The change needs to come from the employees! The folks at the sandcastle don’t get the door closed on the a/c the front line folks do. I see everyone taking their sweet time doing their jobs, if they do anything at all! The agents don’t give the F/A's the proper paperwork...fuel slips missing, maintenance moving like molasses, flight attendants refusing to do the service according to guidelines, bags not being loaded on A/C or carried up to the door on arrival. When are we going to start getting rid of the dead weight? That’s when things will turn around. IMO
As far as the flight attendants go, sometimes we are not given the tools we need to do our job correctly! It almost took an act of congress just to get ice the other day in BOS. We were running a few minutes late and the agent told me they don't cater there and therefore could not get me ice. I told him they do so cater here. How can they not cater in BOS when this is one of our bases? I told him I can fly to Timbuktu and get ice so how is it that they can't bring me any ice here in BOS. I told him we weren't leaving until we got ice and I told the captain real loudly so the agent could hear what was going on and the captain yelled from the cockpit that we will take a delay if we have to but we aren't leaving without ice.
I've worked flights where they didn't give me all the food I was supposed to have in first class and when we called catering to get it they said they didn't have it and it would take at least 30 minutes for them to go get it and bring it to the plane. So what do you do? Take a delay and wait for catering or leave without it? I opted to leave without it. I worked with what I had.
The other day going to the West coast couldn't brew any coffee or get any hot water which means we couldn't serve coffee or do a coffee service even though a lot of people wanted coffee. What do you do?
Don't even get me started on the times when we have not been catered properly and only have 2-3 bags of ice for a plane full of people, not enough snacks, etc. Have you ever been to the Caribbean before where they make you get off the plane or you just get out of their way and you later discover that they took most or all of your sodas/juices/snacks? I had that happen once. Now I know to keep a close eye on them.
Have you ever worked a 14 hour day with minimum overnights and hardly any sleep for 5-6 days in a row (or 12 in a row except one day off in between which was my case) and then have passengers get on the plane grunting and b!tching at you as you smile and welcome them because you're an hour late and they won't make their connection and can't sit with their family or friends because US Airways "lost" their reservation and US Airways sucks and they will never fly on US again and then you only have 55 minutes to do a full beverage service on a full flight? Yes, I have had that happen to me and I will admit maybe we should have done that service but we never would have finished it after the bumps at the beginning of the flight and we were so tired we could barely even remember our names. This was only a one time thing though. I normally do whatever the procedure is and provide exceptional service.
Also, there are times that the pilots tell us before the flight that it is going to be turbulent and to remain seated and they will call us when it is safe to get up and serve. When you make poverty level wages, you aren't going to risk you health to get up and serve a Coke. They don't pay us enough to do that and it isn't worth the risk.
Sometimes things happen so don't try to judge us if we aren't doing what you think we should do. For the most part, flight attendants do their jobs the best that they can with what they've got. There are a few out there that need to get out since they are so bitter and rude but most of the ones with whom I fly do things right and provide great customer service.
As for me, I don't like being a part of the #1 Worst Airline. When I came into the company we were working to be the "Global Carrier of Choice" and they expected a professional image and top service. I come back five years later to find that I now work for US Trailways. Therefore, I do what I can to provide a damn good service to people so that even though the company lost their bags, cancelled their last two flights, then had delays out of the wazoo, and whatever else may have happened, they at least remember that their flight attendant was awesome and that we (the company)are not all screw ups.
P.S. A flight attendant can be your best friend if you are nice but if you are mean and diss them you had better watch out! Trust me! You don't want to piss off a f/a!
