Hey guys. I’m relieved I got off this return flight alive. And that is being honest. I spent the past 8 hours walking up and down the aisles with absolutely not a second for myself and my poor little weak legs. I did not sit once in 8 hours. That’s how bad the flight was.
It all started at the hotel. Why are South Africans hotel staff so bitterly rude ? I checked out from the hotel with not a single Thank You from the staff nor a Good Bye. And I consider myself a well brought up dude who will happily say thank you or good bye to anyone. It didn’t fail at the front desk in front of these two cows. I said Thank You and Good Bye. What did I get in return ?? I got a rude look and no answer. If you’re staying in Jo’burg guys, please avoid Holiday Inn at all costs ! It will save you a lot of hassle. Trust me. But that’s not all. I was eager to get some sleep after a tiring flight over. Got my beloved DND (Do Not Disturb) sign hooked on the door knob and thought I’d have a peaceful night. I was wrong. At around 8pm (note that it’s dark at that time, the sun went down), a hard/loud knock on the door waked me up. Being the nice guy, I get up, dress up and open the door to a housekeeping lady. She looks at me and says bluntly : “Are your windows clean ?” I reply confused : “my windows ?? I don’t know”… she continues : “Yes sir YOUR windows… are they clean ?” I loose it and say : “Will all the due respect ma’am, MY WINDOWS are the least of my worries when I want to go to sleep after an 8 hour flight”. She says “I need to clean your windows”. I say : “No you’re don’t, I’m going to sleep and you’re going back downstairs with your spray and tell your supervisor to clean windows when guest ARE NOT IN THE BEDROOM”. She lets a “pffffff” go and upon hearing that, I close the door. Go back to bed surprised and kinda guilty. Next thing you know, another knock wakes me up. A housekeeping manager at the door : “Hows your stay Sir ?” again no hello, no excuse us or anything from the polite vocabulary field to be heard. I say, “My stay is getting worse ma’am, so if you could please leave me alone and tell your staff that 5-3-9 is a “no go” that would be awesome because I need some sleep and I’d be the happiest guest in your hotel if that happened”. She gives a one of those looks and turns 180 degrees on her heels and walks off. I slam the door shut and finally go to bed.
Wake up the next morning for check out and here I am paying for the room service I ordered. They did not have enough change in the tills and are trying to haggle they way through with me. I did not say a word and waited for the full change. The front desk girl is obviously annoyed with me not leaving the counter, but I was going to stay there until I got every penny I was due. After the very poor service I received the previous evening, there was no way I would give’em a single copper. I did say thank you and good bye, again, to no response. Instead got a bad look.
The start of my day wasn’t kicking off on a good note. But I was pleased to hear the cabin would be a light load. As did my other colleagues… we didn’t expect what we went through for 8 hours.
We had the worst passengers ever, and we agreed on that numerous times during the flight. Every minutes unfolding was worse than the previous one. We normally are troopers. We take anything from customers, insults, spit, groping. You name it, we have it, and we deal with it the Emirates way. But this flight we got everything except the spitting. Pushing us to the tipping point.
It all commenced with a family of 27, yes you heard it right, 27 individuals coming back from Jo’burg on their way to New Delhi. They, of course and as predicted, all had different special meals. To add to the usual trick, they all swapped seats without notifying any of the crew they did so. Leaving us the joy of finding out where mother with Jain Meal was, where daughter with Kid Meal was, and so forth until we reach a point where, we absolutely lost it. Trying to complete the special meal puzzle with a family of 27 is a feat in itself. Now add to that all the complaints from father who constantly is on your back asking for HIS asian veg meal and aunty screaming through the cabin to grand-father is something where any human being would drop the trays and say enough, open the door, and jump. Period. But we stuck to it finding peace of mind with all the rest of the passengers around looking at us with their eyes popping out.
That same family took the pleasure in bothering each and every crew during the service to the other passengers. Asking for unrealistic requests. Asking for an incredible amount of drinks. They basically ran over us. These people should be banned from flying all together. They thought they had to plane and the crew to themselves slaving us away and got the other passengers very angry by doing so. To one point where we had to agree between crew to now prioritse ALL our efforts on the other passengers and forget about this abnormal smala.
And to no surprise, the other passengers felt left down because of that and them too started complaining on how long the service took. We explained ourselves and finally got things to calm down. I can honestly and safely say we DID NOT SIT DOWN a single second (apart for take-off and landing). We were completely exhausted and at the end of the roll. Thankfully a handfull of passengers were extremely nice and acknowledged the fact we actually do work our asses off and gave us praise. These passengers got the golden service from all our crew. Because they simply deserved it. A simple thank you or please makes a huge difference on the service you will get, an eye contact will also get you a long way with your Flight Attendant. Sadly these little gesture are rarely found from our passengers and being representatives of a company we have to complete any request by a passenger whether we get a please, a smile, a grunt or a grope. Sad isn’t it !??
Being on a plane, you observe behaviors, you understand how people work and act. And like it or not, I have observed trends amongst passenger profiles. It easy for me and other FAs out there to know right from boarding who is going to be a real pain and who’s going to be the nicest pax.
Thank God I got back home. I’m now enjoying the last Heineken from the frigde and chillaxing with good tunes.
On a more happy note, the LAVIATORS CLUB is getting bigger ! We have TWO new laviators who just joined the LAVS OF FAME. Alexander and Carlita :
You too can join the LAVIATORS CLUB, send you pictures via the form below :
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Finally, take the time to download the two lates tracks while bandwith lasts ! I have more to come ! The two tracks are of course and as always DOWNLOAD OR DIE. One of them is a brilliant remix of Lykke Li’s “Breaking It Up” and the second is a killer rework on Kid Cudi’s “Day n’ Nite” chart topper. Click on the cover art to download :
Ok peeps I’m now officially looking forward for a holiday. I will be heading to Paris for 8 days. Time to chill. This month has been full on from the start and I’m in desperate need of rest before we start again in June. My roster is not too bad, Will give you full details in a few moments, once I get my head round the swapping duties. It looks like June will be a busy month : New Uniform, New Destinations, New Flat ! Stay tuned !
I feel so sorry for you! What a hassle, those passengers. When I fly, I always complement flight attendants because they’re outstanding! Even when you think your FA is down, I always says thank you no matter what, with a smile!
Thanks for posting and hopefully you get a good holiday and have fun during your June roster! I will of course stay tuned to the “New Uniform, New Destinations, New Flat!”
Thanks Again! Hope you have a good rest!
Darylle
I would totally understand and myself hate it when an FA is being rude or a total lazy ass but we weren’t and these people do abuse of us when we’re “too nice”.
That was a real shocking story, and honestly to be able to put up a smile after all that….Incredible!! What were they thinking. And one of the things you all go through include a “grope”, amongst other things!! LOL. But then Melissa did relate a story where a passenger in First Class groped the purser’s privates!! (http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html)
When flying Singapore Airlines a rather obese man intentionally dropped a glass of water over his groin, and when the FA came over with a towel he insisted she pat his dampened area, and while she did he groped her a$$. And the poor petite Singapore FA just smiled through it all. You guys sometimes have to really go through hell.
These kind of behaviors need to be raised. But it’s the everlasting “I saw, but I’m keeping my mouth shut because I will not get support from above”. They’ll always try to cover things like that up. Poor FA. People taking advantage just because they paid for a service disgust me to the highest point.
Why I said groping : Because I witnessed it today.
Oh god, coming back from my MNL trip, I was flying on my NRT-YVR leg (I took JAL)and these people (referring to the same ones as mentioned in your post, but probably not the same people, maybe… if you know what I mean…?) in front of us kept pushing the call button for every little thing they needed. Once the crew started serving drinks & meals, they would drink their drink right away and would ask for refills over and over again. After their meals, they kept on pushing the button again for trash that they had. I felt so sorry for the flight attendant who came back and forth between the galley to attend to these people.
And THAT is why I could never work for that airline. Passenger would be wearing meal, not eating it if they tried to go the grope on me.
I had a dude do it once, I called the police to the a/c and threw him off. NOT acceptable at ANY time, I don’t care what country someone is from, touching someone else’s private areas is a no-no!
I’m surprised Ek aren’t more strict with this, even Islam has strong rules regarding this kind of thing. But I suppose they worry that people will not fly with them any longer…?
Anyway well done on deal with the meal puzzle, it’s frustrating isn’t it?
M – in the case of the Singapore Airlines, I would kindly tell the pax that decency would prevent me from mopping up his groin spill, then offer one of the male crew to help him. Preferably the most ‘flamboyant’ one.
Believe it or not in the premium cabins we deal with crotch contact all the time, as most pax forget they have their napkin on their lap after 2 hrs of constant food service. And never had I had anyone force me to grab anything near their crotch. Thank goodness.
WOW Just came back from JNB and it is not joke the passenger profile to and from there is something else…I thought Guang ZOO was bad, this is a tie…and I get so frustrated with the word PLEASE missing from there requests !!! Drives me crazy !!! They do think we are their own personal assigned attendant when they booked their tickets !
Still is the best job
Believe me Melissa even the most flamboyant FA would have declined. He just sat there sprawled (yes even in that tiny Y clss seat) like a whale on it’s back and waited to get some attention.
Traytable, the passenger would suffer the same fate, the meal tray on him or a black eye if it had to happen to me.
Clauderic Guang ZOO…hilarious!!
Darylle I think I know which ethnic group you were referring to, but remember there are other groups out there too which portray such behaviour..But yes any group portraying such behaviour regardless of background, need to have parachutes put on their backs and hurled out of the aircraft LOL
M: I agree! I can’t stand those people! I think, rather than having just life vests, the crew should be able to have an emergency parachute for people who portray such behaviour! hahaha XD
By the way M, you live in Toronto (or Ontario in general) don’t you?! I live in Vancouver! Though I’d just point that out…
A parachute Darylle is being very kind of you. I would brutally boot them off at 36,000ft. They would then understand their actions.
Haha, I was trying to be nice, but I guess that works too! XD
Precisely : it’s way more effective.
Hey Airboy, I suggested the Parachute!! LOL…Maybe you FA’s need to walk up to those passengers next time with the emergency parachute, show it to them and point to outside the window…that would shut them up for the rest of the trip LOL
Maybe wax wings and a printout of the tale of Icarus (to read on their way down at 36.000 feet) would be an effective way to make them reflect upon their behavior.
Push a man off board, and he’ll fly for a day. Teach him how to fly, and he’s off your back forever.
Aaah…Nothing like a pedagogical approach.
Dear Airboy…
I dont even know where to begin!Perhaps to save myself from a long letter I should begin by just saying you sound like a right spoilt brat. That post of your jnb experience is one of the most negative pieces of writing I’ve had the misfortune of wasting my time in reading. Shame poor cabin crew…woken from his precious beauty sleep, obivously by a housekeeping personnel that had a mistaken room number or instruction. Since being South African myself I know we aren’t the most pro-active nation when it comes to night time window cleaning. And being crew myself for over 3 years, I’ve stayed in numerous hotel rooms and have been woken for crazy reasons…one cannot possibly turn this into a national issue. And if I may make an observation, your attitude being one that attracts negativity, is most likely the reason for your so called hostile send off from the hotel. Rememeber a genuine smile and thank you breeds a positive response.
As for the flight back to Dubai, well, it sounds like a typical 8hrs of good old hard work. It doesn’t take much as a cabin crew to go anywhere in the world to see what hardwork really is and for less payment that what we receive for our ‘cushy’ lifestyles of heineken and good tunes.
A word to the wise…look on the bright side my friend and appreciate your 4/5 star hotel room,roomservice, allowances and all the other perks that come with our privileged occupation.
p.s if you had spent more than just a 5 min outside of your hotel room, you’d discover South Africa, Johannesburg no less, is filled with warm welcoming people. Assumptions and gross generalizations are offensive and give less credibilty to your website and journalism.
Hey anonymous !
Thanks for sharing your point of view. I understand how this could have offended you. I must admit I’m a spoilt brat, I live a cushy lifestyle, I get payed huge bucks and live in a beautiful country. I think you didn’t get my point on the “getting woken up” part. The hotel staff did look like they were having fun knocking at doors numerous times, and I honestly think you would of thought this was a joke if you were in my shoes at that moment.
“Rememeber a genuine smile and thank you breeds a positive response.” : I did say thank you and goodbye as mentioned, to no response, which portrays to me a less than attractive side of my stay in Jo’burg hence the heated post you had to read and wasting your time doing so.
I had stayed in room to rest. Sometimes you have to. Unfortunately it happened on my Jo’burg trip, and I’m usually the one who goes out there and discovers. Not the one who’s glued to Discovery Channel for the whole layover.
Now I would like to know who you were working for ? And possibly your name or nickname. Finally, I’d be willing to change my mind on Johannesburg, maybe you could show me around. You would see how much of a spoilt brat I am. In the meantime I hope you come back to read this response ! There’s nothing like a little interaction. I appreciate it good or bad !
Again, I’m sorry to all those I offended by describing my ordeal publicly.
Being south african i do agree with you that the certain “type” of people they employ in south africa all do shit service!!
JNB is probably the worst destination to go to.. CPT on the other hand is fantastic!!
anonymous u need to chillax… jy laat ons almal soos regte fokkers lyk!
Too funny re the group of 27! What a nightmare.
Interesting dialogue in the eomments section too.