In response to PaperTiger, I'm on AA and other airlines a lot and, having worked with AA folks in the past on some business projects, I consider that airline's staff to generally be the most professional and helpful of all the major carriers. What annoyed the most about that experience was the way that, after having completed the airline passenger's equivalent of a triathlon (and i'm a runner, a family toting kids and assorted accoutrements would never have made it) across JFK, the FA who "greeted" me did so with contempt and made me feel like I was a troublemaker.
It may or may not have been her own company's issues that resulted in the delayed arrival of my flight from LAX but I was too winded to point that out to her at the time.
While I'm here - other things that FAs do that cause annoyance...the AF FA who shook me awake for dinner (isn't that against all airline policies?) soon take off from CDG. Nothing is more annoying than when this happens on a return trip from a VERY busy overseas trip with minimal sleep, as is typical in my line of work.
Also, on a 2/3 full UA 757 out of DEN once, I took my seat in the last row of the plane (the love 'em or hate 'em seats, personally, I prefer them on a less than full plane as they tend to be quieter and will gladly select them online, as I had in this case) and the FA asked me to move forward because of "weight and balance issues".
Now, I've been asked to move because of weight and balance on RJs and other small aircraft and have been more than happy to comply, and somebody more informed than me can correct me if they wish, but I believe this was a complete lie in this situation on this type of aircraft.
We all know, FAs like those last seats for themselves so they can eat out of tupperware and read US Weekly.
Not wanting to disregard the direction of an FA, I did move forward (2 rows
, thereby preventing a tailstrike on take off and all sorts of trim problems, I am sure). Guess who took my seat?