BA Cabin Crew
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I wonder if Matt101 was having an off day, whether he was "tired and emotional", or just behaving normally when he told us:
Well, if your attitude to paying passengers is indicative of the rest of BA's cabin crew, in future I will:
Oh no, I forgot: Matt101 is no longer employed by BA. If he has the effrontery to declare
there can be little wonder as to why he is no longer employed by British Airways. With an attitude like that towards his employer and its customers he really must have been a wonderful asset to the cabin crew community.
Well, if your attitude to paying passengers is indicative of the rest of BA's cabin crew, in future I will:
Oh no, I forgot: Matt101 is no longer employed by BA. If he has the effrontery to declare
there can be little wonder as to why he is no longer employed by British Airways. With an attitude like that towards his employer and its customers he really must have been a wonderful asset to the cabin crew community.
The posts on this forum go little way in convincing me that dealing with the British Customer of today and a management watching the profit line sometimes to the detriment of product as a route cause is a misconception.
Not that it really matters but I left BA voluntarily for a role in aviation I preferred however I would be happy to share a number of positive letters BA received naming me whilst I was at BA as well as my employee reviews. I loved the job and the Brand and for the most part passengers are great, but I maintain the go to attitude of many people these days when dissappointed is rudness and diatribe. I believe this is a route cause of a lot of the sour faces people claim to see onboard.
Being sworn at because you've run out of a product the company have been repeatedly told is in constant shortage does nothing to endear you to the management or certain pax. I managed to smile through it others don't I suppose.
I replied to the thread because I felt 4 pages of people being rude about crew without someone attempting to explain some reasons behing the attitude you encountered was unbalanced... that and I had some wine....
Paxing All Over The World
I have worked in areas that are closely connected to the customer (usually face to face) for 35 years and am now self-employed in a field that requires the utmost sensitivity.
I agree that customers - of all types - are now highly unpredictable. There is no guessing who will be pleasant for 99% of the time and then flare up. I admire CC for the work they do and have not experienced a seriously rude retort from one for more than 20 years. Those that occasionally get a little 'frosty' are few and far between.
I am no saint but am often deeply saddened by the way I see staff treated by customers (again, across all areas not just aviation) and would never advise anyone to take up a customer facing job in the airline world. Not least as Matt101 says, you are having to defend the indefensible mgmt!
I agree that customers - of all types - are now highly unpredictable. There is no guessing who will be pleasant for 99% of the time and then flare up. I admire CC for the work they do and have not experienced a seriously rude retort from one for more than 20 years. Those that occasionally get a little 'frosty' are few and far between.
I am no saint but am often deeply saddened by the way I see staff treated by customers (again, across all areas not just aviation) and would never advise anyone to take up a customer facing job in the airline world. Not least as Matt101 says, you are having to defend the indefensible mgmt!
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I feel I should also add that I don't see it as a sole reason. As in all jobs some people should not be doing them. I don't see that as being specific to BA or its crew though.
Crew generally, I feel do a good job of keeping a stiff upper lip, even when they've run out of bloody mary mix (or had it removed from the trolley as part of a cost cutting exercise.....)
A lot of ill will towards the crew I feel is misplaced, but then I don't blame anyone else in entirety either.
Crew generally, I feel do a good job of keeping a stiff upper lip, even when they've run out of bloody mary mix (or had it removed from the trolley as part of a cost cutting exercise.....)
A lot of ill will towards the crew I feel is misplaced, but then I don't blame anyone else in entirety either.
Paxing All Over The World
Indeed Matt101 as with so many things in life, the problem is it's own Swiss cheese. The factors that have brought BA's reputation down are manifold and all interlink. Some factors mitigate others and then some build on the previous.
ALL human groups do this, be they commercial companies, charities or political parties. It is human nature that we are dealing with. Unfortunately, at the end of it all, BA is not what it was but then, nor is PanAm or TWA or Swiss Air or <insert carrier name here>.
Or ... American Airlines. Not gone but certainly in exactly the same problem as many others. they are fortunate to have the fabled USA bolt hole. Wait to see how many folks lose their pensions.
ALL human groups do this, be they commercial companies, charities or political parties. It is human nature that we are dealing with. Unfortunately, at the end of it all, BA is not what it was but then, nor is PanAm or TWA or Swiss Air or <insert carrier name here>.
Or ... American Airlines. Not gone but certainly in exactly the same problem as many others. they are fortunate to have the fabled USA bolt hole. Wait to see how many folks lose their pensions.
Last edited by PAXboy; 29th Nov 2011 at 23:35. Reason: Added AA reference, following their announcement of Ch.11
Sunday Nov 20.
Heathrow and fog. BA344 delayed 1 hour before eventual boarding at 1320. Get boarded, ready to go, announced a 1 hour further delay before a tug can be obtained. When eventually there is a tug and clearance from ATC, we are 4 hours late. Crew extremely good, bringing out water, tea, nuts. FO comes back to chat to customers. That crew - CC and flight deck - really went out of their way to make the ethos of 'To fly to serve' actually happen. They had also started their day by getting up at 4am UK time in Munich....
So the PAX weren't happy with the delay, but also weren't pi**ed off with the crew.
I've also never had such a short take off run at LHR, a very rapid climb and we picked up 20 minutes on the way to Nice.
Heathrow and fog. BA344 delayed 1 hour before eventual boarding at 1320. Get boarded, ready to go, announced a 1 hour further delay before a tug can be obtained. When eventually there is a tug and clearance from ATC, we are 4 hours late. Crew extremely good, bringing out water, tea, nuts. FO comes back to chat to customers. That crew - CC and flight deck - really went out of their way to make the ethos of 'To fly to serve' actually happen. They had also started their day by getting up at 4am UK time in Munich....
So the PAX weren't happy with the delay, but also weren't pi**ed off with the crew.
I've also never had such a short take off run at LHR, a very rapid climb and we picked up 20 minutes on the way to Nice.
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I love BA
I've enjoyed reading this thread profusely, all of you made very excellent points, I've always admired British Airways from a kid I always loved to see the Ground Staff and the Cabin Crew.
I flew BGI-LGW WT+ recently and as we were climbing the Cabin Manager made an announcement that the in flight entertainment had broken down on the inbound flight and the problem was not rectified so there will be no entertainment, and this was an 8hr fllight, the Cabin Crew were fantastic they gave us lots of attention on the it was like they never took a break.
On the flight LGW-BGI it was a total difference in crew, the flight was full of indians joining the cruise liner in Bridgetown and I found the crew was very rude to them, I even saw one of the ladies rolling her eyes at some of them and her body language told it all, when it came to serving me the flight attendant was not paying attention to what she was doing she served me salad and desert and not the actual food, myself and the gentelmen was trying to get her attention for over 5mins to tell her that I did not receive my beef that I requested.
She brought it dumped it on the tray threw her hair back no sorry nothing, earlier in the flight when she was serving drinks I asked for an orange juice and she handed me the cup over the gentelman next to me while talking and looking at her colleague and not paying attention to me or the guy next to me, she released the cup before I had a firm grip and it spilled on the guy next to me, we could not believe that she was being so negligent and she was not remorseful at all.
There are fantastic crews and really rude crews, I've flown American Airlines tons of times and I find that they have the worst crew ever thats my opnion of a BAD crew/service. I have an interview coming up soon for MF with BA its one of my goals to work for BA I love the company but there is indeed some serious slackness that needs to be dealt with, some crews can be nasty for no reason, no one in my cabin was rude to them but they were extremely rude and very familiar on the LGW-BGI leg.
I flew BGI-LGW WT+ recently and as we were climbing the Cabin Manager made an announcement that the in flight entertainment had broken down on the inbound flight and the problem was not rectified so there will be no entertainment, and this was an 8hr fllight, the Cabin Crew were fantastic they gave us lots of attention on the it was like they never took a break.
On the flight LGW-BGI it was a total difference in crew, the flight was full of indians joining the cruise liner in Bridgetown and I found the crew was very rude to them, I even saw one of the ladies rolling her eyes at some of them and her body language told it all, when it came to serving me the flight attendant was not paying attention to what she was doing she served me salad and desert and not the actual food, myself and the gentelmen was trying to get her attention for over 5mins to tell her that I did not receive my beef that I requested.
She brought it dumped it on the tray threw her hair back no sorry nothing, earlier in the flight when she was serving drinks I asked for an orange juice and she handed me the cup over the gentelman next to me while talking and looking at her colleague and not paying attention to me or the guy next to me, she released the cup before I had a firm grip and it spilled on the guy next to me, we could not believe that she was being so negligent and she was not remorseful at all.
There are fantastic crews and really rude crews, I've flown American Airlines tons of times and I find that they have the worst crew ever thats my opnion of a BAD crew/service. I have an interview coming up soon for MF with BA its one of my goals to work for BA I love the company but there is indeed some serious slackness that needs to be dealt with, some crews can be nasty for no reason, no one in my cabin was rude to them but they were extremely rude and very familiar on the LGW-BGI leg.
