Air France.

A two-year-old's rude behavior is excusable. A professionals' rude behavior is never excusable

I don't have problems with AA's crews.

"a man walked on the plane with his suitcase near the end of the boarding process. He placed his suitcase near the front of the coach cabin and began walking to his seat."

Did he just leave a suitcase in the front while he walked to the back? Did he expect the FA to put it away for him???

"Perhaps when they turn off the "fasten seat belt sign" they could wait about ten minutes before starting the beverage service so people in the front rows of the coach cabin could use the toilet since the only toilet for these people on the MD80 and 737 aircraft is in the back of the plane."

Goodness, how often does one need to use the toilet? They have them in the airport terminals, you know. If you use the bathroom before getting on the plane, you shouldn't need to use it again the second the seat belt light goes off.

And I'm quite sure if the FA's waited 10 minutes so everyone could use the bathroom, people would start complaining about how long it took to get their pretzels and beverages.

I dont travel by air nearly as much as other posters do. However, lately I have been on AA and CO a good bit and no complaints toward either. By the way, I can't remember when was the last time I used the restroom on a domestic flight. Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think I ever have.

fortunately, i've had almost 100% good experiences with AA's attendents. i can tell when one of them is having a bad day, but never have i witnessed rudeness out of them. on the contrary, i've actually been given exceptionally caring service as a coach passenger on AA.

now i hate to participate in the blame game, but i've had negative customer-service experiences on NW and United. but those are two very troubled airlines. so i just avoid them as much as i can.

United Airlines, take 2. Because I dogged them previously I feel compelled to report my recent positive experience with United. I just returned from Aspen, CO where, on all legs of the departing and returning flights one week apart, there were moments I thought I was on Southwest. I saw the teeth of smiling, welcoming FA's and pilots, listened to jokes over the intercom and basically had an experience unlike any other on United.

That would be Mesa or Skywest for the Aspen segments, not UA mainline, so that explains two segments of the trip. Maybe it was them or another UX that got you to/from LAX or DEN for the ASE flights?

By and large my experience with FAs has been fine, or good. Particularly like Air NZ, JetBlue and BA. I know FAs have a hard and increasingly unrewarding job, so I'm always polite and try to make their job easier.

That said, the United route from SFO to Hawaii (which I've taken more or less yearly for the last 15 years) has always featured some pretty bitter and hardened FAs. No matter how nice or polite I am...they seem to be a terribly unhappy lot.

I think they are all pretty bad, but here are 2 recent experiences on 2 different airlines...

On a Miami-Belize City flight last month, my friend politely asked for a blanket. The FA snapped at her, then she (the FA) immediately got on the loudspeaker and pissily informed the whole plane that there were no blankets left and that "I'd suggest you bring a sweater next time if you think you'll be cold". While I agree with that statement, thought the delivery was pretty poorly handled. (American Air)

On a Salt Lake City-Kona, Hawaii flight week before last, the FA came over the intercom and quite rudely told everyone that if they hit their FA call button, "don't expect a response" b/c "we just tune them out". This was made quite obvious when I put my call button on and no one came by for two hours. (Delta)

Now I don't expect great service, but this situations were a little much, IMO!

Let me elaborate a bit--I don't expect great service, b/c I think the career itself is incredibly stressful, thankless in general, and underpaid. I try to be very polite and respectful to all FAs, because I think all people deserve to be treated the way I would want to be. And for the low prices for coach, I don't really care if the service is not excellent, as long as I can get a bottle of water if I need one and my elbow isn't broken when the cart comes by :)

But, really, I think some FAs need to evaluate if they are in the right field--IMO, it is a job that needs the kind of people who can be perky and friendly at most times. Continental FAs in general seem to be quite good at and happy in their chosen careers--not sure why some of the other domestic airlines cannot attract the same kind of people.

The Southwest Airlines cabin crew are all terrific, and often very funny.

My purpose for starting this thread was NOT to "badmouth American Airlines"--if I wanted to do that, I would have titled the thread, "American Airlines has the rudest flight attendants."

There are nicer ways to say things to people on a flight. Instead of getting on the Intercom and saying, "Sir, you can't put your 'junk' here," they can say, "sir in the green jacket, can I see you for a moment," and turn off the intercom.

The bottom line is many customers have switched to Jet Blue and Southwest Airlines. Several airlines have tried to copy these two airlines, however, it appears that they haven't tried to copy their friendly flight attendants.

I hope the executives of all airlines are flying in coach occasionally so they can see what is really happening. A smile and a good attitude goes a long way. An airline should not be losing passengers because of a rude flight attendant.

Yes, most of the flight attendants do a pretty darn good job. However, a little training that says don't take your stress out over the intercom would be recommended for the other 10%.

I don’t know who has the rudest but the only DRUNK flight attendant I’ve ever seen was on AA. Despite having to strap her into a seat and do her work the other FAs were polite. They hustled her into the back after hitting my husband with the drink cart twice and not giving him a meal. And, no, she wasn't just "not feeling well" she was soused! They let her up after the plane landed and she was cleaning up the seats - muttering and throwing things in a trash bag.

I have flown with Air Canada American,Aloha,America West,British Airways,British Midland,Brittania,Delta,Easyjet,Emirates,Icelandai r,KLM,Monarch,Northwest,Reno Air,United,Virgin and some that i cannot remember,and i have yet to meet a rude or unpleasant flight attendant.
Perhaps i have been very,very lucky or maybe if you are nice, they are nice.
But then again,maybe i was lucky.
Colin

I think Northwest has the rudest flight attendants and counter personnel. I think Song Airline (now no longer) was a 2nd to that.

American is getting pretty intolerable, but they are still ok.

I think Alaska Airlines has the nicest staff, crew and attendants.

All my personal opinion, based on personal experiences.

Wally,

I hate to tell you this but we flew first class from Los Angeles to Heathrow and we couldn't believe how rude and uninformed the AA flight attendants were. We had never flown First before, we used miles, and were so excited. But the flight attendants were rude and it took forever to serve dinner. A person who sat next to me was surprised at the bad service too and he flew First class all the time. My husband couldn't sit next to me because the seat was broken and no one knew how to work the video or seats. I spilt a drink and had to go to the galley to get towels...because the flight attendants ignored me. But I must admit I liked the flat seats.

Now on Delta when the strike was possibly happening, I had the best service and friendlest flight attendants that I have ever had...

Marjean, I'm really sorry to hear that. I hope you complained. I always fly Business to LHR & the FA's are always great.

Carrybean,

We did write a letter but never heard from AA. Not very good customer service. At least the trip back from LHR was better.

That's awful. I've never flown first class and it's a shame that your experience was ruined. It would probably bother me most that I couldn't sit with my husband.

That's odd that you haven't heard from them. Did you email through their site? If not, try that. You might have had an outdated mail address. I've always heard from them whenever I've written. Good luck!