Passenger Interrupts FA’s Party

December 19, 2010

in Attendant & Pilot Stories

I was flying Qantas on a flight from SYD to LAX. I was, of course, in cattle class. Midway through the flight I went up to the galley to request a coffee. There were 3-4 FA’s in there having an uproarious chat about something or other. I asked if I could get a coffee and one of the trolly-dollies looked at me, sighed, and said “We’re kinda busy right now, mate, we’ll get to you when we have a chance. Come back in ten or fifteen minutes, okay?”

I went back in 20 minutes and they were still at it, laughing and carrying on, having a gay old time. I again asked for a coffee and this time one of the male flight attendants said “Dude, go back to your seat and we’ll bring it in a few minutes.” I gave him my seat number, which he just nodded at, then went back. A few minutes later he came down the aisle with a cup of coffee. “You wanted this?” he snarled. I nodded my head and he replied: “Well, pull your tray table down – or do you want it in your lap?”

I complained to the head FA (or whatever they’re called) at the end of the flight, but she couldn’t have been less interested – yawning, she told me to write a letter to the airline as there was nothing she could do.

Will I fly Qantas again? Guess.

{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }

John Pelly December 19, 2010 at 1:57 pm

That's fairly bloody indifferent, but not as scary as it gets.

I rode on an EVAS Air Charters flight from Gander, Newfoundland a while back, and the Captain appeared to have a hang over (i.e., gurgle-gurgle-gurgle-beer-beer-beer). He was all over the place, and the landing was so hard I'm surprised he never tore the undercart off the damn thing. If I go out of Gander again, I'm going to hitch-hike.

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Les December 19, 2010 at 7:37 pm

Remember the cute little koala that was in Qantas commercials? He didn't like Qantas either!!

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Qantas lover December 20, 2010 at 5:52 am

I lived in SYD for a few years on an ex-pat assignment and flew Qantas exclusively during that time racking up well over 300,000 FF points. Whether I was flying domestically or internationally (covered HKG, SGP and TWN as well as AUS), I never experienced ANYTHING like what this poster is talking about. I always found the customer service agents (not called FAs) to be professional, courteous and would go out of their way to help ANY passenger whether they were setaed in First, Business or Coach.

I still fly Qantas when I return to my home-away-from-home even though Delta flies to SYS these days. Qantas is one of the best airlines I've ever flowing and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone!

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mick December 20, 2010 at 12:21 pm

You must be one of the lucky ones, because I have read quite a few reviews of the rudeness and "uppityness" of QF FAs. My own experience was just another addition…

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Dina December 20, 2010 at 1:23 pm

I've only flown Qantas a couple times, but I did experience a similar level of stupid, unfortunately. I've heard it's gone downhill in recent years, which might explain the original commenter's experience (if s/he isn't a Qantas shill).

They'd better step up, though, since they've got much more competition in the market than they used to (once was only United and Qantas, now Delta and V Australia are in the mix too). United is shite too, and I'm seriously considering V Australia for my next flight home.

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Dina December 20, 2010 at 1:25 pm

(I should say that that's for the SYD – LAX/SFO route. Obviously they have much more competition for Asia!)

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James December 21, 2010 at 6:50 am

I just heard from a friend of a variant of a flight from hell from SYD-USA. He's United elite and booked a premium economy aisle. At Sydney airport, he was upgraded. Then, on the plane, he was informed the upgrade was a "mistake" and his original seat was re-assigned, and ended up in a middle seat that didn't recline because of the galley behind it.

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Dina December 21, 2010 at 2:13 pm

Holy crap, that's terrible. D:

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rerere December 20, 2010 at 4:38 pm

I am assuming you will fly Qantas again?

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mick December 24, 2010 at 11:37 pm

Sure.

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Troy December 28, 2010 at 2:51 am

I am Australian and I can tell you that there CAN be a very subtle condescension in being called Mate by a female. And if this story is true I would have been very irritated and wouldn't have been ashamed to let them know it. My own experience on Qantas has always been very good even if sometimes they appear to be just going through the motions.

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Tim December 29, 2010 at 7:22 pm

QANTAS = QUEER AND NASTY, TRY ANOTHER SERVICE

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Troy December 30, 2010 at 4:21 pm

That's a bit unfair, they are the oldest airline in the English speaking world and have never lost a passenger on any commercial jet flight, that has to count for something. The day will come when jet will fly between any two destinations on Earth nonstop which will make many of Qantas' flights the longest in the world.

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mick December 30, 2010 at 11:53 pm

They may have never lost a passenger, but they are (and have been, in the past 10 years or so) having a **lot** of "near-misses", when it comes to flight safety – like the recent engine blow-up in mid-flight, and a myriad of engine faults, resulting in aircraft having to turn back after take-off. There is talk here of Qantas' cutting back on aircraft maintenance and of their contracting it out to overseas maintenance crews. They are getting a very bad name over here now, to sum it all up.

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rerere December 31, 2010 at 10:07 am

That wasn't Qantas's falt though. They actually found traces of oil where it wasn't supposed to be in the Rolls Royce engines of the Singapore Airlines A380.

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Bull Herman December 8, 2012 at 8:34 pm

That means of course, that one day Qantas, or Quackass, will indeed lose a passanger or two, or an entire plane load. Hopefully never though.

PSA, the planes with a smile on the nose, was the best, had the best FA's, and was the most fun. Southwest took their playbook, but only runs it on the cheap compared to PSA's. PSA was a San Diego CA original. But it was sucked up into US Air…

AirCalifornia was also another oldie but goodie…

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Troy January 3, 2011 at 12:32 am

Where do you mean by "here"? I can't help but believe you though. I remember as a boy what a sense of pride we had for our national airline when Qantas was owned by the Aus. Government and the maintenance was carried out here, so if anything went wrong it was no ones fault but our own. Now all responsibility is delegated to the four corners in usual corporate fashion.

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mick January 7, 2011 at 10:51 pm

"Here" = Australia. And, yes, you are spot on, in your comments about Qantas' reputation when it was government-owned – I remember those days and what a real pleasure it was to fly with them. Nowadays, though, they're just in the business of shipping cattle from one point to another – or so their service would indicate.

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