Ten years ago was when most US airlines were using bankruptcy to cut pay, decrease staffing and just generally make life miserable for staff while giving management huge bonuses. I was always amazed that passengers were treated as well as they were given the attitude of most cabin staff. I was not cabin staff-I was a pilot and my pay went down about 80% while my work hours went up about 20% and my retirement was eliminated. Cabin staff were not quite that bad, but still got hit hard. New hires were eligible for government assistance they made so little.

I blame their parents & school teachers!!:ouch:

Will be trying Delta product in 2 weeks time in US on internal flights. It will be intresting to see how they have changed as its been a few years since I have had to go to the land of the brave, and reading the post on US carriers does not fill me with confidance about the in flight service, but we will see,I think I may have been spoilt by EK/SQ over the last decade !.

Sometimes...
 

... you get what you give.

As more and more of us fly more and more,for less and less money, the "glory days" of passenger flight have imo gone. Not just for passengers, but also for the CC. These people are generally not well paid and, in my perception, often not treated especially respectfully. We're asking too much to be treated like royalty. This ain't the 1930s.

In my experience, if you make just a little extra effort, with a smile and a voiced how's-your-day-going and maybe a little empathy/appreciation for the cabin crew member looking after you at that moment, unexpectedly nice things DO happen, and more frequently than you might imagine.

Please don't misunderstand me; I don't get to fly biz instead of econ because I'm kind, but my face IS being remembered during multiple services, I share a smile, maybe a little cheerful banter, my choice of drink might be remembered (like it probably was in the 30s!) and I'll often not pay for one of two of them. It's (I hope) refreshing for everyone, and it doesn't cost a thing. Plus, you get to deplane feeling better than those whose expectations were too high and consequently not met.

Of course, there are exceptions. That's another post, tho.

PB

Lessons I've learned.
1. Never fly an American carrier unless essential
2. BA are the best for transatlantic crossings
3. If flying east from the UK pick an eastern based carrier

Well I can say I have been well and truly Deltered !. What happened to US customer service where did it go ?. This was my first trip back to USA for 8 years and I thought standerds had gone down then from when I was there every other week (so it seemed)from 1987 - 91, and I will not even mention how much higher they were when I was an exchange student in the mid 70,s. It was not just the staff, but everything like the planes were in some cases very old and tired (crew said some of their DC 9 were 30yr old) which is not what you want to here when bouncing around the edge of a super cell :sad:!.
There just appears to be a malaise in the US at the moment that they manufacture / provide a service to a budjet which the bar is not set high enough on. The experiance was quite intresting although for my company totaly unrewarding as quality issues which we have had from previouse US suppliers were still evident:ugh:. I do not know which way they go from here as the service which the US was justly proud of seems to have left them and they now have lowered there expectations (same could be said for some UK companies and Govt). They remain good hosts ( I was mostly in mid west from Gulf to Canadian border) but they are going to have either improve their game or put up the trade barriers as the product is not what it was. On the plus side of this, its back to EK/SQ for me and the routes out East. :ok:

The US airlines will go the way the car makers GM, Ford and Chrysler did. The domestic markets should be opened up to foreign carriers. US consumers deserve better.

>US consumers deserve better. <

But do they? Is it not a case of 'As ye sow, so shall ye reap'. Pushing for lowest possible fares has had the effect you would expect - lowest amount of service.

I'm surprised maintenance has kept going so well and hasn't been too obviously cost and corner cut.

This whole "service is terrible because all the consumers care about is low fares" argument is flawed. If the pay and conditions are so terrible crews should leave for higher paying jobs - which they dont because such nonsense would not be tolerated in most regular workplaces.

Airline service is terrible simply because of archaic work rules, spineless managers who are not willing to hold people accountable and airline crews who think that the world has done them wrong and in turn treat the passengers as their worst enemy.

Couldn't agree more. Having travelled extensively throughout the States, I found much of airline service there is based on sarcasm and flippancy. I also feel that many of the Eastern European crews who work for the likes of FR do not know how to smile, yet alone talk to people, or even speak basic English. This in turn will give a completely negative view on service.

Not Delta, but United ground crew, a day or so ago.

LAX Meltdown; Scary Situation, unbelievable agents... - FlyerTalk Forums

Agreed. Travelling on a Continental flight once the man next to me asked for a Gin and Tonic and as the attendant turned away to get it, he added : "Without ice please." As she had her back turned and didn't acknowledge, he repeated : "Without ice please..." in a perfectly pleasant manner. She swung round with her hands on her hips and almost spat at him : "I am not a dumb god-damn blonde." Without missing a beat, he said : "You do a darned good imitiation of one then!"

I found US domestic service varied from atrocious to excellent, but there seemed to be very little pattern to it.

Well, after 35 years of business travel and 94 countries later, in my experience ....

- American carriers (all) - impersonal, cold and unfriendly no matter how much you try, best avoided,

- new & expanding Middle East carriers -usually good, but often lack of experienced cabin crew shows through, you kind of have to grin and bear it if it goes wrong because they're too nice to make a fuss,

- Lufthansa and Swiss, personally, my favourites - consistency and efficiency are the key,

BA - Jekyll and Hyde; when they're good they're outstanding, when they're bad they just don't give a damn. Overall though, average. Can't forget tent city in the T4 car park a few years back, although that wasn't the crews' fault

Qantas - sometimes make you feel like you've got a nasty disease - I never got over being served by CC wearing plastic gloves during a time of heightened HIV publicity a few years back.

Best recent experience - Jet Airways to Mumbai - almost perfect !

Many others, but those are the outstanding ones.

Last 3 trips back to the UK from NYC have been with 3 different airlines all in cattle class. I'll rate them with United the best of the 3. Attentive staff and came round with water or OJ every 45 minutes very plesant trip. Next comes Delta and lastly BA. As a long time user of BA I now find the staff rude and unattentive when in the cabin and not hiding some where. In fact on our last 2 trips we have felt the need to write to BA about the cabin crew.