TWAnr
Veteran
- Aug 19, 2002
- 1,003
- 0
Seen on another website:
Dear Vice President Garton,
I am writing you this afternoon because I am concerned about the poor service our customers continue to receive on American Airlines. As a Purser based at SFO I am in regular contact with our premium customers. Vice President Garton I can tell you first hand our customer’s overall impression of American is very poor. In fact the current state of our operations is so poor one of our PREMIUM FOCUS GROUP customers, a business associate of mine, actually called my real estate office two weeks to complain about the continued poor service and broken promises by American Airlines in regards to addressing problems. This customer is so angry he is just waiting for Virgin America to launch, if they have any frequency to JFK you can kiss his business good bye no matter how many time he hears an apology from management. (By the way he is a BC Passenger twice a week between SFO to JFK.)
Mr. Garton, I have been a flight attendant for nearly 35 years for 3 lines and can tell you if this company does not get it’s act together very soon there is little hope we will be in business within the next few years.
For months now my co-workers and I have put up with broken airplanes, nasty airplanes, entertainment systems that don’t work for days on end, toilets leaking into the galleys, toilet seats falling off the toilets, running out of water (a near daily occurrence on our 757 MIA SFO operation), broken seats, broken lights, and half dead bloody mice still in their traps under passenger seats. The company can put in all the new interiors it likes however, when you don’t clean or make repairs our customers are not going to come back!
This past weekend was one of the worst I can remember, on Thursday I left on a 3 day trip out of San Jose. The airplane overnights and was supposedly cleaned by one of our contract cleaning companies. Upon boarding I found M & M’s and crumbs under the seats in first class, stained carpets, and lavs that had not been dumped. Upon arrival at DFW we boarded another aircraft to SAT in worse condition. The plane smelled terrible and I can’t remember ever seeing a carpet in such bad shape or so nasty. One passenger came to the back to use the lav and inquired if the carpet was wet. (It’ wasn’t wet it was nasty!) This passenger’s shoe actually stuck to the carpet along with several others. Mr. Garton that passenger was Dr. B, MD, Professor of Neurology at The University of Texas Health Science Center. By the way Dr. B is American Advantage Executive Platinum Member XXXXXXX.
After apologizing to Dr. B for the condition of the aircraft I listened while he described how upset he is with American. It appears Dr. B is a regular passenger to Paris, he related every time he gets on one of our aircraft they are dirty yet on occasion when he uses Air France out of Houston their airplanes are spotless. Can you imagine how embarrassed I was as a representative of American Airlines having to hear this over and over again? Mr. Garton, Dr. B is tired of hearing things will improve, it hasn’t happened and he is disgusted by the continued broken promises from the corporate office when he files a complaint. (For the record I provided him with a 1000 mile certificate and free drink coupons out of my purser wallet.)
Sadly this isn’t the first time I have heard this, my business associate mentioned above was met by our SFO Base Manager several months ago following a trip from SFO to JFK to CDG and return where he had to sweep the trash and crumbs out of his business class seat on the way to Paris before he could sit down.
You would think this would have been the end of the story for the SAT to DFW flight but it’s not. Upon landing at DFW it was clear there were more issues with this airplane than being dirty. During the final approach the airplane began shaking and making a horrendous noise that scared all the passengers. It was so bad I had to make an announcement that everything was OK knowing it wasn’t. The Captain suspected a control problem or the flaps continued to travel beyond the setting she selected. It is my understanding the airplane was taken out of service and did not continue on. I am sure Dr. B was real impressed! Mr. Garton for the next 3 days I continued to work on hot, filthy, and nasty airplanes in poor condition leaving our customers with a negative impression. To make it worse I had little sleep between duty periods and nothing to eat due to the terrible schedules forced on us at SFO.
Again you would think that is where it ended but NO, yesterday April 1st, I had the unfortunate pleasure of being the Purser on AA 327 DFW SFO, aircraft N351 a Boeing 767-300. This airplane had been on the ground at DFW for over 24 hours with numerous maintenance items that were not fixed. Vice President Garton, not one, I repeat not one, of the 30 reading lights in First Class worked! In addition two rows in Main Cabin were inop. If that weren’t bad enough none of my first class passengers were able to enjoy the movie are music since the audio system for the entire first class cabin had been inop and deferred by maintenance for three days. The first class passenger in seat 6A could not recline her seat because it was broken however, when the gentlemen in 6B reclined his seat 6A began reclining along with 6B. Makes you kind of wonder what else is improperly wired. This airplane sat on the ground for 24 hours yet the lavs had not been dumped, it was so poorly cleaned there were empty salad dressing bottles under the first class seats, and not one maintenance item was fixed. By the way aircraft N351 is one of our 767 300’s with the new interior, entertainment system, and seats. If it’s in poor working condition or dirty, it does not matter what interior is installed. Further, on April 6th three out of the seven of us working this same flight including myself and FA 6 became ill with some sort of gastro-intestinal illness. Again that airplane was absolutely filthy, do we now have to worry about some sort of cruise ship type of illness when we come to work?
Mr. Garton I would like to touch on a few other flights, on one of my MIA SFO trips in March we ran out of water one hour and thirty minutes into the flight. (Restricting water levels on a 757 on long haul isn’t a good idea.) Usually this flight runs out of water an average of 3 times a week, yet we are still dealing with the issue. This airplane had been flying around for several days prior to our flight with two of the four lavs inop, including the one in First Class. In fact the aft left lav flooded the back of the passenger cabin and galley with blue waste water on takeoff out of SJU and MIA. I wonder what the FAA would think about maintenance IN-OP stickers being on the lav doors but no mention of them in the log book? I wonder what OSHA would think about the flight attendants wading in lav waste serving food and beverages from a galley full of blue sewage water? On my next MIA SFO flight the entertainment system had been in-op for 3 days and not one repair station had the parts to fix it. If that weren’t bad enough one passenger’s seat was completely missing it’s armrest. Unfortunately for the gentlemen seated in that seat we ran out of water before he could have a cup of coffee, sadly his flight from Barbados to Miami also ran out of water. When passengers from Barbados to San Francisco can’t have a cup of coffee, their armrest is missing, the lavs are broken, the plane is dirty, the toilets are leaking into the galley, and passengers can’t watch the movie or listen to music because it’s been broken for 3 days, you know things are bad!
Mr. Garton, I know I am not the only Purser you have heard from but enough is enough! We need this airline back on course or there won’t be an AA in the future. The SFO Base Manager, my supervisor Terry Jelly, and the office staff have been very supportive of our customers and the flight attendants however they can only do so much.
Sadly from our point of view they are the only ones trying to make things better. It’s time for the corporate office to assist those who are trying and get this airline and it’s planes back in shape.
Finally, it wouldn’t hurt for the corporate office to let us know we are appreciated once in awhile!
Thank you for your time and any assistance you can provide.
Best Regards,
XXXXXXXX, Purser
SFO