How to impress a flight attendant

[bigjobs]

I look forward to the result.....

P.S. I hope your surname is Clooney.

Are you saying that won't impress ???

 

[oz_mark]

I look forward to the result.....

P.S. I hope your surname is Clooney.

Unless the FA's are named Daryl and Wayne

 

[mr_osborne]

I GIVE them to whomever brings my drink. I expect that they will share them with their colleagues which is why I usuall make the comment about not eating them all yourself.

I dunno if you had this add in australia, but your comment made me think of it.

 

[tuapekastar]

You lightweight.

Yeah, complete wuss here in those circumstances!

When i had it i had no idea what it was they just gave it to me and even prepared it as well.

I like about 14 to 16 day balut

A few weeks ago I had soup number 5 (bulls balls soup)

I may have to harden up and try the local delicacies!

 

[beardoc]

I GIVE them to whomever brings my drink. I expect that they will share them with their colleagues which is why I usuall make the comment about not eating them all yourself.

That's the tricky thing - for my flight on Tuesday I'm thinking about how to do this, as I'll be flying Economy to JNB and am going to be wondering how to get said Belle Fleur chocolates to Cabin Staff, because no-one is going to come and give me a drink!

 

[opusman]

I always thought being a FA was meant to be glamorous, but from the sound of it they must all live fairly miserable and depressingly boring lives if a few coughpy Lindt chocolates makes their day

 

[Paddy55]

Back to the original topic... Have bought the book and look forward to a good, if somewhat lightweight read.

Going slightly off topic myself, I order this book and a couple of others from Amazon on Tue night and received them on Thu afternoon in Sydney. Now that's service!

 

[beardoc]

I think everyone appreciates a little something extra. Over the thousands of people I have seen over the years, I've gotten the odd box of chocolates, a bottle of wine or two, and the sweetest thing I was ever given was a little elderly woman who I had seen in Emergency - she took the time after she went home to knit me a pair of woollen booties. They were way too small for my feet, so I couldn't use them, but just the fact that she thought enough of me to go home and knit me a pair of booties was one of the nicest things that she could have ever done. It was very sweet. And it really does make your day. 10 years later I still remember that lady, her condition, and the booties.

I don't see this as sycophantic, and I don't see it as an expectation of service (which comments above do suggest). I just had never thought to give a little gift to people on a plane before - bossreggie's experience shows that it's appreciated.

The one thing I'm not sure about is whether I'll do it on other flights on different airlines - I'm about to start a DONE5 which is going to include Royal Jordanian, Cathay, Iberian, JAL and S7 Airlines as well as QANTAS - is it acceptable to offer a gift on these airlines or is it seen differently with those?

 

[AVC]

Back to the original topic... Have bought the book and look forward to a good, if somewhat lightweight read.

Going slightly off topic myself, I order this book and a couple of others from Amazon on Tue night and received them on Thu afternoon in Sydney. Now that's service!

My Kobo died. And I'm NOT going back to paper. Might buy it and read it on the laptop.
The Kobo flies to LAX in a couple of days, then on to Canada for replacement (well, I hope)

 

[Shelf]

That's the tricky thing - for my flight on Tuesday I'm thinking about how to do this, as I'll be flying Economy to JNB and am going to be wondering how to get said Belle Fleur chocolates to Cabin Staff, because no-one is going to come and give me a drink!

When you board?

 

[wafliron]

Going slightly off topic myself, I order this book and a couple of others from Amazon on Tue night and received them on Thu afternoon in Sydney. Now that's service!

A little further OT, but next time you should try booko.com.au. Great service - you type in the name of a book, click search and it searches 30+ online bookstores (both local and OS, including Amazon) at once, giving you a list if results sorted by price (in AUD and including delivery). The Book Depository in the US or the UK is often cheapest, and they normally deliver to AU in a couple of days.

No connection to them, just a happy customer.

 

[JessicaTam]

I have just downloaded the book and read the first chapter. I don't think chocolates are quite enough to make up for what some FAs have to put up with. It's a little bit scary!

Back to the book...

 

[Paddy55]

A little further OT, but next time you should try booko.com.au. Great service - you type in the name of a book, click search and it searches 30+ online bookstores (both local and OS, including Amazon) at once, giving you a list if results sorted by price (in AUD and including delivery). The Book Depository in the US or the UK is often cheapest, and they normally deliver to AU in a couple of days.

No connection to them, just a happy customer.

Thanks for the tip wafliron!

 

[Katie]

That's the tricky thing - for my flight on Tuesday I'm thinking about how to do this, as I'll be flying Economy to JNB and am going to be wondering how to get said Belle Fleur chocolates to Cabin Staff, because no-one is going to come and give me a drink!

When I did this flying Y on CX last year, I either went to the gally before or after takeoff or gave them to an FA as they were walking past.

 

[wafliron]

Thanks for the tip wafliron!

No worries

 

[Major]

A little further OT, but next time you should try booko.com.au. Great service - you type in the name of a book, click search and it searches 30+ online bookstores (both local and OS, including Amazon) at once, giving you a list if results sorted by price (in AUD and including delivery). The Book Depository in the US or the UK is often cheapest, and they normally deliver to AU in a couple of days.

No connection to them, just a happy customer.

Also thanks for the tip. I buy between 6 and 10 books a year from Amazon. I will certainly give them a go.

 

[Flashback]

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.

Having said that...in general I consider tipping to be a disease, which simply allows some people to pay their workers less than they should. The lovely habit that some restaurants have of including the tip within the bill (in which case it's generally generous, and inversely proportional to the quality of the service) really gets up my nose.

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....

I can't remember the last time I ate in a restaurant / cafe in London and it didn't have the "service charge" automatically added. I often pay it, but then make a point of not visiting them again. On the very odd occasion that we've been to a place that does not auto add it, we will often tip (assuming the service was good) and do it at a higher rate than what the added service charge would have been.

Generally when staying in hotels for more than 3 nights, we will leave a tip for the housekeeping staff when leaving our room at the end of the stay.

That really annoys me too. I hate it when the bill says 15% service included or whatever the % is. It seemingly EVERYWHERE in the USA... and creeping into UK.

It actually encourages me not to tip.

I will tip for good service. I don't need to be asked to.

More than crept into the UK, now!

 

[seanpodge]

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.

Having said that...in general I consider tipping to be a disease, which simply allows some people to pay their workers less than they should. The lovely habit that some restaurants have of including the tip within the bill (in which case it's generally generous, and inversely proportional to the quality of the service) really gets up my nose.

Definitly agree. I find it quite concerning that the country that once led the world in creating the eight hour day and the living wage is now seemingly heading slowly down the path of the US, where several states have labour laws that explicitly permit employers to pay people (much) less if their jobs attract tips. I've been to the US twice and plan on going again as soon as money and time permit, but the tipping culture (along with adding sales tax at the register rather than including it in the price) do grate on me.

Perhaps due to the previous paragraph, it won't surprise that I wouldn't follow others' habits of giving gifts to cabin crew. In any case, I'd have thought that not acting like a w****r would have been nine tenths of the law in impressing any service staff, whether chocolates were gifted or not. Pleases, thank yous and generally being cooperative with people, particularly if they are having to deal with the fall out of a situation which they have roughly 0% control of or responsibility for should keep the service up to an acceptable standard. If truly exceptional service was provided, a more profuse appreciation could be offered at the end of the flight along with a letter informing the manager of the abilities of the particular employee.

 

[beardoc]

Just as an update, I can confirm that giving the crew chocolates really is very much appreciated. I think almost all the FAs came and chatted to me at some point - one wanted to make sure that they weren't laced with something, because apparently there was a case with Northwest Airlines where the chocolates given were laced with some sort of drug. But after that, many grateful comments were made for handing over the chocolates - and several are going to make the trek to Belle Fleur chocolates in Rozelle to pick up some more!

 

[Simo]

If I was giving any food product to a stranger I would make sure they where sealed.

If I was given something I would also expect it to be sealed.