Heard at a recent PPD course at TK. “Our customers want better PA’s. If we just up our NPS and do some more glad handing, it will get us a new UPA!”

Yes, that’s the crap they’re peddling. Hard to believe spontaneous laughter didn’t break out in the room.

 

Get the flight attendants to stop treating the passengers like crap. No amount of PAs are going to help the fact that passengers are an inconvenience to our FAs.

 

Sorry Grumpyguppydriver, but i totally disagree. You are totally missing the point. It's not about better PAs alone. It's about making PAs when you have a delay due to maintenance, wx, etc and doing so at regular intervals. Nothing ticks off customers more, when the CAP says nothing for long stretches of time. Even if there is no new info, you still let folks know, and they actually don't get overly ****ed. In fact, they are actually appreciative of it. Same goes for saying hello when they board. I at least try to say hello to the first/business/global and high mileage flyers since they are footing a large part of our bills. It actually does make a difference. Nothing more annoying as pilots like you that don't want to raise a finger to do the right thing. And don't be one of the few grumpy old farts that's complaining about needing a new contract too. That line is getting old too. Spontaneous laughter didn't break out, because you are one of the few disgruntled ones out there that needs to retire and not soon enough. Do you understand? Of course not, and will be too hardheaded to want to.

 

Sorry if I’m being dense, but are you saying you don’t think we need a new contract?

 

That was the impression I got.

I believe s/he does have a good point about PA’s during abnormal operations though. When things aren’t going as planned let the passengers know what’s up. I think most of our pilots do that already though.

 

They’ve got it backwards. If we had a new contract, then maybe I’d care about things like NPS.

 

Swing and a miss kiddo. Nothing grumpy about me. Guaranteed my pax and crew are always taken care of. You completely missed the point. If you believe that this company’s multi million dollar Labor Relations team gives a damn about any of that, then you understand ZERO about our business. We’ll get a contract if and when we have the stones to demand it and negotiate it accordingly. They’re NOT going by metrics such as “PA engagement” It’s tiresome to have to continue to try to get newbies to understand this. Perhaps actually learning from people who have been here a while may do you some good. Your enthusiasm and corporate cheerleading are sweet, however naive.

 

They should def. focus the customer interaction on the FA’s. It’s a footnote in our job description. It’s the meat and potatoes of theirs.

 

Of course we do. But, some people think they have to define us as *not* doing those things in order for their tired narrative to work. They’ve drank the kookaid big time. The reality is: A knowledge of our history and being skeptical is a good thing. The second that we collectively believe otherwise is a dark day for the profession. Luckily, I think most pilots are smart enough to sift out the BS.

 

Agreed…and the 2 of us up front have a lot of information the FAs don’t have. We should be the ones relating weather, long taxi lines, gate holds, and maintenance delays. I always try to give updates and tell the truth. I commuted for 6 years and always hated it when we were sitting somewhere for 20 minutes without a peep from the flight deck. It’s not hard.