How to impress a flight attendant

[jb747]

How not to impress...don't go to the galley and try to chat to them, especially after a couple of drinks. They generally have work to do, and you almost certainly aren't as witty as you think.

 

[harvyk]

Interesting that it's (sort of) the done thing to tip waiters, but not other staff. In all cases, they're just doing their job....and I've never seen a waiter do more because I chose a more expensive meal, and yet it seems the done thing to tip a percentage. I'm sure that cleaning staff are not well paid, and I suspect they really see the worst of people, and yet the idea of tipping them probably doesn't cross most people's minds.

I couldn't agree more. Tipping should be the exception not the rule...

Plenty of people give me tips about how to fly the jet (generally about the landing...). I always ask how the last landing they did was....

Does microsoft flight sim count?

 

[Moody]

So let's see if we can get some consensus here ....

1. Whilst giving a box of chocolates to the flight crew is a nice touch if done genuinely, if we all start doing it the flight crew won't be able to waddle down the aisle and it will also lose that specialness. So let's leave it to bossreggie to do on behalf of us all. Sorted.


2. Whilst it's nice to have status this doesn't mean that you are an object of worship for the flight crew, who should deliver you special treats beyond your class of travel and generally be at your beck and call. In fact if you are a frequent flyer you should be less of a burden than the average pax, which will leave them more time to deal with first-time travellers, children, drunks, etc.


3. Chatting up flight crew is about as classy as chatting up barmaids. The success rate is probably similar as well, so don't waste their valuable time to satisfy your ego. Particularly when they should be getting me another G&T!


4. If in doubt about how to behave then imagine if they were your Mother-in-Law. Unless of course that makes you want to throttle them....

 

[awilcockson]

Particularly when they should be getting me another G&T!

I laughed

 

[ozbeachbabe]

3. Chatting up flight crew is about as classy as chatting up barmaids. The success rate is probably similar as well, so don't waste their valuable time to satisfy your ego. Particularly when they should be getting me another G&T!

I laughed

Note to Cabin Crew: when serving awilcockson a Martini he prefers to have alcohol in it ie not one of those 'enhanced' flounge ones that I think are called mocktails.

 

[eosphoros]

Just bought the book on my kindle. Will give it a spin next time I'm flying hehe along with a box of chocolates for the crew.

What's with all the Qantas bashing in the comments section? I have never received bad service from Qantas. Okay service, yes. Good service, definitely. But never bad.

 

[bossreggie]

I will continue to give the box of chocolates..... But anyone who knows me will also be aware I am totally respectful and polite when interacting with the cabin crew. I have even told one obnoxious pax In F, to shut the f@!k up as he was being very rude to the FA! I was thanked by her and the CSM later in the flight.

I agree with Moody with regard to not EXPECTING different service than you have paid for. I also think it is nice when the cabin crew actually do something for status pax trvellling in Y.

I personally have no problem if someone in F has a family member or friend come visit during the flight. (except noisy people)

I think the A380 allows pax to meet in the bar area if OK'd by the CSM. That's probably a better option as it will be able to be handled with more discretion.

 

[Robert K]

We need to come up with a better present for the FAs.

If we all gave FAs a box of chocolates they're gonna get real fat real soon!

 

[Daggs01]

Well every one on the cabin crew had their own luggage, maybe an AFF luggage tag?

A really nice one that could be given as a reward for exceptional service and as recognition they made a bus ride just that bit better.

Thoughts?

More than happy to work on it for AFF.

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[JohnM]

I think the A380 allows pax to meet in the bar area if OK'd by the CSM. That's probably a better option as it will be able to be handled with more discretion.

I can confirm that. Last year I was in F SYD-LAX and PartnerJohnM and her daughter were in whY (carefully placed in 80A&B by me ). After the busy period, the CSM invited them to join me in the lounge (with F champagne again) - but taking them to the lounge the long way round through the upper deck.

They were also given J sleep suits and amenity packs and a glass each of the Taittinger pre-departure. I don't think you can hope for much more than that - thanks again, great crew .

 

[Paddy55]

I can confirm that. Last year I was in F SYD-LAX and PartnerJohnM and her daughter were in whY (carefully placed in 80A&B by me ). After the busy period, the CSM invited them to join me in the lounge (with F champagne again) - but taking them to the lounge the long way round through the upper deck.

They were also given J sleep suits and amenity packs and a glass each of the Taittinger pre-departure. I don't think you can hope for much more than that - thanks again, great crew .

My experience is that QF flight attendants use more commonsense than you'll find on some other airlines... and its part of why I always feel 'at home' when boarding, say, QF108 in JFK.

 

[11sjw]

I can confirm that. Last year I was in F SYD-LAX and PartnerJohnM and her daughter were in whY...

How'd you get away with that???

 

[AVC]

4. If in doubt about how to behave then imagine if they were your Mother-in-Law. ....

I thought you couldn't open the doors in flight due to the pressure difference?

Then again, for the MIL, I'm sure I could summon up the strength of ten men!

 

[Paddy55]

4. If in doubt about how to behave then imagine if they were your Mother-in-Law. Unless of course that makes you want to throttle them....

The horror, the horror :shock:
Just about turns me off flying!

 

[JohnM]

How'd you get away with that???

I was waiting for that question .

I was on the annual DONEx for 7 weeks and got an upgrade to F. PartnerJohnM was only going for the first three weeks in the US, then home. But I did my best for her getting 80A .

 

[11sjw]

I was waiting for that question .

I was on the annual DONEx for 7 weeks and got an upgrade to F. PartnerJohnM was only going for the first three weeks in the US, then home. But I did my best for her getting 80A .

Oh my, you got away with accepting the upgrade and leaving your partner with child back in Y. You either 1. Have a pair the size of bowling balls made of titanium or 2. are involved with an angel. Good luck to you either way ...

 

[JohnM]

Oh my, you got away with accepting the upgrade and leaving your partner with child back in Y. You either 1. Have a pair the size of bowling balls made of titanium or 2. are involved with an angel. Good luck to you either way ...

It gets better, folks .

The 'child' is 27. She was on a LONE4 that matched my DONE4, so mother, daughter and I went for three weeks to the US. Then, as I like to say to our friends, the mother was sent home for bad behaviour while the daughter and I carried on - how kinky is that :shock::mrgreen:? Don't they say mother + daughter is every man's dream ?

But, I confess, after sending mother home from JFK on the 108 (and shouting her an exit row seat to SYD and on to PER), daughter and I did meet up with PartnerJohnM's 24 y.o. son in London the next day and the three of us continued on the rest of the RTW trip together.

In reality, mother had to return to work and the kids were on vacation. I, on the other hand, am not tied down to fixed work. And we wouldn't pay point-to-point J fares.

I also reveal that PartnerJohnM and I are LATs. If you don't know what that means, see Bernard Salt's column in today's Weekend Australian:

Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian

I recommend this way of living .

 

[medhead]

You might have to explain LAT, as that story requires a subscription to the Oz.

 

[JohnM]

You might have to explain LAT, as that story requires a subscription to the Oz.

I could see it by Googling LAT Bernard Salt and I don't have a subscription. Anyway, here's the text:

ONE of the most common household types in Australia is Mum, Dad and the kids otherwise known as the traditional nuclear family. Here is a life-form that has come to typify Australian suburbia. In less enlightened times such families were based around dad working and mum looking after the children.
Today this model has altered: both mum and dad work and both, notionally at least, share the responsibility of child-rearing.
There are variations to this model including one-parent families and gay-couple families. In some families it's mum who works and it's dad who looks after the kids. And while all this morphing of the family into a variety of options is all very interesting, I think the most important variant is the LAT or Living Apart Together model.
Forget gay marriage. That's old hat.
The newest social trend is for couples to live together apart, which necessitates separate households.
Fly-in, fly-out mining has recently defined the trend but what I am talking about is extreme LAT behaviour.
I was struck some years ago by a conversation I had with a professional woman in her late 30s who was in a happily committed relationship but who lived separately from her partner.
Now, of course, we all understand that there are times in a couple's relationship where work takes one person away for a period of time. Indeed living separately might also occur for a time after hooking up (as generation Y says) because it takes a few weeks, OK months, to dismantle at least one household to fuse a single happily conjugal place of residence.
But the arrangement this woman spoke of was very different. She had met her partner later in life; she in her late 30s he in his mid 40s. They both had had unsuccessful committed relationships previously. They were both career people. They both worked in the CBD. They both had established apartments and had come to enjoy their busy modern lives and lifestyles.
You can see where I am going with this. The upshot is that they are together as a couple. It's just that they both like their independence and therefore retain separate households.
I might add that there were no children involved in or planned for this relationship.
Now I do get this. Why would a successful career woman give up her lifestyle to merge her lot with someone else? She had worked out that the best arrangement was for both to retain separate lives and apartments but within walking distance of each other.
Now, I know what you're thinking as indeed this is exactly what I was thinking as she was outlining her arrangement.
Apparently they have sleepovers at their various apartments and - this is the thing that surprised me - there is no schedule. Clearly this arrangement is not for someone like me. I like certainty. I'd need to know that on Wednesday it's your place and on Thursday it's my place. I'd have a roster on the fridge door at both apartments!
That way both partners know where they stand. But the whole arrangement goes beyond sleepovers. Do they do a bit of a whip-around to clean up before their committed partner arrives? Isn't that contrary to the charter of a committed relationship?
And with more career couples re-partnering later in life I can see a market for this: if you are a 45-year-old with some relationship history you might be a tad cautious about tossing in your lot with an unproven but I am sure delightful lover. It's a way of hedging your bets. But of course you can't say to your committed lover "look, darling, I want to hedge against the possibility that you and I might not work out so I've decided to keep my household separate."
No, of course it's not that I am not committed; in fact, what I am proposing is the latest fashionable kind of relationship: we will be Living Apart Together.
Somehow I think we'll be seeing a whole lot more LAT relationships in the post-45 and especially the post-55 market over the coming decade.

 

[Daggs01]

That's an interesting read. I reckon what ever makes you happy and keeps you happy is the definite way to go.

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