Flight crew too busy

[AIRwin]

Might be worth a bit of a straw poll from the forum:

How often do you use the call button?

In my case I have made around 200 international flights and can only recall using it once. So 1 out of 200 flights.

That was for a broken seat in J on Finnair which would not return to upright.

I used the call bell in the lavatory on EK last year when the door latch came apart and I couldn't slide to unlock it

 

[p--and--t]

If the expectation doesn't meet reality then there will be disappointment.

Unfortunately the spin doctors create an expectation that is not a reality. A view that creates a sense of entitlement.

The staff of an airline are not perfect. They have bad days, often not paid well, made to work harder than ever, and treated miserably by some self entitled travellers. They are less than perfect interacting with less than perfect humans. They can try to create an air of servitude in line with their training, but stress will reveal cracks in the facades of unnatural play acting.

I have had terrible experiences on so called 5* airlines EY. UA, BA, LH and VA. Unsatisfactory on MH, LA and others. Mediocre on QR and QF. I have also had great service on the same airlines.

 

[p--and--t]

Might be worth a bit of a straw poll from the forum:

How often do you use the call button?

In my case I have made around 200 international flights and can only recall using it once. So 1 out of 200 flights.

That was for a broken seat in J on Finnair which would not return to upright.

After more than 50 yrs of flying and a few thousand flights the memory is vague but maybe used the call button 2-3 times.

 

[RooFlyer]

How often do you use the call button?

In my case I have made around 200 international flights and can only recall using it once. So 1 out of 200 flights.

That was for a broken seat in J on Finnair which would not return to upright.

My goodness, just for broken/malfunctioning equipment, it would be well over a dozen times alone (the introduction of Wi-Fi has disproportionately upped that number). But that’s over about 1,400 flights and in the international premium cabin portion of them.

And there is meals forgotten, meals forgotten to be taken away, and related.

For stuff like ‘could I have another glass of wine please?’ it would be a quite a few over all those flights.

But oh, do we discriminate between using the call button and flagging down an FA when they come psst to make a request?

 

[jb747]

I guess this is a minor point, but you’re talking about the cabin crew. The flight crew will never respond to your calls, no matter how plaintive.

 

[Rich]

I do not understand the pride some take in not pressing the call button. Is it because what they are really trying tell you is that they always fly F or J?
The Singapore Airlines flight attendant story doesn't surprise me, but for other airlines, as long as few others press the call button it should continue to work well for me. Not that I use it often, but it seems more polite to press the call button than to wander up to ask for a drink. At least the attendant can attend to me when it is convenient. I wouldn't do that at a restuarant, unless the service was really bad or synonymously I was expected to use a QR code, so I don't do it on a plane. The exception is long haul when I want to stretch my legs or visit the self service food station, but typically I would only be grabbing some water.

 

[Rich]

Actually in the 2 flights we had with IB I have never had a positive experience with one of the crew.

Continuing from my previous post, one other exception. My only IB experience was 20 years ago, Madrid to Lima in economy. After a small meal, 8 or 10 hours later people are getting hungry and thirsty but the staff stayed in the galley and ignored all call button requests without fail. There was no self service food station either. Eventually we went up, they gave us sandwiches and water and one attendant said, "Why do people keep coming up here?" It should have been pretty obvious!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I do not understand the pride some take in not pressing the call button. Is it because what they are really trying tell you is that they always fly F or J?

Not really the use of the call bell is often more common in F as the crew want to maintain a quiet and peaceful cabin, so they don’t often walk through. On CX thr service on F is pretty much only ‘on request’.

Business class on the other hand the crew presence is more frequent, and often if they’re looking after someone else you can flag them down on the way to of from the galley.

Economy… some airlines like Qantas do frequent water and snack runs, but others don’t. And if you’re stuck in a window seat with sleeping neighbours, you’ll have little choice but to use the bell. Otherwise you wait and flag someone down as they’re on their way to or from another passenger.