View from the 23rd Row

Flight Attendants.

I'll be upfront, I'm not a fan of most flight attendants. My experiences with most flight attendants has been poor.

These people are put on the plane for the safety of the passenger, supposedly. But I'll be dead honest, I think if push comes to shove, it would come as no large surprise to me, if the first person jumping out of the plane is the flight attendant, "see ya suckers." They are also suppose to assist the customer. This means different things in different arenas. I shall break it down for you.

Domestic (United States) airlines - almost all of the flight attendants I have meet while using my flight benefits, be it on my carrier or someone elses, are rude and unhelpful. They absolutely won't help you one iota with your bag. If your lucky they might look in the overhead bins to see if there is space there for you (ps, tip - just cause the overhead bin is shut doesn't mean that there is no space in there.I've seen people shut bins hoping to have it all to their own, bin hogs! In a bind, open up as many bins as you need to, till you find or make room). Most of the time they can't help with connections or moving your seat. I figure you are on your own when flying in the US (with the notable exception of Southwest, which has a brillant in-flight crew, applause). oh, domestic flight attendants who are on an internationally flight (ie New York to London) are fine, pleasant and good, but that is probably because they are very senior and like what they do.

International - Most international carrier flight attendants are ok - they will help you a bit more than your domestic carrier, but don't expect a lot. It depends on the carrier and culture of the carrier's country. Virgin's flight attendants suck. That's it, they are pretentious uppity girls who think they are da bomb when they are not. They suck. SAS has the sweetest flight attendants, who are always willing to give you a smile. I liked SAA's flight attendants as well, very helpful!

I grant you being a flight attendant is not always a fun job, the poor redheaded flight attendant on my trip back from Delhi was beyond patient despite getting the stupidest questions. But to my way of thinking, if you don't like your job, hell if you don't like people, this is not the career for you.