maxjet

https://youtu.be/ilQHP8PgHWs

Well there is always this opinion from a former Air Tran CA

FlapsOverspeed

SWA FA's are flawless for the most part. Wack need to get back to hording AR ammo and burying gold next to his doublewide (wasn't talking about his wife) .

WHACKMASTER

Whack has a very fulfilling life outside of APC so you’ll have to forgive Whack for not responding in a timely manner.

Our FAs do give a lot as far as customer service (although I cringe when I hear some of them somewhat rudely pressuring PAX to get in their seats during the boarding process).

The crux of my complaint is how babied they expect to and have gotten used to being when it comes to turbulence in particular.

I once witnessed a cptn call them approximately eight times on a SoCal to NorCal leg to tell them to sit down, expect light bumps, expect smooth, etc. It was utterly ridiculous and overdone considering how relatively smooth the whole flight was. Not something I’ve seen in 20 years of 121 flying on my own metal and others’.

The same can be said for how hypersensitive so many of them are to even the slightest turbulence. Where and how has this culture formed?!

It’s pretty bad when the seat belt sign is off because the front end crew thinks is safe enough for pax to be up but they get on the PA and tell the pax that they’re sitting down because it’s not safe/smooth enough for them to serve. I’ve witnessed that happening several times.

Or how about the constant undertone during briefings for short flights where they’re just praying that you tell them it’s going to be too rough to serve? Are you cptns out there going to deny that, too?

My understanding is that the FAs at SWA used to serve in rather choppy air, but except for the old-school DAL girls, it’s swung in the completely opposite direction. Can anyone explain this?

While some of you would like to bash me for my observations, consider that I’ve had this exact cockpit conversation with both Cptns & FOs and I’m certainly not the only one who see’s this.

e6bpilot

Yes, you are completely right about that. It has gotten out of hand.
I agree it’s a culture thing. It kinda galls me when they call and tell me the seatbelt sign should be on because it’s more bumpy back there.
Um....ok?

They do an amazing job under trying circumstances, but the turbulence thing is weird. I blame the lawyers and inflight management for becoming so risk averse. Injuries are going to happen, unfortunately. I think we do our best to mitigate them, but when you feel a bump and then hear ding ding and they are asking what to do, I kinda want to choke someone out. We have enough going on without telling you how to do your job.
If it is too bumpy to serve, sit. Otherwise, don’t. I will tell you if I hear or see anything that indicates more than light chop. However, if you are sitting and the seatbelt sign goes off, you may feel a bit silly.

flysocal77

I don’t think it’s smart to post anything negative about other work groups on a forum. I was told on probation that a good way to get fired is by saying or doing the wrong thing to a sensitive flight attendant, especially a minority. I agree that some caps will want ride reports on every frequency. Super easy guy to fly with but no thanks because the constant seat belt issue makes for a long day. My favorite is multiple calls from FAs to change temp when they haven’t even discussed this amongst themselves. One likes it hot, one likes it cold and sometimes you don’t know who’s calling. Yesterday I was told by the C that when the airplane is full I need to run full cold all the time and that’s how it’s done on a 737. Yeah sure, like nobody has told me to throw a log on the fire.

dawgdriver

I'd heard this same complaint coming from G4 guys in the crash pad, so I'm getting it second hand. Essentially that the entitled 'coddle culture' is getting out of control and FAs have slowly become increasingly militant and confrontational with pilots over turbulence and cabin temps. Worse at some bases than others. The latest I heard was a first hand account involving a new hire FA (still on probation) openly confronting a captain for not sitting them down sooner. Reportedly this was in occasional lite turbulence. If true, it speaks volumes as to the evolving G4 culture and what is being taught. Captains have been de-fanged for decades by lacking support from senior ops leadership who cow-tow to In-flight and ground ops leadership. If there's a disagreement, the captain is instructed to write an apology letter to make it go away.

Again, second hand and as a commuter, I have nothing but appreciation for SW as they're always very accommodating, but I'll admit I've seen a dramatic shift in the vibe over the last few years, along with a much wider diversity of FAs being hired.

Evidence that it's no longer 'Hugging Herb's' airline is the letter reportedly sent to FAs that hugging is no longer allowed. Growth, liability/risk averse corporate culture, merged companies' labor groups, tougher schedules, obnoxious and confrontational passengers, shorter overnights, different hotels, etc., make for tired and cranky crews. They do put up with a lot. Sad, but makes sense. It's happening everywhere.

WHACKMASTER

Bing*******go! Exactly. See, that’s exactly what I’m referring to. Ridiculous.

Pil0t

Have any of you considered the fact that FAs are perhaps more expendable than us and if the captain says it’s fine to walk around yet they still decide not to do service, because they have been injured before trying to do so when their pilots didn’t think it was too rough as they sat securely in their seats up front, they may just get written up or even fired for neglecting their job duties? FAs may be reprimanded for skipping out on service or remaining in their jumpseats if we do not specifically ask them to remain seated. Short flights with even a small amount of turbulence make serving the entire cabin drinks difficult, and even dangerous, due to pressure on time and increasing demands of passengers. Believe it or not, I’ve discovered this by getting to know the crew members I work with and not just labeling them as high maintenance.

A little communication and empathy between crew members can clear up a lot of misunderstandings.

shoelu

There was a time when a certain Dallas based airline experienced a significant number more FA injuries than the industry average. A lot of it was due to shorter stage lengths and less time to serve creating pressure to serve in less than ideal situations. An effort was made to emphasize safety over serving no matter what. That effort targeted both pilots and FA's to come together and make informed decisions about when was it safe to undertake passenger service.

WHACKMASTER

Thanks for the explanation.