You can safely file this post in the “what was the least important thing that happened to me in business travel this week” column. That said, I want to say a little something about my flights last week on American Airlines. I traveled to Los Angeles on American’s A319 nonstop service from Atlanta. While not exactly “transcon” in the classic AA sense of the word, it’s no slouch of a domestic flight either.
My outbound flight was a lunch flight and the return was a dinner flight. In each case, the aircraft had been on the ground for a while and was catered when we boarded. We were not delayed, and boarding was not in any sense of the word “chaotic.” All obvious reasons to skip a pre departure beverage (PDB) service. In fact, on the return, there was an obvious break in the crowd after the whopping three of us who were seated in first class boarded. One might think that a PDB on a cross-country flight would be in order, but one would be wrong. My expectations were up a bit since I’d had a run of good luck with PDBs on AA earlier this year, and have always had good luck getting a pre flight drink with legacy US Airways crews.
A little red wine in a plastic cup is not the beginning or end of anyone’s world, especially mine, but it is a tiny little gesture that sets the tone of a flight and I appreciate a PDB when offered. And therein lies the paradox. I let the lack of an offer of a PDB convince me that I was in for a less than stellar flight on both segments, and I could not have been more wrong. The first class flight attendants on both flights were very good. Heck, the flight attendant on my return home was great.
I still think a pre departure beverage is a reasonable expectation for domestic first class flights, and I don’t understand why American flight attendants are notably less likely to provide one. In the end, it didn’t impact my flight experience. Perhaps the message is “don’t sweat the small stuff.”
-MJ, December 14, 2015
@John,
The few times I remember not getting a PDB on Delta all shared perfectly sound reasons not to deliver the service: delays, late catering, etc. Heck, the last time it happened, the F/A apologized for not offering PDB during the delayed and chaotic boarding and was taking orders for refreshment after takeoff at the same time. And I could swear she was in the aisle serving drinks and snacks not long after the gear was retracted!
I could count on two hands the number of times I have not gotten a PDB on a DL flight in several hundred first-class segments over the last few years. DL FAs provided PDBs inspite of tight schedules and the normal boarding chaos. DL’s on-time record has been pretty good over that time.
My complaint about DL PDBs is its first-class seats don’t provide much space for them. On most planes, the drink holder on the armrest between the seats is so small it is hard to place two drinks without having the cups touch. AA first-class seats have way more space for this and they seem to have more legroom than the DL seats.
This is a pet peeve of mine. Obviously, you can get your own PDB in the Club, but I just find it rude and lazy on the FAs’ part to not offer a PDB on board. This is something that I receive 99% of the time on DL, with the only exception being delayed catering. ShAAme on AA for not requiring FAs to provide PDBs, like DL. This is a small, but important touch that makes the DL experience superior.
In fact we pushed off 6 minutes early. On a flight that didn’t start boarding before scheduled time. Where predeparture beverages were served — and not just prepoured water/OJ on a tray, either. They even brewed coffee for PDBs on my 705am departure.
#RethinkPossible
@Bob’s mindset is the problem, it’s absolutely possible to do PDBs without delaying departure 90% of the time. The other 10% is when you don’t do PDBs. But abdicating entirely as a response is sad indeed. AA is reminding FAs to do PDBs, there’s signage in the crew break rooms now about this. In fact I just got asked for my choice of PDB about 90 seconds ago! First time in awhile.
Thanks Gary. I hadn’t got around to replying yet, but I was going to say that 9 times out of 10, I’m offered a PDB from a legacy US Airways flight crew, even US Express, and always have been. Last I checked, Doug Parker was running US Airways prior to American so that argument seemed off.
I most often come in contact with MIA-based flight crews, and PDBs are not common, but a pre-departure water is often offered, at least.
I recently flew a quick mileage run r/t LAX-LAS on AA, A321 and full in first both ways. Same crew working the turn. Found it odd PDB weren’t offered during boarding in LAX but were done in LAS. I thought perhaps it was because the 38 minute flight time versus the 1 hour flight there, so he’d skip service in the air due to the short flight…but he still did a beverage service inflight AND managed to provide the flightdeck with a crew meal as well.
FYI flight attendants get written up from agents for holding pax to serve pre departures. Blame Doug Parker for the pressure on agents for on time departures. We get written up by agents if we do them or passengers if we don’t. We can’t win