In my opinion American Airlines has the best business class of any US airline. United has better bedding, and eventually Delta’s (imperfect) suite may be better than the American Airlines seat once it’s rolled out to more than a handful of aircraft.
I also think they’re doing a great job with their top ConciergeKey customers too. They’ve provided real differentiated benefits for this revenue-based tier.
While I have my disagreements with the domestic product, and with changes aimed at the rest of the customer base, I do think they’ve focused well in these two areas. They highlight a $3 billion investment in products and services. However poor service from the airline’s front line can undermine all the rest of the investment.
A great example of this comes from June 4th’s American Airlines flight AA192 from Hong Kong to Los Angeles. A business class passenger reportedly voluntarily offloaded himself because his experience with a flight attendant onboard prior to departure was so bad. (HT: @xJonNYC)
According to one witness,
“A[n] incredibly rude [flight attendant] argued about having to move his crew luggage for a business class passenger when the passenger asked politely to make some space above his seat. The male [flight attendant] was so incredibly rude, berating and humiliating him loudly in front of other passengers, he actually decided to offloaded himself.
Unfortunately it caused a [2 hour] ground delay as we had missed our takeoff slot out of [Hong Kong] (bad weather/ traffic as well) however the way the [flight attendant] spoke to him was totally out of control.
I assume the Asian passenger was use[d] to Cathay Pacific and other Asian carriers more softer service. I was embarrassed for the passenger being treated in such a shocking way. He did not once raise his tone and was totally calm the whole time. The rest of the [14 hour] flight had the [flight attendant] stomping around, slamming overhead lockers, while remove his tie looking incredibly unprofessional.
American Airlines Business Class Boeing 777-300ER
Another business class passenger on that flight writes,
I didn’t witness the actual interaction between the flight attendant and the passenger but certainly can attest how rude that [flight attendant] was throughout the flight.
That guy was working my aisle on the left hand side and he was dismissive, rude and condescending throughout the flight.
…At one point when handing him a glass and an empty diet coke can he refused to take the can but just stood there saying “can inside” to which I responded that I don’t understand and he kept saying the same thing over and over until I realized he wanted me to put the can inside the glass myself. He clearly couldn’t bother to do it himself and refused to move on until I did this.
Just overall a miserable guy who shouldn’t be in front of passengers and definitely not in Business.
American tells me that the flight’s delay was unrelated to the passenger offloading himself, but was the result of air traffic control. The plane “pushed back two minutes early then took the taxi delay.”
American Airlines LAX
Regarding the reported behavior of the flight attendant, I’m told it “does not reflect the level of service we strive to provide to our customers” and that they’re “reviewing the incident internally and will be reaching out to the passenger directly.”
There’s no question of course that this isn’t what American wants to provide to customers. The relevant question is how much they can and are willing to do about it. When adding service to their planes they’ve told crew that their number one priority is not adding responsibilities for flight attendants.
According to the immediate past President of American’s flight attendants union the job of flight attendants is security and not service. Flight attendants need to be better treated by the airline, not customers. And that when flight attendants provide poor service it’s the fault of the airline, not the flight attendants themselves.
Southwest Airlines is accused by its unions of being too aggressive in pushing out employees when they let go of less than 1% a year. It’s important to do that, as much for the rest of the employees as the customers.
- It’s a very small percentage of employees who ruin the image of the airline and poorly serve customers
- But when customer-facing employees behave badly, or shirk their duties, it’s demoralizing to the rest of the workforce
- When underperformers do just as well as employees who go above and beyond it’s tough to stay motivated to go above and beyond
There’s no one to address service deficiencies onboard, at American Airlines no flight attendant is “in charge” of the others. And there’s little consequence for all but the most egregious of employee conduct. It’s like they’re represented by the Saturday Night Live personal injury firm Green & Fazio (“what does a ‘No Trespassing’ sign mean when you’re as drunk as I was?“)
American’s CEO says that they cannot differentiate themselves by offering a better inflight product, since other airlines will simply match. Indeed, United’s President explicitly describes their approach to product as “keeping up with the Joneses.” So to American the difference has to be people and culture.
Raising employee pay, helping them use their benefits, and paying for weight loss programs though doesn’t translate into good customer service when poor performers show the best performers that there’s no benefit to trying. And ultimately it’s the front line that’s the final mile of service delivery. Almost no amount of product investment can make up for that.
Hand on heart- I think I flew with this guy on a Dallas-Tokyo flight a few months ago.
He was incredibly rude and dismissive. Every request brought an audible sigh of frustration from him, he had an argument with a passenger who wanted to keep his flight window open and when I asked him for a screwdriver he announced that he is not a bartender so I needed to tell him what the components were.
I would guess he was about 50.
You’d think the crew chief on the flight would have intervened.
As long as they have this mentality that FA are there for safety their mindset will never change, maybe they should FA and flight waitresses for service. If emergency then FA show up if food service the flight waitress shows up. I know it will never happened due to matrix of economy, but wouldn’t that work?
Oh, they’re there for safety and not service?
You just keep telling yourselves that, stews!
I fly HKG-LAX two or three times a year. Usually CX F, sometimes CX Business. A few month ago i tried AA F (cheaper than CX Business). Never again. Rude unprofessional flight attendants, inedible food just dumped on the plates, wobbling seats with no privacy and about half of the bed area than CX.
Never again. It is not one bad apple on AA, it is the airline.
Before I was occasionally complaining about little things on CX. I promise never again.
I flew HKG-LAX in AA J earlier this year and had an absolutely horrible FA. She was downright rude and cranky. This is the exception and not the norm. I usually have stellar service from AA FAs
This has got to be HKG DFW. I’ve flown it three times though only once in business and it may be coincidence but the crew has been noticeably rude and indifferent. One flight on economy, FA said “turkey sandwich” and Indian passenger said “vegetarian” and FA said quite rudley “No sir, turkey sandwich is not vegetarian.” later on I walked up to use the lav and waited apparently too close to galley, FA politely asked me to move and I did… A minute later another guy (not white) did the same thing and the FA snapped and rudley explained to the passenger that he could not stand there, it was a security concern and curtly told him to move… Another time in business class, my BF, who is white asked an FA a question about meal selection, his opinion of what was best FA said “I have no idea, I’ve never been on this flight before” and walked away.
I also watched some other very rude interactions between the FAs and passengers on this flight, some deserved some not.
Either way, it is stupid. The crew has largely bid and selected that route to fly. If you can’t deal with it or the diversity of the passengers on your flight, stick to domestic you jerks.
I am loyal AA flyer and 90% of my interactions with AA staff is acceptable if not good or great. The experiences I have seen on the HKG route are the expection not the rule.
@Paul
Lol and if you had asked for a vodka OJ, he would have said the same thing, if you asked for an orange juice and vodka he would have said “it’s called a screwdriver sir!”
I was on a CDG-ORD flight last summer in business class (paid ticket; not award travel). There was a long ground delay, and I dozed off a bit. When I woke, I requested a cup of coffee, and we still had ample time before take-off. The FA did ultimately bring me the coffee, but first said that if I caused any further disruptions she’d have me dragged off the plane. Perhaps she was joking but who makes those type of jokes? All I did was politely request coffee. I have to conclude that the LAX-HKG incident is not isolated.
Until the majority of the FA pool have the courage to report such individuals to their superiors nothing will change.
There are far too many FAs who refuse to believe any of their colleagues are anything but amazing and will jump all over anyone who dares to suggest otherwise (I know!)
I think the senior bad apples that the union protects bid for DFW-HKG simply to get their minimum out of the way with only a handful of flights.
The way that US airlines assign FAs is absurd. The old hags and grumpy bastards get assigned to the easy long-haul routes, while the energetic younger FAs get assigned to a ton of short-hauls each day, which inevitably leads to burn out, and fosters the same negative attitudes that their senior co-workers have.
Crew assignments should be performance based. Period. If you suck, you should have to fly DFW-ORD six times a day. The best FAs should be reserved for premium long-haul routes. If you’re 60+ and clearly burnt out, you should be forced to retire. It’s an airline, not a retirement home.
When management doesn’t care, employees don’t care. It’s usually that simple.
Seriously? Wow.. Based on my experience the last 2-3 years, indeed the longhaul FA’s are more often the worst to fly with with zero customer service attitude towards service the cabin (even in First) compare to their domestic counterparts.
I do hope that AA does not keep quiet about this and takes some action against this FA.
For me in a generic view, since the new AA, customer service at all levels (even their Customer Service department) has good customer recovery. It is always the same textbook answer with zero improvement.
For me those one-two big news on how AA handled issues (like the latest damaged checked-in bag) does not do it for me. Luckily now that they removed the need of the 4 AA segment in the AAdvantage program, I have more options to fly with other Oneworld partners avoiding flying AA especially longhaul.
Cheers!
It’s been 4 years since I switched to AA, and I fly all over the world, economy and business. I have NEVER been treated so terribly by an airline as I have with AA. In 10 years of flying with Delta I never filed a complaint. In the 4 years with AA I have filed numerous complaints per year. It’s an absolutely atrocious airline!
This may be the first time I’ve read a story of this sort where not a single person writes an opinion to the contrary. It would be fantastic if this entire thread could be shared with AA’s and the Union’s executive leadership. There’s unanimity for a reason…
The inconsistency is what is most maddening. When we flew DFW-HKG last year we had an incredible crew, unbelievably friendly, went out of their way to ensure my wife and I had a pleasant flight in J. So when AA gets it right, they really can be great. I guess we need to thank our lucky stars we’ve never encountered a FA quite as bad as the one described above.
Oh no! We are flying DFW to MAD in August on AA in biz. First time a transcon on AA. Should I be worried?
It’s not just longhaul that are having troubles, even on a 3 hour domestic there have been majority bad apples, including gate staff. No one wants to work there yet they do. And very few have smiles on their faces. Back in my restaurant service/college days I’d have been let go if I approached table waiting like AA’s FAs and Gate staff do their jobs.
Yep, gettin out of hand. FAs hate the passengers because they are the reason
They have to work
It would be best if people took names, and tweeted out those names on Twitter. Like “@AA Your FA on xx to xx in Biz class was so rude the passenger got up and left before take off. I was in the cabin, the rest of the flight the FA WAS rude to everybody.”
This is what happens when you have a union job that rewards you on not quitting/being fired or not dying.
US carriers should either assign trips based on merit or everyone just gets randomly assigned. Seniority is the biggest crock of sh*t.
Ps…I work as an FA for a major US carrier and have been with the same airline for 12 years. Stories like this MADDEN me because I care about the passengers and I enjoy my job. If I ever don’t, I will leave! The main reason people like this don’t get reported is that at all US carriers, they’ve bred the mentality of “don’t snitch”. And if you’re caught snitching, you are literally run out of town. I have heard stories of people being harassed, tires slashed, photos spread saying that they write people up, people having to change their names, and people quitting all because they decided to stand up and report another FA to management and the rest of the FAs look down on that.
What a complaint fest about AA long haul! Sounds like the ridiculously rude service I consistently received on Aeroflot on my trips to Ulaanbaatar via Moscow just a couple of years ago. I’ve been back and forth to China many times in the past 12 months, flying Delta Business but a few times in Economy + (when I gave my upgrade to my wife). While the GoGo doesn’t work for about half to 2/3 of the Detroit-Beijing segment (my only complaint which is not really Delta’s fault), the FAs are for the most part all 10 out of 10 for customer service. While it’s a more mature group of FAs on these flights (seniority has it’s perks): they just can’t do enough for me and the passengers around me (of all stripes). Professional and delightful attitudes when facing the customer. Thanks for reminding me of the upside of flying Delta – how easily I can forget!
(Full disclosure: I don’t own any Delta stock unless it’s buried in a mutual or index fund I might own.)
“Flight Attendants need to be better treated by the Airline, not the Customer? Interesting statement considering that without that Customer, that Flight Attendant would have no paycheck. This particular Flight Attendants is in need of some training. There is no excuse to be rude to a paying Customer, ever! Just hope American handles this situation appropriately.
Remember Mr. Rainey’s (United CFO in 2012) comments that “certain groups in this [frequent flyer] program that were over-entitled.” By inference, certain classes of people are the bourgeoisie (ie first class customers, business class customers, and elites). The proletariat workers (ie, flight attendants), are noble and much put upon. Therefore, we should side with the proletariat flight attendants over the bourgeoisie upper class “over-entitled” flying classes.
Ok, so put this into watermelon terms, first class and business class use up more energy and therefore they are bad. Flight attendants by punishing business and upper class customers are just trying to encourage them to travel in coach or not at all, thereby reducing carbon emissions and saving the planet. Therefore, rude flight attendants are friends of Mother Gaea, and we should give them extra respect.
BTW, anyone that thinks I am serious above, gets a political correctness gold star.
I boarded an American Flight that left at 6 a.m. to DFW. A very kind female Flight attendant told me I could take the Exit Row, since the flight wasn’t even half-full and there was only one person in the Exit Row.
10 minutes later she had disappeared and a male FA came up and asked to see my boarding pass. I explained the situation and he rudely said “She’s not in charge of the Exit Row, I am and you have to leave”.
Were I not taking the flight to visit family on a special trip I would have taken steps to call his bluff (was it a bluff?) and at least appealed directly to the female FA (who was at the front of the plane) but I let it go and moved. Still, as is the point of this article it left a bitter taste in my mouth for American. It’s less about the rude mistreatment and more about “what kind of organization lets their employees act this way?”
Gary, could not agree more with this posting. I had a similar issue this week. And yes it is a first world problem. But it shows exactly what you described. I was flying Sfo-jfk “flagship first”. I was asked what I wanted to drink. I asked the flight attendant what kind of champagne they had. She said it is champagne. I said yes what brand of champagne. Her next reply was sir it is champagne. Champagne is champagne. I said no it is not. THhen she said you know what why don’t I just bring you the menu and roll her eyes. You could tell she was annoyed. I’m sorry but if you are operating their flagship domestic route where people often pay north of $1,700 to fly in it knowing what champagne they are serving should be common knowledge. Or at least say let me check back as we may have recently change in from the get go. Btw, last two flights on domestic J. No pre departure drinks. Even though they were clearly not busy at all. They just chatted away while everyone else boarded.
You know what’s even more sad, the good one get so beat down by the rest. I flew DFW-GRU business and I had this wonderful FA. She was happy, she was making food recommendations, it was amazing how just a little bit of positivity made such a huge difference. At the same time I watched her coworkers rolling their eyes at her attitude. I actually made a point of tweeting how awesome she was…
Yet at the same time, I couldn’t help thinking to myself, how soon this great attitude will eventually get destroyed by the mediocrity (and I’m being generous calling it that high) of her peers.
AA has by far and away the worst FA’s, no one else is even close. Makes me think this is a systems problem, eg: lack of training, discipline, education. Regardless, they are the nastiest and most mean spirited by a longshot. Wish I had the stones to do what this guy did.
AA’s bad service reputation often starts at the gate. Up until last year I was Executive Platinum, and have never been treated with such contempt by airline employees.
When you fly a quality airline (looking at you Qatar) you know there is every chance of getting superior, world class service. When you board an AA flight, you wonder to yourself “how bad is the service going to be this time.” AA flight attendants on the most part lack respect, class, and decorum which you can find on other carriers.
I agree, the investment in the hard product the past few years has yielded great improvements … great long haul business class seats, international-standard Flagship Lounges, Casper bedding, improved food, etc. That expensive investment is neutralised by far-below average service.
Unfortunately that isn’t going to change in the foreseeable future.
I flew LHR – JFK Business June 6 on AA105. The lay flat seats were comfortable, the blankets and pillows were better than most, the FA’s were super stars. If you have to live in a cigar tube for six hours, you couldn’t be more comfortable. The food was good, not fantastic. (If I want a better meal, I’ll go to a good restaurant. If I want to fly across the Atlantic quickly, safely and comfortably, I’ll go with AA).
On the JFK – LHR route I flew with BA. They need a “secret shopper” to check out AA.
Have had mixed experiences on AA. But the worst was on Delta. Had a 7 month old baby. He had slept most of the trip, no crying, nursed a lot. Now, I could tell he had a poopy diaper. I was in coach and did not think it was acceptable to change a poop diaper in a middle seat next to captive passengers. So I took the baby up to the 2 FAs and asked where I could change him as the bathrooms did not have any kind of a shelf on which to do it. hey told me there was none and I could change him on the floor of the bathroom. Really, they said that. I said that was too dirty to put him and his would-then-be-unusable-for-the-rest-of-the-trip bedding onto the restroom door so wasn’t there another option? They too rolled their eyes and looked put upon but said I could change him on the galey floor if I preferred. I was not pleased and asked if they had a blanket or something to put beneath hiim and they looked totally exasperated. A passenger who had been waiting for the bathroom listening, went back to his seat and brought a bunch of Delta in flight magazines and spread them on the galley floor. The FAs were obviously angered by this but he was a tall, middle aged guy in a suit and tie and he withered them with a look. He stood there (not going intot he bathroom) as I changed my son and only after I stood to go back to my seat, did he then gather up the magazines and stuff them into the galley trash, give the FAs another disgusted look , gave me a smile and a nod, and entered the bathroom. Have not chosen Delta since.did report theis to Delta who offered me a $200 flight certificate to which I replied No Thank You.
Literally cannot imagine this happening on Delta as a weekly Delta flyer. I’ve seen a rare indifferent staff member (and it really is super rare and always on the ground), but I’ve NEVER seen a staff member (on board or on the ground) be overtly rude – and definitely not aggressive – to a customer. Admittedly, I don’t fly thru NYC – I fly thru ATL – but have plenty of NY-based crews on board based on announcements.
By contrast, I recently returned from r/t biz on ANA. The difference is literally night and day. FAs, would you believe, actually loading carryons for passengers?!?
Oh, they’re there for safety and not service? Then why is 95% of their time waitstaff and hostess? Sorry more like an overpaid bar tender to me then anything.
The only time they are there for safety is at the start and end of the flight. IF they want to push that idea then hire one FA to do the safety checks and get two girls in from Hooters to serve drinks and the airlines will make $$$$$ from the old men and young boys.
Just a point to make for you folks who think your FA is your personal servant, only.
if the flight attendants were ONLY there to serve you, why would they need to be certified by the Federal government? Pass annual tests on advanced first aid, fire fighting and security protocols?next, try to chew on this: out of whatever you paid for your fare, you are paying 5 x more for the meals than you are paying the flight attendant. Consider that you (individually) are paying between $0.10 and $0.25/hr (from the most junior to the most senior) to each flight attendant on the crew.
As long as your view is only from your seat, you don’t have any idea of the entire circumstances ( like maybe you didn’t get pre-departure champagne because the plane wasn’t catered yet? or you didn’t get your preferred Dom Perignon because a)your on transportation, not a frickin wine cellar. b)the CEO needs to cut costs so he doesn’t have to struggle to live on $15Million /year.
I am not surprised one bit. United and American are so much alike. You say they copy Delta, but only in some things. In operations AA and UA are the worst domestic carriers approaching Spirit. I thought you loved American, Gary? Why do you post negativity? Why don’t you use your influence to corral change? Since credit card signups have decreased, one would think that AA would be concerned.
Wife and I flew AA Miami-Rio in Business last year (flight is a red-eye). All seats in Business class would not recline (no power to seat).
When seat belt sign was turned off, I asked the FA if they could manually adjust seat to the flat position. FA said “it is not possible”. I tried to sleep upright.
2 hours later, another FA was going around to all the seats, lowering them manually. I was able to get 4 hours of sleep.
In the morning, I tried to put seat back up to landing position (the seat control panel was now illuminated, but still did not work.)
On the way to the lav, I asked the (original) FA to return the seat to landing position. He went over to the seat, looked at the illuminated control panel (which was still inoperative), and said “He is crazy, it works fine”. My wife heard him and gave him a dirty look.
The FA also said ” I can’t handle this stress”
I complained online and we received 5,000 miles each. Not satisfied I escalated and their best and final offer was 10K each. These were Anytime Awards so I was not happy with the result, but nothing else I could do. I am OWE (BA Gold) and spend about 30K on AA every year on full-fare, refundable tickets. Maybe its time to sent that over to Delta.
The flight attendants’ union philosophy that providing passengers with good service is the airline’s responsibility is ludicrous:
1) More than baggage clerks, telephone customer service representatives or gate agents, flight attendants are the face of the airline.
2) Ask Delta and jetBlue why they CONTINUALLY receive industry plaudits while American and United receive them less often – because each flight has a lead flight attendant. Moreover, the FAA, TSA and company management invest flight attendants with great power. They are responsible for summoning a physician to attend an ailing passenger. They often coordinate with the Air Marshall during in-flight security incidents. They issue rulings as to the discontinuation of alcohol service to inebriates. I could continue.
To think that, among all of these responsibilities, basic civility and customer service do not number defies any and all logic within the retail industry writ large.
3) It is a time-tested axiom of retail that the customer is always right. This is a metaphor but an important one. Safety concerns, while vital, without question, do not, in and unto themselves, fulfill this axiom.
Come on, people!
As an aside, while I have not flown AA on any intercontinental routes, I have flown the carrier extensively on domestic routes, including MCO-PHX-MCO non-stop. I concur that the AA domestic business class is the best among the legacy carriers. As for the overall courtesy and congeniality of flight attendants both in coach and business on domestic routes, I find the results to vary equally between AA and Delta. jetBlue fares somewhat better but I never fly jetBlue on any routes longer than MCO-AUS or MCO-BOS
Interesting. I was on AA192 HKG-LAX the day following (05JUN) and had a flawless and spectacular experience en route in the Business Class cabin. The crew was attentive, gracious and executed an amazing onboard product. There is no way to fairly implicate the entire culture at American or any airline based on the “few bad apples” as unfortunate as they are. I fly American all the time and haven’t encountered one in years. Cheers!
I recently flew HKG – LAX in J and had the same experience as @FrankSmith. I used AA for that flight b/c the timing was better than the CX option, but worried all the way up to the flight if I had made a mistake choosing AA over CX. Best flight ever. Delightful crew, comfortable seats, decent food. It was so good I sent a complimentary note to AA, unsolicited.
I often fly from Los Angeles to Indonesia (always economy), and typically fly ANA (if going to Jakarta) or EVA (if going to Bali) because of their superior, friendly service and better food. I once made the mistake of booking an ANA flight that was actually operated by United on the NRT-LAX leg of the flight. Never again!
The long ago burned-out female FA brutally rammed my elbow with her drink cart (I always book an aisle seat), from behind, not once, but twice during the flight, and without any apology. I guess that was for the crime of letting my elbow project into the aisle. An ANA or EVA FA would cut off her own arm before doing that!
Having enjoyed the substantial and tasty meal on the first leg of the trip, loaded with fresh ingredients, I was sorely disappointed with the small plate of prison food United served. And although they had a good seat-back entertainment system, only earbuds were provided, not the padded earphones I was accustomed to from ANA. And $8 for a whiskey? I’ve always been served as many as requested for free on ANA and EVA.
So it is just this simple: I never fly any US carrier on international flights. I know I’m “only” an economy customer, but nevertheless……..