I have come to the conclusion that in many a bad pax's eyes no=rudeness.
EG. 'Can I sit in Club Class?' then being politely told 'no' by a cabin crew member would make said pax say 'the cabin crew were rude to me!'
I have a friend who has a top class degree in Law from one of the UK's top 5 universities. She is applying for graduate jobs and works as a cashier in a Marks and Spencers foodhall. She is a lovely girl, very polite and well spoken and she said the number of customers that downright ignore her and are rude to her is shocking! She is just glad she has a degree and can hopefully get a good job asap.
There does seem to be a tendancy to belittle people who work in customer facing roles such as retail staff and airline/airport staff.
I can only think that people in general are becoming ruder.
