I have read with interest the thread so far and am disappointed with the "them" and "us" attitude that seems to permeate it.
I am an "In Charge" crew member and like many of my colleagues who have posted know well the chain of command and I follow it every time. However, aren't we all supposed to be a team, working together for a common goal?
The locked door policy is bad enough and appears to be a throwback to the "good old days" when it was most definitely a "them" and "us" attitude. I believe times have changed and the majority of flight crew and cabin crew that I work with really work together to ensure a smooth operation.
Communication and mutual respect is the key.
To the guys and girls with stripes, at the pointy end: I understand all the time and effort you put in to achieve your position, not to mention the cost, and respect it immensely. Notwithstanding that, respect only goes so far, the rest has to be earned, no matter what position. You can be the best pilot in the world, but if you have a God Syndrome what respect are you going to get?
To the "In Charge" crew out there: Again I have utmost respect for the time and effort it took to get there, BUT work with the team. You are not an extra, you are not a nicety. You have a role to fulfill so do the job and lead by example. Speak to the flight crew as you would to the cabin crew, don't treat them differently, you are all on the same side.
I am sure everyone has a story to tell about certain instances where we found it hard to work with individuals, whether they are flight crew or cabin crew - In Charge or otherwise. Please remember this is human nature.......we cannot get along with everyone all the time, what we can do is have a professional working environment that is easy to work in and most of the time a lot of fun.
To HugMonster:
The airline that doesn't train their most senior cabin crew to offer their advice, observations and experience in a non-confrontational manner is risking flight safety. Similarly, they should train their most junior pilots to listen and use the experience available from "down the back".
Why does it have to be the most senior cabin crew that have good advice to offer? Good management is being able to recognise good advice and act upon it no matter who it is from, and credit them for it. Similarly, why should we only train our most junior pilots to listen to it? I have been flying for nearly 11 years and almost every day, I learn something new. I am damn good at my job and pride myself on it. There have been occasions whereby the Captain (30 years experience) has asked my opinion and organised different procedures to accommodate.
We
should all be able to work together, all of the time, unfortunately we all have bad days. It is even worse when we all have them at the same time !!
Please don't tar all of us with the same brush.