Flying AA

[sam_gordon]

I don't remember the last time I flew an airline other than Delta. This past weekend, I flew AA for work. A couple things I noticed...

1) No personal items were allowed in the seat back pocket during take off & landing. A guy across the aisle had put a water bottle in the pocket and the FA made him take it out. Never had an announcement (which AA had) or anyone indicate such. I thought I had misunderstood the announcement until the guy across the aisle had to hold his water bottle.
2) On Delta, no matter how short the flight (and I'm talking I regularly take some <1 hour), they'll serve drinks and some kind of snack (cookies, peanuts, pretzels). On the two flights on AA (one about an hour, one 2 1/2+ hours), there was drink service only. They said snacks were available for purchase.

Are both of these normal for AA? Other airlines?

 

[Tara]

I've had the "no personal items" thing happening other flights (and I haven't flown AA in 10 years). It seems more a function of over zealous flight crews.

Snacks- that sounds a lot like US Airways when they went into severe cost-cutting mode. Remember that AA is in bankruptcy and it needs to very carefully balance keeping people satisfied and not spending too much.

 

[NancyIL]

American hasn't served complimentary snacks in several years. However, I wasn't aware of the nothing in the seatback pocket during take-off and landing rule.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

UA often only serves drinks on short flights; so do some other airlines. As for the nothing in the seat back pocket, sounds like an over zealous FA.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I don't remember the last time I flew an airline other than Delta. This past weekend, I flew AA for work. A couple things I noticed...

1) No personal items were allowed in the seat back pocket during take off & landing. A guy across the aisle had put a water bottle in the pocket and the FA made him take it out. Never had an announcement (which AA had) or anyone indicate such. I thought I had misunderstood the announcement until the guy across the aisle had to hold his water bottle.
2) On Delta, no matter how short the flight (and I'm talking I regularly take some <1 hour), they'll serve drinks and some kind of snack (cookies, peanuts, pretzels). On the two flights on AA (one about an hour, one 2 1/2+ hours), there was drink service only. They said snacks were available for purchase.

Are both of these normal for AA? Other airlines?

1. FA on a power trip. Had one on Delta a few months ago making the same stupid announcement. He "claimed" he had just been to training and it was the FAA regulation. When we got to 10,000 feet the man across the aisle from me logged on, opened the FAA regs on his laptop and told the FA to READ LOL! FA Shut up about that from then on!

2. Normal for AA.

 

[Tara]

2) On Delta, no matter how short the flight (and I'm talking I regularly take some <1 hour), they'll serve drinks and some kind of snack (cookies, peanuts, pretzels). On the two flights on AA (one about an hour, one 2 1/2+ hours), there was drink service only. They said snacks were available for purchase.

I forgot to add. About 2x a year I fly to Alabama and end up on an Atlanta to Huntsville flight. The flight is ridiculously short - about 22 minutes in air. Delta does not offer routine beverage service on this flight (though if you ask for something they'll serve you).

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

1. FA on a power trip. Had one on Delta a few months ago making the same stupid announcement. He "claimed" he had just been to training and it was the FAA regulation. When we got to 10,000 feet the man across the aisle from me logged on, opened the FAA regs on his laptop and told the FA to READ LOL! FA Shut up about that from then on!

He had the FAA regulations saved on his laptop? Guess it came in handy!

 

[NancyIL]

He had the FAA regulations saved on his laptop? Guess it came in handy!

Or he had WiFi on the plane.

 

[peemagg]

There has been other complaints that AA has had against them this week. One a FA didn't like a persons political beliefs and treated them like crap! The other was that a 16 year old boy with Downs "looked" like a security risk, so him and his family were not allowed to fly. The boy was doing nothing wrong, just "looked" like he might cause trouble.

I think that AA should be avoided. I know that I will!

 

[sam_gordon]

There has been other complaints that AA has had against them this week. One a FA didn't like a persons political beliefs and treated them like crap! The other was that a 16 year old boy with Downs "looked" like a security risk, so him and his family were not allowed to fly. The boy was doing nothing wrong, just "looked" like he might cause trouble.

Unless something else has been released, the boy's parents were claiming he was doing nothing wrong. There's been nothing corroborating that (or AA's claim that he was "rowdy").

ETA: How did a FA know someone's political beliefs anyway?

 

[Tara]

There has been other complaints that AA has had against them this week. One a FA didn't like a persons political beliefs and treated them like crap! The other was that a 16 year old boy with Downs "looked" like a security risk, so him and his family were not allowed to fly. The boy was doing nothing wrong, just "looked" like he might cause trouble.

I think that AA should be avoided. I know that I will!

Give me a break. If we're going to avoid all airlines that have reports like this, then I suggest we all start traveling Amtrak because there won't be an acceptable airline left. These complaints aren't any different than those I hear about other airlines - Southwest recently was in the news for a flight attendant admonishing a woman for showing "too much cleavage." The AA complaint I believe you are referring to is about a woman wearing a pro-choice shirt that featured the F word...it was the expletive, not the political statement that was the issue. (Disney wouldn't have allowed this guest in the park wearing this shirt.) Delta just recently denied boarding to a grad student wearing a shirt that mocked the TSA. Spirit kicked a guy off for wearing saggy pants.

Airlines are like any other business...they hire a lot of people who end up having the ability to exert power or control over other people. Most handle those positions appropriately, some don't. Don't kid yourself - they are ALL the same in this regard.

 

[sam_gordon]

Give me a break. If we're going to avoid all airlines that have reports like this, then I suggest we all start traveling Amtrak because there won't be an acceptable airline left. These complaints aren't any different than those I hear about other airlines - Southwest recently was in the news for a flight attendant admonishing a woman for showing "too much cleavage." The AA complaint I believe you are referring to is about a woman wearing a pro-choice shirt that featured the F word...it was the expletive, not the political statement that was the issue. (Disney wouldn't have allowed this guest in the park wearing this shirt.) Delta just recently denied boarding to a grad student wearing a shirt that mocked the TSA. Spirit kicked a guy off for wearing saggy pants.

Airlines are like any other business...they hire a lot of people who end up having the ability to exert power or control over other people. Most handle those positions appropriately, some don't. Don't kid yourself - they are ALL the same in this regard.

I had to do some research, but it might be the PP is talking about this...
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Radio-host-Beck-renews-attack-on-American-Airlines-3842058.php. Apparently a FA was "rude" to Glen Beck, but, according to the article, no other passengers, INCLUDING BECK'S WIFE, noticed any rudeness.

 

[TDC Nala]

I flew American last weekend. Had the ipad in the seat back pocket on all four planes. Nobody said anything. Maybe they didn't see it. Flights were all on time. Nobody was rude and nobody said anything about politics. Was happy with the flights. No snacks, but I didn't expect any snacks. yes, there are other airlines that have snacks only for purchase.

When US Airways went into cost cutting mode passengers even had to pay for drinks, except water. I think they still do no snacks on short flights, unless you want to buy something.

 

[Tara]

I had to do some research, but it might be the PP is talking about this...
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Radio-host-Beck-renews-attack-on-American-Airlines-3842058.php. Apparently a FA was "rude" to Glen Beck, but, according to the article, no other passengers, INCLUDING BECK'S WIFE, noticed any rudeness.

Yeah, I hadn't heard that one. I agree that could be what the PP was talking about. It sounds like a ratings ploy to me, and I stand by my belief that they're all the same - you'll encounter rude service everywhere, and moreover, we often only have one side of the story. Just domestic US airlines service hundreds of thousands of passengers every day. I'm sure some of them end up being treated rudely. Is that ok? Of course not. But if you start boycotting all companies with reports of rude or poor service, you might as well become a hermit.

 

[sam_gordon]

Yeah, I hadn't heard that one. I agree that could be what the PP was talking about. It sounds like a ratings ploy to me, and I stand by my belief that they're all the same - you'll encounter rude service everywhere, and moreover, we often only have one side of the story. Just domestic US airlines service hundreds of thousands of passengers every day. I'm sure some of them end up being treated rudely. Is that ok? Of course not. But if you start boycotting all companies with reports of rude or poor service, you might as well become a hermit.

Oh, I agree 100%. Like I said, I had to research to find out what they were talking about (I had heard about the kid).

One FA on my AA short flight was very... militaristic? I'm not sure that's even the word I'm looking for honestly. Demanding isn't quite right either. AA successfully got me from point to point.

My only complaint was on the long flight, the FA never asked me if I wanted a drink. I was watching a movie on my laptop, but she never asked, just moved on. But that was the only bad point, and not worth bringing up to them.

That being said, I'll stick with Delta.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

He had the FAA regulations saved on his laptop? Guess it came in handy!

No but he can websurf

Or he had WiFi on the plane.

yep, all the Delta jets have Wifi. It's not cheap but it provide entertainment. (Of course that assume it works....)

And I have never seen a case with a kid out of control where the parents didn't claim "my child is a perfect angel" I think it was AirTran where they had to throw the family off because "the perfect angel was running up and down the asile during the taxi to the runway" (A BIG NO NO!) So complaints by parents about the airline being mean I ignore.

In airline talk "rude and mean" generally mean "they wouldn't let me do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted to regardless of the rules, don't they know WHO I am"

 

[jsilvers]

The "official" FAA statement on the issue: http://www.faa.gov/other_visit/avia...afety/info/all_infos/media/2009/InFO09018.pdf.

 

[sam_gordon]

The "official" FAA statement on the issue: http://www.faa.gov/other_visit/avia...afety/info/all_infos/media/2009/InFO09018.pdf.

So AA wasn't totally wrong saying "don't put anything in the seat back pocket". And really, AA can do whatever they want regarding the pocket, as long as it complies with FAA regs. If they say "no water bottles", then no water bottles. It just seemed strange to me.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

No but he can websurf.



yep, all the Delta jets have wifi.

OP was on AA, not Delta, although AA has wifi as well. It didn't occur to me that someone would pay to use wifi just to argue with an FA. It really doesn't matter what the official FAA regulation is, the FAs can always tighten the rules at their discretion. It just isn't worth arguing about little things like this with them.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

OP was on AA, not Delta, although AA has wifi as well. It didn't occur to me that someone would pay to use wifi just to argue with an FA. It really doesn't matter what the official FAA regulation is, the FAs can always tighten the rules at their discretion. It just isn't worth arguing about little things like this with them.

Lots of us frequent flyers have monthly subscriptions. So there may not have been a charge.

And some of us are tired of the "lets make up new rules because we are bored game" The FAs don't really get to "tighten the rules at thier discretion" on most airlines without a good reason and "I want to abuse my power" is generally not a good reason And trying to claim it's an FAA regulation is an old FA trick. Just a few weeks ago I read a story where the FA claimed that the airline couldn't hold a plane for connecting passengers due to FAA regulations which require the plane to leave on time! OMG that was the funniest one yet. REALLY? In that case most US carriers should be bankrupt just from the fines for "leaving late" this FA claimed they would incur! LOL!

I wouldn't have bothered to look up the regs but if the FA had treated me the way he did the man across the aisle I would have sent Delta an email letting them now what happened. Of course he was kind of a jerk the entire flight.