As an aside, speaking of Shuttle America...while I dig their planes, i constantly worry about what outsourcing does to the Delta brand.

Yes, we often times do ourselves no favors with cabin service, however, a recent shuttle america flight I was on makes me worry.

I was going from MDW to LGA on a 175. It was hands down the worst cabin service I have seen up front. Its nice to be well treated up front when we non-rev, but these observations are not about how I felt, or felt I should be treated. If this is 'the year of the customer' or whatever the hell it is, we should be really concerned about how our premium pax are being treated by our DCI.

I was in first, and half of the passengers had to ask the f/a working f/c to hang up their coats. I had a black wool overcoat...huge...and just kept it on my lap to see if she ever asked to hang it up. Door closed, nope. Pushback, nope. Seatbelt security walkthrough, nope (even though it was covering my seatbelt). So I said screw it, and stuffed it next to my window.

Then as we were getting de-iced, she walked up to every f/c pax and simply said, "what do you want to drink"..not,"i'll be serving drinks after we are airborne what may i get you" and to every pax never said thank you.

So airborne she comes out with food. So I think to myself, "huh, didn't even hear her say there was food on the flight."

So she starts throwing trays at people. I mean walking out, pulling out people's tray tables for them and plopping trays down. Not saying a word.
Oh, and by the way, turns out there were two meals boarded. Didn't ask a single person what they would prefer.

Then another ten minutes go by and the drinks start to come out. That finished, she disappears for another 25 to help with the service in the back....for 40 people?!?!

Paying pax had trays sitting in front of them trying to get back to their work for that entire time. There is more, but you get the idea.

I personally expect very little when I non-rev. But I do expect someone carrying my co's name on their flight to treat OUR pax with a bit of courtesy and actually demonstrate a modicum of service etiquette.
This f/a's attitude, tone and demeanor were all completely inappropriate of someone at McDonald's let alone of someone working in first.

On the flip side, the trip up to MDW from ATL was fantastic and the a-line was really great.

However, if the DCI's aren't training on how to do the service in the front, they damn well need to be. Every 900 and 170/175 has first in it. Yet another reason to reign scope in tighter if we can.