Airline Staff

[sponsmith]

Why are so many airline staff (ground and cabin crew) so bloody rude and smug?
Any one else fed up with these patronising w*****s?

[minimonkey]

maybe they are tired? or maybe they get paid naff all? or maybe they are on average just grumpy?

[jno]

are they? I fly quite a lot, and I very seldom meet any who behave badly - it's maybe a once-a-year thing. I generally find if I'm polite to them, they're polite back. Under what circumstances do you find them rude?

[Rock'n'Roll]

I've never found them rude or patronising,although some times I wouldn't blame them

[Gef]

Just returned from a trip to New Zealand. Flew Glasgow/Heathrow with BA, Heathrow/Singapore/Auckland with Singapore Airlines and Auckland/Christchurch with Air New Zealand. Everyone (on the ground and in the air) could not have been more pleasant and helpful.

A few years back I flew Teesside/Lanzarote with Air Europa. The Chief Stewardess was like someone from the Gestapo. She wore black leather gloves for the whole flight and let you know who was the boss. However, it was quite amusing.

[trevHCS]

Haven't flown much, but never found any of them to be rude or smug. Then again, I've not flown with a well know Irish airline and going by what I hear about them that could well describe many of their staff.

Trev

[KARL]

What I have noticed is that you sometimes find the entire crew off-putting and I have wondered (but never established) whether this was because of some bust-up, a festering grievance or perhaps because the senior most was overbearing. Occasionally, one individual stands out as particularly unpleasant - yes, patronising would be one way of describing them. The job is just a glorified waiter/waitressing one but the crew often give the impression they think it deserves considerable cudos, and so they are tempted to lord over "the rabble". Those on long-haul often focus primarily on the lay-over away from home rather than the flights which then become an irritating distraction. On european airline flights between Europe and less developed countries I do wonder whether they don't hype each other up over guarding against "primitive" conduct by the passengers. That said, on the whole crew are pretty average - which maybe they shouldn't be since the job is one of providing service. Also, I have seen as many passengers behave appallingly - most of those european, by the way.

[mash]

I generally find them to all be good (which is amazing considering what they put up with).
The only special cases for me where maybe some work is required is Ryanair, but I just avoid them!

[dazf]

sponsmith..

i work for an airline (ground), and i am not rude to a passenger,
i like to be sometimes especially when they r rude to me.

the only time people tell me that someone has been rude to them is only when they have been told they have excess luggage and that they have to pay for it, and when they r told how much they have to pay... now airlines are not a charity and u have a weight stipulated on ur ticket normally 20kgs now if u go above that u have to expect to pay for it..
u would not expect to go into a supermarket with �20.00 and get �10 worth of good free now would u...????

we r not rude or smug,,, now u r rude and smug to us u have to remember that we give u the seat on the plane,, now we can give u a good seat or a bad seat it is up to u...

if u r rude to staff then u can be refused travel and if their is any upgrading (UPG) that needs to be done u will not be on the UPG list....

how many airlines have to traveled on and what makes u think they are all rude or smug??
what has happened on previous flights.....

[sponsmith]

I totally agree about the excess baggage.
What i don't like is some 16k a year airline minion talking to me like i'm a 5 year old even though i'm spending the equivalent of 2 months of their wages on a airline ticket.
I'm not rude, in face i go out of my way to be polite, however when i do encounter a problem, be it lost luggage,cancellation etc i'm usually spoken to like i'm a drunk, Scottish tramp asking for a free ticket.
What really annoys however is if someone even raises their voice its a case of "you won't be allowed to fly if you carry on"
How pathetic!

[sponsmith]

BTW, i fly around once a month, generally long-haul and have flow on countless airlines around the World.
I also have BA Excuctive Club Silver status.

[dazf]

sponsmith..

many thanks for the reply to my questions,,
now i can understand were u r coming from,

i can garantee that not all people are like that..

i always try to be polite when i can and give some examples when i can.

take today fro instance i had a honymoon couple flying out to indonesia and his passport expired at end of year, now i know they are very stick with the passport being more than 6mths from stay, so i had to refuse them to check in, but i gave an example as i had just seen in our office a telex from Denpassa (DPS) advzing that they had a refusal as passport was less than 6mths,, i was honest and up front adving that i did not want to ruin honymoon further by letting them travel only for them to head straight back....
they were ok,, and he was lucky as he had another passport that was valid and they got it to the airport in time, and they did travel in the end..

with lost luggage, unfortuantly it does happen at times,, sometimes it is because of the baggage belt, sometimes it is just human error, maybe the check in agent labled the wrong bag, or sent bag down the belt without tag or the loaders missed read the tag and put the bag on the wrong plane...
in todays age most if not all these should not happen but i am affraid they do..

i always appologised to the passenger and explained that as soon as we have located and recieved that bag we will dlvr bag to them,, they will have our number or handling agents number to contact if needed and i would also advz them that they can check on missing luggage on the internet all they need is file reference for missing bag..

[sponsmith]

Hi Dazf,

Many thanks for your answers.
I totally agree with what you're saying. I know that customers as well as staff can be rude and surly, i also realise that sometimes bags get lost etc.
It's just in my experience, the level of customer service is at an all time low, particularly with the European and US carriers with whom i fly with mostly.
I will say though that the customer service with the South East Asian airlines is still generally as good as it gets.
Who do you work for out of intrest? Reading your last post i'm assuming Singapore or Garuda?
Kind regards.

[dazf]

i have been with many airlines over the past 13yrs of me working at the airport,,,

my first airline was ELAL then i went to a handling agent AFSL (Air France Services Ltd), then CSA Czech Airlines and now i am with Malaysia Airlines so u were close with the 2 airlines u mentioned....

[Litchick]

OMG sponsmith! I thought it was only me but I see others feel that way too! They are rude and smug -- you think what the heck you are asking them for when you ask for a glass of water.