Let’s not bury the lead. The reason I flew AA from CLT-MAD was to try the paella. Imagine my surprise when the flight attendant came around and said too many people had pre ordered it and there was none left. Pre ordering a meal on AA? What is this SQ First (see)? Kidding aside, I would have liked to have tried paella on a flight. It takes hours to make, too many ingredients to count, and even more time to savor. An eight hour flight would have provided the best timeframe to digest this decidedly Spanish dish. Alas, it was not to be. And back to the flight review.
Personnel
I use the word ‘personnel’ here to describe the flight attendants. Unlike SQ flight attendants, they are not ‘personal’. Everything is a transaction and inconvenience.
Example #1: They had two types of red wine: Malbec and Decoy Cab Sauvignon. I wanted to sample both before making this big commitment. The reaction was one of annoyance. I chose the Decoy, no pun intended, if that is a pun.
Example #2: Do you want the flight attendants to like you? I do. Or, at the least, I don’t want them to think I’m difficult. I attempted to make small talk with one by asking where AA puts them when they stay in Madrid.
FA: City Center
Me: Oh, I used to live in Madrid, where about?
FA: City Center
Maybe he was worried that I would dox him after denying me paella.
Champagne
Champagne in a plastic cup! What are we savages! Some rules are stupid.
Amenities Kit
The Team USA amenities kit was worth keeping.
Seat
We’re spoiled with suites.
Food
Did I mention there was no paella? I went with the steak. It was pretty good, leaving me to wonder how great the paella would have been.
Sleep
I slept the entire time thanks to too much Decoy.
Overall
I would not pay more than $5.60 to fly AA business. The 55k Atmos was a good deal but not a point more. Well, perhaps more, if I had paella.
Flights crews are never supposed to give out where they stay in cities. There are reasons.
1. If you feel that strongly about a menu item, please consider pre-ordering it. As you can see, your fellow travelers did, and when the whole cabin pre-orders, it does impact what is left. You claim that entree was the main reason you took the flight, but didn’t bother to reserve your entree?
2. Your comments about the crew are unfair as they don’t discuss their layover locations with passengers for safety and security reasons.
3. AA’s procedure is to offer predepartures in a plastic glass. You seem to unfairly judge the Flight Attendant for this.
4. You say you want the flight attendants to like you but you make a point of explaining why you call them personnel, so your preconceived ideas about them may be coming thru, and perhaps that had an impact on them, leavening the experience more transactional, rather than transformative. It sounds like your initial exchange about not getting the paella set the tone.
I’m a flight attendant for Delta and am always happy to have a conversation with the passengers. Whomever wrote this article seems genuinely interested in chatting and he doesn’t seem like a bad guy. I don’t understand why so many flight attendants are hardened and defensive. It boggles me. This sounds like a really miserable crew.
I would never ask where they stay and I do not blame them for not telling passengers their layover hotel. I do agree that many AA flight attendants come off as impersonal and transactional in their interactions. Its very off putting and if I am going to spend money (or miles) to fly an airline, AA is at the very very bottom on my list for this reason.
A paella is a type of pan; i.e., “paella pan” is redundant. It seems unlikely that AA is flying with heavy steel pans and not stirring the rice as it cooks.