I have my doubts that is true
 

Well...sure I agree that some pax may drive you crazy sometime no matter if you are in that plane as passenger or cabin attendant but it's a bit hard to believe the story about UA boss. Some tangible evidence would be required in this case!

Heard that story but it was the then head honcho of CO, Gordon Bethune that kicked the pax off...

Not mine, but funny
 

DC airport ticket agent offers some examples of "why" our country is in trouble!
1. I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat so that her hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window.
(On an airplane!)

2. I got a call from a candidate's staffer, who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the
passport information, then she interrupted me with, ''I'm not trying to make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts .''
Without trying to make her look stupid, I calmly explained, ''Cape Cod is in Massachusetts , Capetown is in Africa .'' Her response - click.
3. A senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando . He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that's not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, ''Don't lie to me, I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin state!''
4. I got a call from a lawmaker's wife who asked, ''Is it possible to see England from Canada ?'' I said, ''No.'' She said, ''But they look so close on the map.''
5. An aide for a cabinet member once called and asked if he could rent a car in Dallas . [/font]
When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he had only a 1-hour layover in Dallas . [/font]
When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car, he said, ''I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will need a car to drive between gates to save time.'' 6. An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 a.m., and got to Chicago at 8:33 a.m. I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois , but she couldn't understand the concept of time zones. Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she bought that.
7. A New York lawmaker called and asked, ''Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?'' I said, 'No, why do you ask?' She replied, ''Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said (FAT), and I'm overweight. I think that's very rude!'' After putting her on hold for a minute, while I looked into it. (I was laughing). I came back and explained the city code for Fresno , CA is (FAT - Fresno Air Terminal), ]and the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage.
8. A Senator's aide called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii . After going over all the cost info, she asked, ''Would it be cheaper to fly to California , and then take the train to Hawaii ?''
9. I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who asked, ''How do I know which plane to get on?'' I asked him what exactly he meant, to which he replied, ''I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these planes have numbers on them.''
10. A lady Senator called and said, ''I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola , Florida . Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?''I asked if she meant fly to Pensacola , FL on a commuter plane. She said, ''Yeah, whatever, smarty!''
11. A senior Senator called and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China . After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him that he needed a visa. ''Oh, no I don't. I've been to China many times and never had to have one of those.'' I double checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him this he said, ''Look, I've been to China four times. and every time they have accepted my American Express!''
12. A New Mexico Congress woman called to make reservations, ''I want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York .'' I was at a loss for words. Finally, I said, ''Are you sure that's the name of the town?'' ''Yes, what flights do you have?'' replied the lady. After some searching, I came back with, ''I'm sorry, ma'am, I've looked up every airport code in the country and can't find a rhino anywhere." ''The lady retorted, ''Oh, don't be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!''So I scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, ''You don't mean Buffalo , do you?'' The reply? ''Whatever! I knew it was a big animal.''

b747 flightboy
 

Before making your sarcastic remarks, did you pause to think that PERHAPS the lady had spent some considerable thought and time selecting her seat in the first place, and POSSIBLY for very good reasons. PERHAPS the alternative seat WAS inconvenient for her. PERHAPS she was a frequent flyer and recognised the aircraft POSSIBLY from the registration. PERHAPS she was just a little pi$$ed off with the attitude of the check-in staff.

Whatever the reasons, the tone of your remarks were not what I would expect from a professional.

PAX aren't always thick or wrong though. On one occasion, I was travelling from Dayton Ohio to Stockholm Arlanda via Chicago and London Heathrow. The lady at check in was quite firm in her conviction that the bag should be tagged to STO for Stockholm. STO is Stockholm Metropolitan and it took a lot of arguing before she would tag it to ARN. As you can't fly to STO from LHR, I wonder just how long it would have taken for the bag to join me....

Quote from [I think] Oscar Wilde....
"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit"

No shack,
It is actually called "taking the Mick"...work that one out.....

As to the thread, as an ATCer keep it up:ok:
watp,iktch

Going back to Blue Monday's comment of a few days ago, I
always understood that runways at Heathrow ARE switched, not in direction of course, during the day to equalise wear and tear, so perhaps it wasn't an unintelligent remark after all!!!! Can anyone confirm that the parrallels are swithched during the day??

What does a thick business passenger in the emergency seats do when told they must hand their briefcase over to be stowed with the preferential Business Class luggage?

Refuse time and time again - "What will happen to it, it's got my wallet in etc." I was in the seat behind and was wondering if he'd be thrown off, but eventually the German lady next to me admonished him loudly (not in so many words) "Just STFU and hand it over, it's only for an hour and we'll miss our slot if you keep go ing on like that."

I resisted the urge to quip "Isn't it more usual for a wife to sit next to her husband on a flight?" though I did have a good chat to her during the flight.

Strayed into here, really, after having a look at the thread about a drunk FA being hauled off to chokey and noting the lack of the sort of comments that would have been seen in a thread about a drunk passenger being hauled off....

Unfortunately I lose my sense of humour at thread titles such as "Thick Passenger Comments" which just about exemplifies all that is wrong with many of the younger members of our industry, and their contempt for the passenger, sorry "pax" as they are known here.

So how's about a "ThicK FA Comments" thread, starting with

which had us all in fits of laughter.

Just a bit of venting mate!
"Inteligent comments from passengers" would not be a very long thread.

Pleanty of thick passengers!
Pleanty of thick cabin crew!
Pleanty of thick pilots!

Heard this recently, had me laughing....

:ugh: Pax check their brains at the gate.
:p Cabin Crew pop their brains in their wheelie bags.
:} And Pilots... they've still got their's. It's right between their legs!

Thick passenger comments
 

"Inteligent comments from passengers" would not be a very long thread.

Pleanty of thick passengers!
Pleanty of thick cabin crew!
Pleanty of thick pilots!

Before you start insulting the people who pay you wages, can I suggest you invest in a dictionary or a spell checker.:=

FA: so what does that do? (pointing to ADG)

Capt: it opens a little door and a little propeller comes out of the aircraft.

FA: well thats silly, what do you need a propellor for, this is a jet?

Capt [glancing sideways at me]: Well, its the "Automatic Ditiching Generator", if we have to ditch, we pull it when we are in the water and we can steer the plane to safety.

FA: oh that's so cool! a lot more planes should have them on!

bless! Jen was a bit of an airhead, but lovely with it ! ;)

At briefing for EMA - Berlin.

Capt: "There is some thunderstorm activity forecast over Amsterdam, that's here ( points to chart ) about 45 minutes after take off"

FA: " Why are we going over Amsterdam?"

Capt: "It's on our route"

FA: " But isn't it in way up in the north?"

Same FA on another occasion " Is Bratislava a country?"

Ref:Post #661

Co-pilots have to be able to write, Flt. engineers have to do sums, but Captains only have know someone who can read.

( OK, I was one - don't thrown the P.C. game at me !! ) :ok:

Ref; Post # 660

I think (?) LHR ATC used to switch runways to be kind to the inhabitants of Heathrow and / or West Drayton, or Staines / Slough but maybe it was just a tale to help their P.R. ? Not important

Why do people read this thread - which has a fairly self-explanatory title - then get offended and feel the need to whine about it? I'm SLF and I love this thread, I see some really dim behaviour by my fellow passengers and am sure there's one on every flight. I'd rather see the FAs "vent" in here than at the pax (which must be very tempting sometimes!), so to all the namby pamby whingers, go and read threads about knitting patterns or car maintenance and stop wasting my eyeballs.

ExSp33db1rd

That's about it......the use of the runways is alternated between landing and take-off under an agreement with local authorities to spread the noise impact, sorry, reduce the average noise impact on each centre-line.

That will disappear, obviously, if mixed-mode operation is introduced at LHR (ie take-offs and landings on both runways throughout the day to enable ATC to maximise the movement rate taking all factors into account) to increase LHR runway capacity, which is why the locals are up in arms against that.

The present alternating use is NOT to reduce wear 'n tear!

Walking through the cabin with landing cards

"Do we need one of those"?

If you don't have an EU passport then you need to fill one out

"I'm American"

Is your passport?

"Yes"

Then you need to each fill one out

"Ok there are 3 of us, so how many do I need"?


:ugh: :ugh: :ugh:

Good luck with the war on terror

Before you start insulting the people who pay you wages, can I suggest you invest in a dictionary or a spell checker.


Oh the irony..

Many thanks. Capot.[BBC got that wrong as well as me!!!]

Chiglet

"its known in England as sarcasm"

It's known everywhere as "superiority syndrome"

FYI Sarcasm: Noun, The use of irony to mock or convey contempt.

That's from an ENGLISH dictionary.
s37


I did not say the post was sarcasm, I was explaining to the poster who DID call it sarcasm just exactly what sarcasm is, from an English dictionary.
I called it superiority syndrome which is exactly what it is. Not always justified though.

I know what taking the mick is too, been on both ends of it many times.
Being Irish I appreciate the capital M you used.
s37

Back in 1999, while doing cabin service midway through a LTN-TFS flight, a passenger looks out the window at the ocean, then asks me: "where are we exactly?"

Me (thinking): "how the hell should I know?"

Only answer I managed to come up with at the time: "we're over the Atlantic Ocean, Sir!"

Cheers :cool:

As one girl was quick to remind a particularly rude member of the public we work very hard for our wages which are paid to us by Pay & People Services - do you work for them? if not then you do not pay my wages you pay for the service which takes you form a to b I am paid by the company which provides that service to ensure you get there safely and, If I am feeling generous, comfortably.

I serve you but I distinctly despise being spoken to in such an rude way as above.

Whatever job you do we are essentially all in the business of sales or services. If you can honestly tell me that you don't come across the occasional dim wit I would be very surprised.

I am regularly locked in a metal tube with several hundred people - among them are some idiots, dim wits, those with worryingly long arms (usually called Dave and Janice) and some lovely lovely people to. However the minority tend to make an impression which is why threads like this are great for venting (rather than doing so at work) and do not require comments like yours to bring the mood down - or are you called Dave?

Sorry I am in an unusually mean mood right now.

Oh and to the point of the thread:

Pax: Can I have a wine?
CC: yes certainly!
long pause
CC: What wine sir?
Pax: oh red
CC: and which red sir?
Pax: goodness this is more difficult than I thought it would be.

As for some of my colleagues, well we could be here all day!

Matt101

Here here! I applaud you Sir for typing my own thoughts!!

Rgds,
ATS

Something that really bothers me is passengers not collecting landing cards when the CSD is passing through the cabin! Then, a few minutes before landing, half of the passengers in the cabin is asking for it!

Probably not a thick passenger comment, but hey!

Words fail me.

Are you really so dim that you can't understand what the source is of ALL the money the airline uses to carry out its operations? Hundreds of thousands of sources really; they're called "passengers" or even "customers". You are NOT doing them a favour by making them, "if I am feeling generous, comfortable".

You would simply be doing your job, and if you don't like being in a service industry because it's beneath you to be of service, get the hell out of it.

And now back to the thread about "thick passengers." Just ignore me, until, perhaps, you start wondering why you're in the dole queue.

Lighten up Capot - as SLF myself I find these thick passenger comments to be very amusing.

And having worked in the service industry before it is always good to have a place to vent when you aren't in front of the customers (and remember this is a CABIN CREW forum and, as such, is for Cabin Crew and I am but an uninvited guest).

If you don't like reading it then don't - I'm sure no one is forcing you.

Personally I do like reading the comments that fellow SLF come out with and I also understand the "enter airport, switch off brain" mentality that causes them as my wife does the same (I actually have to hold her hand and guide her around the airport as if she thinks about anything then she panics due to the concept of getting into a big metal thing and flying through the skies).

What is more I think that reading this thread, and others, makes me a more considerate passenger as it gives me an idea of what the crew do, and do not, like.

So lighten up and enjoy the read - it is, after all, meant to be some fun!

Not necessarily, my airline makes a considerable amount of money shipping freight. Not that the income from the passengers is to be sniffed at. After all, if we were not carrying them, we would not be there for the freight.

JsJ

Before you start insulting the people who pay you wages, can I suggest you invest in a dictionary or a spell checker.


Oh the irony..

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...:ok:

Brilliant post.

The best ever.

Sat on the stand in Manchester, we're refuelling, the aircraft either side of us are refuelling - in fact, fuel trucks as far as the eye can see. Passengers boarding as we refuel, and are briefed accordingly.

Particularly hairy, knuckle dragging gentleman asks cabin crew if he can 'just pop down the steps for a quick smoke while we're waiting.'

They gently explain the facts of life while he argues the toss . . . :ugh:

Good post, spot on.

For those of us who've worked in other areas of the customer service industry, I have nothing but admiration for the cabin crew (and, as you rightly point out, this is their forum).......in my own case as a call centre supervisor, I had a headset on and so (a) no-one else could see or hear the customer bawling me out in front of everyone else and (b) after he/she had finished their rant I could put the phone down and that would be the last I heard from them.

I don't even want to begin to think what it's like locked in a metal tube on a ten hour flight with some chav who just wants to cause you grief.....

Is it just me?
 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, If you do not have an European passport and you are staying in the UK, the cabin crew will be handing you a landing card in a few moments. If you are connecting onto another flight, outside the UK, you do not need a landing card".

PAX "Do I need one of those?"




Erm, how the hell should I know???:ugh:

Just have to join in, and I hope I'm not unwelcome.

Scene: back of a SAR helicopter, after a rather messy rescue in the North Sea. Two survivors alive, third one on the floor being given the full medical treatment by both rearcrew. Me (copilot) looking after other two. Captain coping on his own up front (he was the senior QHI on the fleet so not really an issue). Intercom has packed in and a number of other odd thing going wrong (apart from the survivors falling off a yacht 50 miles from land).

Bloke lying soggy and cold waves weakly at me from behind oxygen mask. I bend down, take helmet off (it's noisy in the cabin) and shout "What?"

He (lucky to be alive) asks: "do you know the cricket score, mate?"

Thick? no (medical doctor, I found out later). Confused? very.

New bimbette cabin crew comes into cockpit on a ferry leg clutching two spoons and asks me "Which of these is a teaspoon?" :hmm:








How to have fun with the scratchpad (large group of Irish passengers on board during the rugby).

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/d...ryJane1010.jpg

Reading this thread has really cheered me up, Ive been working in baggage services or 3 years and am releaved to see that it is only me that comes across horrible and rude passengers.

Arriving or Departing
 

Sat outside Ryanair check in at EMA other day having a quick ciggie, two young Brummie girls get off car park bus with their bright pink suitcases ready to go on what was probably their first holiday without parents .....

1st girl looks at sign and proclaims 'Departures - thats when we come back isn't it'

2nd girl 'Yea, we've just arrived so we have to go to arrivals'

And they marched off to the other side of the terminal.

I would have told them if I hadn't been doubled over laughing :}:{

Words often fail people when they don't read the tone of the post quite well enough. I used some sarcasm, I am sorry did it throw you?

We are all in the business of providing a service wherever we work - otherwise what is it you exchange for runumeration?

All I eluded to is the 'I pay your wages therefore I am never wrong' attitude does not really sway with me. We wouldn't carry restraint kits onboard if this were always the case.

what I'm also saying is that moaning about the existence of this thread is really comical to me - I don't like channel 5 so I turn it off - you can do the same you know.

As for me leaving the profession of Cabin Crew - tis my intention. However If you have ever worked with me you will know that actually I treat all of the guests onboard the aircraft very well - however in the past few years they occasionally come out witha dim comment - which only my fellow crew may understand.

The reason I got annoyed by the other post was that rudeness is never called for that's why it was my colleague who said that to a passenger and not me however he had also told her to f off and get some coffee so maybe she was justified.

I think we also make a lot of money out of Cargo too - thankfully that doesn't require reminding not to smke 6 times before we take off - unfortunately for Qantas it still does it seems.

Grief can't have any fun anymore without being told off!

Matt I totally agree with you. Have been flying 10 years and in that short time (compared to many on here) things have gone down hill. Only yesterday I had some one calling me a fu"£$&g queer in russian, because i asked him to put his seat upright for landing. I don't speak russian but a pax who did 'kindly' translated it for me. You then air a point on here and some retiree vilifies you for it late on at night. I like this thread because you can vent things and laugh and relate to it all. And feel a little less hurt by the way you have been treated just for doing your job.:ouch:

I think we need to move away from the 'customer is always right' quote. This is not a law. So I don't know why so many people quote it.

I mean you couldn't say "oh I'm a passenger so I'm allowed to abuse cabin crew/hijack the plane/smoke etc as I'm always right!"

Most pax are fine but there are a few who I want to :mad:

You've gotta start reposting before this thread is sent to it's death on the vanashing page 3. :(