Poor Customer Service on a Premium Flight--Comments Please

[Art at ISP]

As many of you know, I have always been a staunch supporter of the employees of US, and later AA. That said, it is truly sad how AA has sunk in the eyes of their EP and CK customers--believe me they ARE leaving. The operational inconsistencies and the inability of the staff to help customers (which is firmly on management) have contributed to this exodus, but the story below does not help AA's cause.

I just read this story from Gary Leff about a customer who was in F on a recent international flight...
https://viewfromthewing.com/2019/08...yqTw78icjlDNWG9ADoR4DpP1SwpcVF2KVXgWTl9SlxAro

I wonder what the FA's in here think about this, and do you think it is acceptable service for a $10K plus seat?

I am not trying to stir anything up, I am just looking for a different perspective on this unacceptable performance. There are always three sides to every story, in this case, the customer's story, the F/A Purser's story, and the truth.

Thanks and my BEST to you all.

 

[jimntx]

Art, AFAIK, I am the ONLY flight attendant left on Airlineforums, and I'm retired as of 10/30/17. I worked F/C almost exclusively for AA. (Other f/as were quick to point out "Jim, I make more than you and I don't have to work near as hard as you do in F/C. I NEVER work #1 FA." That should be a warning to you without question. Flight Attendant (regardless of cabin or level of service) is NOT a hard job. Tiring, yes. Long, unpaid hours, yes, demanding of every iota of patience with certain passengers, yes. Gives you permission to react in kind? NO. I knew the pay scale before I even started training Knew about the business of unpaid hours (had a close friend at Continental who warned me of that little idiosyncrasy). Used to travel for work in the oil business and saw many examples of Bad Passenger of the Year which flight attendants had to deal with. My philosophy is life is too short to work at a job you don''t love (or at least, like). I had 5 careers--actor, social worker, computer programmer, computer consultant, and flight attendant. As each became not enjoyable I moved on. Flight attendants who are not enjoying their job should move on to something they like. I've pointed out to more than one that the 13th Amendment has not been repealed so they are free to move on at any time.

The example service pointed out in the beginning of this thread breaks my heart. I loved working for American as a flight attendant. And I have myriad complimentary write-ups on file for my service. Unfortunately, I have to admit that service such as what was described is more common that you would think these days. A lot of it is the company's fault. Particularly no action taken in response to catering screw-ups. Do you remember those godawful Barbecued Chicken(!!!) Pizzas served at lunch on American back in the early 2000's. Redefined nasty for our generation. It took 3 or 4 years of write-ups to get the company to pull that "delicacy" from the menu.

However, rudeness or giving a passenger snippy back-talk is inexcusable. And, the mind boggles at the "we can't open the red wine until the white is used up" excuse for not giving the passenger (especially F/C passenger) what they want. I don't believe even the cheapskates at Headquarters would think that one up. Sounds more like b*tchy flight attendant to me.

 

[Art at ISP]

Jim,
First of all, it's good to hear from you again after all this time. Second, congratulations on your retirement.

I was shaking my head when I read about that incident. It reminded me of another incident out of HKG last year which happened to a friend of mine, when the flight attendant put all her carryons in the bin above his seat (which is supposedly a workrule violation). He politely asked her to move her items to the crew bin and she went ballistic on him.

In all fairness, I don't fly AA any more, or at a minimum when there is no other option. I have been very happy on Delta, where 99.9% of the customer facing staff are happy with their jobs and proud of the company they represent. No gate shenanigans with upgrades, and very little labor unrest (as far as I can see).

In my opinion the culture has to change, and there needs to be a management at AA who looks on their employees and customers as assets rather than liabilities.
D0uggie wants to cater to the once a year flier and it shows. When I hit 1M miles, I did not even get a card from AA, but the next week when I was on DL in F, I had a card in my seat thanking me for my business....

I hope the board sees fit to give D0uggie his walking papers soon, and takes Isom with him. Maybe Gordon Bethune is available....lol

 

[dfw gen]

Thats a shame. Unfortunately across most work groups we are just going thru the motions. I cant speak for flight attendants but as far as maintenance a once proud group thay helped make "the on time mschine" fly we have little to no moral left. Part of the lashing out i do online is an expression of the frustration with the take over. Not a merger they have for the most part purged the old aa culture. Todays culture is an us and them attitude and it clearly shows on the service

 

[1986Mekanic]

Welcome to America West first class. Is Mr Isom in charge of operations?

Robert Isom is president of American Airlines Group and American Airlines, its principal subsidiary company. In this role, he oversees American’s operations, planning, marketing, sales, alliances and pricing.

Robert previously served as executive vice president and chief operating officer at American after holding those same positions at US Airways. Prior to joining US Airways, he served as chief restructuring officer for GMAC, LLC. and as senior vice president – Ground Operations and Airport Customer Service, vice president – International and vice president – Finance for Northwest Airlines.

Between 1995 and 2000, Robert was with America West Airlines and held executive roles in Revenue Management, Operations and Finance. He started his career at The Procter & Gamble Company.

 

[jimntx]

It interests me how many LUS employees say that the complaints are simply the result of US Airways way of doing things being done at American. And that the US Airways way of doing cabin service started with what can we eliminate from F/C cabin? How much will it save? What else can we cut from F/C and still attract customers to that cabin.

Art, your comment about flying Delta predominantly does not surprise me at all. They are doing things correctly there. Something to do with some kind of cockamamie philosophy that the customer comes first.

 

[robbedagain]

As a LUS ive felt we had far better customer service than LAA n its horrendously sad to see it fall off the cliff. Clearly DL saw n sees opportunities to get traffic away from AA n they succeed. Even as an AA employee whenever I fly I go DL or WN both have in my opin far better service to where I travel to. I hope our service will improve but i doubt it unless theres a top to bottom mgmt replacement

 

[dfw gen]

As a LUS ive felt we had far better customer service than LAA n its horrendously sad to see it fall off the cliff. Clearly DL saw n sees opportunities to get traffic away from AA n they succeed. Even as an AA employee whenever I fly I go DL or WN both have in my opin far better service to where I travel to. I hope our service will improve but i doubt it unless theres a top to bottom mgmt replacement

Now that is funny! Thank you i needed that this morning!

 

[1AA]

As a LUS ive felt we had far better customer service than LAA n its horrendously sad to see it fall off the cliff. Clearly DL saw n sees opportunities to get traffic away from AA n they succeed. Even as an AA employee whenever I fly I go DL or WN both have in my opin far better service to where I travel to. I hope our service will improve but i doubt it unless theres a top to bottom mgmt replacement

You mean like wicker basket snacks for customers upfront?
No IFE systems?
1970's style interiors on the oldest Airbus fleet flying?
No ovens in the galleys to cook meals?
The list goes on and on right after USAIR started making the majority of the customer experience service decisions they felt was adequate.

 

[robbedagain]

Just wanted to interject lil humor.

 

[Slopoke]

On a recent vacation trip from Milan to JFK, I made the acquaintance of a neuroscientist that frequently travels to Europe and Asia. He made a comment that he prefers to fly on non U.S carriers when he can, because of the difference in service. According to him, the ticket prices aren't that different. I'm just going by what he stated to me, so I don't know if in fact his statement is true.

 

[Art at ISP]

You mean like wicker basket snacks for customers upfront?
No IFE systems?
1970's style interiors on the oldest Airbus fleet flying?
No ovens in the galleys to cook meals?
The list goes on and on right after USAIR started making the majority of the customer experience service decisions they felt was adequate.

The common denominator here is D0ug Parker and his team. Before they came to US, the airline had a fairly good product, but D0ug and his beancounters started stepping over dollars to pick up pennies, and it was death by 1000 cuts.

Until they realize that employees and customers are assets, not liabilities, AA will be stuck in the bottom of the heap. Even I am shocked at the number of EP/CK members who are looking to bail...and no amount of once a year fliers can make up for that lost revenue.

 

[cltrat]

Art it’s flyers like you that are really the only hope of getting rid of this management team. We as employees are just helpless beat up victims. It’s hard to provide good service in this toxic atmosphere.

 

[jimntx]

My fear is that the cutbacks have been too severe and too extensive to repair the damage. Given some of the stories posted on here, I'm afraid that there may not be any way of attracting the "Art at ISP" customers back to the fold. If you are a frequent flyer who buys F/C tickets why would you risk that much money on the possibility that the service and amenities might be crap?

I avoid United Continental in the same way that Art books American only when he has to. Several years ago I had a flight from Hell experience in coach on a United 747 from Bangkok to SFO. That experience was followed up by an incident on United on a flight from DFW to San Jose, Costa Rica. I booked F/C using my frequent flyer miles from the Continental days that were about to expire. The F/C flight attendant came to me before take-off and asked (rather surly I might add) "Are you going to eat?" I asked what are my choices? Swear to god her answer was "Yes or No." When I got back home I wrote a letter of complaint to United Continental. I'm still waiting for a reply (almost 20 years later).

Every airline (except maybe Southwest) has one or more horror stories involving bitchy flight attendants, or rotten food, or crew members filling up the F/C overhead bins with their luggage. Unfortunately, such incidents seem to be occurring more frequently with little or no response from management.

 

[Art at ISP]

And now there's this:
https://viewfromthewing.com/2019/08...rlines-is-helping-employees-apologize-better/

D0uggie has admitted defeat apparently, and steadfastly refuses to make things better---so he wants the employees to learn how to apologize better.

Shaking my damned head at this one......I truly feel sorry for all of you who still work there.