A first class passenger was not happy on a recent AA flight when a flight attendant chose to hang out in the galley on her mobile phone instead of serve passengers. Is it time for American Airlines to ban flight attendants from using mobile phones while on duty?
Familiar Claim: First Class Passengers Ignored While Flight Attendant Glued to Mobile Phones
I reported that United Airlines has recently reminded flight attendants that personal mobile phones are not permitted while on duty. Perhaps it is time for American Airlines to send a similar reminder? At least one passenger thinks so…
Can’t get no service in first class. She to busy on her phone whole flight! @AmericanAir pic.twitter.com/gqQtHyYUzX
— Todd Sutton (@tdoggsutton) February 6, 2024
We live in a world in which we all seem to be tethered to our mobile phones. I just love this Banksy painting:
It’s not for the best…I am convinced of that. But it is a picture of our life today…and I see this everywhere I go in the world.
But in a customer-facing job, indignation over a lack of boarding pay or a lack of raise does not and cannot justify hiding from customers or failing to be attentive, particularly in first class.
For the record, I am not making the charge that all or even most American Airlines flight attendants are guilty of ignoring first class passengers. In fact, I just flew American Airlines last week and enjoyed very attentive service on a 777-200 from Los Angeles to Charlotte.
I do not fly American Airlines nearly enough to make any blanket charges for or against flight attendants.
But I do hear anecdotes like this often and while a lack of leadership at the top may be the overarching problem, I do not think AA would be implementing a “beatings will continue until morale improves” approach by banning mobile phones.
The idea of “what are flight attendants supposed to do?” is easy: serve passengers and be prepared for an emergency.
Of course there is downtime and I know that you or I tend to reach for our phones during downtime, so why not flight attendants? Well, because it just does not look professional and becuase it becomes quite distracting and addicting. As long as flight attendants are being paid for their time, I do not see why AA cannot ban cell phones as a condition of employment.
CONCLUSION
To be clear, I’m not making any blanket claims here about what flight attendants at AA do. But as American Airlines examines the addictive nature of mobile phones and how that can adversely impact service, perhaps a ban is not so unreasonable?
image: @tdoggsutton / X // Hat Tip: View From The Wing
