Any FA who's spent time in F or J likely won't be impressed by me and my fancy green Kenneth Cole carry-on bag with the misspellings (they forgot to put "Kenneth" on there and spelled "Cole" with an extra "s"... gotta watch these discount sales, and worst of all, other bogans on the flight tend to have the very same bag with the very same misspellings ;-)
That said, I've made an impression on a few of them.
Here are some types of things that I do:
1. I show them that I like their airline (ie, that there's probably a reason beyond cost or miles/points that I'm on it)
2. I talk with them and make them laugh, to make their day better.
3. I verify their name with them on the way out the door and thank them for their good service, then follow up with a note to customer service.
How does one show an FA that you "like their airline"? One stupid-simple thing that has gotten a reaction probably 8-10 times on two different airlines: wear a t-shirt related to a special event in which that airline was involved. If flying on Virgin Australia, odds are better than 50/50 that I will be wearing my "V1P very first passenger" t-shirt from the inaugural VA 1 flight in 2009, for at least a couple hours of the flight. If flying on Hawaiian anywhere near the December holidays, I'll be found in that year's HA Christmas t-shirt -- usually worn by staff performing Christmas Carols, but also available to the public on a web site, if you know where to look.
You'd be simply astonished how much luggage can be checked in for no extra fees when the check-in staff are enjoying talking with you about your shirt (my record: 7 pieces -- S E V E N, when my Gold status would usually only get me 3), and at how staff will stress over satisfying food allergies to the point of absconding with foods from other (read: higher) classes of service to bring to you for your hopeful approval.
How do you make a flight attendant laugh? One of my lame things to do is that I often travel with a travel mascot in the form of an old toy. This old toy is like my version of the garden gnome, complete with facebook page showing it in unlikely locations around the globe. The toy also has a bit of a personality, because it can make (quiet) noise, and because if I'm not looking, it can tend to get into trouble (I once found it looking out from the inside of a glass doored beer cooler). It's been juggled by gate agents, bowled down the centre aisle of a 737, etc. So I sometimes play the nutty middle aged woman with her own unique version of a non-living pocket dog to dote on, as a creative exercise to see if I can come up with a new story for the toy's facebook page. I'm sure the FA I explained this to, one day when I was sitting in Row 1, thought I was borderline insane. However, the mere fact that I was willing to have some fun somewhat at my own expense got him into that frame of mind, too. As we touched down and began to taxi off the runway, he came on to the PA with, "Ladies and gentlemen and (name of my toy), welcome to Brisbane International Airport." My jaw hit the floor and I started to laugh, now impatient to get into the terminal so that I could post this to the toy's facebook page. His fellow FA's (also knowing the name of my toy, so they knew what he had referred to) laughed as well.
That was about a year ago. I flew the same route a couple weeks ago, this time back in whY, and thought one of the FA's might have looked familiar -- as the guy who made the PA announcement. Toward the end of the flight, he came up to me and asked, "Excuse me Ms. Heleno, have you travelled with us before?". I looked at him, smiled a guilty smile and noted, "YOU welcomed (toy name) to Brisbane, didn't you?". He exclaimed, "I THOUGHT that was you! I kind of thought I recognized you before, but I wasn't sure with your hat on, and then when I heard you speak, I knew, THAT'S HER! I knew I had to ask you before you left the plane". And we both laughed again, and he asked where it was this time (whirlwind trip, didn't bring it), etc.
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