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Minding our manners

March 30, 2006

“When it comes to travel,” wrote Cindy Plume, a reader from Bradenton, Fla., “people have lost their manners.”

Of course I agreed with Cindy before I had finished reading the sentence. I’ve written about the topic extensively, including a memorable commentary piece that ran in several papers.

But it has gotten worse, to read her e-mail. Much worse.

“We just returned from a trip we took with our grown children and grandchildren,” she continued. “The flights were all overbooked and the weather was bad … people were asking questions and the gate agents were unorganized, overstressed and extremely cranky.”

When one air traveler had the audacity to ask a question, one of the gate agents snapped.

“Did you not hear me over the speaker?” she screamed. “Would you like me to repeat myself?”

The agents continuously barked orders over the intercom, demanding that everyone to sit down and insisting that they didn’t have time for questions. Meanwhile, they were asking for volunteers to come forward to give up their seats on the overbooked flight.

Cindy and her family reluctantly raised their hands, with the understanding that the airline could change their return flight to Tampa instead of Fort Myers. The airline representative agreed, but then didn’t follow through. It made an already bad situation even worse.

“Customer service is increasingly becoming a thing of the past in this industry but even worse is that most of the people that we deal with seem to hate their job,” Cindy added.

It would be convenient to blame the decline of manners on one group — passengers or employees or managers. (As a customer advocate, I’d love to blame the industry.)

But I think we are all partially to blame, and if we want to fix this problem, a solution is up to us. All of us.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

3 comments

  • Carrie (Carolyn) Charney

    I recently had my first experiences of flying Air New Zealand on both overseas and internal flights. Several kiwis I met on my trip told me that ANZ had been having some financial difficulties.

    Experience 1) While trying to use a kiosk to check in for a flight from Auckland to Invercargill, I was encountering some difficulty, when an ANZ employee came up and said, “Let me help you with that.” She did and I was on my way to baggage check-in in no time.

    Experience 2) ANZ has stricter weight allowances for domestic travelers than for international travelers and I was prepared to be charged extra. (I normally pack light, but I was geared up for a month’s expedition to Antarctica and the Sub Antarctic Islands.) I was asked when had I arrived in NZ. I said I had been in the country for 3 days. I was then told, “We’ll pretend you just came today and skip the extra weight charge.

    Experience 3) I was lifting my carry-on back into the overhead, when a female flight attendant came over and said, “Here, let me help you with that bag.” I told her, “I wouldn’t get that kind of assistance in the States.” She said, “Well, I’ll have to come over and speak to those girls!” I retorted, “What do you mean, ‘girls’? The male attendants wouldn’t help either.”

    Experience 4) Upon returning from Invercargill to Newark, via Christchurch and LAX, I hoped to avoid the overweight surcharge by mentioning that, even though I booked the tickets separately, I was flying all the way home in one day. The person who checked me in made no mention of a surcharge and sent my bags all the way through to EWR via ANZ and Continental.

    Experiences 5 & 6) On both international flights, the fully-booked 747s were loaded faster than they can load a 50-seat commuter jet here. (OK, not quite that fast…but almost.) I was not in business class and the service was friendly and attentive.

    Beginner’s luck? Maybe. But the good service was too consistent for me to think so.

  • P.J. Zornosa

    The flying public in the US has adopted a horrible attitude. They exhibit rudeness and a selfishness when traveling that we find abhorent and embarrassing. I repeatedly see passengers put their carry ons 10 rows forward of where they are sitting having no consideration for those passengers that will be sitting there. I see carry on luggage that should be checked but no one enforces the rules for carry ons. I have found that AA employees still attempt to be cordial – if one smiles and lets them know that they are appreciated.

    People usually react to others how they are treated. I can understand how flight attendants become surly – look at the passengers. We have become a country of those who for the most part possess a sense of entitlement that translates into “rules are for everyone else.” I would like to know if their parents taught them the manners I was instilled with!

    When we go abroad, we try very hard to hide the fact that we are from the USA. We are quiet, discreet, polite, well groomed and we don’t wear sneakers everywhere. Most other countries’ inhabitants still have manners. Perhaps this will change soon when the rude tourists invade them in more numbers. No wonder the French are rude!

  • Jiro Hiku

    Living in Guam, America’s western most territory in the Pacific, and traveling 2 or 3 times a year, gives me the opportunity to sample the service on both US and foreign airlines. Carrie Charney’s experience on Air New Zealand parallels my great experiences on All Nippon Airways, China Airlines, and even Air Pacific to and from Fiji.
    Continental and Northwest also fly in and our of Guam. The curious thing about CO and NW is that between Guam/East Asia and in to Hawaii, their in flight service is quite good. However, as we get closer to the US mainland, the service worsens, even in business class!

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