Etihad Cabin Crew-Shape up..or

[ODMEA]

Guys as a humble senior teir pax I'd like to know whats with the very very average service standards on board EY these days. It's one area EY has failed in delivering relative to the brand new hard product and the money behind the carrier.
I'd suggest someone with authority look into this and even start reading the comments on EY on skytrax..they don't make for good reading at all..where is EY in flight services--heads buried me thinks deeply in the sand.


Oddy

[ODMEA]

This is a legitimate question...who better to respond than EY CC directly? If CC are able to refer to those who pay their salaries as "self loading freight" (somewhat insulting)
Why am I unable to seek clarification on service standards I'm suposedly paying for and for which EY CC are suposed to provide and being paid to do?

"Passengers & SLF (Self Loading Freight) If you are regularly a passenger on any airline then why not post your views or questions here? Many of us pilots like to know exactly what you think of us, the job, the airline or anything that you think we should hear about"


Oddy

[TightSlot]

I assume that you posted originally in CC in the vain hope that some Etihad crew would confess their own awfulness and beg forgiveness?

This thread has been moved here because other customers may be able to shed some light on your experience, and suggest alternative carriers as an option.

Or, they may just choose to rant a bit - which should fit in nicely with what we have so far.

[strake]

I'd suggest someone with authority look into this

In that case, I suggest you write to someone in authority. I don't believe you'll find them on here.

[Left Coaster]

Hey Oddy! Give up on trying to get GF to listen?

[EISNN]

Have just heard from CC in EI today that there has been a specific invite to them for an open day and interviews with EY in EI's head quarters in DUB. Have other airline crews received the same invite at their bases?

[ODMEA]

GF were great when Hogans changes came through; their F class was a bargain for the price....they stopped some of their routes so they were no good to me-as well as just dying a slow death...to be resurrected - who knows?
I logically voted with my feet and changed carriers and have been bitterly dissapointed with EY.

Well maybe time for a change to QR, or king of carriers SQ ....I think QR are by far the most consistant carrier in the GCC. The marketing hype of EK and EY is now laughable.

Disinterested cabin crew from developing and developed countries who are there for no other reason than a job prospect(read no customer service instinct) are probably the common denominator in the poor in-flight equation of EY, EK and GF to an extent(GF have waaaay tooo many disinterested locals on the ground)

I don't at all agree with QR whip tactics keeping their crews in shape but at least one gets what they pay for in a premium cabin, both hard and soft product.

SQ is certainly also becomming more and more attractive....now that's a carrier....

Oddy

PS-I wasnt expecting any apologies or offers to forgive, thats a tad nieve, but just maybe some inside story or logical reasoning eg cabin crew morale low etc as to the poor in-flight service on EY in premium cabins ................. how's that for a "rant" mod :)?

[TightSlot]

how's that for a "rant" mod

Better! - Much Better! :)

[gdiphil]

This is a most interesting thread from my point of view as I have recently used EY in economy along with my 15yr old daughter on a return LHR to SYD via Abu Dhabi of course. It was a fantastic price £619 return each beating all opposition this July/August by a considerable margin. Of particular interest was its Skytrax highest customer rating, knocking Asiana off it's top slot. I have flown Asiana a number of times on the LHR-SYD route and rate them the best in the sky.

All flights with Etihad were on time. All appeared to be operated safely. All sectors were operated using the A340. All sectors were uncomfortable in that the seats were the hardest I have sat in, in economy. Seat pitch was fine for Y. Cabin environment was perfectly pleasant except for one very major problem. Through-out all four sectors a loud or often very loud "bong" would sound throughout the cabin every time a passenger pressed the call button, deliberately or by accident. With full flights this happened a lot. Frankly, sleeping was made difficult or nigh on impossible. I did raise this with one of the CC who contacted the CSD, a most charming, attractive and sympathetic lady who said they were the only airline that did this and they had often received complaints about it. She did not have customer feedback forms but asked for my card and promised to send in my comments.

The food served was good. Entertainment was fine although I generally ignore it, but my daughter thought it was fine but not as good as QF. (She prefers the beer on QF but we won't go off topic).

As for the CC themselves I must say the atmosphere or perhaps the culture of the airline is a better way of putting it was distinctly odd in that there was no feeling of being with or part of or being served a defined product. I'm not sure if I can properly convey the EY brand. Service was however very lackadaisical, very slow, up to 3 hours for one dinner service for instance. Some of the crew seemed to be very nice people indeed. Some were downright off hand and rude. So a mixed bunch really, reflecting a very mixed background of people culturally speaking judging by the range of skin colour and languages spoken.

Would I fly with them again? No. I have been flying since 1962 man and boy all over the world with many different carriers. I sleep well generally speaking in economy. The two exceptions are BA and now EY. With both carriers the seats are too uncomfortable in longhaul and in BA's case the seat pitch is just too tight. With EY the constant noise from the bonging is just intolerable I found. Even if a great price appeared again I would rather pay more over that distance.

Would I recommend them? No for the same reason.

Recommendation to the airline - get rid of the noise, make the seats softer, define your brand, take a few rides on Asiana to see efficiency and attentiveness on the part of the cabin crew.

[Left Coaster]

You allow your 15 year old to drink beer? :=

[clareprop]

Presumably, only because the Voddy had run out....

[ODMEA]

Amazing that no EY bods have attempted to shed light on the points raised. No one with guts enough me thinks, they clearly know they aren't performing and hardly give a da*^;)........ Meh, who cares as long as the monthly pay check appears in the bank account right? Oh mighty keepers of human cargo.
Oddy:)

[VS-LHRCSA]

I don't think many current EY cabin crew come on to these forums. I'm pretty sure it would against their rules to get involved in a discussion with a passenger on here. Their IP addresses would be logged and they could face termination. Have a look at the cabin crew threads for EK, EY and QR - nowhere near as many 'passionate' posts as there were a few years ago but conditions are certainly no better, apparently.

Perhaps you could try the Middle East section and have a go with the pilots?

[Bealzebub]

Aside from which, you are clearly on a mission and spoiling for an argument with the wrong people. If you want to put your complaints to the people in authority who sit around mahogany desks, you must surely know who to write to?

You said yourself: I'd suggest someone with authority look into this and even start reading the comments You are unlikely to find them here trawling around for brickbats and compliments. In the end it is you as the "top tier" customer who has the option of voting with your credit card. If you experience "very very average" and that is not acceptable to you, then write to the management of that carrier, or fly with someone else. That is what competition is all about.

[Di_Vosh]

Amazing that no EY bods have attempted to shed light on the points raised. No one with guts enough me thinks, they clearly know they aren't performing and hardly give a da*^........ Meh, who cares as long as the monthly pay check appears in the bank account right? Oh mighty keepers of human cargo.
Oddy

Seems to me like you've made your mind up already. :suspect:

Why waste time on here trying to convince someone spoiling for a fight? Better things to do, and all that....

DIVOSH!

[ODMEA]

Thanks for your suggestions.
After extensive flying with GF I have had PM's on 3 occasions from GF corp staff after having made comments on pprune regarding GF. Thus hardly as impossible or unlikey as you both might think. Perhaps (and ironically so considering the state GF is now in) GF staff are a tad more committed for taking time to respond on pprune?

Secondly how can it be said that cc are too scared to post here for fear of reprimand by EY, yet in the same light it be suggested that EY bods are unlikely to be on pprune reading entries made by pax such as myself?

I think the points I raised are valid and definately raise questions when the marketing hype surrounding EY is way over inflated relative to the end product/service delivered. Now if it were a lesser carrier I wouldn't blink and just accept it, eg MS, PR even GF-In other workds I'd get what I payed for. This is hardly the case with EY when they are charging premium prices for their so called premium cabins-hence the whole reasoning behind my attempts to have some light shed.

PPrune is a great place to get perhaps a truer picture or 'real' reasoning. Surely as avid travellers we all know the bullsh&^ letter and reply I'd get if I wrote a letter to EY, even as a senior tier pax. From experience this is the likely speel I'd get if I took your advice...."Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention we have passed it on to our customer services team and inflight services who will take your advice and use it to further develop our services. In the meantime thank you for your loyalty to Etihad and we look forward to welcomming you on board again soon"...................:yuk:

PLEASE give me more credit than that! I also definately take on board your very valid opinions in that I have buckelys chance of getting any feedback on here. Was worth a try eh?;) I mean what's the point of pprunes existence otherwise?

Oddy

[potkettleblack]

I mean what's the point of pprunes existence otherwise?

Professional Pilots Rumour Network is what it says on the tin.......Funnily enough it was set up by aviators for aviators, not for spotters or passengers. There have been many calls over the years to disband the spotters and other non relevant sub forums and get back to proper discussions like Technical Queries, training issues, T&C's etc. Unfortunately as the site is now owned by a large profit focussed media group then I would suspect that there is a snowballs chance in hell of this occurring as no doubt they will want the hit count to be as high as possible in order to generate advertising revenues.

[ODMEA]

":Many of us pilots like to know exactly what you think of us, the job, the airline or anything that you think we should hear about."

I do agree there should be professional forums for the professionals concerened, however, I would have thought pprune offers ample opportunity and seperation of forums for everyone. After all aviators exist because lay people wish to fly. Commercialisation is a reality the effects everyone, internet forums or otherwise.

Oddy.