Grumpy Pax

[MissLeopard]

Has anybody got any ideas why pax are so grumpy over the festive season?A fellow crew member I worked with today tells me that at midnight 31st Dec,somewhere over Europe, a lady passenger on her flight stood up and sang 'AULD LANG SYNE' all by herself,(probably one too many!),.Poor lady was greeted with indifference, but I say good for her! these last couple of weeks pax seem even more miserable than last year and I wonder why? Is it cos they are missing the SALES?or has anyone any more ideas or stories?

[TightSlot]

I've given this some thought and decided that it is because anybody who had family/friends/lovers takes the very sensible decision to stay at home and celebrate - this leaves the miserable bastards to travel with us.

Having just fought my way back from a saturday ski GVA with the now traditional delays/broken baggage belts etc. etc. I'm also struck by how pax grumpiness appears to be destination related. What is it about ski pax that makes so many of them such total w*****s? Why is this more so out of LGW than anywhere else? What happens to people on a VDA that turns them into such deeply selfish, ego-centric and rude humans. Surely they can't behave like that ALL the time - they'd have been arrested by now.

Today I went toe to toe in the cabin with a vile man who objected to a reasonable, politely phrased and clearly explained safety request made by one of our more polite stewardesses - yet again, Cabin Crew appear to be viewed as not requiring the same level of courtesy as other human beings. This pax wasn't going to back off until I threatened him and his family with offload in GVA (that seemed to cramp his style a bit) - He made me lose my cool - something that I pride myself on never doing!.

So, out of curiosity - what's your most disliked route? Which destination really brings them out of the woodwork?


[This message has been edited by TightSlot (edited 07 January 2001).]

[TexasStewCrew]

Are you kidding!!!??? LAX, BUR, and LAS are flying hell!!!

[MissLeopard]

Well,I have got to agree that the ski pax are about the worst at the moment...They seem to look at us with a condescending way..as though we are poor people who can't get a proper job.Also what makes people do disgusting things? Walking down C cabin on a GVA yesterday I smelled the most horrendous stench, and even felt sorry for the pax in the area...Later we were handed a S****Y nappy.Why do folk do this sort of thing when I am sure they don't at home?And what is it about TFS pax that makes them clap on landing?Strangely, the worst pax I encountered were a religious group travelling to Israel(they were English).We were delayed a bit due to a young guy SEVERELY disabled, who was being carried by his brother on to the A/C.I have never heard such impatient horrible people tutting and complaining...not very christian,eh?Best pax must be the Forces.They practically tidy up after themselves.One of my little games to relieve the tedium sometimes of clearing meal trays etc. is to psychologically analyse the pax handing the trays over...Who is the messy one in the family, etc.And does the person who passes a cup for their coffee/tea a particular type?I admit to not liking the ones who put the milk jigger AND the creamer in the cup.Are they a particular type?Who are your 'types' and also what are your little games to pass the day?
Anyway heres to some nice pax thisafternoon...Malaga!

[flapsforty]

Funny you guys should say that. I worked the Xmas week and had the exact opposite experiance. Pax very sunny, friendly and into the festive spririt, even on 3rd and 4th Xmas day when we had departure at 0700 hrs both mornings. We did great them all wearing Snata hats, served some special stuff and made the announcements a bit more personal than usual, so maybe that helped?

Tightslot, seeing Seoul or Dehli on my roster never makes me happy. http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/frown.gif
Any Japanese destination is grand pax-wise imho; ac's toilets are cleaner when you arrive at destination than they were on departure, you get the trays handed to you nicely covered with a napkin so you dont have to look at the messy leftovers, and pax so polite that it inspires FA's to high standard of politeness as well :) A pleasure to work!

Most fun I have on flights to Ghana. What happy people, so easy to talk to, joke with and please. Always great atmosphere on board!

Most disliked pax type? Young business guys from my own country who think the price of their ticket means they can leave their manners at home. http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/frown.gif


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Singularly Simple Person........

[BRUpax]

I'm married to an ex f/a. We often fly BA on the BRU-BHX-BRU route. Looking at things from the pax side, in general the cabin crews are very pleasant but on occasions, as on a very recent flight, we come across some right snooty uptight examples. I almost want to apologise for being there! I often wonder if they are just having an off-day or if they're always like that. My wife reckons, from her past experiences, that the mood and personality of the No 1 one can affect and be reflected by the rest of the crew. Do you find this too?

[Goldie]

Think the SLF are grumpy, have a listen to yourself next time you are on an early morning check out from the hotel, poor reception staff.

and heaven forbid if the crew bus is three minutes late!

[flyblue]

Like Flapsforty I had very nice pax during Xmas vacations.

I tend to prefer schedule pax instead of charter.

Not particularly happy to fly to Cuba, Nigeria, Senegal, Jamaica.

BRUpax, your wife is right, it's the Purser who creates the atmosphere in the teamwork; and if there is an element of disturbance (eg. grumpy F/A on a bad day)he/she can help improve it. I have noticed that pursers who don't trust their coworkers and check all the time on their work, are too strict on the rules, are too direct, have poor results. Unhappy crew makes unhappy pax.

[This message has been edited by flyblue (edited 07 January 2001).]

[TightSlot]

Ok... 24Hrs and a gin & tonic later I've calmed down from yesterday's unpleasantness (thank you for allowing me the therapy of posting my cart rage incident!). I've thought this one thru a bit more, read the postings, and decided that we are all missing the real enemy that lies hidden underneath. The real enemy is... The Marketing Department. It is they that persuade customers that they will receive more in exchange for paying less and that they are individually the most important, educated and socially apt beings on the aircraft - all others are there to provide for them in some way or another.

So I'm changing my tune - we can't and shouldn't blame the customer (they've been promised the world and not unreasonably expect it as a result). I'm putting a global bounty of US$50 on the head of all airline marketing staff. Dust off that scope and go postal in your marketing department - the world will be a better place. To claim the bounty just send proof of your actions to my hotmail and the cheque will be in the post shortly.

[TexasStewCrew]

About Marketing, get this; to celebrate my airlines 25th anniversary, they had a $25.00 USD sale for tickets to just about EVERYWHERE!!! Talk about a madhouse! People were swarming around around like flies on a spoiled banana! And about that much fun!