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Survey Suggests American Airlines Has Rudest Employees Among Domestic Carriers
According to a recent Airfarewatchdog study, a preponderance of surveyed travelers think that of domestic air carriers, American Airlines has the "rudest employees." United was a close runner-up, followed by Delta.Ranking last (which in this case, means winner) is a four-way tie, between Alaska, JetBlue, Frontier and Virgin America. Hmm. Seems budget airlines know how to bring it.
Here's the full list polled in alphabetical order:
AirTran 4%
Alaska 2%
Allegiant 3%
American 25%
Delta 18%
Frontier 2%
JetBlue 2%
Spirit 10%
Southwest 6%
United 21%
US Airways 12%
Virgin America 2%
Our friends at Airfarewatchdog run these unofficial consumer surveys every now and then and this is a great snapshot of the general consumer psyche. Bear in mind though, this data is unsubstantiated and unverified, so take it with a grain of salt. In our experience, most of the airline employees regardless of the airline are pretty darn chipper.
[Photo credit: Flickr user Fabird Blue]
Filed under: Business, North America, United States, Airlines, Budget Travel, News, Airline Reviews, Luxury Travel
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 6)
LAURA Dec 13th 2012 6:23PM
While its true that these employees are dealing with the public who are demanding, obnoxious,loud,and just out right rude, as employees that serves the public, the customer is always right. Customer Service is no longer part of the vocabulary for most companies these days. Its a shame that its not implimented in some job description. Its in the hand book but it definitely is not mandatory. These airlines feel as though their entitled to charge the amount of monies for fares,luggage,etc. Well then their entitled to teach their employees suck it up and deal with the customer with care and with much respect, no matter how the customer's behavior is. Inservice these employees how to diffuse a situation and you'd catch more bees with honey than you would with vinegar. I've been in the business that deals with the public for many years and I have yet to been disrespected, yelled at but nothing to where I needed reenforcements. Without customers you would not have jobs.
Roadie Dec 13th 2012 6:27PM
You can count American International in this as well , I will never fly them again
smkiss Dec 13th 2012 6:37PM
These numbers are totally meaningless, unless they are put in the context of the number of flights for the airlines. It is not surprising that the airlines with the most flights would garner the most complaints and that the airlines with the fewest flights would have the fewest complaints. What percentage of flyers have even seen a plane from Allegiant, or Frontier, or Virgin America, much less flown on one? If you want to provide something useful, tell us what percent of a given airline's customers were dissatisfied with the service they received. Also, don't presume that the people that took the airfarewatchdog survey are representative of the flying public as a whole. Better yet, don't waste my time with stupid articles like this.
CORTNEY Dec 13th 2012 6:50PM
I flew United when I was 8 months pregnant and the attendant wouldn't assist me with getting my bag into the overhead compartment. She had one thing to say and that was "I'm not the one who packed it". TRUE lol but that's not very good customer service if you ask me....and it really wasn't that heavy. I had several individuals on that flight who insisted in helping me when the plane landed. Thanks United for your wonderful hospitality :) NOT!
Nicole Dec 14th 2012 8:01AM
not to be rude but UA FAs are highly encouraged NOT to lift baggage. they do not get workers comp if they get injured while doing so. if you can't work you don't get paid and a lot of FAs rather not take that chance.
Sue Dec 13th 2012 9:22PM
I'm surprised your doctor let you fly at 8 months pregnant. Most won't after 7 months. Or isn't that the only part of your post that's not quite the truth?
Steve Dec 13th 2012 7:26PM
I choose to fly Southwest. Their employees are competent, friendly and make the entire flight experience as good as they can, despite most flights being full. I to assume that they like their job and company and most importantly, the mechanics are also happy.
Fresnokuv Dec 13th 2012 7:14PM
US Airways should have two ratings. The former America West employees are great at working with customers and providing service. The former US Airways flight crews are a bunch of jerks that think they are doing you a favor by being on board. As a ferquent flyer with them, I can immediately spot the difference.
Hannah Dec 13th 2012 7:17PM
I completely agree with this survey's results. One time when I was flying back to Massachusetts from Florida, I experienced a very unsettling event while boarding an American Airlines flight. A man who could spoke very little english seemed to have gotten lost from the rest of his party and needed to find his gate (I'm guessing his flight was flying out soon, since he was in a panic). He showed the flight attendant who was helping board passengers on the plane his ticket, pointing directly to the gate he needed to get to. The flight boarding attendant was not courteous at all, and was not willing to try and communicate with him. Many of the boarding flyers asked the attendant to try and find someone who could communicate with him and she responded with "No one speaks his language here". A couple minutes later, someone from the line begin to speak to the man in his native language and direct him to where he needed to go. The fact that the attendant did not assist this man or even try to find someone who could communicate with him is horrible. "No one speaks his language here", is a incredibly ignorant response; obviously someone did speak his language.
les Dec 13th 2012 7:28PM
I have flown all over the world.I would have to say ali buba air is the worst.Those dam turbens stink and they never shower.Next time i will try flyin carpet airways.I hear they give you free food with every carpet burn.
Steven Dec 13th 2012 7:36PM
I think the problem is that the Rudest Travelers fly American, United, and Delta...It's not a perfect world and if you don't like these airlines, then don't fly them...Everyone who does, will have a much more pleasant flying experience...
KJLargo Dec 13th 2012 7:33PM
Flight Attendants are not suppose to stow bags, they are to make sure that the bags are stowed. You brought them from your house into the car, through the airport and now on the plane. Continue with your good job! Flight Attendants work long days and put up with people who put their feet all over the seats, mess in seat back pockets, talk loudly on cell phones, ring call bells to extreme, crying babies, small area to work, 400 pound cart, passengers steal and can't turn off electronic devices. Check their brains at security. Sheep mentality.
neil gulati Dec 13th 2012 7:39PM
americans are in general rude people. airline attendants are the worst
tim schultz Dec 14th 2012 7:11AM
It is pretty easy to tell from reading these emails who are the last ones to turn off there phones and put over sized bags in the overheads. Rude people wanting to be treated nicely.
ME Dec 13th 2012 8:33PM
The headline states "rudest employees" was there a specific group? Why don't they post the survey completely? There are many people you interact with at an airlines. Flight attendants are a small percentage. First, you book your ticket maybe even talk to a reservationist, someone at the counter for baggage or check-in, the GATE people are my pet peeves, pilot may greet you, then attendant baggage claim, customer service. If you haven't had a good experience this makes very testy passenger(s) and less tolerant to a "I also had a bad day attendant". All I can do is smile smile and make a day good........if you really want to have a good day find a way to make someone else smile. Give an employee a small gift (candy) GC for coffee/bev with a note.. " in case your day is as bad as mine".... it has worked for me!!!!!
jplgdapl Dec 13th 2012 7:44PM
Why only domestic carriers? I'm sorry but European airlines are usually much nicer, though there are some good employees at domestic ones. But anyway, I've been on United it has truly horrible customer service. They really don't care about the customers.
Bonnie Dec 13th 2012 7:54PM
Unfortunately, airlines are having their employees do more work with less pay and no back up. In past years, there were more flight attendants to do the work on each flight. Now, there are more passengers crammed into smaller areas with nowhere to go and the "more passengers" ask for more. It isn't unusual for one person to ask for 3 beverages at one time, then within a half hour, ask for 3 more....this makes the service slower.. and the attendants more fatigued. Many times, the attendant is on duty more than 12 hours on their feet with little layover time and on top of that, had to fight hours before that EVEN TO GET to work. The agents are short handed and many times overworked as well...
TwinkleToes Dec 13th 2012 8:01PM
Delta is the worst. We have flown with them 4 times and they were all from Europe and back to America. Due to delays, we (famliy of 5) had to spend the entire night at filthy JFK in NY. The next day as we were talking with more and more employees to get on flights back to Ohio, we got bitched at by every loud-mouthed attitude filled hooch they had. My mom was livid. They took forever. And the process was horrible. United was okay one time but also bad service. Nothing as horrible as Delta though. Frontier has the best. We fly with them a lot now and they are very good. It helps that the planes are pretty cute and the pilots are very communicative.
Cbark Dec 13th 2012 8:31PM
I flew American to California with my husband and 3 sons a few years ago. My youngest son is autistic. I brought new toys and a portable DVD player with head phones. He did very well coming and going. My older sons played handheld games. At the time my youngest had a fear of walking among a lot of people so we were placed up front (not in 1st class). He wasn't crying or screaming. It was a 4 or 5 hour flight. He kicked the seat of the passenger in front of us 2 times. I told him to stop and I apologized to the gentleman in that seat. He said it was ok and my son didn't do it again. He even offered my son a piece of candy. The lady next to him started complaining to him for 2 seat kicks. He assured her it was fine. I think she thought people with kids shouldn't sit near her. When we were getting off the plane, I realized she was an American Airline Flight attendant. She was the only one to act that way. Believe me I looked at the other passengers for funny looks and my husband who sat across from us didn't see any either. Having a special needs child has made me very conscious of making sure my son is happy. I have things in place so he doesn't disturb others.
Betty Dec 13th 2012 8:06PM
I don't fly any more, because my husband finally got to take an early retirement from one of those Airlines. Sure they are all pretty much rude, and just going thru the motions. I don't blame them. They have all had their pays cut, their benifits slashed, and most now don't have the pension package they were promised when they signed on. The new employees with the budget airlines, haven't had any thing taken away from them so; they like their job. We are all just hanging on till we have just enough time in so we can retire and not get hit with huge penalitys. If people who flew actually paid what it cost to sit in the seat....we wouldn't have this problem. But then, no one would fly.