Why do 85% of pax...

[Slasher]

Why do 85% of pax:

1. Think the landing touchdown is the only indicater of a pilots skill and ability?
I get the aircraft safely onto a bloody short runway in heavy rain on a dark and stormey night using correct wet runway technique only to have some idiots tell the cabin crew the captain did a hard landing and mustnt be any good (not that I care about dumb pax opinions on something they know nothing about. Just curious.)

2. Dont possess enough gray matter to figure out how to physicaly lock a toilet door? Then yell abuse when I barge in thinking the toilet is free?

3. Ask such idiotic questions to pilots that they wouldnt dare ask a train or bus driver?

4. Ignore the pre-dep Safety Brief because its "cool" to be seen ignoring it? Then bitch and moan they cant find the life jacket "that this hyar airline should be providin' t'me on an overwater flight!"

5. Think the FASTEN SEAT BELTS sign is just something the crew turn on for fun? Then go balistic when they get injured walking down back to the toilet?

6. Get on board an aircraft with only 10% of the IQ they left home with still intact?

PS You remaining 15% need not reply. Your the ones we enjoy carting around the sky.

[ExSimGuy]

Slash - you forgot number 7 (I would have put it higher in the rankings though!)

#7 - Ignore totally the Flight Attendant's instructions to remain seated with seatbelts on until the plane has come to a complete halt and the engines switched off.

In my neck of the woods especially, they have their overhead baggage out of the bins and are trying to get to the doors by the time you let off the speed brakes!!

(PS - you forgot the horrible crosswind in #1 - or would that make even the unflinching Capt Slash start thinking alternates??!!??)

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Flight Sims, very expensive toys - but real fun to play with!



[This message has been edited by ExSimGuy (edited 22 April 2000).]

[Self Loading Freight]

ExSimGuy --

Beats me why there's no central locking on the overhead bins. If that was synched with the seatbelt light, there'd be no point in getting up while the plane was still gently motoring towards the stand.

R

[Rollingthunder]

SLF,

I imagine the reasons are expense and complexity.
Wouldn't like to be onboard when the mechanism failed to operate on arrival at the gate.

[ExSimGuy]

SLF - Could be Thunder's reason - or it could be 'cos the thick busterds would just pull at the handle until it breaks open!

Nice idea though - that's probably why you got a board named after you!

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*Self-Loading-Freight does it sitting down and cramped*

[VelvetStrokes]

Slasher

I fly regularly on business and pleasure, and have to admit you've hit the nail on the head with a lot of pax.

I'd add, why do they all rush, just so they can stand in the aisle waiting to leave the plane. Or, even more irritating those pax who clog up the aisles shoving extra large or multiple handbaggage in overheads.

Also, any flight I make that lands at its destination I consider a total success. I'm in total admiration of airline crew.


One point though and this has always perplexed me. Maybe someone can answer, since you've raised this issue.

When I'm sitting in the LHR Executive Lounges (any airline / any flight), and they announce pax proceed to boarding at Gate XXX. Then when I get to the gate, which frequently is not open, I have to stand and queue or wait for a further period. Why not make the announcement either just as or after the Gate is open. This is especially true of the LHR / Dublin flight. Even after I've sauntered from the lounge to the Gate, experience has shown that there's no point in rushing, I still don't get there before the gate is open. At airports, my life seems to consist of queues and it would be nice if one could be eliminated.


I know you lot are all busy, but so am I and usually I'm working and the lounge is a way to ensure that I can continue in comfort. If I understood the reason I would be less irritated. It may seem a minor point, but after battling with the M1 / M25 traffic to catch an early flight, any extra hassle is not welcome.

Most of the airline personnel I come into contact with are courteous, efficient and do what they can to make my journey as comfortable as possible. Conversely, I try not make your job more difficult. But sometimes, it seems that a few of you delight in making it as difficult as possible to remain pleasant.

[FlyingV]

Velvet,

I guess the early call to the gate is an attempt to actually have all the pax on board and seated on schedule.

However, as many people know this it fails abysmally to achieve its objective. A case of crying wolf.

As there is quite a walk from the (ex) duty free area & bar to the Dublin gates in LHR, the call is particularly early there.

But what annoys me the most is what seems to be the competition to be last to board a flight. :mad:
These people should be billed by the airlines for the costs of any delays incurred.

[The Sleeping Pax]

Hey Slasher, Welcome to the back of the Aircraft. What's up? A paticularly attractive piece of skirt back there and she's not paid you a visit yet? On your way back bring me an extra large Cognac please. A Remy Martin will do.

I agree with you most of my fello SLF's sems to have left their IQ at home, although I sometimes wonder at the IQ of the airlines. Surely it would be better to load us not by row but by getting the window passengers in first ie. A&K first then B&H then C&D etc. I once heard that one airline tried this and actually reduced loading times by 45%. Also it would be a great idea if families and kids under 13 were put at the back of the craft so that we premium paying passengers in 1st and business are not kept awake by uncontrollable screaming kids.




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Wake me up when we get there

[FlapsDown]

Slasher,

you forgot one other aspect of SLF stupidity - the habitual undoing of seatbelts as soon as the light is out for seemingly no reason.

I am always amazed at the chorus of clicks I hear on passing through AGL 1500 as the seat belt light goes out. Why do this? - putting your head through the overhead bin is very painful (had a chance to see the results of one attepmt on a QF Classic that had a power surge to the elevators back in '89 - very messy) and I for one can't even feel the seatbelt when it is loosely fastened in the cruise.

[Drop and Stop]

Yep, FlapsDown I think its all to do with being 'cool'(as Slash said about the safety brief in his post). A bit of "I've flown before and I know what's going on" type of thing.

[AJ]

You ain't seen nothing; how about pax. that get up AFTER ROTATION??! My experience twice flying TG out of CMB... poor crew screaming their heads off to get them to sit down, and bewildered looks from the perpetrators!!

[FlapsDown]

Yead Drop and Stop, but I don't know about the analogy to the lack of attention to the safety demonstration. I fly all the time as a passenger (usually once a week) and I must say that I never pay attention to the safety briefing though I do note where the nearest emergency exit is...I know never to inflate the lifevest in the cabin and that it is equipped with a light (activated by water) and a whistle for getting attention (just how hard are you supposed to blow on that whistle when bobbing around in the ocean?). The seatbelt issue seems more to be driven by the false notion that aircraft are somehow safer when away from the field - but do take your seatbelt off in a car on the highway because your clear of traffic...the belts are desgined to protect you from clear air turbulence which of course is more dangerous the faster you go - hence the concept of turbulent penetration speed.

[Self Loading Freight]

"Wouldn't like to be onboard when the mechanism failed to operate on arrival at the gate"

No... but then there are various mechanisms in the average aircraft where operational failure would also inspire a deep wish not to be onboard at the time!

In this case, it would be easy to have a manual override that could be operated by cabin crew. I think the expense and complexity, plus the lack of any suggestion that it would do any good other than to lower the blood pressure of the crew, means it's not going to become an FAA requirement any time soon...

R

[Tarantella]

While I'm doing my demo, if I notice any passengers paying absolutely no attention to me, I often cheerfully announce that I will be asking questions later. This has the double advantage of breaking the monotony and ensuring that the demo is watched from start to finish. (Where is your nearest emetgency exit?)
I once managed to get an entire zone to watch the demo properly by telling them that I would be blowing the whistle so they could all hear what it sounded like for a change...(sixty shining faces leaning forward expectantly .."and the whistle is to attract attention..."

[ehwatezedoing]

Fortunately, very rare are those who are stealing safety devices like life jackets.

...Still can't believe this!...

[airbourne]

Next time you are on a FR flight, look underneath the seat to make sure your life jacket is there. Although what is the point of a lifejacket if you crash into a mountian?
Still, I always pay attention when the female F/As to the 'your lifejacket can be further inflated by blowing into these tubes'

[flapsforty]

Slasher, I couldn't for the life of me answer your questions, but I've got a few of my own! :)

Why do so many Business Travelers:

expect me to remember the drink of choice of everybody in my section?
refuse to look at the written menu before I come and take their dinner orders?
insist on keeping their headphones on and going full blast when I'm trying to talk to them
throw a tantrum when I run out of chicken?
hand me their clammy jackets in such a way that I can't avoid handling the grubby looking inside of the jacket's neck?
expect me to rebeuild the aircraft when their 14 pieces of handluggage do not fit into the overhead bin?
make more mess in the toilets than a bunch of 5 year olds would?
can't be bothered to say a simple goodbye on disembarking?
still take it for b loody granted when I treat them with unfailing respect and courtesy

[Sierra]

Why do cabin crew make going to the loo on a single aisle jet with rear loos a logistical nightmare :mad: since the drinks trolley always seems to be blocking the aisle. Firstly you have to walk at crawling space as they inch along the aisle. Then eventually when you've been standing there for about 10 minutes they actually NOTICE you, ask you what you are doing? (what do they think I am doing?) & if there is a spare seat they ask you to sit there. You either have to wait till they serve the whole plane & hop from one spare seat to another or if you're lucky they will EVENTUALLY reverse back past your seat & let you on your merry way. Inevitably they same happens on the way back & an operation which should have taken five minutes ends up taking 15-20 minutes & when you eventually collapse into your own seat, your fellow travellers gawk at you as if they thought you been sucked out of the aeroplane. :rolleyes: This is a SERIOUS question.

SIERRA

[flapsforty]

OK Sierra, I'll try to give you a serious answer, because it is in fact a well known "problem" for both pax and FA's.

First off, i work the double aisle ac, but the situation is identical, as we tend to serve stuff in both aisles at the same time.


Why do we crawl along the aisles? Because we do in fact have to execute quite a few physical actions in serving each passenger their food and drink. Add to that the pax who asks us to list all the items on our bar list, and those to whom we have to repeat the same question three times 'cause he/she insists on wearing the earphones at all times. Add also the fact that we do try to give each and every pax a bit of personal attention, even if it's not more than a brief eye-contact, and it all adds up to "crawling".
It's not that we maliciously do not see you, we're trying to ignore you for just a wee bit. Because during each and every service there is a number of pax that decide to go to the loo, and if we move our trolleys out of the way for each of them, that results in an even slower service to the rest of the pax. Who then complain about our snail's pace! http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/frown.gif
The reason we ask you to sit in the spare seat is so we can move the cart past you without crushing your pelvic bone or upsetting the bottles on top of the trolley.


I fly regularly as a pax as well, and have found that it's not all that hard. I simply ask the crew if I can squeeze past, instead of standing behind them, breathing in their necks. Now I'm skinny enough to do that, but so are you probably!

I hope you believe me Sierra, when I say that the large majority of FA's feel that the main aim of their job is to ensure a pleasant flight for all passengers. And that we work hard to reach that goal. It's just that often the interest of the individual pax goes against the interest of the rest of the traveller's. And thus we're involved in a continuous balancing act, and are never able to completely satisfy everybody.

But by Jove, we try!