Alaska Air's Rude Manner
 

After spending 9 days in Alaska together with my two sons (6 & 7), we took 3 connection flights from Fairbanks to Miami.Alaska Air is the airline for the first flight (45 minutes) from Fairbanks to Anchorage.Alaska Air was also the most uncivil, discourteous, unpleasant and rude one I have ever encountered. First of all, the entire ceiling storage belonging to my 3 seats was taken by other passengers. In spite of the fact that I have to take care of my two sons, the flight attendant showed total indifference to help resolve the storage problem. When I put my backpack on the floor underneath the seat, obviously, not in the way the flight attendant liked, the flight attendant demanded the pilot to stop the plane on the tarmac and even threatened me if I didn't obey her instruction, she would have my 2 sons and myself excluded from the flight. Such irrational and hysterical abuse of power would never happen to any other airlines. The exclusive flying rights over Alaska may play a role in their flight attendants' rude manner. Do you have a choice? Will I take Alaska Air again? <BR><BR>Armstrong Wong<BR>Hong Kong

Can't comment on your situation but I will say this about Alaska airlines (and I've flown on them a dozen plus times). On my last flight I tried to call their 800# to ask customer service something about my flight the day before it left and literally I called 42 times between 5 am on a Monday and 1am the next morning and NEVER got through to a life person. The SHORTEST waiting time the automated service announced was 27 minutes! And I DID wait over 20 minutes that time but finally got another call coming in and had to give up. It was infuriating as not a single person seemed to be working answering phones at all that day or night. When I told the Alaska person at the airport all she said is "no one else has complained". Like it's normal?

With regard to the overhead storage of "your" seats, that doesn't really exist. Many times people who are boarding in the back will fill up the front storage bins. You don't give a lot of detail but for example, if everyone is not in their seats with seat buckles on the plane cannot move. The same is true for stowage of luggage. There is a difference between "irrational" and "required".

Armstrong: Was that flight attendant's name Gretchen?

i have flown alaskan many times from the states to canada and have always had excellent flights and they are often the cheapest. i find callling ANY airline's customer service these days is a test of patience. i think with all the on-line booking they have cut their staff a lot. i dread it if i ever have to call.

You are the kind of traveler that makes everybody Mad. You Whine when you can't get what you want and you use your kids to justify your complaining. Go with the flow. Nobody gets it like they want all the time. I had a great experience on Alaska Air....and did not run into complainers like you.

Gretchen ([email protected]), because the ceiling storage bin for seats 22d, e, and f was taken entirely by other passengers, I did put my Lowe Alpine backpack on the floor, which posed no hazard whatever. Nonetheless,the flight attendant didn't like the way because it's not the "completely" underneath the prior seat. Then, that's irrational! And, for that alone, she stopped the plane. That's hysterical. <BR>She even accused me for delaying the flight. The truth is that flight AS180 (July 26) arrived in Fairbanks at least 20 minutes late. Is her accusation fair?<BR><BR>zzz ([email protected]), thanks for reminding me that I should have jotted down the discourteous flight attendant's name. In that moment, my focus was my two sons' well being. I tried my best to avoid any escalation and confrontation in spite of the flight attendant's constant provocation.<BR><BR>been there ([email protected]), you only expressed your biasd view. Most passengers on the plane won't share your view. What I want was just cabinent space,for which every passenger is rightly entitled for. Were you a father taking your children to travel in foreign countries such as China, you could have viewed my situation with more understanding. Was I my demand too excessive? I can only speak my for own traveling experiences for the last 20 years. I took almost all major airlines in the world. If you had tried Cathay Pacific, Singapore, JAL, Korea Air, British Air...etc. you could have agreed with me that some Alaska Air's flight attendants are exceedinly discourteous and ungracious especially when you had eye-withnessed the situation in the first place.<BR><BR>I paid my full price Alaska Air tickets and expected reasonable services, including but not limited to, adequate storage bin space. This is neither a favor nor something extra.<BR><BR>What would I benefit from "using" my two sons while paying expensive air tickets for them to explore Alaska? Now they felt about the racial discrimination themselves. Definitely we won't visit Alaska again thanks to the Alaska Air.<BR><BR>Armstrong Wong<BR>Hong Kong

Got news for you--it has to be completely under the seat by FAA regulations and what the flight attendant was according to the rules. The flight cannot take off if it isn't.<BR>

Gretchen ([email protected]), if it's FAA's regulation, it might be a new one. I'll look it up on FAA's website. When taking our next flights, I'll make sure it's completely underneath the prior seat. Gretchen , thanks for your info. <BR>During the unfortunate moment, I could only base upon my 20 years' flying travel experiences with almost all major airlines including NW, UA and AA, with which I have never had any trouble.<BR>Again, it's a matter of Alaska Air's flight attendant's poor communication skill. She could have explained it to me like you do. My backpack contained a notebook for my travel GPS calculation and weather forecast, and 4L of water for my painful gout foot. Therefore, it could only 75% underneath the prior seat. The flight refused to listen my explanation about my medical condition. She could be legally correct. Definitely, she's very rude and uncompassionate. She could have been more helpful to treat her needy customers. The storage was a simple technical issue, but she solved it by abusive shouting commands.<BR><BR>Would you enjoy being shouted at?<BR><BR>Armstrong Wong<BR>Hong Kong

My daughter is a flight attendant--a truly lovely young woman. She has had to yell at passengers who would not comply with rules/orders. These attendants are put on airplanes for your safety ONLY. They are not food servers. It is your safety and the safety of the plane that is their total responsibility.

Sorry Gretchen it's part of flight attendant's job description to serve drinks, meals and to be courteous to the passengers and to ensure safety. If they can't be courteous they should get in another line of work. AND, no one likes to be screamed at. There are ways to deal with people without having to scream at them. Most people laugh or tune someone out who screams at them, look at your kids, if you scream at them, they don't mind any better do they???

Armstrong-Write to the CEO of Alaska Airlines, include flight number etc. and state what you have said here. Good luck.

I totally agree they should be courteous. I wonder EXACTLY what this person's demeanor was--he tells his side very well as being just a victim. I think if it went so far as to have the pilot stop the taxiing it might not have been so "innocent" in his refusal to obey an order. And he can indeed be removed from the plane for it. And yes, FA's do serve drinks, etc. but it is NOT their primary role--just to split that hair a bit further. I know you will be relieved to know--I'm done.

Gretchen is correct in stating that the back pack must be completely under the seat and it is an FAA regulation. If something happens or the plane hits turbulence, if the backpack isn't under the seat, it turns into a flying weapon.

Doesn't matter if the backpack was fully under the seat or not the Flight Attendant has no right to yell at anyone and should be reprimanded. There are ways to deal with the public without having to resort to screaming fits. And, Frequent Flyer is correct, if you can't handle it and be courteous get in another line of work where you don't have to deal with the public....

the backpack had to be under the seat only during take off and landing then you can take it out.<BR> I have flown alaska many times and their service has gone to hell in a hand basket even in first class. We went to Mexico in May and were in first class and the FA did'nt serve anything after the 1st hour or so(we were still in mexico air space) until we were almost to San Francisco, She was in the galley reading something. Going down was fine. Once in a while you'll get an upbeat FA thats fun. On one flight i asked the FA about the service and she said i'm from the old school where service was a prority. She stated now the FA's have gotten lazy.

If some FA screamed at me for whatever reason I would raise so much hell that person would be in the unemployment line. And if the FA's are too lazy to do their job now makes you wonder what would happen in a real crisis. Ten to one, they wouldn't be able to handle it.

Let's face it the airlines hire Flight Attendants because of their looks and they are required to do the little spiel on safety which is a joke by the FAA. If the airlines were really serious about safety they would hire EMT's or ex-military who are trained in emergency management. But that would probably cost them too much. Flight Attendants are window dressing, nothing more, nothing less.

Armstrong, you have every right to be mad. No one has a right to yell at you since you're not a kid and they should treat you with respect. You are paying their wages. It's their job to help you find storage space because some bin hog took the ones above your seats. It's their job to be courteous and respectful of the people paying their salary. <BR><BR>As for the posters who think you're irrational for complaining, don't pay them any attention. If you got poor service, then definitelyt have your voice heard. (been there [email protected])probably has stock in the company or something since he's so anti complaint. I bet he's never had a bad experience on a flight.<BR><BR>Keep up the fight and I hope something changes.

Just a question--since people with children board first, why were all the bins filled?

I've logged hundreds of thousands of miles in the custody of Alaska Airlines and I've not encountered this sort of treatment; quite the contrary, I've found the AS cabin crews to be a cut above the other carriers for the most part. I have to think your experience is not only unusual, it's nearly unique. It frankly sounds as if the FA in question was having some serious emotional problems and you were just the unlucky recipient of her acting out. My wife was on a flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco a few years back when one of the FAs apparently had a bad reaction to some hallucinogenic drug and started duck-walking up the aisle, with her feet on the aisle seat armrests. In this case the other attendents grabbed her and secured her for the 10 hours remaining in the flight (she was talking to some unseen person part of the time, then asleep.) I suppose you could blame the airline for one employee's misbehavior, but condemning the whole corporation for an isolated incident seems unnecessary.<BR><BR>(My personal complaint with AS is the little prayer they include with your meal. Whether or not one agrees with the religious principles of the CEO, I don't think preaching to the ultimate captive audience is a particularly smart business move.)<BR><BR>Armstrong, have you actually contacted the airline about this, or just posted it on the Fodors bulletin board? If you really want to bring it to the attention of someone who might be in a position to do something about it (maybe for you, maybe with their HR staff) try this URL: http://www2.alaskaair.com/company/commitment/AS_CSC/commitment_as16.asp<BR><BR>If you've already done so, what was the result?

In this era of post 9-11, maybe they need to replace the cute little flight attendants with trained security personnel or keep the FA's to serve drinks only.

Seems to me that this whole thing could have been avaoided if you'd just put the pack in another overhead compartment. Why didn't you do that? Was this the first time in 20 years of flying that the space above your seat was full? If so, you've been luckier than most people.

xyz-He stated the overheads were full. Even if his backpack did stick out that is NO excuse for any Flight Attendant to start sreaming at a passenger, I don't care if they are having a bad day or not. As a passenger you can't say anything negative about the crew without getting thrown off. FA's are hired to be courteous if they aren't get rid of them.

Seems to me that you were toally wrong.<BR><BR>However, the flight attendant should have been courteous to you ..unless you were not responding.<BR><BR>If I were on a flight and someone was not obeying the flight attendant, I'd wnat them off the plane too.

Sorry Flight Attendants should NOT be shouting at passengers. Furthermore, it was her job to help him stow his bag....

Give it a rest Armstrong. You are probably just another one of the many spoiled yuppie types who think the entire world is there to cater to them (and their spoiled kids). I doubt if the FA really yelled at you, she probably had enough of you (and the kids) not following instructions. Your precious backpack goes completely under the seat in front. Completely. Them's the rules.<BR>

Perhaps what Armstrong calls shouting was actually a firm voice in an attempt to get your attention and demonstrate the NEED to obey her.<BR><BR>I'd like to hear the flight attendants impression of you/

Jack, he only said that the overhead over his seat was full. Happens all the time, you just find another overhead.

Flight attendants are hired because of their looks??? Where might these FA's be located, I'll book the next flight on their airline! The FAs on Delta and most other major airlines are old, fat, rude and not in the least bit attractive. I would love to have a flight with some young, attractive, service-oriented, smiling FA's -- like the model types they have on Air France.

It is NOT the FA's job to help the pax stow carry on luggage. As an FA, it astounds me how many people want me to lift their heavy carry ons. Not a chance.

XXX-<BR><BR>That's fine, assuming you work for Air France. ;)

Alaska Airlines puts a little prayer in with your meals? Let's have details -- I live on the East Coast and will probably never fly AS, but I've got to hear about this!

The prayer is a little printed page with a passage usually from the Old Testament (Psalms or Proverbs most often) stuck under the plate on the dinner tray. AS says it's a longstanding practice and they're not about to change it. (The scripture appears to be a King James extract - God is a He, etc.)<BR><BR>I don't mind the sentiments, but what if you're a Buddhist or Hindu? <BR><BR>For what it's worth, Hilton hotels used to have a similar bit of personal religious philosophy, signed by Conrad Hilton, in each of their rooms, along with the Gideon Bible. Thanks, Conrad, I'll remember to love my brother while I'm taking him to the cleaners at the business meeting tomorrow.<BR><BR>It's their plane and they can put what they want on the dinner tray I suppose. I just hope they don't include something from Jerry Falwell if there's a management change. But I think in this age of snippy passengers looking for something to complain about it's not the swiftest move on the airline's part.

John, I can answer that since I'm a practicing Buddhist. If I found a prayer under my meal tray on a flight I wouldn't feel offended. IMO people are perfectly entitled to their spiritual beliefs, and as long as they aren't ... well, ramming it down my throat there's no reason to get bent out of shape about it. Buddhists don't believe that the Buddha was a god anyway, he was just a normal guy who became enlightened.

John, I'm not so sure I agree with your statement: "It's their plane and they can put what they want on the dinner tray I suppose." <BR><BR>It may be THEIR plane, but if I'M paying for seat, that changes things a bit, don't you think? Of course, if they'd like to let me fly for free, they can place anything they want on my food tray.

I personally would find it disconcerting to find scripture under my plate. An airline deals with people of all beliefs and faiths and as such, should be neutral, imho. <BR><BR>I don't believe in wholly in scripture and would be somewhat taken aback and put off by this. It is to me, passing off your beliefs on another. However, being the agnostic that I am, I would probably go for the cheapest flight costs and throw away the scripture, eat my meal, and not worry about it too much. Except for a laugh.

Jason ([email protected]), thanks for your kind words. At that moment, in light of post-9/11, I tried my best to avoid confrontation and escalation in order to minimize inconvenience caused to other passengers.The 50-year old FA could have explained to me that it's a FAA regulation. Instead, her yelling impressed me that it's only her own arbitrary rule. She clearly indicated either I complied with her demand or she could stop the plane. "End of discussion" was her only explanation. She did ask the pilot to stop the plane. She even threatened me to throw myself and my two sons out of the plane. She constantly manufactured crises, one after another just because a simple storage problem. Apparently neither the pilots nor othe FAs took her seriously.<BR><BR>Jen ([email protected]), I did send an email to Alaska Air to file a complaint. As of today, I received no word from Alaska Air.<BR><BR>Gretchen ([email protected]), you're welcome to find out the actuality of the unfortunate incident which took place on AS180 15:36 July 26 (Friday).<BR><BR>Sue ([email protected]), no, the children boarding first policy wasn't honored because we had to go through strigent security search. As a matter of fact, the search was so thorough that we were the last ones boarding on the plane. To be exact, we went through 3 separte security searches--ticket counter, terminal entrance, and boarding gate.<BR><BR>xyz ([email protected]), obviously some passenger(s) carried excessive baggages on board. All ceiling storage cabins were occupied. I could only manage to insert a camera bag and a luggage on two separate cabins by removing some pillows. That's exactly how the incident occurred. Whether the FAA rule applys depends upon who you're. <BR><BR>Thanks for your valuable remarks, which help me understand how other would perceive the incident. Many thanks again.<BR><BR>Sincerely,<BR>Armstrong Wong<BR>Hong Kong

I mentioned the Gideon Bible for reference. They're universal, but I don't need to (and don't) open it up. The AS prayer is pretty innocuous but it's different from the Gideon Bible in that you can't ignore it, it's between you and your mystery meat. I just don't think preaching, no matter how inoffensive it is, is smart business in America nowadays. This is a big diverse country and people are very attuned to their rights under the First Amendment. And of course it's their plane and you can always choose another carrier. Unless you live in Juneau, Sitka, Wrangell, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Kotzebue.....

Perhaps if we all traveled with less carry on baggage these problems would be eliminated. Its still obscene to me what some passengers get away with taking on board in the form of "carry-on" baggage these days. Even with the tightening up of carry on pieces after 911, some people still don't get it. Sure its a hassle to check bags, but it is also a hassle to have no space available in the overheads or to have someone smack you in the head when they walk by with their so-called"carry-on".