What passengers hate about flight attendants

[NM]

From news.com.au:

FROM flirting with male passengers to bumping people with trolleys, passengers have revealed the things they hate the most about flight attendants.

Hmm, a bit of tit-for-tat going on?

 

[Chicken or Beef]

Forget peeing with the door unlocked . . . I recently heard that a FA accidently walked in on a guy joining the 'solo' mile high club. The entire cabin crew knew of the 'incident' within minutes!

 

[Svenc]

I actually have a lot of respect for flight attendants or cabin crew. At the end of the day they are trained professionals there to give me the best shot of saving my skin in any emergency. Those that treat them as little more than airborne waiters really miss the point, and I dont blame the cabin staff for getting a bit annoyed with them. Still most take it in their stride and deal with it.
Personally I find that what goes around.... if I treat them with a smile and respect, I find I get the same back more often than not .. and sometimes a bit extra in the way of service attentiveness as well.

 

[coco50]

I actually have a lot of respect for flight attendants or cabin crew. At the end of the day they are trained professionals there to give me the best shot of saving my skin in any emergency. Those that treat them as little more than airborne waiters really miss the point, and I dont blame the cabin staff for getting a bit annoyed with them. Still most take it in their stride and deal with it.
Personally I find that what goes around.... if I treat them with a smile and respect, I find I get the same back more often than not .. and sometimes a bit extra in the way of service attentiveness as well.

I agree with these comments wholeheartedly. They are not glorified wait staff. That is only one of their roles. Their primary responsibility is that of passenger safety. I have always tried to treat cabin staff with respect and courtesy and never in many flights have I found cabin staff to be anything but helpful and polite.

 

[JohnK]

I usually try not to annoy the cabin crew too much and think that most of them do a great job under the circumstances.

If I had to be critical in some way I do not think it is nice to ignore a passenger standing outside the galley while the cabin crew are having a conversation inside the galley aware that the passenger is waiting.

 

[browski]

Always best to remember rule 1 of the 5 universal laws of travel life:

1. Never upset anybody who gets to spend time alone with your food/drink.
2. Always tip the house-keeping staff
3. Never eat the bar snacks (especially at airports)
4. More underwear, less everything else.
5. If in doubt about the water quality, drink beer.

 

[Skyring]

Frequent Ire

I can thoroughly recommend "Air Babylon" by Imogen Edwards-Jones & Anonymous.

I have very rarely found an FA I disliked even mildly. The worst I've experienced is the bland but efficient performance of their duties.

But every now and then, I'll get an FA or two who smile and chat and joke and give me little treats, pose for pictures etc. They can really make a flight come alive.

And let me echo the sentiments above. Flight Attendants have to deal with all manner of emergencies, whether safety or not. They have my immense respect for their professionalism, and while I hope never to have my life in their hands, I am sure that if the need arises, they will look after it.

Of course, I'm speaking of the major airlines, in particular Qantas and Cathay Pacific, for their high standards of selection and training. There are some airlines, and luckily I've never flown with them, where the cabin staff are the frequent targets of passenger ire.

 

[Warks]

One thing I've noticed with native English speaking airlines is the propensity of the FAs to look very annoyed when someone presses the call button. Often they bustle up and turn the light off before they even start talking to the passenger. They always seem irritated by this. As a result I've never pressed the call button in 30 years of flying (too scared :shock.

Actually I lie... - Mrs Warks had to use the airsickness bag BEFORE take-off (short story: food poisoning) from Paris (CDG) to LHR some years ago. I wasn't going to hang onto that!
Even then the BA FA got me to go and dump it in the bin in the toilet.


But apart from that I find like others if you treat the FAs well you will get treated well - "do unto others".


As I once heard said "the person who is nice to you but is rude to the waiter is not a nice person".

 

[penegal]

5. If in doubt about the water quality, drink beer.

Oh yeah

 

[Archphoto]

On a whole, I have great respect for flight attendants - they have a pretty tough job and we expect them to be cheerful and accommodating, no questions asked.

The biggest bugbear for me though, and this is reflected on almost every airline I've flown with, is them waking me up from a perfectly sound sleep, to ask if I want dinner. This ranges from a quiet but ear penetrating "Excuse me", to a good shove on the shoulder.

Why can't they take a leaf out of some of the Asian carriers and put a sticker on my tray table telling me they called by with my meal, and to press the call button if I want it?

It's hard enough to sleep in these sardine cans; I'm asleep, let me remain that way. If it means I miss out on my meal so be it! I am quite capable of asking for it at a later date if I want it.

If I miss out - my fault.

Please just let (extremely tired) sleeping dogs lie!!

 

[Evan]

Have you tried asking them that you will let them know if and when you want dinner ? or are you talking about in whY ? in which case i think your just doomed to be woken up at as soon as your fully asleep.... such if life.

 

[straitman]

On a whole, I have great respect for flight attendants - they have a pretty tough job and we expect them to be cheerful and accommodating, no questions asked.

The biggest bugbear for me though, and this is reflected on almost every airline I've flown with, is them waking me up from a perfectly sound sleep, to ask if I want dinner. This ranges from a quiet but ear penetrating "Excuse me", to a good shove on the shoulder.

Why can't they take a leaf out of some of the Asian carriers and put a sticker on my tray table telling me they called by with my meal, and to press the call button if I want it?

It's hard enough to sleep in these sardine cans; I'm asleep, let me remain that way. If it means I miss out on my meal so be it! I am quite capable of asking for it at a later date if I want it.

If I miss out - my fault.

Please just let (extremely tired) sleeping dogs lie!!

Unfortunately not everyone subscribes to your theory and expect to be woken up.

I'd go with the advice from Evan if I was you.