Comments

1. Chris June 1st, 2009 at 4:02 pm

   Hi Denis.

   Thanks for taking the time to write such a thorough account of your flying experience. I would ask, though, that you try and consider your objectivity when assessing the U.S. crew. Was there any personal bias against one group vs. another that may have swayed your interpretation a bit? Do you believe it is a cultural issue? What do you believe is the cause of the cabin crew behavior? I would ask that you try and (in your mind) try to walk in their shoes. Do you know what they have been through over the last 10+ years? Do you really know what their lives are like. Forgive me, but there’s evidence you have a misguided view of at least one aspect of the crew and their job - their income. I can assure you, as someone in the industry (not w/United but privy to the data), that no Flight Attendants, International or otherwise make anywhere near “6 figures” a year. If they made close to 100K p/y I guarantee they would be cheerful as hell. They would be so over-accomodating and nice you’d want to slap them. There is a long and very complex history of commerical aviation and its workers in the U.S. and most of it is tragically un-funny. I believe the crew you had was probably less than stellar; I also think you make assumptions because, through no fault of your own, you don’t have much data to go on. For instance, you said,”…to the flight attendant ordering everyone standing and stretching in the galley area (the only place where we could stand) back to their seats because we were bothering her.” I really doubt you read her correctly, though, I admit I wasn’t there. I do know that in the U.S. after 9/11 the FAA and TSA decided groups of passengers should not gather in any area of the plane, especially if they outnumber the crew in that area. It is her duty to mantain the security of the aircraft and to disburse groups. That’s just the way it is. Unless she said, “You people are bothering me - get back to your seats,” then it’s hard to know what her motivation was. Unfortunately, things have changed unimaginably for both travelers and crew since the days your dad ran BOAC in BOS.

   Most Sincerely,
   Christopher Berger
   Tucson, AZ U.S.A.
   Cabin Security Instructor
   Major U.S. Airline

2. Chris June 1st, 2009 at 4:09 pm

   Denis,

   I am curious about your writings about the fleecing of consumers with Mind,Body,Spirit pseudoscience. As a rationalist and atheist, I would love to see your work. Do you have a website I could visit?

   Thanks Again,
   Christopher Berger

3. Denis Campbell June 1st, 2009 at 4:55 pm

   Hey Chris,

   Thanks for your thoughtful and thought provoking comments. You are very correct to say that I have not walked a mile in their shoes, nor would I want to. I know how difficult international air travel is and… that is what they signed up for. No one held a gun to their head.

   My six-figure reference was for the flight cockpit crew and may not have been clear so I will take a look at that passage again. My flight service crew assessment of a salary between $32,000 and $48,000 (2-3x that unfortunate regional 1st officer’s salary) was probably not too far off the mark for THIS crew. IAD-LHR would be a plum ‘bid’ route open only to the most senior and therefore experienced staff (both in the cabin and the cockpit), indeed most were well into their 40s and 50s so one can safely assume 20+ years of experience.

   Having worked for a national flag carrier during the summers of my University period (yeah, it was nepotism and it paid my tuition), salaries were well above that range and even with cutbacks and bankruptcies feel confident that this crew was within that target and… I do not know beyond an honest estimation.

   Too, the senior flight guys (they were male) had as much grey hair as me so again, Left Seat/1st Officer with 25+-years experience on an international 767, 777 or 747 seems a high-5 to 6 figure salary, even on United.

   Now to the gist of the matter.

   Despite the last 10 years… there is a job to be done and it involves courtesy, professionalism and self-discipline. When we worked the check-in counter (1975-79 I do so date myself) the customer was not an interruption in our day, it was our reason for being there. We made eye contact with everyone, explained if we could not immediately serve and why, helped them at every stage and provided service.

   We had a station manager (and union reps) who would not tolerate anything but the highest caliber of service to the customer. You’re feeling unwell or having a bad day, tough, the customer is THE most important thing when you are here working, full stop. Having flown 2 million miles with Delta (whom I no longer support for their short-sightedness) and almost the same between KLM and BA, I find their commitment to service is always the highest in the business. My previous two experiences with the carrier I thought I had booked, BMI was also rated very favourably.

   It’s all about performance and attitude. If you are unhappy, leave and do something else. You have no right or licence to take out your frustrations on the paying customer in any class of service. I made a commitment to stop rewarding and supporting airlines that did not offer a high level of service or failed to treat any customer with dignity and respect. BA and BMI are in just as much financial difficulty as the others and their CEO and staff would not tolerate poor customer treatment and performance, nor would the staff.

   That is why I wrote the article. It is intended to shame the bad apples and as an homage to those who do their job well and with respect/dignity. If this gets senior airline staff to acknowledge that no one is served by allowing bitter, unconscious jokers such as this crew to board any flight with the United name over the door, I’ll be satisfied.

   Best,

   Denis Campbell

4. Chris June 3rd, 2009 at 7:43 pm

   Denis,

   Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I understand your disapproval of the cabin crew’s unprofessional behavior. I also agree with your belief that no one should “take out [their] frustrations on paying passengers.”

   When I’m not training, I am out on the line flying. When I started flying 19 years ago (after college) almost everything about my job was different than it is today. My reason for offering the following data will be made later. I will try and keep my examples concise:
   1) I made 20% more (in real dollars - not adjusted for inflation) for the same amount of work.
   2) I was able to fly both International and Domestic - now I can only fly domestic.
   3) My retirement medical was covered - now I have to contribute part of my paycheck into a “prefunding account” for it.
   4) I could afford to live at most of our bases - now I have to commute from a community I can afford to live in. This commute requires 2 flights in each direction and takes the better part of a day.
   5) I used to be senior enough to be off reserve. Now it will take years before I have a real schedule.
   6) I used to get a crew meal each day. Now most days consist of several flights without enough time to get off the plane and get food. I often go 8-24 hours with no food.
   7) My workdays used to average about 8-10 hours - now I work nonstop 11-13 hours (more if the weather causes delays).
   Like lots of Americans, my medical insurance costs have jumped. I once paid $25 dollars for basic insurance - now I pay $113 p/month. My co-pays, and drug cost have gone up dramatically as well.
   9) I used to work my narrow-body flights with 4 cabin crewmembers or more if the passenger count was high. Now all my flights are provisioned with the F.A.A. mandated minimum of 3.
   10) I used to be paid for my annual recurrent training. I now must do it for free. 2/3rds of it I must do at home online on my own off-duty time.
   11) My layovers used to average 11-15 hours. Now 9-10 hours is the norm. The 9-10 hours of layover begin when we park at the gate and let our passengers off and end when we begin boarding the next day. When adding the time for deplaning, post flight security checks, paperwork, getting out of the airport, waiting for a hotel van, driving to said hotel, waiting in line to check in, getting to my room, unpacking, winding down to try and fall asleep, waking up and showering, dressing, repacking, and meeting my crew in the lobby an hour and half before departure time, there is very little time for sleep before another 12 hour day. I usually have to do this 6 days in a row - on reserve scheduling can pretty much do what they like with me.
   12) Customer expectations are out of synch with what I actually have to serve them. I am not provided the tools to do my job and I get the blame/complaints. Why can’t I fill your baby’s mega size bottle with water? Because I’ve only been catered with 3 bottles for 140 people. The fault lies mainly with my airline’s marketing department. This leads to constant disappointment and lots of verbal complaints throughout the day.
   13) I am prohibited from discussing security procedures with customers, and rightly so. But this often leads to misunderstanding when I have to manage customer behavior. There is also an odd juxtaposition in my company’s and customers’ expectations of me. I must constantly be engaged in security activities - seeing every passenger as a potential threat - while simultaneously treating them as honored guests in my home.
   14) I have to take on a lot of extra flying to make ends meet and am away from my family more than ever. Beside the obvious sadness this causes, it has also created stress in all of my relationships.

   I could go on and on and on. First, let me address the common response after one reads a list like this. That response is, “If you don’t like it then go do something else!” This assumes I will be replaced by someone who likes the job. First, I stay for a couple reasons. I like what the job used to be and hope it will improve in the next upturn of this cyclical industry. Also, I’ve done lots of job hunting and come up with nothing - our unemployment rates are quite high right now. The assumption of my replacement being thrilled with the job is incorrect. I’ve been around during big hirings of new airmen and women. It doesn’t take them very long to figure out the reality is not what they signed up for. I mean, nobody wants to spend most of their time away from home, without basic sustenance (food, sleep), for a starting pay of 19k a year.

   So! On your United flight you had a group of people who’ve been run through the ringer. They’ve watched their careers/lives dissolve before their eyes while simultaneously seen the very decision-makers who took it all away, take massive pay and bonuses. They feel helpless. They feel cheated. They feel stuck. They are angry and rightfully so.

   I take pride in my work performance. So if I happened to be the crewmember you interacted with on a given flight you would probably be happy or at least satisfied. But there have been a tiny handful of times, when my stomach is growling, my headache growing, I’m struggling not to fall asleep in my jumpseat while taxiing, I’m thinking about the rude people on my last 3 flights of the day who ignored me when I said, “Hi, Welcome Aboard,” when they entered the plane, and the 7 different people who chewed my head off because the act-of-god thunderstorm was going to cause them to miss their connection, and someone rings their call button 30 rows from me to wave their grubby hands over their empty cup (no words no eye contact) getting me to take the garbage even though I’ve been up and down the cabin 20 times in the last 30 minutes asking for trash………and I finally break…..and I say something unprofessional; perhaps sarcastic, and everyone around me thinks to themselves (and perhaps later blog), XXY Airlines has the rudest employees!

   I hope this helps.

   Chris

5. Charley James June 8th, 2009 at 12:32 pm

   Denis makes a valid observation about the differences between the attitude of people working for North American-based airlines and those in other parts of the world.

   In Toronto, where I live, Air Canada is widely referred to as Aeroflot (the Russian airline) because the service is so surly and ill-tempered - and it doesn’t matter if one is flying the Montreal-Toronto shuttle or first class to Asia.

   I grew up in Minneapolis, the home of Northwest Airlines and its main hub. It’s had a lousy reputation for on-time performance and customer service since I was a kid. For example, when I was about 12, my family was flying home on NWA from New York. When dinner was served, we were all given Chicken Kiev. My father, who flew frequently in those days, was surprised and asked the flight attendant what happened to the beef stew normally served.

   “Oh, you mean the Gravy Train?” she replied, referred to a brand of dog food popular at the time. “We don’t serve it any more.”

   United, Air Canada, Northwest, Delta, American; add damn near any major North American carrier to the list and the complaints are the same.

   True, the airlines are having a tough time financially but it’s true for all airlines. That being the case, why is service so bad on United, et al, and yet still so good on Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines, Japan Air, etc? Same industry, same cost pressures, same decline in high flying business travellers, yet a very different customer experience for passengers.

   It’s the difference in corporate cultures.

   If United, as just an example, treats its employees poorly, the employees will take it out on passengers. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines and, in Canada, WestJet, treats employees like gold and it shows from the moment a passenger has first contact with somebody from the carrier.

   Charley

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UK Progressive began during the 2008 US Presidential Campaign. It replaced two blogs: "Outside the Boundaries" (dedicated to US/UK Politics and Business) and "Fire the Guru!" an expose of charlatans in the Mind Body Spirit business. It was briefly known as The Vadimus Post from the Latin 'Quo Vadimus' or 'Where Are We Headed?'

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