First Class Follies

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I believe working first class has its privileges. I get to work in a more intimate setting and actually have time to get to know my passengers on a friendly basis rather than having a conversation that just involves “can I get you a drink?” For the most part, first class travelers are very civilized, nice and polite.

On my last Boston flight I encountered a woman traveling with her adult daughter (or maybe it was a great grandmother and her great grand daughter). When they first boarded I helped the older woman to her seat, put her bags in the overhead bin, asked if she needed anything to drink and the whole time she was very polite. But, once we took off.. Grandma got angry.

Shortly after take-off I went around to take drink and meal orders. I read my options loud enough so that the older woman could hear me but also so that her daughter could too, in case she needed to make the selection for her. After I read the options I had available the older woman quickly said “I don’t like any of those, keep going.” Unfortunately for her, I had already read her all of the options I had available in first class. So, without a flinch I described the meals we had in the main cabin as if they were additional first class options. She again declared “keep going.” Well, now she’s out of luck.. That’s all I have. I glanced over to her daughter as if to say “that’s it, make up your mind.” We finally decided on the Turkey sandwich and a cup of tea.

I went back to her row to deliver her tea when she stopped me and said “you need to help me with my foot rest. My high heels aren’t touching it and my knees are bent.” So as anyone would, I felt bad for her and wanted to help her get as comfortable as possible. So I knelt down and started to adjust her seat. I extended her foot rest. This way she can lay her legs out straight with her high heels on the foot rest. Just as the seat started to adjust she yelled at me: “stop! That’s not what I asked for!” “Okay,” I said. So I tried a different approach. This time.. Lowering the leg rest so that her knees wouldn’t be bent. “I said no. No, no, no. That’s not what I want.” So, then I explained to her that those were the only two ways I could adjust the seat to ensure her knees weren’t bent. She looked at me and said “I said I want my high heels on the foot rest.” So I said “I’m trying my best to accommodate you but every time I adjust the seat you say that I’m doing it wrong.” I then pointed out how the controls on the seat work and said “since I can’t do it right, please feel free to adjust the seat to your liking on your own.” At that moment the daughter looked over and apologized and mouthed “thank you.”

When the meals were finished cooking I started to deliver them. When I approached the older woman with her turkey sandwich she pointed across the aisle at the lasagna. She asked “is that a soft boiled egg?” What she was looking at was a piece of fresh mozzarella cheese that was melted on top of the pasta. I said, “no ma’am that’s cheese.” She replied with “oh so you have soft boiled eggs and cheese and you didn’t offer that to me.” I quickly said, “no, they’re eating the lasagna that I offered you.. What you think is a soft boiled egg is actually melted cheese.” She turned to her daughter and said “he’s starting to get on my nerves.” Ha! Excuse me? I’m getting on YOUR nerves? I’ve gone above and beyond trying to make her happy, and like a good flight attendant, not let her see my frustration with her requests. Chocking the conversation up to her old age, I took a deep breath and moved on.

For the next few hours every time I walked past her she “sneered” in my direction. Making a disgusted look on her face and looking away. Finally, she attempted to use the restroom but she needed some assistance. I instantly jumped up from my jumpseat and went over to lend my arm for support as she walked over to the restroom. Then, I finally saw it, a smile.

As a first class flight attendant I really do strive to make my passengers happy. They are the passengers paying the most on board and they deserve the extra attention and treatment. However, there is a fine line between extra attention and overkill with ridiculous requests that in the end, still won’t make the passenger happy.

The next morning I had much of the same. I had only one passenger in first class. It was a very early morning flight too, so I thought it would be easy. Not so much. When he boarded I instantly asked him if he wanted anything to drink and he asked for coffee. Unfortunatly, we didn’t have our APU running (auxiliary power unit) running, which powers our coffee makers, so I wasn’t able to fulfil his order. He then just asked for a bottle of water. Fine. We get in the air, and I walk over to him and say “how about that coffee now?” he accepted, wanted it black — and I also offered him breakfast. A bowl of fruit with yogurt and a muffin. He accepted that as well. I went into the main cabin to help 0ut while he was eating.. I came back five minutes later to check on him and he had finished the fruit and yogurt. Since I had so many empty seats and meals for all of them, I asked if he wanted more.. he responded with “actually, the fruit was rancid, and the yogurt was disguising.” I didn’t know what to say. I was shocked. He ate all of it! I just said “oh.. well.. I’m sorry.. how about more coffee?” He asked who makes the coffee we brew, I told him, he said it was the worst coffee he had ever had.. but “refill it.” Umm.. what? If it’s that bad.. why do you want more? He was just being difficult.

Speaking of difficult.. I worked an early morning short flight a few days earlier and had asked a first class passenger if he wanted a drink — he asked for a mimosa, and was shocked when I said “sure.” He was surprised we have champagne. As he took the first sip of mimosa, he made a face as if he had just bit into a lemon.. “this isn’t champagne.. what is this?” I told him that it was actually a sparkling wine… he said “Yeah, I can tell.. I’ll just take a coffee.” Okay — fine. I delivered the coffee and then offered him the muffin.. he asked for the “protein meal,” I smiled a bit.. and said “this is all we have for the short flights.. and we don’t have specials meals on board.” He complained that he “expected more from your airline,” I apologized for his bad experience.. and told him if I could do anything to make it better.. to let me know.. he said “it’s beyond that now.”

Really? Sparking wine and a muffin ruined your first class experience on a 45 minute flight? If you’re that particular in what you eat.. bring your own food.

I guess one of the first things your learn when you work in a customer service job is there are times that no matter how hard you try or how much you care, you can’t please everyone.

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