passenger standards

[c.r.m what is it]

Is there any flyers out there who agree with me that the standard of passengers has gone down hill recently, is it to cheep now, or am i just taking it to heart more now??

In the last few days i have be told to :mad: so many times, for just asking someone to do something!!! and nearly had stop a riot when we were diverted to another airport due to the original one being closed!!

Anyway does anyone agree or what???

[Jerricho]

C.R.M., unfortunately the standard of the WORLD is declining. Been thrashed out on many threads here about common decency, politeness and consideration for others.

There is something in what you say though. I'm sure we could all recount stories as either passengers or as staff who have seen d*ckhead passengers being just that. Maybe with more people flying these days it a law of averages thing?

[IB4138]

It is very hard to avoid the Richard Cranium family these days. Did no one tell them about birth control?
They also come with unruly children who they fail to control for one reason or another...mostly because they don't care.
You get kicked in the small of the back, have things thrown over the seat.........and these are the next generation of Richard Craniums!

[Boss Raptor]

Cheaper fares has led to greater access and greater scope of society travelling...

Like a friend complaining the other day about all the 'lads' being idiots on an LCC Amsterdam flight - what do they expect when fares are so low and accessable to the 'mongs'

Been discussed on several other threads in the recent past :E

[FinalsToLand]

I think that not only the standard of passengers has dropped but also the attitude of people as well,
Those who expect everything served to them on gold plates.
I think people loose any common sense they have as soon as the walk into the terminal,
People are rude & ignorant, standing talking on their mobile phones whilst checking in, making it difficult for the agent to ask security questions etc then arriving at the gate late and when you explain to them they have been offloaded they just kick off big time blaming it on anyone but themselves,

I was witness to an incident about 2 months ago where a executive card holder with a big airline had to be moved from his pre-assigned aisle seat to accomodate a full wheelchair passenger who could not get into the window seat, fair enough you might say, its on of those things that happens, just accept it, what happened to common courtesy? this guy proceded to shout abuse at all the staff around him in the gate and demanding he got HIS seats and as it was HIS SEAT HE was going to sit in it,
He didnt seem to realise the seat belonged to the aircraft not him.

I think programs on tv such as airline only make the situation worse as people tend to try and get away with things they have seen on there and they think by shouting they will.

On the other hand you do occasionally meet the nicest of passengers who you will go out of your way to help!!

FTL

[Final 3 Greens]

As a FQTV, my tuppence:

1 - Loco has encouraged a 'wider cross section' of society onboard - no doubt we should 'celebrate this' as New Labour would say

2 - Airlines fight for premium pax and the advertising doesn't always quite match the reality. e.g I can check in at Skyteam first or business class counter with my Elite card - try that at STN, with CSA, when they only open one counter or 2 x travel class - I don;t get upset, but some do .... e.g. the pax metnioned in the first post

3 - Society is changing - as John Lennon said in a song "Some for better, some for ever."

[Land After]

is it to cheep now

My concern is the continual decline in literacy…..

[Lily Rowan]

"Aah, for the days when aviation was a gentleman's pursuit -- back before every Joe Sweatsock could wedge himself behind a lunch tray and jet off to Raleigh-Durham." - Sideshow Bob

I think that LCCs, and low leisure fares in general, are part of the problem. I’m not at all old, but I do remember flying during the days before de-regulation. Airfares were expensive, and that gave the impression that flying was special – in fact, whenever I flew back to my parents’ house after visiting my grandmother, she would insist that I dress up for the flight. Now, flying is common. It’s like the difference between a 5-star restaurant (or even 3-star or, come to think of it, any place too nice to wear jeans) and McDonalds, and it seems that few passengers feel the need to be on their best behavior when boarding an airplane.

My parents were not quite as insistent as my grandmother about forcing to me wear my Sunday Best to take a flight, but they did teach me, at an early age, to be a considerate passenger – perhaps, because we flew coast-to-coast several times a year, this was as much for their benefit as for those around me! :D

However, courtesy is not exclusively the domain of well-heeled frequent fliers. I’d be interested in hearing from cabin crew as to which group of passengers, as a rule, are more problematic: big-wig frequent-flyer executive types, or leisure travelers on their rock-bottom-price annual holiday (stereotypes, I know, but you get the general point:8). Or do they each have their own quirks that can be equally annoying?

[PAXboy]

Lily RowanMy parents were not quite as insistent as my grandmother about forcing to me wear my Sunday Best to take a flight, but they did teach me, at an early age, to be a considerate passenger That is exactly what my parents taught my siblings and I. The first time we flew, which was Dec 1965 LHR to JNB via NBO (on a BOAC VC10 :ok: ) our parents put us in tidy but sensible clothes and said, "In the aircraft, you must behave as if you are sitting in the drawing room of Mummy and Daddy's best friends." We knew that meant that we HAD to behave and we did.

FinalsToLandI think people loose any common sense they have as soon as the walk into the terminal. Many moons ago, when I was working in a posh hotel in London, the head porter gave me a very important piece of information, "When people walk in here lad, it's like their arms drop off. They can't pick up their own bags or even dial a phone number for themselves." In 25 years, not much has changed. :hmm:

[radeng]

I was on an America West flight on Sunday. Nice young lady comes round with drinks trolley, and radeng says 'If you please, a club soda'. Stunned silence, then 'Pardon, but what did you say?'
radeng: 'If you please, a club soda'.

'Certainly, sir, a pleasure to have someone say please!'

She was also very good at bringing napkins after the woman in the seat next to me managed to pour half a glass of coke over me when handing in her garbage!

Pleasant too, to see the polite, pleasant, friendly efficiency of US Immigration and Customs when arriving in Phoenix, and the TSA when I left. The BA flight over didn't seem to have a spare seat on it in any class, so hopefully they made money on that one!

So far this trip has gone well, except for the San Diego weather!

[reynoldsno1]

My concern is the continual decline in literacy…..
and numeracy for that matter ... I'm constantly amazed at the number of pax who seemingly cannot correlate the alphanumeric designator of the seat on their boarding card with that nailed above the actual seat on the aircraft.

[PAXboy]

reynoldsno1, that is beautifully put. :p It is amusing to see folks board a long haul flight in the (typically) Biz cabin and immediately start to look at row numbers, rather than head straight down the back. I had better not start on my hobby-horse of why 744s are often loaded one pax at a time. :*

If it is true that pax are Freight, it is true that some cannot accurately be described as 'Self Loading' Freight. :}

--------------------
"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

[takenthe5thamendment]

I agree that general standards and politeness have definitely declined, but, I think, on this thread, that we're losing sight of the fact that you work in a customer service industry and it's the customers that do, in fact, pay your wages.

Of course you're going to get difficult, akward passengers, just as I get difficult, akward patients and relatives at times, however, you have to do one's best to 'keep the customer happy'.
There's nothing we can do about it..........at the end of the day, we are indispensable - service users are not! :rolleyes:

[slim_slag]

tend to agree with takenthe5th. Plenty of highly skilled and educated airline employees can come across as right idiots when they enter my domain, just as I have been known to sit in the wrong seat when I'm jetlagged to high heaven and don't even know what day of the week it is.

[rsoman]

Also may be it is time some airlines/crew can apply some common sense as well !

Scenario I
I particularly remember one flight from India to the middle east where there was a grand annoucement that "this crew in addition to English also speaks Arabic/French/German and Thai!". - That on a subcontinental flight where 75% of the pax could not even speak English ! And then ofcourse you can blast the poor SLF for lack of literacy/decency what not when it all boils down to one simple thing - communication!


Scenario II

A flight from South East Asia to back home in India on a major carrier. Some poor guy who could barely speak English was literally screamed at by about three four crew members for daring to ask for a second meal! And the very same crew literally fawning over the very same passengers towards the end of the flight - why this sudden change of mind - The duty free trolley ! And even when the captain announced finals the real freindly crew was still at it selling yet another Dunhill/Chivaz Regal etc!

Scenario III

Another Asian airline checks in passengers at 4 AM for a 6 AM flight then keeps mum about a delay which extended to 6 hours always giving the impression that the flight is expected to board any moment. Meanwhile the many of the passengers relatives phoning the airline at the arrival airport were told straightaway that there would be a 6 hour delay! - BRILLIANT

Yes there will always be occasional unruly passenger. But then thinking of it , the probabilty of finding one in a flight is much less than coming accross the local drunk on a friday evening outside your local pub!


The era of the Jacket and Tie air passenger has begun to change right from the time of Laker airways and it is a pity that some people cant still see that! As another poster already said, we work in the customer service industry and it is the customers who pay our wages. In many cases the business and first classess catering to the "puccah sahibs" are the ones which make huge losses and are infact proppped up by the "masses" in economy class who brings in most of the dough to the airlines!. And the sooner all of us realise it and then use our training to deal with everyone equally professionally, the better it is for everyone concerned.


Cheers

From someone who is proud to work in this industry (and also enjoys being an occasional full fare paying SLF!)

[Pax Agent]

I agree that general standards and politeness have definitely declined, but, I think, on this thread, that we're losing sight of the fact that you work in a customer service industry and it's the customers that do, in fact, pay your wages.

Well here's a point that we had to point out to our Managers at a certain airport for a certain handling company: -------

"Without the passengers, we would not have a job.
Without the Pax service agents they would not have a holiday"

Should not we all be pleasent to each other???

[Animalclub]

Because passengers buy our services (pay our wages) it does not follow that they have a right to abuse us.

Please - thank you - Sir - Madam - are not dirty words and should be used more often... except where a lady insists on being called "Ms"!!!

[TightSlot]

Wow, what a fascinating thread! After all this thoughtful writing and sniping, we discover that on occasion some passengers can behave discourteously and with a lack of consideration, and so can some airline employees. At other times, both parties can behave in an exemplary fasion.

This is probably because both groups are members of the same species - human beings.

ZZZzzzzzzzzz.....

[takenthe5thamendment]

Because passengers buy our services (pay our wages) it does not follow that they have a right to abuse us.

I agree completely with that statement - I don't think that ANYONE has the RIGHT to abuse another - verbally, or physically, but it does happen - we just have to be thankful that the good does outweigh the bad!