Lance53 you want a sensible reply......I will do my best bearing in mind I don't work fot Tui/Thomsonfly. I'm going to assume you flew on a 757 to a mid haul non eu destination as you make reference to the duty free service......hope I'm near the mark
I've worked on a 757 so know how narrow the aisles are not to mention the seat pitch
Firstly SEP (safety) training
will overide service training in
any UK airline. Most airlines including my own have rules on how many rows a CC member should be away from the trolley. This is in case of unexpected turbulence,decompression etc. You will not realise that of course when you want the trolley moved.
Also if we do move the trolley
every time we are asked the disruption to the service is significant to the pax waiting to be served. On charter it is even more so as the CC have a laid down service to complete in a limited amount of time.
My colleague
Boardingpass also makes a good point. We should not be picking up trash/dirty plates on a clean service trolley. We don't have the room anyway despite the food hygiene regs. Charter carriers such as Tui have a much better insight to these regs as their CC are true "food handlers". We at my lot for the most part handle wrapped food.
I do however take your point re explanations from the CC. Certainly at my mob the callibre of new recruits is diminishing. They are getting younger with less "customer service" experience or "people handling" skills. Some I have even found to be on power trips in some situations and I, as the SCCM, end up sweeping up after this.
Our SOP's are meant as a guide. It is not unreasonable of a CC member to expect an adult to wait say 3 rows until they move the trolley to allow them access to the loo.....but they should offer a polite refusal/explanation which would engage you and some unfortunatly dont
. If you have a medical reason i.e IBS which needs the trolley moved immediatly then the CC should oblige. Just as we would oblige with a child.
Hope this answers your question.
LCD
