Cabin crew

[John Arton]

Got back yesterday from a week in the sun in Cyprus. Great place, lovely friendly locals, excellent cold beer and great food. Watched England v Russia in a local bar filled with Brits (and one Russian). Fantastic atmosphere that even turned the wife into an England footie fan. Much singing, waving of flags and beating of a big drum and that was from the bars Geek owner!!!!
Anyway I digress.
WE flew out and back with an well known travel agents (in the U.K.) own airline.
Prior to take off we got the usual guff from the pilot welcoming us aboard and describing our flight path, weather on arrival etc. etc. He then went on to introduce our "cabin crew" who were there for our "safety" mainly and who would shortly be demonstrating the safety features of our airplane (Airbus A321) and to which even if we had flown before, we should pay particular attention to. He then went on to say that his "excellent" cabin crew would be attending to our every needs en route and once in the air would be serving us meals and drinks so we should sit back and relax and enjoy our flight. You know the usual guff that is spouted by all airline pilots prior to take off.
So these "cabin crew" AKA trolley dolly's, are there for our safety, b.s., they were there to flog us as much rotten airline food, cheap tat decorated with the airline logo, perfume, alcohol (not duty free), tea, coffee, you name it they were constantly up and down the aisles with their trollies trying to sell us something, even when we hit severe turbulence they still had their sales pitch going. To cap it all they then announced that they were selling scratch cards and bingo cards!!!!! (visions of the pilot turning the tombola machine in the cockpit and calling the numbers out over the tannoy sprung to mind). The only thing they managed to sell me and wife were some excellent G and T's which went down a treat.
On the way home the pilot said the same guff but added that his cabin crew did a far better safety demonstration. What the heck, how were they going to do it better, set it too song and dance, have the stewardess's do a strip tease whilst demonstrating the us of the life jacket (that demo of how to manually top up the air in your life jacket could have serious sexual implications if done with a flirtatious look on their faces).
So in a 4.5 hour flight this cabin crew (who remember were there primarily for our safety) spent every 30 minutes trying to sell us something from their trollies. Is it any wonder that they get called trolley dollies and should they get annoyed when we refer to them as such?
I recall going out to Japan via the pole to join a ship along with about 9 others and the "cabin crew" were not "attending to our wishes" as explained to us prior to take off, to such an extent that when they passed us by for the umpteen time without serving us, one of the boys got up and shouted at her retreating back "young lady, we too work for the same company, the difference being we are officers and you are crew". Brought the whole plane down, resulted in all the companies seagoing personnel being banned from flying with that airline ever again and did nothing to improve the service to us from the "cabin crew".
Now I have no idea what modern day cruise ships captains talk over on the ships tannoys to these passengers these days but when on the Empress boats I can only recall the tannoy being used to announce that the alarms were going to be sounded for boat drill and at noon daily the distance run for the day would be made. Nothing about bingo, sales of goods or anything else.
rgds
JA
p.s. Lidl in Cyprus are selling litre bottles of London dry gin for 2.80 euros but not in the U.K. so another reason for Brexit would be a return of duty free booze and ciggies so all you lot down south can resume your trips across to France to stock up on the vino etc.
rgds
JA

[Keith Tindell]

Another scam I have encountered on these charter flights is they give out a questionare , and before we land a lucky passenger will win a free holiday, the questionare asks all sorts of things, what wage you are on, where you shop etc, and also at the end your email and address, so all this info is flogged on to sellers to send all the junk mail, needless to say ours was binned. However when the winner was announced, we did not hear any cheers from the supposed winner, guess that was also phoney, kt

[Gulliver]

I 've never been on a cruise and don't really wish to do so primarily because I'm somewhat agorophobic and hate crowds.However I'm sure you seasoned cruisers will tell me,-are you constantly bombarded with announcements wherever you go in the ship ? I would really hate that.
Now where's me' ear defenders.Listen.gifBetter!

[Chris Isaac]

John Arton

Some of what you say is true and some is a gross exageration.
My daughter currently serves as Cabin Crew with BA but before that she was with easyJet.
With easyJet she was encouraged and rewarded to sell product to customers.... its business, its what keeps your air fairs low. If you don't like what they are selling then just say NO THANK YOU
With BA she is not there to sell stuff it is totally customer comfort and safety.

When she applied to join BA they were very keen to recruit easyJet staff as their safety training is of a very high standard.
During her time with easyJet she was commended twice for safety work:
- firstly she stopped a man from choking by administering the Heimlich Manouvre,
- subsequently she was praised for administering treatment with the defibrulation equipment.
- It is possible that as a result of the safety training she may have saved two lives.

To say that it is b*** s*** that cabin crew are there for our safety is not only wrong but verges on libelous.

The men and women go through far more extensive safety training that we ever received at sea.

Just an aside but I have just looked on the Cypriot Lidl web site and a bottle of gin is currently between £8 and £9

[Captain Kong]

If possible I always fly with B.A. and always find that the cabin Staff are very professional and attentive, they do not push any products at all.
There is a Duty Free magazine in the pocket, and once during the flight they will announce that they will be taking orders if any one wants to purchase anything. You are NOT Hassled in any way.
Service is always excellent. They always maintain a professional standard.
I am a Shareholder in BA or IWG as it is now known
Never fly on charter flights you get what you pay for, Cheap Flight, cheap service,
I always fly now in the Traveller Plus section. just two seats together with extra width and extra leg room. and the Service and meals are so much better than the cattle class. and with the Air Miles saved up you can upgrade into Business class if they have spare seats.
I use a BA Credit card so all my spends everyday make Air Miles, and also the flights make Air Miles so each year I have enough to upgrade to the better seats.
Cheers
Brian

[j.sabourn]

#3... You haven't yet reached the stages of loss of hearing then Davey. It also has its benefits. The only time I wear hearing aids is watching the TV when the wife complains about it being too loud. To be truthful I think I have gone past the stage where they do much good as every time I go for a test I get told if I don't wear my hearing aids will deteriorate faster. It is also a good excuse when having to listen to someone you don't want to, by saying its a waste of time talking to me mate, I'm deaf. One of the few benefits in getting old, not having to listen to someone spouting a lot of tripe. As you can gather I leave them out when watching a party political broadcast, although you can almost hear what they are saying by the movement of their hands which are continuously moving in supplication it appears. Cheers JWS

[Captain Kong]

I 've never been on a cruise and don't really wish to do so primarily because I'm somewhat agorophobic and hate crowds.However I'm sure you seasoned cruisers will tell me,-are you constantly bombarded with announcements wherever you go in the ship ? I would really hate that.
Now where's me' ear defenders.Cabin crew-listen-gifBetter! Davey

Hi Davey
On the ships I sail on, Holland America, there is only one announcement at NOON, when the Captain will give the ships position, speed and sea and air temperatures. lasts about 30 seconds. Than if the crew are having a fire drill , just to inform passengers that it is not the real thing.
otherwise SILENCE.
Cruising is the best type of vacation, I would hate to spend a few weeks in the same hotel seeing the same scenery day after day. must be incredibly boring
So much variety every day, every one different. and good value. chose your cruise ship wisely and it is Great, If you want Quality then cruise..
I am already booked for another Pacific Island cruise next March out of San Diego, for Six Weeks.

[Chris Allman]

I think really you speak as you find. I have flown with some really useless, rude and condescending cabin crew but I have also flown with some very professional, polite and efficient cabin crew too. I too could have written a very similar post to John's over service which left a lot to be desired as John's did. Just because your daughter is professional and efficient Chris, does not mean that all cabin crew are. On one safety equipment briefing I had, the stewardess was either hungover from the night before or had a speech and mind impediment, as her unintelligible efforts to acquaint us with the correct use of the necessary lifesaving equipment, was accompanied by incessant giggling from the rest of her airborne colleagues. The service during the flight, which was thankfully quite smooth, left a lot to be desired and I must admit, colored my view of cabin personnel in a way in which is perhaps unfair to the more professional types. However I must say that you can only speak as you find and like everything in life, the bad apple or apples always spoils the bunch.

[Doc Vernon]

Over the Years like many here I have Flown to various Countries with different Airlines,and I can for myself anyway honestly say that besides one Airline,the rest have all been very good all round,never have had bad service or any hassles at all! Wont mention the bad Airline as that is not nice !
The best however that I have used is by far Emirates (Cabin Crew always fantastic) ,followed by Etihad then come the rest,
Cheers

[Captain Kong]

I had two crash landings wrecking the plane, Jumbo 747, both with Philipine Airlines, once in Manila landing near the airport only about two miles off and again in Bangkok when the wheels fell off.
BUT The Service was the best ever of any one, and the Stewardesses fantastic attention.

Last year flew from Singapore to Doha on Qatar , Total Rubbish ./We had booked our seats before and paid Extra for them , They had people in them and they refused to be moved. then From Doha to Manchester by Qatar again we had booked our seats and paid extra for them but there was a man with two wives and two kids taking ours, we had to sit behind , the kids were charging up and down the aisle hitting people , then I was eating dinner when the kid looked over the back of the seat in front and threw my dinner tray on the deck.
I was going to kill the little berstered, but the stewardess stopped me the moo, slim parents never spoke to the kids or try to stop them
Then the plane ran out of food. they started to come up the aile serving and then stopped and said they had no more food, Tough.
Never ever fly Qatar.
Brian.