One Mile at a Time asks why American Airlines flight attendants can’t consistently say ‘hello’ greeting passengers when they board?
It doesn’t really matter where in the world you travel, it’s pretty standard for the flight attendant at the entry door of an aircraft to proactively greet passengers as they board a plane. Like, that’s true on Delta, EasyJet, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, etc. It’s just the industry standard.
Yet I increasingly find that when I fly American, the flight attendant doesn’t even look up during boarding to acknowledge passengers. I understand flight attendants are sometimes busy during boarding, and I’m understanding if the catering truck is pulled up to the forward right door, or something. But even when nothing special is going on, I find I’m having the same experience way more often than I should.
Ben Schlappig identifies the problem, but doesn’t offer an explanation of how they got there, or how to fix it. I concede it is a tough problem to address at this point. Worse is this reaction – that it doesn’t matter at all.
This is just a great example of how silly most online commentary on the airlines is.
The airline gets you from point A to point B, safely. It really doesn't matter if the flight attendants pretend to like you. https://t.co/D3p6tWVIiV
— Dilan Esper (@dilanesper) May 10, 2026
“Pretend to like you” misses the point. Kind, helpful, welcoming are basic elements of hospitality. Many American Airlines flight attendants have an internal drive for this. Not all do. When it happens it’s a function of the crewmembers themselves, and not anything that management has done to select for it, encourage it, or filter out a lack of it. That’s actually a problem.
Because airlines are not just getting you from point A to point B safely. Obviously that’s a baseline (and add in on-time to that).
- Airlines are living off of premium revenue.
- Those that aren’t are losing money.
- Customers no longer make flight decisions solely on schedule and price. Delta dates the shift to around 2015.
American’s net promoter score had collapsed a year ago, when they began their premium pivot. The airline now believes that one point of net promoter score improvement yields $50 million to $100 million in revenue.
That’s why they’re now focused on customer experience, with the CEO calling it “the biggest opportunity..and the gap we can close the most…from a revenue-production perspective.” But they’ve driven on seats and lounges and policies and beverages – but they’ve done very little with beverages.
Air travel is actually a customer service business, and increasingly so. Nearly a decade ago American Airlines said that getting into a flight attendant training class was ‘more difficult than getting into Harvard’ based on the number of applicants versus slots. But sheer volume of interest isn’t a driver of quality or service.
Southwest actually does a good job at talent selection. They screen heavily for positive people, and Southwest flight attendants generally seem happy to be there and to do their jobs. One common knock on American Airlines is that their employees too often just seem unhappy.
A decade ago the same seemed true of United. It sometimes still does! But a lot less so than it did then. Employees felt beaten down, and there was something to the efforts that prior CEO Oscar Munoz went through visiting airline stations, spending time with employees, and pitching them on the idea that the airline had a strong positive future and that they were part of it.
That isn’t just money, although money can be an important part of it. Even the new United Airlines flight attendant contract that employees will vote on lacks the Delta profit-sharing formula. American’s flight attendant contract has it – American just doesn’t have profits. It seems like malpractice for top executives not to be out on the road selling flight attendants on the idea that:
- Their interactions with passengers have the greatest opportunity of influencing customer perception of the airline and driving revenue premium of anything that the carrier can do.
- This directly affects bottom-line pay because they’ve adopted Delta’s generous profit sharing formula – at Delta it meant about an extra month’s pay.
Former American Airlines CEO Doug Parker objected to profit sharing saying it is “not the right way to pay 100,000 employees that don’t have that much impact on the daily profits.” Thinking of employees as interchangeable widgets who don’t drive profits is how we got into this situation in the first place. It’s the opposite of the messaging that comes from Delta, which has led industry profits, and is reflective the financial engineering of the Parker era.
The airline needs to select the right employees and then create the conditions where it matters for those employees to do their best.
- Setting a clear vision and expectation for what good looks like, and why it matters
- Rewarding the results of that service delivery
- Weeding out those who don’t deliver on the service promise, because it’s demoralizing to employees who put their heart into a job and see colleagues shirk and get just as rewarded. It puts a greater burden on those crewmembers, and makes them question why they do it.
The key point here is that onboard service failure is a management failure. It’s management that’s responsible for talent selection, training, incentives and vision. It’s tremendous work to reverse a decade of malfeasance that comes after 15 years of financial struggle. Seats and lounges are the easy part. The real work is ahead of the airline.
Some employees should be ex employees. The is a lot of unemployed spirit FA who would take the Debbie downer jobs
As I understand it, greeting pax allows FAs to assess intoxication and look for signs of distress.
Air Canada FAs greet us in both official languages. Our response allows them to know what is our preferred OL for the flight.
Premium welcomes are reserved for premium passengers only.
FAs should first and foremost be looking for passengers that are highly intoxicated. The flight attendants up front should also be hanging up coats (with more casually dressed flyers that’s maybe 1-2 people sitting up front, if that) and providing pre departure beverages if catering is available.
I find most do in fact say hello.
Hopefully in the event of a dangerous on board situation, the FAs will also pretend to try to save passenger lives.
I wish you wouldn’t platform losers like Dilan Esper
A smile and a simple hello can uplift an entire experience. It makes a person feel valued, that they matter. Where I live, there are two grocery chains, the stockers and cashiers at one never acknowledge customers, never offer assistance, and if you ask, the reply will be basic – “it’s in aisle 8.” The other store has a policy where employees must greet customers, ask if they need assistance, and take them to what they are looking for. Cashiers make sure you found everything, and baggers offer to take your cart to your car and unload it. Two stores, two completely different standards. Yet both stores hire from the same population; only the expectations are different. The first chain just went out of business, the second is thriving. Airlines are no different; it costs nothing to be polite, yet it can cost everything not to.
Regardless of the industry, forward facing employees are the CUSTOMER’s first impression of a company. One airline’s founder noted that hiring the right people for the job and getting out of their way to let them do the job pays off in customer satisfaction. One airline’s CEO noted that, “I just get out of the way and watch the magic happen.” Every company, airline or otherwise, will have employees that don’t fit in and harbor some resentments against their job, day of the week, work hours and the like. In other words, “chronic unhappiness”. They don’t need to be working for that companyr. One CEO noted, someone can be brilliant at their job but if they cannot adapt to the culture and the company family, they will not survive at the company. Unfortunately, American Airlines has habitually ignored the fact that the CUSTOMER is the one who pays the bills, hired the wrong people to begin or hampered the good employees by imposing arcane and stupid rules that sour any relationships between the company, the employees and, THE CUSTOMERS.
New hire flight attendants at American Airlines are normally enthusiastic, happy, and customer service oriented. After a couple of months on the line they come to a fork in the road. One one road they continue with their positive attitudes and customer service. The other road leads down the path of angry, bitter, lazy, candy crush players. It’s unfortunate. Saw it myself firsthand with a neighbor’s daughter. There she was underemployed, no college degree. Going nowhere really. She applies for a job at AA and gets hired. Very enthusiastic initially. Now a whining and complaining and entitled employee. Sad really. Like the Spirit F/A’s with poor customer service. The rug got pulled from them no suddenly they wonder what happened.
Blame Parker (Former AA CEO) for the decline at American Airlines. The culture at AA will change (for the better) but will take time.
Personally, I think it’s the small (yet still significant %, say 20%) of AA FA’s that really don’t care and are ‘mailing it in.’. They avoid eye contact in 1st class during boarding, afraid you might want a pre-flight beverage. They never pro-actively visit or ask if you would like anything else. And yes, Candy Crush seems to be their favorite game, lol (or they are reading a book on their phone.).
Meanwhile, I have seen a single FA absolutely crush it and serve 24 PFB’s in < 10 minutes. People see him hustling and I'm convinced some politely say "No" to the drink, because they want to reciprocate his hospitality. (Me, I always ask for something simple- Can of Seltzer/Beer, no cup or straw, simple).
Having waited for my other family members in the front of the plane to deplane, I do overhear FA's thank people for flying. Most do, but again not all, and after witnessing it, I can understand it gets 'boring' to say, over and over and likely at least a 100 times, "Thank you for flying with us today!", with a smile. To passengers, it's a one time interaction, but to the FA they have to repeat this a hundred times so I can see how they can get tired of it.
I do agree that there are simple, free or nearly free ways to improve customer service and it starts with a warm smile and upbeat attitude. Sounds simple enough but it's always about execution at scale to make a difference.
I’ve flown American five times (5) times this year and American Eagle twice (once on Republic and once on “PSA”). I know that’s technically three different airlines, but like most people, I lump them all under the same “American umbrella.” It seems to me there are two types of AA FA’s. Both are at extreme ends of the spectrum and there is nothing in-between: EITHER they are warm and friendly, greeting pax as they enter the plane (that warmth may or may not continue throughout the actual flight), OR they are too busy talking to one another to interrupt their own conversation and say hello to customers, and *that* attitude definitely carries on throughout the flight.
You never know which you’re going to get, and as they used to say on an SF radio station, “Let’s spin the big wheel and see what year we land on today, Dave…” (or, in this case, which flight attendant type is on our flight today).
As I’ve said many times, the poor service culture among AA flight attendants is 90% of that company’s problem. If management were smart, they would fire them all and start over with fresh (and cheaper) crew who provide better service.
A senior AA flight attendant provides meaningfully worse service than a first year BA flight attendant. Time for compensation to reflect that (and right-size the organization).
I received a survey last week about a flight from a couple of weeks ago. One of the questions was: Were you greeted as you boarded the aircraft? First time I have seen this question on a survey as far as I remember. I think it at least shows they are trying to work on this?
Unfortunately, I had to answer no, one flight attendant was busy filling an ice bin but the other was chatting with the pilot and not even looking our direction. The flight was totally on time so, they had time to greet folks. That being said, the onboard service was great. I do think that greeting people is one thing that is probably the easiest to do. Costs zero, yet sets a positive tone.
Woah, the Matt-Ben-Gary inter-blog debate on this is actually kinda cool. GO AT IT, FELLAS!
No, I don’t think a literal greeting is essential, yet would be better form. Another check at the boarding door to ensure passengers are on the correct flight, direction of seat (especially for larger aircraft), etc. seems helpful. But, if this is just another lame attempt by management to attack and diminish their own workers’ standing in future contract negotiations, then nope. Or, if it’s mere clickbait for haters to attack workers or unions. Also nope. Not interested in that performative outrage and nonsense. Whether on AA, B6, DL, UA, foreign, etc., often greeted, but don’t need it.
Bobbi Wells is changing the In-Flight culture at AA, but this effort will take time to permeate through the ranks. With 27,000 flight attendants, change can’t happen overnight.
My question is what are the ramifications, if any, of the new FA grading system? If an FA is consistently receiving low performance scores or working flights that earn low NPS, what potential actions does management/APFA REALISTICALLY take against said FA?
I do not care if I am greeted or not. I do not care if I get a pre-departure beverage or not. I care if the plane is in good condition, and the staff are capable (not older than I am). I think a bit of theater (greeting, drinks, etc.) is fine on truly long haul flights where we are going to be spending over 5 hours together. Anything shorter is a bus ride: get me there on time, safely and with minimal fuss.
Honestly, I’m fine with however the Flight Attendants want to act. As long as interactions are friendly and helpful. – forced happiness or forced greetings doesn’t do much for me.
You must’ve been really bored to write this article. I’ve never seen a flight attendant that doesn’t say hello when you come on at the front door so maybe you were having a bad day or they didn’t see you or maybe they just didn’t say hello oh my God you act like it’s the end of the world. Most flight attendants I’ve ever come encountered with always say hello.
@ George, all I can say to you is wow you must really hate flight attendants. All I know is the junior people that make less money aren’t as friendly so I would prefer having the Sr flight attendant on there because they seem to know what they’re doing and they’re more friendly but wow, your statement is just crazy you wanna stir the pot don’t you?
@Cletus. That that grading point system is ridiculous. Just saying because most of the issues flight attendant have is that the company that they work for doesn’t provide them with a proper stuff to do a quality service with they want us to pull it out of our behinds. If American would grade themselves instead of the flight attendant and treat the flight attendants better when it comes to the Flight Attendant’s telling management what they need and what’s wrong. the flight attendants do all they can with what they are given. If the company would fix planes, take care of maintenance and other issues we’d have less problems so why aren’t they grading themselves? That’s the real question.
@1990 Lowering the bar, again. Trying to convince us that we should have zero expectations (ever!) of the crew. Zero clue about the connection between positive culture and earnings potential for the airline. When the first impression boarding AA is a flight attendant with an indifferent or borderline hostile attitude, that just bleeds over into diminished loyalty, less revenue, and one more cringe AA story to share about a sh!tty flight.
My wife has been FA with American almost 40 years. She absolutely dreads going to work because the company has become so deathly toxic under Parker and Isom with regards to employee relations. The average employee morale is so low it’s beyond sickening. The airline has a cancerous tumor in their executive leadership and it’s called Robert Isom. Not until he is gone will things improve. My wife stays simply for the medical benefits.
I have had some level of airline status for the past 20 years with AA, UA, DL and VS. Nowadays, VS gets most of my money followed by DL.
I recently wondered whether to switch back to AA due to its better than average FF program. Then I happened to drop off my aged aunt to the airport for an AA flight. I accompanied her through check-in as she doesn’t travel frequently. First AA agent dismissively sent her back to the kiosk even though there was no line and she saw that my aunt was older. Then after I helped her print and attach her bag tag, we went back to the (no line) agent to hand over the bag. The agent glared at us and didn’t say a word. Then we made the mistake of requesting her to print my aunt’s boarding pass (she’s not phone savvy). Big mistake as we got more glares. Maybe we should have prostrated and thanked the agent for acknowledging us. Even though I felt insulted several times over, I realized that I might as well be shameless. I asked for her FF number to be attached to the ticket. The agent just stared past us and semi-refused to help. She finally did what was requested but not before making us feel insignificant.
Contrast that with VS, where I’m consistently recognized on board by the purser or captain (even when flying coach), FAs are so friendly, agents are friendly and proactive etc. I decided not to switch and AA lost the roughly $20k a year I spend on flights. I don’t know if I’m the only one who includes service in their assessment of which airline to fly.
So, to the FAs who don’t bother greeting people or the check-in agents who are rude. You are costing your airline money.
Sad how bad some flight attendants are. Just do not care and many do not try.