I guess because I'm a frequent flyer, United sends me these "award certificates." They say they are intended "commend" employees who provide "outstanding" service. One side has a number of options to check (I felt welcome, I was treated with genuine care and concern, etc.) The other side has a space for my own comments, my name and frequent flyer number. I am to fill all that out and present it to the employee. Then the employee fills in the spaces for his or her identifying information and gives the form to his or her "Manager/Supervisor." My question is, Does this help the employee? If so, I'm happy to do it. If not, I won't waste our time. I have asked a few flight attendants, and the response I have received is, essentially, "every little bit helps," implying that it the whole it helps, but not much.
In my opinion they do help. In my company, if we receive a complimentary letter, we receive a letter of commendation from the company which goes on our permanent record. We also have a Flight Attendant of the Year award, in which points are awarded for various things - the highest points being for letters of commendation. The letters of commendation I have from the company are my most prized possessions in my resume as they show a lot more than a reference from an employer. They show that you have obviously impressed a customer to the point where they have felt compelled to write. And these days such letters from customers are becoming more and more rare. So write write write away Eboy! It shows us that we're appreciated & not just slaves!
Yeah, it makes your week when you get a commendation letter. And when you get one, it makes you wanna work harder and be even better at the job. Nothing worse than thinking 200 people on the a/c think you are just there to serve them their dinner and be at their disposal. (well I don't mind doing it, we ARE there for that, but it's always nice to know you are GOOD @ it and are appreciated)...
So many people are very quick to complain but are not very good when it comes to giving praise for a job well done. Yes it does help, all letters from passengers are followed up by the company I work for.
A copy of the letter is shown to the crew member concerned and is then placed on their personal file. Depending on the content of the letter commendations can be awarded.
I am sure there are crew members out there who are glad you have filled out your comment cards, so keep on writing!
I'll keep those cards and letters coming. I never write a negative comment or letter about an individual employee. I believe that, most of the time, any offense I perceive is a management issue, and the crew member is a victim of poor management. (That is the same philosophy I have at my firm in my employees' dealings with customers.) I'd rather help those I have a good experience with and try to pull them up instead of pulling the others down. I will write management on issues of concern, avoiding crew names and flight details. I have to stress that, most of the time, I have no problems with air travel.
I'm with you on that Eboy. my complaints avoid mentioning date and sector so that they cannot 'pin' things on to the crew (flight and cabin).
I recently wrote to an airline (UK) that I have used many times this year to compliment a particular crew and I named the people that had been good. I only posted last week, so I have not yet had an acknowledgement form the line. It will be interesting to see if I do!
E- and PAX- , you are both rarities! I have had literally hundreds of complimentary remarks from pax, usually along the lines of "If all your cabin crew were like you, we would never fly with any other airline".. But not one has been written down. The two complaints there have been about me over the years -- from Americans who couldn't handle the dry Brit SOH! -- went in writing and I was duly placed under threat of death or worse. What was especially nasty was the hypocritical claims that the complainants were only interested in "training standards", when what they really wanted to see was me hung,drawn and quartered. So please, if you do have anything good to say, write it down, and name names. It hardly ever happens and, as others have said, it makes so much difference when it does. We have to put up with as much, if not more, cr@p than any other group of people, and in a uniquely stressful environment. We are not machines. The odd (written!) word of commendation is like manna from Heaven. Thanks to everyone who has bothered.
Just one more thought: I personally find those "award" schemes rather patronising. My company had a particularly cringe-making one recently, encouraging pax actually to hand little gold hearts to crew who did a good job..! Come on, we are not in kindergarten! Nor, in my experience, do the in-flight survey forms or the regular send-outs count for much, being badly worded, ambiguous and largely irrelevant. What does carry weight, and how, is the one-off letter, especially from regular pax. So if ye have pens.....
Just a thought - maybe someone would like to take this thread to Passengers/SLF? I am sure that many SLF like myself would be pleased to contribute positively - if ever asked to fill in a card I have always done so positively...I think the role of cabin crew these days is so complex and in all my 30+ years of flying as SLF (I hate admitting to that - I was a precocious flyer OK!) I can still count on my fingers the times I have thought that someone was NOT showing themselves in their or their company's best colours!!
Do passenger comment cards help the crew? 
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