Interairline rivalry Bull!

[apaddyinuk]

Just flew back yesterday from home into London. Went down the back of the EI plane to say hello to an old friend who was working the flight.A VS chap (in uniform) was standing in the galley waiting to take his seat, my friend introduces me to the VS chap as a fellow commuter who works for BA (i was in civvies)...VS chap gives me the look of disguist with pierced lips and then avoids all eye contact!!!

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT????

Two of my best mates are VS crew, I live with one of them and this sort of behaviour I would only expect from a 14 year old! Needless to say this chap got no free stuff from the EI pay bar!!!

I have had similiar responses from Easy, Ryanair and the odd Qantas dolly but never from other airlines such as EI, BMI, AF, LH, Austrian, RE, AA, DL etc etc!!!
Surely we all work in the same industry and put up with the same crap and deserve to treat eachother with respect and manners.

[BMED LHR]

Don't worry your just a nice person , I have had BA Mainline crew look down on me at the Airport , Once they see BMED on my Name Badge . But I always smile and say hello .

When I was at my BA Interview , this "Queen" which was on Old contract said at BA where not like Virgin / Easyjet where a real Airline . So if you then apply to Virgin and get the job , You would just think all BA Crew don't like Virgin etc ..But you also see crew on this sight slag of other Airline's . I think when you get older you treat people with more respect and just do the job , And at the end of the day where all dollys :) , I love that word ..Take care and keep on being a happy paddy.

;)

[lexxity]

Jaysus Paddy, don't tell me you've never come across this sort of bolleux before. He was probably brand new to the job and thought he was the bees knees.

Generally you guys and gals at BA and VS are on the really lovely. I've only ever had reason to tell one member of staff to :mad: off and go fly their own airline. (They were on standbay) But like I said 99% of people who commute with us are brilliant.:ok:

Worst I have ever come across are Futura, Cyprus and Air Transat. At least Futura and Cyprus have the excuse of not speaking English. The Transat crew were very nearly offloaded for refusing to check bags in and being abusive to us "only groundstaff, do you know what we do for a living." (They were confirmed on our loco arm) :mad:

[apaddyinuk]

Ah yes, Air Transat, I have dealt with them on a ground handeling level before. Was fortunate enough to have a bundle of them position on a flight from YYZ to LHR a few months back and managed to talk the CSD out of putting them into the few empty seats in Club!

Its not that I have not come across situations like this before but when it happens it really riles me up. Especially when its not an "observed dislike" from a distance but after I had actually been politely introduced to the person.

I regularly get crew from the likes of Emirates, Gulf Air, etc, and the odd royal flight crews heading back to work to the Middle East. Always great to talk to (as Im ex Qatar crew and know how they feel) and love upgrading them because they really appreciate it as they would never expect the same from their airlines so its always a treat for them.

[ozskipper]

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT????

I have had similiar responses from Easy, Ryanair and the odd Qantas dolly but never from other airlines such as EI, BMI, AF, LH, Austrian, RE, AA, DL etc etc!!!

Surely we all work in the same industry and put up with the same crap and deserve to treat eachother with respect and manners.

Ov course, that's right I forgot that BA crew are never off'ish, rude or surly towards other crew. Perhaps, he had a bad experience with BA crew in the past? It's not inconceiveable is it?

[Gatwick07]

There's no such thing as a "real" airline....... we all fly in aircraft (whether it's a 747 or an A320 they all fly at the same height and fly as fast) and we serve passengers......

The way I see it is we need to help each other out. I've had "special" treatment from other airlines because of my job and I'd help out staff from other airlines on my flights.

It's like coach drivers, they all wave to each other. I've never seen National Express look down their nose at Wallace Arnold!

[sebby]

I love communicating with other crew and if any other airlines are paxing with us I always want to chat and have so many questions. Im genuinely interested... lol thats not to say i am annoying ;)

I feel that we all have an understanding, we all deal with the same amount of sick bags, smartarses and frequent travellers who know more than we do, dont we??? :ok:

[apaddyinuk]

Ozskipper, Im not taking a punch at you but one should take each person as they see them and look beyond the uniform even though in this case I was not wearing one. If you cant do this then you should really not be serving the public or working in the front line.

There are a good few bad apples in BA but far and wide we are a good easy going bunch. I have since spoken to my housemate about this who is Virgin Crew and she has admitted that there are a huge number of crew in Virgin who look down their noses at us, its really rather sad!!!

[crewboi83]

I remember gettin in the staff lift at work one day when i worked for MyTravel with a fellow crew memember, and these 2 OLD woman that worked for Britannia looked us up and down like we had just fell out of the sky!! my friend said as we left the lift "I hope Im still flying when I get that old"

there is no need for inter airline rivalry, i work for a LCC carrier and sometimes other crew look and treat u like the lowest form of life, yet i see more traditional flag carrying airlines (dont wanna use names but we all know who i am talking about here) crew get on the staff bus and i have to admit, they have no standards.... uniform etc etc and yet we are the ones who get the s:mad: t
I personally talk to anyone from any airline, we all do the same bloody job dont we.

[Off Stand]

I am the same. I will always be plesant to any crew from any other airline. When I flew for the orange lot, we often had positioning crew on domestic flights, I wouldn't let them pay for a thing on my aircraft. It doesn't sound much, but we all do a very similar job, just wearing a different uniform. They were probably at the start or end of a long day, so anything I could do to help out, I would. The same goes for the airline I fly with today.

If there was a rivalry, then I wouldn't talk to half of my family as we all work for different airlines!!!!!!

[jetsetterbfs]

Funny story about a positioning flight on BA from EDI to LHR last winter. My crew had just arrived into EDI from GVA and were going back down south in uniform.

Obviously the FCA uniform does stand out a bit, but that is what it is meant to do, it's a holiday airline after all. Got on board the BA and the purser asked us what airline we worked for (!) - I thought everyone knew the pinkies. When we said First Choice, his response was "aww, bless." I though this was so hilarious I almost peed my pants. But I can see that some people may find this really condascending - I'm not sure what way he meant it, but to give him his dues, we were given bags full of beer to take off with us.

It was a little embarrassing though; we couldn't help but feel they thought they were better than us. Or perhaps that is our own insecurity? Don't know.

I do know that the Monarch crew in Luton are, unfortunately, awfully snobbish when they see us in the security check area. If looking down your nose at someone is an artform, then they have it down to a tee!

God knows why. I love going on other airlines and telling them I am crew so I get free stuff. It's fabulous.

[sinala1]

We all do the same job, and anyone who is rude to crew of other airlines just because they are another airline really needs to stop flying and go work in a job that involves putting stickers on apples, or spending hours contemplating their navel...

Don't forget that toes you tread on now may one day be connected to the feet & legs that hold up the butt you need to kiss in your next job!!! What goes around comes around...

:ok:


Oh and PS can you imagine if this refusal to interact were a major trend in airlines? The Truck in NRT would not survive!!! :{ hahaha

[striparella]

Lol maybe he just didn't like the look of you and who you work for has nothing to do with it?!?!?;)

[tiggerific_69]

BMED LHR,i get that too from mainline BA because my namebadge says BACON on it :ugh:

[SuperBoy]

BMED LHR,i get that too from mainline BA because my namebadge says BACON on it :ugh:

I'm mainline and also get it from mainline, lol :O

[tiggerific_69]

lol,if i see crew downroute i will always smile and say hi,but majority of time it is the heathrow crew who turn their noses up at us.there have been a few who will say hi and have a chat,but normally its only gatwick crew who will have a chat etc :(

[keeperboy]

The problem with some crew at BA is that thy totaly live in a 'BA bubble world' and can be a bit oblivious to the airline world around them.

They tend to have only flown for BA, or flown for BA for years. Seeing/married to someone else that works for BA. Only use BA for staff travel. Etc etc. Often, I don't think it is that some of them 'look down' on other airlines, more so that they are a bit ignorant to the airline world outside BA.

I remember when I was on my initial training course with BA and you have these regular little 'reviews' with your customer service trainer. This old girl (my trainer) was BA through and through. "So have you flown before, Keeperboy?" She asks. "Yes, I flew for BMI and Virgin" I reply. {Confused look on her face} "Oh yes, BMI, thats like the low cost airline from that....what's it called....Midlands, isn't it?" I reply "No, it is the airline that used to be British midland that has now re-branded itsef BMI". Then next question. "so, why did you leave Virgin, Keeperboy". I reply it is mainly a money thing. "oh, I thought all airlines paid pretty much the same" she replies. I tell her how much a 5 day HK is worth at VS. She laughs, thinks I am joking.

I kid you not, some of these people (even in BA training) are just so oblivious to the outside world it is incredible. So, if someone at BA looks at you curiously, don't take offence.

And if they don't talk to you when you are a passenger in uniform don't take worry. MANY a time I have commuted in my BA uniform on a BA flight and not been acknowledged as 'one of us'. It is just the culture though. We have 14,000 cabin crew, and at LHR anyway, it's usually a group of faces on the flight we have never clapped eyes on before.

[FLYING_HOSTIE]

I agree keeperboy, I also flew with BMI and Virgin, and do you remember sitting on the bus in your red uniform and other reds would get on the bus and walk right past you and sit in silence unless you made an effort to chat? Or the typical question:

Other Red "so where are you flying today?"
You "San Fran"
Other Red "New York"
End of conversation lol.

I do understand if its a new face and your on your way to work, the whole "Their not on my flight no point getting to know them, probably wont see them again anyway" mentality. But it does make me giggle, I still see it happening today lol.

[brightonflyer]

Dont tar everyone with the same brush...........I was on the National Express recently in my BA uniform and had a really nice chat with a Virgin guy all the way back to Brighton! :eek:

[apaddyinuk]

Dont tar everyone with the same brush...........I was on the National Express recently in my BA uniform and had a really nice chat with a Virgin guy all the way back to Brighton! :eek:

Would you ask him next time to move to Dublin and commute from there so I can have someone to chat too??? hehehe

[SpiritofAus]

Ozskipper, Im not taking a punch at you but one should take each person as they see them and look beyond the uniform even though in this case I was not wearing one. If you cant do this then you should really not be serving the public or working in the front line.
There are a good few bad apples in BA but far and wide we are a good easy going bunch. I have since spoken to my housemate about this who is Virgin Crew and she has admitted that there are a huge number of crew in Virgin who look down their noses at us, its really rather sad!!!

Ah yes, Air Transat, I have dealt with them on a ground handeling level before. Was fortunate enough to have a bundle of them position on a flight from YYZ to LHR a few months back and managed to talk the CSD out of putting them into the few empty seats in Club! Apaddyinuk QUOTE

In one sentence your your pissed off because you perceive someone treated you differently because of the company you work for and in the next sentence you are telling everyone how you treated other crew differently because they worked for Air Transat :ugh:

[Peaky]

I work for a charter company out of LGW and was squashed onto the crew bus one morning after a night flight and happened to be sitting next to a couple of VS crew who were bitching about the flight they had just done and how vile one passenger in particular was, one of them turned to me and said "Don't you just hate it when passengers call you 'love'?" I replied "On one of our flights, that's a term of endearment!" Obviously meant as a joke and this girl (no kidding) slowly looked me up and down and then went "oh yeah" and physically turned her back to me!!!

I seriously burst out laughing then and there and always tell that tale to all who will listen!

I know for a fact that they're not all like that at VS but having heard loads of stories I couldn't believe it when I actually saw the 'attitude' with my own 2 eyes!!!

:p

[flyblue]

There's one like that in every company, Peaky! And guess what, they seem to always find a "vile" pax on every flight!
Isn't "attitude" a waste of energy? ;)