Flight: athens
Date – 20th March
The aviation industry has rapidly evolved and is a booming sector despite the economic turmoil. The revolution in the transportation industry has paved way for mass and rapid movement of people and goods (cargo) globally, even to the most remote corners of the earth. The products and services differ with each airline, where the low cost carriers even sell water and blankets, while other commercial carriers focus on giving more to the customers for the worth of what they pay.
Some airlines which are not low in cost, yet cheaper in quality wouldn’t offer much for the price, e.g. maybe the entertainment system is
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crappy where on a 7 hour flight you have to stare at a blank screen or the same programme, the food wouldn’t taste right, and most of all the airhostesses couldn't care less. Many airlines today have identified that investing on customer care training for their front liners is very important, for at the end of the day, despite the newer aircrafts, products or food, what brings people back is a genuine human smile. It can be as little as the moment they see a passing airhostess stop to throw a blanket over a sleeping little child, or a moment they sort out your problem, or simply the moment they say “Enjoy your meal!”
Unfortunately despite a lot of training, good examples and bad attitudes do crop up. There are some airhostesses who forget that their “hard earned” money comes from continuous business; faithful passengers. It is sad to see and hear that some crew members treat passengers with an attitude that is out of this world. Most of them define economy class as the cattle class, retort even at the simplest requests, and don't respect different cultures. It is definitely not an easy job and it can be frustrating to handle requests from hundreds of people, but that’s what an airhostess signs up for when they claim in their interview “I love people, I am a people person!” Cabin crew is a profession tied up with high emotional labour, it is pertinent to get involved in stress relieving activities during one's day off; a relaxing spa treatment, gym or good music can help override the pent up hatred, anger or frustration of not being able to speak your mind.
Bumping into some crew members from a rival airline, it was clear that the recruitment team did well in picking up beautiful girls as their airhostesses but hadn't picked the right personalities. There they were, bunched together at the airport, laughing out loud at an old lady who was trying to figure out how the vending machine worked. The poor lady looked perplexed, and too shy to ask for help, and probably overheard the rude comments some of the airhostesses were making. While passing her to our boarding gate, some of us couldn’t help noticing that she needed assistance and we stopped for a brief chat.
This small gesture made her very happy and she sighed “I WISH I was travelling back with you ladies!” We could see that the next time she would be flying with us and not with the hot headed, haughty ones who couldn’t care less that they'd lost one more passenger to another airline. After all, beauty is just skin deep, whether it is above 30,000 ft or back on ground, being human is far more important!
Love, Dany
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