who are your rudest pax?
 

I know you can't tar everyone with the same brush but some pax are more rude than others. I have been flying a while now on diverse routes and to my mind the rudest pax are british business men/women. dismissive, patronising and ignore you when you say 'goodby' when they leave. who are your rudest pax?

People in first class who think you are some kind of maid. They think I am there to be subservient! Businessmen are the worst.

I agree rich Indian are very rude, but not a patch of some of the Middle Easterns I have had the misfortune of dealing with. Also some of our Israeli (not all) pax are beyond rude. So much so that once I had to get security out because a group of Hassidic Rabis wouldn't answer the security questions because I was a woman. That was a direct quote! I also have to say the business passenger who's company has got him to gold! They are a nightmare!

Hi, SLF here and just word to say that there are some british business people out there who are gold on company tickets who do say Thank You and do appreciate your hospitality....but I do have to say that BA seems to have deteriorated of late.:}

The chavs. And hen parties and stag parties.

I actually find the business travellers to be quite pleasant.

Pax who have never flown an airline before where all the booze is free, then proceed to drink the cost of their ticket!

Why just this weekend I was thrown up upon (literally running down my skirt, legs and into my shoes) by a rather jovial member of a stag party returning from LAS.


Where has the glamour gone...

The rudest?
 

Definately Indian/Pakistani.
Especially those who hold another Passport!

difficult one for me to say as i work for a british charter airline...

nowadays people complain and moan about everything. just yesterday on the inbound flight we had run out of ice (despite being tight with it!) and when informing a "lady" she just glared at me like I had shot her mother and proceeded to give me the silent treatment with no eye contact for the rest of the time I was serving her. And she never said thank you. How incredibly rude, I absolutely couldn't believe it, and I actually laughed in amazement. IT'S JUST ICE!!!! It's not the end of the world!!! people are so mardy.

"People in first class who think you are some kind of maid."

Perhaps the passengers mistook you for a Flight "Attendant"???. Have you looked up the definition of "attendant" recently? :} You can blame sexual equality for the name change from "hostess"... at least that had a nice social connotation rather than a more subservient one.

"Where has the glamour gone... "
Are you old enough to remember when flying was glamourous? Don't expect too much when airlines are advertising $1 airfares in some parts of the world.

This thread seems to invite racist comments... bringing out the worst in everyone (where's a moderator when you need one?). Why don't you accept that people come from different cultures (and behave differently) and you will show how much better you are than the people you "fly to serve"?

What I have learned over the years (of international travel)... We notice people because they are rude, noisy, etc. We don't remember the quiet, well-behaved ones (who may be in the majority).

"The worst for me are the Russians and also the flights with a bunch of guys coming back from offshore."

Step into their shoes for a moment(or two) and you will see why they behave the way they do. Also... people who are on holidays are more likely to let their hair down.. It's why we go on holidays. Even the Japanese do this (and they are famous for their self control/discipline).

Also, just because YOU know your way around an airplane, don't expect your passengers to... If the pax don't say goodbye to you at the front door, perhaps they are too busy trying to concentrate on where they are going (as they step off the airplane)? If they are not listening to your safety demos, perhaps they don't know how dangerous flying really is? (Perhaps if YOU knew how dangerous flying really is, you wouldn't have become a flight attendant... and you wouldn't be still walking around the cabin with the seat belt sign on?)


Oh, well, Per Ardua Ad Astra...

NSEU

Coming from a very very airline centric background and community I have always felt it polite to thank the CC or Flight crew if they stand by the door to wish us on our way.

CC isnt an easy job and I am sure it can become tedious but a good crew makes a good trip-good examlple for me recentlywas a trip to HK in WT+-me paying and it was excellent -we got upgraded on the return but with a very poor crew who behaved like they had arrived on the inbound a/c a much worse trip home

So a good crew deserve a cheerful-'nice trip' or t'hanks' when you get off. Many of my freinds still in the airline biz say first class pax are often ok but business class can be less so . And I must say having been lucky enough to get an inordinate number of upgrades on one particular route I found the F class pax extremely quiet and easy for the crew.

So why not name and shame the bad ones
PB

With very few exceptions, I find politicians to be the rudest. They come across as if they think that the rules don't apply to them.

NSEU, I'm glad you spoke up about the racist tone of some of the posts, but then you had to ruin it by making a generalisation about the Japanese. So much for being the voice of reason.

I find it difficult to embrace the culture of chavs. When they are drunk onboard, loud and swearing and shouting at you for more drinks even though we are about to land.

For Me, the rudest passengers would be the Stags...Coz they think they can make a lot of noise in the cabin and they think they're in a Pub to disrespect crew and other passengers... and also those people who expects a lot for a penny they pay for their ticket and they keep moaning and complaining...:*

I suddenly woke up one day and realised that nobody no matter what they had paid for their ticket, has the right to ruin my day and upset me. Most of what is said in the heat of the moment is hot air and they are talking to the uniform; not the individual.
This is a mindset I have adopted for a long time and it helps me. As soon as they get off your jet, when will you see them again?
It's a shame that only a minority get remembered, true there are some difficult precious and downright rude soles out there, but then that's typical of any poor worker who has to deal with her majesty's public.:)
Try to say yes whenever you can to the punter, agree with them to their face then use the galley to let it all hang out, or pehaps your wife or partner is always a good outlet he he!
Just play the game, and pity peoples ignorance.

I find passengers who have been upgraded to Business can be quite rude and drink the bars dry..... You sometimes feel like saying hangon a minute love.. you aren't really supposed to be here

Not surprised to hear that British business passengers with GOLD can be a pain.
Most have never paid for a business class ticket in their lives as they strut about with their gold tags hanging from their briefcase yet they do seem to have this superior than you attitude for some reason expecting special treatment whilst looking down their noses at the poor economy passengers down the back who have paid for their own tickets.
I once saw this buffoon complaining loudly as he was being held up at security because economy passengers were in his way no doubt preventing him from grabbing as much as he could of the free food and booze in the lounge.:ugh:
Why - they even complain if the wrong variety of Champers is dished out....... scandalous I say.:8

Like Pax Britannica, I am but a humble pax, but my regular 'commute' for years has been LHR-SFO on BA and Virgin. Almost invariably the CC are charming and pleasant on these airlines and receive a genuine 'thanks' from me for their attention and hard work as I leave the aircraft.

I've flown all classes with and without Gold/Silver cards and found the attitude of CC to be pretty consistent. They're busier down the back, inevitably, and I try never to use the call bell. And it's more sociable to wander to the galley for that extra drink or whatever.

As for rude behaviour -- just how were these people brought up?

???????
 

I just wanted to highlight that i do agree with what you mention NSEU about understanding were people and cultures come from and the reason why they may act the way they do. But saying that if we knew how dangerous flying was would we be doing this job? well dont we learn that going through our six weeks of training??? if you want to look at it that way its more liking to be dangerous on the M25 driving to work than flying everyday? (well due to how driving standards are these dayz but im not going into that, thats a forum in itself)

Quote
"The worst for me are the Russians and also the flights with a bunch of guys coming back from offshore."

( i feel with this comment you just contradicting yourself )????????

emboogie

"well dont we learn that going through our six weeks of training??? if you want to look at it that way its more liking to be dangerous on the M25 driving to work than flying everyday? (well due to how driving standards are these dayz but im not going into that, thats a forum in itself)"

Seems I've hit a few raw nerves here....

Unfortunately, safety statistics are such a bland interpretation of death and disfigurement.

All I'd really like the flight attendants to do is "lead by example". Of course, I don't want you to panic the passengers, but when the flight crew asks EVERYONE to take their seats for expected turbulence, please don't pretend you are immune to the laws of physics. When you've seen 30 or so people in neckbraces being assisted off airplanes after hitting clear air turbulence... and heard stories of people (during CAT) flying through the air and landing on other passengers (wearing seat belts) and breaking their limbs, I'm sure you'd feel the same way as I do (and the engineers I've spoken to are not particularly impressed that they have had to clean up the hair and blood from broken ceiling panels after pax/crew have put their heads through them).

BTW, 6 weeks does not always prepare you for real life emergencies (even if you had spent all of those 6 weeks studying airline crashes). Flight attendants sometimes react like normal people in crashes... they scream, they freeze, they forget what they are supposed to do....

Cars may have their crumple zones, airbags and sash type seatbelts designed to withstand crashes of 30mph, but airplanes fly at 300mph with no such safety devices. It seems that airplanes rely on avoidance more than crash resistance. But just because aircraft land safely, it doesn't mean you are safe. How many people have broken limbs after slides have failed to deploy properly? I see that some airlines dress their flight attendants in sandals/high-ish heels and calf-length, rather flammable looking tight fitting skirts (how is this supposed to inspire customers to wear sensible clothes for emergency evacuations, ditchings and running through flaming wreckages?)

Yes, perhaps I am a little biased.. Perhaps 30 years in the aviation safety industry HAS coloured my judgement :ouch:

"NSEU, I'm glad you spoke up about the racist tone of some of the posts, but then you had to ruin it by making a generalisation about the Japanese. So much for being the voice of reason."

A generalisation, perhaps... but you'll notice I didn't preface my statement with the word "worst"... BTW, I've spent most of my life studying Japanese culture and was married to a Japanese woman for many years (I've stepped into their shoes in a big way, so perhaps you can forgive me for this?).

"The worst for me are the Russians and also the flights with a bunch of guys coming back from offshore."
( i feel with this comment you just contradicting yourself )????????"

Yes, true... not all guys coming back from offshore want to let their hair down.

Anyway, thanks for your honest opinions ;)
Regards.
NSEU.