How do you deal with...

[Piltdown Man]

...offensive, sexist and rude behaviour of passengers?

Regularly our cabin crew are forced to deal with the above behaviour from a small minority of our passengers. Some of this is verbal, some is physical. A couple of examples if I may:

An ultra-orthodox Jew wishes to know if the crew member serving him is having her period.

A monk looking sort if chap (oriental origin, orange robe, sandals, shaved head etc.) won't sit next to "woman" and won't be told what to do by one either. He will get up and down and do as he pleases.

Some Asian men believe they can grab/touch any part of our female cabin either to get their attention, demand service or make a point.

The expectation by some passengers that cabin crew will stow their carry on bags and retrieve them at the end of the flight.

Not listen to anything cabin crew say (especially female members) because they don't have any "status".

I'm not talking about drunks and/or your average rude git here. I'm talking about people who come from different cultures who fly with western airlines but expect cabin crew to confirm to their local norms. Personally, I would react "very badly" and whenever such behaviour takes place in front of me I "educate" the perpetrator. But how do you cope?

PM

[average-punter]

This is what my experience of these situations generally were, and how we dealt with them

An ultra-orthodox Jew wishes to know if the crew member serving him is having her period.99% of the ladies I flew with dealt with this in one of two ways.
A) Say no I'm not
or
B) Ask a male colleague to serve them

A monk looking sort if chap (oriental origin, orange robe, sandals, shaved head etc.) won't sit next to "woman" and won't be told what to do by one either. He will get up and down and do as he pleases.Not experienced this one but had people who have refused to sit down. I took the approach of being persistant. I started by asking and then by telling, becoming more assertive each time. Failing this asking the Captain to do a PA would sometimes work (I was lucky in my airline that 99% of pilots were very supportive in us dealing with awkward passengers). I've seen a lot of sexism onboard and unfortuantely sometimes it's best just to bite the bullet and send the male crew member in who the passenger is more likely to listen to.

Some Asian men believe they can grab/touch any part of our female cabin either to get their attention, demand service or make a point. The ladies I flew with were very capable and good at dealing with this on their own, a stern but polite word usually seemed to work. At my airline we flew very few routes to this region so this behaviour was rare. One I was working with a new girl and we were both working down the back of an A320, an extremley intoxicated individual thought it was OK to grab and touch her as and when he pleased. She became very upset at this and in the end I had a word, explained that his behaviour was inappropriate and that he had to stop. We then kept her away from him for the remainder of the flight.


The expectation by some passengers that cabin crew will stow their carry on bags and retrieve them at the end of the flight.As a great senior used to say "you pack it, you rack it" :D A polite explanation explaining why you can't do it is the only way you can really address it, it's never well received though.

Having said this, I did enjoy meeting and chatting to passengers from all walks of life and I met some very interesting people from all around the world during my time as cabin crew. Despite the thankless task I did very much enjoy the job :ok:

[Mr Optimistic]

Seems to me that the passengers you refer to are unlikely to be first time fliers. They will know the culture of the operator before they book. A degree of the behaviour will be ostentatious display of their supposed cultural advantage. Explain the situation, regret the cultural obstacles, advise choosing a different carrier then blacklist them.

Just a pax.

[RedhillPhil]

Not just airlines. I was on station platform and became aware of a whistling that got nearer and nearer. Turned around to find a "superior" type glaring at me and then saying in a loud voice, "I've been whistling at you to try and get your attention, are you deliberately ignoring me"?
I had the greatest of pleasure in advising him that if he wanted something to whistle at he should acquire a dog.
Amused the people around him and me.


There are, everywhere, an unfortunate number of people who want to treat service staff as servants.

[exuw]

How do you deal with...

Look. I've seen this sort of thing before. Lots of solutions have been suggested and some even acted upon.

But I know, when all is said and done, that the only answer is.....

....to cut their goolies off.

[Mr Oleo Strut]

I feel that modern-day public conduct has deteriorated regardless of culture and air travel very much concentrates the problem and presents real challenges for cabin-staff and flight crew. There is no excuse for rude, aggressive, drunken, sexist or racist conduct and it must not be tolerated. Easier said than done in an aircraft passenger cabin. Perhaps airborne 'bouncers' should be carried together with a couple of straight-jackets.