First of all thanks for a very entertaining but slightly disconcerting thread. It has kept me enthralled during some of the pauses in my hectic life as senior manager with one of those companies that build those things you fly (in). Damn, let it slip - you got it - I'm another non pilot. However, just to add my tuppence worth.......
There seems to be a lota about responsibility and authority but very little on respect.
- FC (and CC and many others) are employed by airlines
- airlines are there to (try and) make money
- they make money by flying paying SLF around
- SLF expect safety and service (and low price)
- The FC and many others on the ground (including little ol' me) are responsible for ensuring the safety (which is relatively well regulated)
- The CC and other customer facing staff are the first line for service standards (in the eyes of the paying customers)
- Both have different but equal levels of responsibility in ensuring the success of the business
- Based on several of the contributions in this thread, if the relationship between managers and team members in my industry were the same as what appears to be on board an aircraft, then I think we would have greater difficulty in building a good aircraft.
Anyway, as I said - "Light blue touchpaper..."
I'm off for a bit of hols, so I won't be contributing more and probably not reading for a while, so please discuss amongst yourselves.