grumpy at aircraft when asked for boarding pass. why?
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F3G
I'm at the lower end of the scale so I can't say they'll take it up but I'll definitely suggest it. Don't ask, don't get!
As to your comments on the stress of the travelling public, I can't help but wonder why this has come about. In the UK, at least, we seem to have turned into a nation of spoilt brats. We want it all, we want it now and if we don't get it, we'll do the adult equivalent of throwing ourselves on the floor, kicking our legs about and screaming until we get it! Maybe a steady diet of reality television shows, showing passengers being, sometimes, extremely rude and getting a result from it has coloured our vision.
In the past, we accepted that sometimes, things would not go to plan and if it was down to negligence on someones part, we may even go so far as to write a stiffly worded letter. We also understood that there were going to be parts of the journey that we didn't particularly enjoy, but hey, that was life. Stiff upper lip and all that! Now we seem to have the expectation that everything will go exactly as it should and we will breeze through the airport with never a worry. That's not the reality and we are setting ourselves up for stress before we even walk through the door of the airport.
I'm not suggesting we go back to the good old days where companies, airlines and airports included, could do what the hell they liked and we'd just soldier on regardless, but we seem to have gone too far in the other direction. Certain individuals seem to think that the small, (and they are small in the great scheme of things), inconveniences they suffer excuses them from their own bad behaviour, which they then blame on stress. As I previously said, we are talking about showing a small peice of paper here. We're not asking passengers to strip at the door...yet!
I'm at the lower end of the scale so I can't say they'll take it up but I'll definitely suggest it. Don't ask, don't get!
As to your comments on the stress of the travelling public, I can't help but wonder why this has come about. In the UK, at least, we seem to have turned into a nation of spoilt brats. We want it all, we want it now and if we don't get it, we'll do the adult equivalent of throwing ourselves on the floor, kicking our legs about and screaming until we get it! Maybe a steady diet of reality television shows, showing passengers being, sometimes, extremely rude and getting a result from it has coloured our vision.
In the past, we accepted that sometimes, things would not go to plan and if it was down to negligence on someones part, we may even go so far as to write a stiffly worded letter. We also understood that there were going to be parts of the journey that we didn't particularly enjoy, but hey, that was life. Stiff upper lip and all that! Now we seem to have the expectation that everything will go exactly as it should and we will breeze through the airport with never a worry. That's not the reality and we are setting ourselves up for stress before we even walk through the door of the airport.
I'm not suggesting we go back to the good old days where companies, airlines and airports included, could do what the hell they liked and we'd just soldier on regardless, but we seem to have gone too far in the other direction. Certain individuals seem to think that the small, (and they are small in the great scheme of things), inconveniences they suffer excuses them from their own bad behaviour, which they then blame on stress. As I previously said, we are talking about showing a small peice of paper here. We're not asking passengers to strip at the door...yet!
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...traumatic experiences. If you can't cope with showing a boarding card a few times without losing your temper...
adult equivalent of throwing ourselves on the floor, kicking our legs about and screaming...
adult equivalent of throwing ourselves on the floor, kicking our legs about and screaming...
. Hardly the same as being "grumpy". Ever thought of switching to decaf ?
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Originally Posted by Mr. Quite Happy
We are not equal. We are not friends. We are not colleagues. We are not ‘in these difficult times together’. .
Some people believe that respect should be earned; they start off with none and have to prove themselves to gain it. Other people have respect initially until something happens for that respect to be lost.
With respect to grumpiness, and we all get grumpy from time too time, the trick is to recognise that it oneself's grumpiness and should not be inflicted on innocent parties.
Cheers
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Mr Quite Happy
I'm ATS other half, a Captain with several years experience, and your remark that ATS, and her colleagues in a multitude of airlines,are paid to deal with grumpy people beggars belief.
Grumpy in our business normally equates with excessive behaviour: I have had passengers, business class, tell cabin crew to "F*ck off" when asked if they would like their briefcase stowed in an overhead. I have had cabin crew threatened " I'll be waiting in the car park for you" because the we declined to serve the passenger with an alcoholic drink.
We do not have to deal with grumpy passengers: we have to deal with offensive, often violent individuals asserting that their "rights" supersede those of their fellow passengers or the crew.
Buying a ticket, be it Y,C or F, does not include the right to abuse the crew: the stresses of travelling through the airport can be ameliorated on board if you have the correct attitude. Try saying to the crew something along the lines of " How do you cope with this every day? I've just had the most horrible experience going through the airport / security etc" and see how they react compared to the out and out anger we normally experience.
Normally people who are flying for the first time, or are nervous flyers, are delightful: the real assholes are the "road warriors". Flying on someone else's money and demanding their rights.
I came back from SFO several years ago on a staff ticket: the crew didn't know though. I was given a seat in the centre 4 on the 747: the guy next to me was talking intently to the lady in the seat directly in front me. So I asked if the were travelling together. When he said the were I offered her my seat as I was travelling alone. As we were swapping seats a cabin crew member asked what we were doing so I explained. She then asked if I would trade seats with a woman who was complaining about her seat. " Sure" says I. When I was asked again if I would trade my seat I said " I'll wait in the galley and when you have a seat for me I'll sit down. it will give you 1 seat to play with". The flight was full.
Once all the juggling had been done I was asked to follow the cabin crew lady to my seat: I was offered a First Class seat, which I declined as I was on staff travel, but they put me in business, not because I was staff but because I was helping them out.
If you chill out and are nice to the cabin crew you will be surprised how much of a positive response you get.
A degree of human kindness is never amiss: as ye give so shall ye receive.
I'm ATS other half, a Captain with several years experience, and your remark that ATS, and her colleagues in a multitude of airlines,are paid to deal with grumpy people beggars belief.
Grumpy in our business normally equates with excessive behaviour: I have had passengers, business class, tell cabin crew to "F*ck off" when asked if they would like their briefcase stowed in an overhead. I have had cabin crew threatened " I'll be waiting in the car park for you" because the we declined to serve the passenger with an alcoholic drink.
We do not have to deal with grumpy passengers: we have to deal with offensive, often violent individuals asserting that their "rights" supersede those of their fellow passengers or the crew.
Buying a ticket, be it Y,C or F, does not include the right to abuse the crew: the stresses of travelling through the airport can be ameliorated on board if you have the correct attitude. Try saying to the crew something along the lines of " How do you cope with this every day? I've just had the most horrible experience going through the airport / security etc" and see how they react compared to the out and out anger we normally experience.
Normally people who are flying for the first time, or are nervous flyers, are delightful: the real assholes are the "road warriors". Flying on someone else's money and demanding their rights.
I came back from SFO several years ago on a staff ticket: the crew didn't know though. I was given a seat in the centre 4 on the 747: the guy next to me was talking intently to the lady in the seat directly in front me. So I asked if the were travelling together. When he said the were I offered her my seat as I was travelling alone. As we were swapping seats a cabin crew member asked what we were doing so I explained. She then asked if I would trade seats with a woman who was complaining about her seat. " Sure" says I. When I was asked again if I would trade my seat I said " I'll wait in the galley and when you have a seat for me I'll sit down. it will give you 1 seat to play with". The flight was full.
Once all the juggling had been done I was asked to follow the cabin crew lady to my seat: I was offered a First Class seat, which I declined as I was on staff travel, but they put me in business, not because I was staff but because I was helping them out.
If you chill out and are nice to the cabin crew you will be surprised how much of a positive response you get.
A degree of human kindness is never amiss: as ye give so shall ye receive.
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TRSS, 
As for ATS' post - That sounds quite like the opening of Air Babylon. :-)
That aside, I didn't realise that BA provided the public with a method to make sure c/crew could be given direct feedback. I'll be using that a lot more then.
S.
As for ATS' post - That sounds quite like the opening of Air Babylon. :-)
That aside, I didn't realise that BA provided the public with a method to make sure c/crew could be given direct feedback. I'll be using that a lot more then.
S.
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TRSS
You tell a nice story, where a crew appreciated your courtesy and were pleasant to you.
Ain't always the case.
London City this week, guy is separated from a collegue on an RJ (3-4 rows away.)
We board, crew shut rear door, leave front open, apparently for dispatcher.
Flight about 60% full, pax asks #3 CC member if he can change seats to sit next to colleague after take off (i.e. very polite, understands w&b for take off.)
She tells him "you can change now, no problem."
5 mins later couple of more people board, sit in the front, #2 crew member comes down to check headcount and chews the guy out for moving seats, he says nothing, another pax says "he asked and your colleauge said okay", #2 says "I wasn't talking to you" and walks away.
Grumpiness is not restricted to passengers.
You tell a nice story, where a crew appreciated your courtesy and were pleasant to you.
Ain't always the case.
London City this week, guy is separated from a collegue on an RJ (3-4 rows away.)
We board, crew shut rear door, leave front open, apparently for dispatcher.
Flight about 60% full, pax asks #3 CC member if he can change seats to sit next to colleague after take off (i.e. very polite, understands w&b for take off.)
She tells him "you can change now, no problem."
5 mins later couple of more people board, sit in the front, #2 crew member comes down to check headcount and chews the guy out for moving seats, he says nothing, another pax says "he asked and your colleauge said okay", #2 says "I wasn't talking to you" and walks away.
Grumpiness is not restricted to passengers.
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i got shouted at asking for coffee one too many times today. Since the crew stayed in the same hotel, so it must've been the beds. Ignored her all the way.
PS: I wasn't even a passenger *GrumpS* ((All in a day's work))
PS: I wasn't even a passenger *GrumpS* ((All in a day's work))
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I suspect that in any industry where the primary job of the employee is to deal with hundreds of thousands of people from different cultures and countries, along with the customers who pass through that environment who have paid to receive some sort of service. There will inevitably be times where a breakdown in what is perceived as 'value for money' occurs. Some people's expectations are unrealistic, some customer service workers have a very low standards as to how far they should go to help.
This thread is based on the most trivial aspects of flying today so it shows in such graphic detail how it is the smallest of things that make an experience 'heaven or hell'. Maybe that should be the point we all take away.
6
This thread is based on the most trivial aspects of flying today so it shows in such graphic detail how it is the smallest of things that make an experience 'heaven or hell'. Maybe that should be the point we all take away.
6
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One of the problems is sometimes a lack of respect in all directions. I have seen pax acting like utter cretins who frankly should be shown the nearest exit at FL410, but as a passenger I have seen CC acting very, very badly when confronted with a simple request from a passenger.
Flying has now become a stressful way to work and travel thanks to the interminable rules and the jobsworth muppets who enforce them. Everybody needs to cut some slack, but as employees of an airline, then it is CC's duty to minimise the impact of these stresses and strains and not let them get in the way. Hard I know.
ATS, it isn't the passengers fault that just getting to work is a horrid experience and I don't really see why they should give a monkeys. It is frustrating and the fact that RYR only pay brakes on to brakes off isn't their concern either.
The showing of the boarding card can be a pain for people, especially those struggling up the steps with a small child in each arm and to the average pax it does seem daft. I would be interested to know how many people have been caught trying to get onto different aircraft by by this check?
I'll bet there really aren't that many.
No Frills airlines only need to do it because they are too stingy to use the airbridges. With an airbridge it's like herding cattle. You check the ticket/ear tag and send them down the shute. They can't go anywhere as they are hemmed in, but on the rare occasion where an airbridge has been used, there has still been the boarding pass inspection.
Rools is rools, but in this case it becomes nonsensical, if there was allocated seating and you were being directed to it, then that makes sense, but in a free for all?
Some pax need shooting, but the vast majority don't and are just trying to get on with the journey they've often paid through the nose for.
Instead of CC sniping at pax and pax sniping back, why not concentrate efforts on getting through a flight in the smoothest possible way and then write to your MP complaining about the security trolls, it's all their fault anyway!
Flying has now become a stressful way to work and travel thanks to the interminable rules and the jobsworth muppets who enforce them. Everybody needs to cut some slack, but as employees of an airline, then it is CC's duty to minimise the impact of these stresses and strains and not let them get in the way. Hard I know.
ATS, it isn't the passengers fault that just getting to work is a horrid experience and I don't really see why they should give a monkeys. It is frustrating and the fact that RYR only pay brakes on to brakes off isn't their concern either.
The showing of the boarding card can be a pain for people, especially those struggling up the steps with a small child in each arm and to the average pax it does seem daft. I would be interested to know how many people have been caught trying to get onto different aircraft by by this check?
I'll bet there really aren't that many.
No Frills airlines only need to do it because they are too stingy to use the airbridges. With an airbridge it's like herding cattle. You check the ticket/ear tag and send them down the shute. They can't go anywhere as they are hemmed in, but on the rare occasion where an airbridge has been used, there has still been the boarding pass inspection.
Rools is rools, but in this case it becomes nonsensical, if there was allocated seating and you were being directed to it, then that makes sense, but in a free for all?
Some pax need shooting, but the vast majority don't and are just trying to get on with the journey they've often paid through the nose for.
Instead of CC sniping at pax and pax sniping back, why not concentrate efforts on getting through a flight in the smoothest possible way and then write to your MP complaining about the security trolls, it's all their fault anyway!
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It is frustrating and the fact that RYR only pay brakes on to brakes off isn't their concern either.
Not that that is anyone else's concern, it my decision.
I'm not generally grumpy, either.
Instead of CC sniping at pax and pax sniping back, why not concentrate efforts on getting through a flight in the smoothest possible way and then write to your MP complaining about the security trolls, it's all their fault anyway!
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PaperTiger,
If you're going to quote me, please use the quotes in context. As for giving up caffeine, I'd never make it up from a horizontal position!
SaS,
In the last month, we have had 3 incidences on just one fleet, of people getting on the wrong aircraft. 2 were using the airbridge and 1 was on steps, so it seems to have nothing to do with the method that delivers you to the aircraft door. It happens more than you think and definitely, more than it should! (None were travelling from our home base of LGW, I hasten to add!)
I don't quite understand why you say that No Frills airlines need to check boarding passes because they are too stingy to use airbridges. Maybe I have misunderstood what you are trying to say, but it has nothing to do with airbridges, steps, low cost, high cost or anything else that may come into the equation. We check boarding passes because, in the UK at least, it is a directive for UK based airlines. It's not our choice to make.
As previously said, I do agree that the airlines could help themselves by making the appropriate announcement to keep boarding cards handy, and I also appreciate that it can be a pain when you've got your hands full but I still don't see how it can give someone the right to rant and rave at the door. I will do all I can to help if someone is struggling to find their boarding cards but I've lost count of the number of times people have tried to barge past me, snatched them back out of my hand, called me names etc. all over something that takes 2 seconds to check. Is it really neccessary?
As for those crew and ground staff that treat passengers badly, then they ask for everything they get and the quicker they leave the job, the better for all of us. Unfortunately, todays employment laws are so heavily slanted towards protection for the workers that these people are able to use them to their own advantage and carry on spreading their bad attitude around the work place. But that's a whole other subject!
Jsl
P.S For the record, I do always ask nicely with a smile!
If you're going to quote me, please use the quotes in context. As for giving up caffeine, I'd never make it up from a horizontal position!
SaS,
In the last month, we have had 3 incidences on just one fleet, of people getting on the wrong aircraft. 2 were using the airbridge and 1 was on steps, so it seems to have nothing to do with the method that delivers you to the aircraft door. It happens more than you think and definitely, more than it should! (None were travelling from our home base of LGW, I hasten to add!)
I don't quite understand why you say that No Frills airlines need to check boarding passes because they are too stingy to use airbridges. Maybe I have misunderstood what you are trying to say, but it has nothing to do with airbridges, steps, low cost, high cost or anything else that may come into the equation. We check boarding passes because, in the UK at least, it is a directive for UK based airlines. It's not our choice to make.
As previously said, I do agree that the airlines could help themselves by making the appropriate announcement to keep boarding cards handy, and I also appreciate that it can be a pain when you've got your hands full but I still don't see how it can give someone the right to rant and rave at the door. I will do all I can to help if someone is struggling to find their boarding cards but I've lost count of the number of times people have tried to barge past me, snatched them back out of my hand, called me names etc. all over something that takes 2 seconds to check. Is it really neccessary?
As for those crew and ground staff that treat passengers badly, then they ask for everything they get and the quicker they leave the job, the better for all of us. Unfortunately, todays employment laws are so heavily slanted towards protection for the workers that these people are able to use them to their own advantage and carry on spreading their bad attitude around the work place. But that's a whole other subject!
Jsl
P.S For the record, I do always ask nicely with a smile!
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As for those crew and ground staff that treat passengers badly, then they ask for everything they get and the quicker they leave the job, the better for all of us
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JSL, no-one has the right to be rude or threatening to anyone who is simply doing their job. That is not acceptable.
My point is simply that we all need to chill a bit and try to understand where everyone is coming from.
I hate the attitude that I've come across from some CC where pax are just an inconveinence and to be tolerated and I also hate the appalling way that some pax treat the CC.
Neither attitude is acceptable.
That is interesting about the pax from different flights, though knowing how some european airports are run, then nothing surprises me!!!
It shows that the check is necessary.
My point is simply that we all need to chill a bit and try to understand where everyone is coming from.
I hate the attitude that I've come across from some CC where pax are just an inconveinence and to be tolerated and I also hate the appalling way that some pax treat the CC.
Neither attitude is acceptable.
That is interesting about the pax from different flights, though knowing how some european airports are run, then nothing surprises me!!!
It shows that the check is necessary.
PPRuNe Handmaiden
easyJet at Luton announce that you will have to show your boarding pass on arrival at the aircraft.
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no-one has the right to be rude or threatening to anyone who is simply doing their job
We all have a duty to follow the rules within the law, even while we battle to change them. Look at the Tory MP arrested by ANTI-TERROR Police for doing what Brown and even Churchill did for years! These men were simply doing their job, but I would certainly be rude to them as they tore my home apart and rifled through my personal possesions.
As Cabin Crew you are an integral part of a dysfunctional and often incoherent procedure. However nice and hard working most of you guys are, it's not going to get better any time soon while the system you are part of treats us all like morons alas.
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Yes but ranting and raving at some wage slave is about as pointless as it gets. The rage should be directed at the people who made the decisions.
The only problem being that it is impossible to find out who made most of the decisions that affect us.
Kicking off at CC for no reason is deplorable, they are just being used as a conveinient target and that isn't right.
It's no wonder that air rage is on the rise though, given the stressful nature of your average airport experience nowadays. Unfortunately CC are often the first visible representative of the airport or airline, so they cop the flack.
When you walk through a terminal now, after check-in, the only staff you see are cleaners (occasionally!) Security staff (people generally don't have a go at them even though they cause 90% of the stress), gate staff (10 seconds before boarding commences and conspicuously absent when there are delays etc) and then the CC who are the first you actually have any interaction with.
It's unnacceptable but unsurprising that people get ratty with CC, they aren't having a go at you personally, but at the uniform and the company it represents.
Doesn't make it right though.
The only problem being that it is impossible to find out who made most of the decisions that affect us.
Kicking off at CC for no reason is deplorable, they are just being used as a conveinient target and that isn't right.
It's no wonder that air rage is on the rise though, given the stressful nature of your average airport experience nowadays. Unfortunately CC are often the first visible representative of the airport or airline, so they cop the flack.
When you walk through a terminal now, after check-in, the only staff you see are cleaners (occasionally!) Security staff (people generally don't have a go at them even though they cause 90% of the stress), gate staff (10 seconds before boarding commences and conspicuously absent when there are delays etc) and then the CC who are the first you actually have any interaction with.
It's unnacceptable but unsurprising that people get ratty with CC, they aren't having a go at you personally, but at the uniform and the company it represents.
Doesn't make it right though.