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Attendants With Attitude
The Travel Critic · August 2, 1999

Do flight attendants hate us? After Jay Johnson's last trip on US Airways, he might be forgiven for thinking so.

Traveling from Baltimore to Charlotte, he overheard an elderly woman ask an air host for help lifting her carry-on luggage into an overhead compartment.

"She refused," he says. "Then the flight attendant chastised her, saying the airline didn't pay her to lift luggage and that she would not get disability coverage if she injured her back. I helped the woman get her luggage stowed."

US Airways refused to comment on the incident.

Crew members seem to be forgetting their manners lately. At one airline, there are even reports that flight attendants now refer to travelers as "the enemy."

Curiously, the flight attendants seem to be getting away with their behavior. The Association of Flight Attendants doesn't report any higher instances of disciplinary action or firings of its members.

If anything, the powers that be are siding with these hosts with attitude. The British government last week announced that disruptive passengers will face prison sentences of up to two years starting Sept. 1. (The Air Navigation Order already provides for fines and prison sentences for endangering the safety of an aircraft, being drunk on an aircraft and failing to obey lawful commands of the aircraft commander.)

But we shouldn't take all of this personally, according to air hosts I spoke with. Airline employees say they don't dislike us as much as they despise their employers; they're just taking it out on the passengers because we're an easier target.

"There's a sense that flight attendants are getting meaner," says Cynthia Kain, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants in Washington. "I think there's a general feeling that flight attendants are being exploited by their companies. As professional as they are, sometimes it may creep into how they treat their passengers."

Maybe. But referring to passengers as "the enemy" - as they're rumored to do at United - is a less-than-subtle way of showing your feelings toward the customer.

"I have heard them [passengers] being referred to as 'the enemy,'" admits Linda Farrow, the master executive council president for United Airlines' chapter of the AFA. "But not specifically in reference to United Airlines. Our union would not promote an attitude of the customer as the enemy."

Marti Settle doesn't buy that. On a recent American Trans Air flight out of Dallas/Fort Worth, with the air conditioner on board failing and the prospect of a long delay ahead, the Denton, Texas, grandmother asked if she could leave the plane and reboard closer to departure time.

"The flight attendant said 'no.' I was upset and told her that she could not make me stay on in the hot cabin. She then informed me that if I got off I would not get back on. I am sure that the temperature inside the cabin was in excess of 100 degrees and it was very humid." Settle then asked for a drink of water. "It was refused. They told us they were not allowed to serve beverages on the ground," she says. "The flight attendants were abrupt and almost hateful. They behaved like we were enemies, not paying customers. I felt like a prisoner."

Rene Foss, a flight attendant and star of an off-off-broadway show about flying called Around the World in a Bad Mood, thinks the victims are both the passengers and the air hosts.

"There's resentment everywhere," she says. "It's an adverse situation to begin with, when you're stuck on a plane for two hours on the ground. It makes it even more difficult when the airlines have had their best five years ever, and there's a sense that flight attendants are being left out in some way."

But some passengers believe it's about more than money. "Dissatisfaction is increasing at an alarming rate," says traveler Harry Hoyle. "I feel that the deteriorating behavior of the passengers is caused by the pressures of deteriorating pre-boarding procedures and environments. I feel that the deteriorating pre-boarding procedures and environments are caused by the airlines' continuing efforts to increase profitability at the cost of overall customer satisfaction."

Granted, flight attendants have a difficult, at times thankless, job. They work in a confined space, inhale recycled air, and often don't get paid a decent wage. Isn't that enough to get mad about? Absolutely. But that's still no excuse for being mean to passengers

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator and author of A Bridge to Nowhere: A Year in the Florida Keys. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.