Customer Service on U.S. Carriers - Right From the Horse's Mouth

Just a couple of weeks ago, we posted about flight attendants’ new “main responsibility.” We quoted Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants, who said that the union, “views Wi-Fi as a potential threat to flight attendants’ ability to keep order in the cabin. Our duties involve securing the safety of the cabin ... the main requirement that flight attendants are on board for.”

Now, we read this quote (from a post on Upgrade:TravelBetter, in an article about USAirways eliminating fees for coffee and soft drinks).

“Flight attendants are safety professionals first and foremost,” [Mike Flores, president of the US Airways’ unit of the Association of Flight Attendants] said. “This decision by the company will help return us to that status rather than being salespeople in the aisle of the airplane.”

Yet in another report on the same topic, Flores is quoted as saying: “The bottom line is that the airline industry is not the transportation industry. It’s a customer service industry and if you’re not pleasing your customers then you’ve got a problem.”

If it’s ever been possible, we’re speechless.