there. In the last 5 years we have come across very few nice F/A's and CSA's at United. I non-reved on Delta one time and it was like night and day. They were awesome to me on Delta.

[katherine2473]

My DH (United F/O) says they have the saying at the moment 'United - pissing off the world one passenger at a time', which makes me laugh! I non-rev with them a lot (between LHR and ORD) and the FAs are, almost without exception, the surliest, rudest, most miserable bunch of ***s I have ever come across!! One example out of many... I wear bilateral hearing aids and am very deaf. When we're at altitude I take my aids out because the change in pressure means my ears hurt. I explained to one FA what I was doing and asked, very nicely, if she could check that I was made aware of any importan announcements. She said no and told me 'I guess you'll just have to listen harder then'... WTF?!!

[Imachickadee75]

Originally Posted by katherine2473

My DH (United F/O) says they have the saying at the moment 'United - pissing off the world one passenger at a time', which makes me laugh! I non-rev with them a lot (between LHR and ORD) and the FAs are, almost without exception, the surliest, rudest, most miserable bunch of ***s I have ever come across!! One example out of many... I wear bilateral hearing aids and am very deaf. When we're at altitude I take my aids out because the change in pressure means my ears hurt. I explained to one FA what I was doing and asked, very nicely, if she could check that I was made aware of any importan announcements. She said no and told me 'I guess you'll just have to listen harder then'... WTF?!!

No pun intended but she said what? That is incredible. Did you do anything? How does your husband feel about this? I know mine has complimented staff from his company for taking extra good care of me and our son (ie emailed a captain that took DS up into the cockpit) and I'm pretty confident he'd take someone to task for being that rude (or at least their supervisor). My goodness, I guess I'd better count my blessings.....

Jackie

[sfblue]

My pilot flies for United, and had told me that moral is very low there, not just FA, but pilots as well.

I personally has been flying United for years. I used to fly internationally on business class. I occassionally took Cathy Pacific and Singapore ailrines. The services were much better. United guys/gals are just not smiling at all.

In the past several years, I have been flying AA coast to coast a lot. They are no better than United. Delta is much better a few times I was on the plane. One Delta FA impressed me so much, I want to write a letter to her company! I told other Delta FAs about how impressive I was next times I flew Delta.

Talking about being treated not great. My pilot was to get on his own airline from SFO to ORD. The gate agent just ingored him while he still has his uniform on (I was there to meet up him as we both just landed in SFO from different destinations). He had to wait for 5 mins and finally was told that there is no seat available and he had to seat in cocopit. There were no smile from gate agent at all.

I hope they realise that they can not "win" by not treating pax well. Singapore airline has been able to charge higher price due to it famous flight attendents smile (and services!). They always made money! Their pilots and FAs are not the most high paid. It is about company culture and it has to start from the top at United. My pilot is going to become an assistant chief pilot soon, I plan to ask him about United services and see if they can at least do something. I know another United pilot, I will talk to him as well. So I am working on 2 pilots at a time

[katherine2473]

Originally Posted by IMACHICKADEE75

No pun intended but she said what? That is incredible. Did you do anything? How does your husband feel about this? I know mine has complimented staff from his company for taking extra good care of me and our son (ie emailed a captain that took DS up into the cockpit) and I'm pretty confident he'd take someone to task for being that rude (or at least their supervisor). My goodness, I guess I'd better count my blessings.....

Jackie

I know! My DH was spitting feathers but I hadn't got the name of the FA so couldn't do much. Plus, this was very shortly before we got married and I was on a buddy pass, and I didn't want to make a scene that could have had ramifications for him. Now that I have unrestricted travel rights, I'd be far more inclined to say something. But you know, I tend to find that kind of thing funny in a way - I mean, I know I'm deaf and it is a pain, but on the other hand I still hold down a very good job, with great job satisfaction and I make a lot more money than she does, so if she gets her kicks being rude to a 'disabled' girl then I reckon I get the last laugh!

[LauraL]

Originally Posted by IMACHICKADEE75

Now, I know they know we are non-rev.

Do FAs always know who is non-rev and where you are sitting? I thought your name just appeared on a list as a non rev passenger, but there was no seat assignment attached. Yaknow, a could-be-anyone kinda thing.

Do FAs even look to see who's non-rev?

[amelia]

Originally Posted by LauraL

Do FAs always know who is non-rev and where you are sitting? I thought your name just appeared on a list as a non rev passenger, but there was no seat assignment attached. Yaknow, a could-be-anyone kinda thing.

Do FAs even look to see who's non-rev?

I'm pretty sure they know....at least a lot of the time they know who the non-revs are in first and business. There have been a handful of times where the F/As were going around in first and business and asking people what food option they wanted and they would skip-over the non-revs and deadheaders and ask them last. I remember last time this happened, she knew my name. When I was an F/A, sometimes I would get a list of all the pax on board, and it would have the list of who was a non-rev. I don't remember if it had their seat # on there or not.