It seems to be a BA thing, and as such it may be a dictat from on high. I will ask ?
Nothing wrong with the Captain, F/O or CSD / Purser thanking anybody for their hard work in my opinion, but why do it over the
public address system ? If somebody hadn't pulled their weight I doubt they would use the same method for communication.
It really does send the wrong message. When (as a crewmember myself) travelling as a passenger, I think, "
what have I done to make this crews perfectly ordinary day such hard work ?" The reality of travelling these days, is that it is extremely "hard work" for the passenger. They are required to arrive hours before the flight despite having "checked in" online in most cases. They have to stand in a long queue called "
fast bag drop". They have to stand in another, often very long queue, for security where they are again subject to the mild indignity of having to remove bits of their ordinary clothing. They are then often frisked before being unceremoniously deposited in a large overcrowded shopping mall where they will endure more queues if they wish to enjoy the privilige of buying an overpriced sandwich or cup of coffee. Eventually they will be summoned to the departure gate (often miles away) where again they will sit in a crowd to eventually join the scrum to either board the aircraft or be herded into a bus. Hours after the start of the ordeal, hopefully they will get to sit on the aircraft and start the journey that was all they either wanted or were forced to do. At the end of this journey are they thanked for enduring this ritualized torture ? No, the cabin crew ( who are paid to do the job) are thanked for all
their hard work ! Is it any wonder people are exasperated and confused ?
No doubt someone in a particularly pink and fluffy CRM moment, thought this was a good idea, however it is extremely patronising to even the most undisgruntled passenger ( of which there are few these days !)
As a postscript, my wife is senior crew with said company and she has confirmed that it is indeed a requirement of the company. Apparantly this is based on customer feedback that it is seen as a "positive" comment and reflects the projection aspects of "teamwork" etc. etc. Presumably this is similiar to the customer feedback that is always trotted out in rebuttal whenever a complaint is made or criticism is levelled. Anyway the point is that it is not the fault of the crew, they are told to do it.
