dutyfree

I am an international flight attendant with 35 years of service and I am writing about something that keeps occuring more frequently(read almost EVERY person) lately on all of my flights.
It seems that every passenger wears their headphones for video and audio comforts these days. However, whenever I stand directly in front of them or their row-I have to ask repeatedly what they would like to eat or drink over and over again before they finally remove their headphones. They see the various beverage or meal carts and yet they still ignore myself and others when we are speaking to them.Go figure?

Jeff_Costa_Rica

I don't suppose you're allowed to simply pass them by? Repeat your question once, and then move on if you don't get an answer. That's what I would do.

janisj

&quot;<i>I don't suppose you're allowed to simply pass them by? </i>&quot;

yeah - then you'll still have my choice available by the time you get back to my row

And as to why they don't take them off - because they are rude, self absorbed and their mothers didn't teach them no manners

Kay2

I do fault parents for not teaching their children manners and adults for tolerating rude behaviors by other adults.

We have students working as receptionists that we have to repeatedly tell to remove their earbuds--people walk up to the desk and wait....and they don't even know they are there. When the guest speaks, the receptionists are startled...not quite the greeting we wanted.

I know the drivers wearing them in their cars can't hear sirens or other warnings.

I go walking, jogging, and cycling on our local trails. Most of those with earphones ignore everyone else while almost everyone without earphones greets the people they meet.

I think I'm going to invest in a company that makes hearing aids--definitely a growth industry.

AAFrequentFlyer

<b>dutyfree</b>,

I do use headphones to listen to my favorite music and occasionally I fall asleep, but I'm sure you can tell the difference and move on to the next passenger.

At the same time, if I'm awake I get ready for the FA as soon as s/he is 1 row ahead or 1 row behind* me, taking orders. I do take them off and actually listen to what's being offered and make a decision before I get asked.

I have nothing but respect for FAs even though there are few that are average at best and lousy at worst. It's a tough job and I realize it. After flying million plus miles I realized that sometimes you folks have a bad day at work just like me on occasion.

*AA has FEBO policy.

<b>F</b> start taking orders from the <b>front</b> on
<b>E</b> <b>even</b> numbered flights

and

<b>B</b> start taking orders from the <b>back</b> on
<b>O</b> <b>odd</b> numbered flights


Reporting from beautiful Tobago, just arrived but unfortunately can't do anything because of very heavy rains. We'll be staying on the boat tonight, unless the rain stops....

RoamsAround

dutyfree - I'm sorry you have such ill mannered passengers. My spouse and I must be in the minority as we ALWAYS take our headphones off when the FA is taking orders or asking us a question. For us, it just wouldn't be polite to do otherwise.

wally34949

Can't you just write the message on the cart? I was on a Delta flight and I could see the flight attendants were a little annoyed when they kept asking what snack would you like.

rkkwan

I do the same as AAFF, except with my in-ear headphones, I'll often take the phone out of the ear towards the aisle so I can still hear music/movie from my other ear while I'll be able to hear the FA.

Seamus

One of the thigs I like about my Sony NC22's is the override button to temporarily turn them off. hat, and the fact that you can use them with or without the noise canceling feature.

dutyfree

My experience is only on the international flights as of late. I just am constantly amazed that they see the carts in economy or in business they see the F/A standing by them and leaning in to talk to them and they STILL don't remove the headsets.
In economy, the AVERAGE length of tries to get their attention to remove their headsets is 3.I am seriously thinking of making &quot;flip cards&quot; to use to get their attention because trying to do this repeatedly on a 777 is ridiculous! Thanks for letting me vent......

clevelandbrown

In my case removing an in-canal earpiece is not really easy, and I wouldn't really be able to hear you over the ambient noise anyway, even if you were willing to stand around while I dug out my hearing aid and installed it. It would work much better if you distributed printed menu's in advance, and let us mark our choices; less room for error, and saved time as you would not have to explain the choices to each person.

As for the niceties, I was taught that it is rude to intrude on someone's privacy or work until they acknowledge your presence. I would feel differently if this were a restaurant and the client ignored the waiter to listen to some music, or even to talk on a cellphone. But I don't think many people are misguided enough to spend hours on an airplane just to get a meal. So if they are wrapped up enough in what they are doing to not acknowledge you when to come by to peddle your wares, I think you should just not bother them.

dutyfree

Cleveland Brown-
Menus are passed first thing in business class so that passengers can review the selections and then the onboard leader goes around to decide WHEN and WHAT do they want to eat.We call this a part of &quot;customer service&quot; as we want each passenger in business class to &quot;have the flight THEIR way&quot;.
We used to pass menus in economy until a month ago however, we now say the selections over the PA several times to passengers as it reduces cost and paper for the environment.
I quess what I confused about is &quot;are you kidding with passengers marking their selections on food and drink in economy?&quot; Have you ever flown a plane with almost 300 people of all nationalities onboard lately?(We have difficulty with quite a few passengers filling out their immigration forms- both American and foreign). Do you realize the time and hassle it would be having marked menus? Most passengers DON'T even carry a pen or pencil with them when traveling.Its bad enough trying to accomodate 97 different special meals on a flight.
Your comment about &quot;I don't think many people are misguided enough to spend hours on an airplane just to get a meal&quot; is ridiculous.Have you ever flown 10-15 hours and NOT wanted to eat or drink? To some people that is the main excitement of flying besides the movie!If you &quot;move on and ignore them&quot; they are nasty;write letters about being ignored,etc.

Sorry but it is rude and typical about the way our society is headed these days.No please or thank you's and entitlement.Off my soapbox!

AAFrequentFlyer

<b>clevelanbrown</b>,

it's one thing to not want food or drinks and just acknowledge the FA and say &quot;no, thank you&quot;, but it's just rude to totally ignore the FA when it's clear s/he is standing in front of you and then bitch and moan when you see other people enjoying their meal and you believe that somehow you got omitted.

I believe that's what <b>dutyfree</b> is complaining about. It only takes couple of seconds to refuse whatever they are offering. That way the FA knows to move on. It's simple really. Your work or the movie you're watching will still be there.

janisj

Clevelandbrown: I'm semi-sure you didn't mean it the way is sounds. But if you did - sheesh!

So you were &quot;<i>taught that it is rude to intrude on someone's privacy or work until they acknowledge your presence.</i>&quot; . That sounds rude and quite self important - that the lowly FA is not worth your time . . .

And besides, you are slowing up service to the rest of us who WOULD like to eat.

DonTopaz

There's something about the tone of this post that bothers me. Maybe it's because I get the sense that the OP and I have different idea about the relationship between flight attendants and the people who are in the seats.

When I am in one of those seats, I expect to be treated as a customer. I expect to be treated with the same deference that I would treat one of my company's customers. If my customer does something that would be considered rude in a social environment (for example, not returning a call, or not responding to me immediately), I'd tend to be pretty forgiving. I might complain to my fellow workers in the coffee room, but I certainly would never complain to another customer, or in public.

Now, it might well be that the OP is one of those FAs who enjoys her work and does a creditable job. In my experience, that is much less likely to be the case if he/she works for a US-flag carrier than for an Asian carrier, especially, or most European carriers. Very simply, based on my flights (which are pretty extensive), FAs on non-US carriers work harder and treat customers with greater respect: they come through the cabin far more often, they respond to requests more readily, they are far more accommodating to customers whose primary language is not the language of the airline's country.

So, to the OP, in the unlikely event that you are working a cabin where I'm sitting, I'll propose a deal: I'll take out my earbud, as long as you think of me as a customer instead of 'passenger'.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

Except, rizzuto, that it's not a restaurant where you come in at your leisure, make your choices at your leisure and dine at your leisure. The flight attendants have a meal service to get through. &quot;Get through&quot; is the operative term. I'm sure there's a specific amount of time estimated for the service to occupy on any flight. It's not a la carte dining that goes on for the whole flight.

I think dutyfree's complaint, as AAFF mentions again above, is the people who don't have the decency to answer his/her question. That's downright rudeness on the part of the passenger.

Move on, I say. They get their meal when you wheel the cart back. If there are any left.

MiniMe

I've witnessed this happening on many flights-it's completely disrespectful to the FAs as well as fellow passengers patiently waiting for a drink or a snack.

We can argue semantics but on the plane, while you are the customer, you are still the passenger so I don't think you can bash the OP for referring to us as &quot;passengers&quot;.

I think of a bumper sticker I saw many years ago: &quot;Flight attendants are here to save your ass, not kiss it&quot;

Momliz

whether you are a customer, or a passenger, there is a human being standing in front of you, for goodness sakes! and so, that human being deserves respect. which means listening to that person, who, by the way, is trying to help you under very difficult conditions.

LoveItaly

Hi dutyfree, you would love me as a passenger as I can't stand wearing headphones so I don't. And I so respect the FA's on planes, I don't know how you all keep your sanity considering the rudeness of so many passengers. It seems to me that you should only have to address a passenger twice and if they don't respond so be it and you should be able to move on to the next passengers.

travelgourmet

<i>FAs on non-US carriers work harder and treat customers with greater respect: they come through the cabin far more often, they respond to requests more readily, they are far more accommodating to customers whose primary language is not the language of the airline's country.</i>

You should try Air France some time. Definitely the worst FAs I have ever encountered. Or try SAS, where I was told during the first drink service of an 11-hour flight to &quot;get what you need, because we won't be back.&quot; I'm willing to accept the claim that Asian carriers have better FAs, but wholeheartedly disagree that European carriers offer a better level of service, on average.

As to the OP... I do think you might be making a little bit too much out of this. Flying in coach is pretty darn unpleasant. Most people try to get through it by distracting themselves as much as they can. And it can be hard to tell when, exactly, the FA is going to get to you, so many people simply lose track of where you are. Yes, it appears a bit rude, by I think it is simply a case of being distracted. Certainly, it is annoying, but I suspect it is simply part of the job.