The flight attendant should not have done what he did, but neither should the passenger.
People sit around and say they don't understand why service has gone downhill and why complaints are up. It's a complex issue, but there are a couple key points that I saw over the years. The first is people just like this passenger who think they are above the rules. And it's not just the airlines, you see this everywhere. But for some reason people think that they now have the right to treat the agents however they want to. So imagine working an 8 hour day with flight delays and there is nothing you can do, and having people treat you like it's your fault alone.
And I still am good friends with many of the people I worked with who are still out there on the front lines. There are many good examples of this crap. Yesterday one of them had a lady come up about to read him the riot act because security had turned her around to go back and check a bag. Apparently in all her time of flying nobody had told her that her purse was a personal item and counted. So with that and two other bags she could not go through. Granted that sort of thing is loosely enforced, but that is the TSA, not the airline.
On the side of complaints, I don't think the number problems has increased over the last 15 years as people think. What has changed is the number of people who complain. The biggest reason why is that 15 years ago you didn't have email and online complaint areas. You had to actually make the call or write the letter and put a stamp on it. By then many people cool of and don't send it. How many complaints today start with something like "as I sit here at the gate...."
Another big issue is people don't take personal responsibility. Example: I had more than one occasion working the baggage claim where someone would be there from the wrong airline and should have been on the other side of the airport. That can happen, but the problem is these people would get upset and start cussing me out. I actually had one that was starting to get physically threatening. Why? I didn't walk you down there. It's not my fault you can't read the sign.
Also I don't get the complaints where people just insist that no boarding announcements were made and they got left off of the flight. Yet somehow everyone else magically knew it was time to get on the plane. And this guy is the only one who got left. But they still insist they were at the gate in time (couldn't have been in the bar where I just saw you walk out of...)
And I know that some of this sounds bitter, but again, you try working in those situations where people do that to you and you will get bitter.
It's also amazing what people want compensation for. They want their full ticket refunded because someone looked at them sideways.
I think as has been said that the JetBlue flight attendant did what many of us have been tempted to do. Doesn't make it right, but the increasingly bad attitude and treatment by the passengers over the years has done this to the agents. Do I blame the passengers? Damn right I do. I have seen so many agents who started out on the job happy as can be and happy to come to work, only to be soured over the years. It used to be that people would dress up to fly and such. Now it's all Greyhound with wings.
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