CatYaaak
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2002
- Posts
- 809
So I rode as a pax on a Delta ATL-CDG 777 the other night, and I was wondering....is there any company-provided instruction to Captains with no common sense regarding protocol for interaction with pax? When not to?
Please disseminate the following points amongst the clueless;
1) After hurry-up boarding for a late departure due to behind-schedule inbound epuipment, accompanied by admonitions to get seated and turn off all electronics, inform the F/As and pax through the same P/A announcing a subsequent mechanical delay that it's OK to use phones while you sit there at the gate for another hour.
You see, not everyone going to Paris (or wherever) is there to gawk at the Eiffel Tower. Believe it or not, a lot of pax are making connections at CDG (or wherever) and a 90-minute to 2 hour delay in ATL means many flights will be missed. Pax would like to be able to inform others at their ultimate destinations of this fact, not 9 hours later when they arrive in Paris when they are allowed to use their phones again.
2) For a long-haul, nightime, overwater flight that arrives at 0800 (scheduled anyway) pax don't need a rambling, 5-minute long PA after being airborn for 90 minutes detailing the flight plan and every point of non-interest they will be passing over or abeam by 500 miles. For one thing, everything outside is shrouded in darkness. For another, in an effort to arrive on the right side of the clock most people will be trying to sleep by the time we pass Canada, and lastly, every seat is equipped with an Airshow for the awake and curious for this expressed purpose.
3) And because people ARE trying to sleep, stop flipping the seat belt sign on and off during the wee hours with every ripple or bump along the route if your F/As are going to make announcements every time instead of just walking through the trying-to-sleep cabin to visibly check them. This is why on many airlines for similar flights a request is made early to buckle your belt outside your blanket if you're sleeping...so they can visibly check rather than wake people up. Of course, with a 100 decible PA you mights as well blow an airhorn.
You're awake in the cockpit because you adjusted your schedule to work at night. Many people in the cabin had to work all day long before getting on your plane. They'd prefer not to arrive at their connection city having been awake for 24+ hours.
Worse, please refrain from making "I turned the seat belt sign on" P/As yourself with more lengthy and detailed descriptions of minor turbulence ahead. Pax get it...the seat belt/lawsuit thing. Save P/As from the cockpit for the really bad stuff that could actually hurl them about. They're trying to sleep, remember?
4) When announcing arrival concourses, please don't use the phonetic alphabet. To say "wer're arriving at terminal 2 Charlie" sounds lame and confuses them. Say "2 Cee". P/As are not like transmitting on HF and we can differentiate between "Bee and Dee and Cee". If your P/A is so unreadable, write it up or speak more clearly.
I'd complain about the food, but that's a dead horse.
Please disseminate the following points amongst the clueless;
1) After hurry-up boarding for a late departure due to behind-schedule inbound epuipment, accompanied by admonitions to get seated and turn off all electronics, inform the F/As and pax through the same P/A announcing a subsequent mechanical delay that it's OK to use phones while you sit there at the gate for another hour.
You see, not everyone going to Paris (or wherever) is there to gawk at the Eiffel Tower. Believe it or not, a lot of pax are making connections at CDG (or wherever) and a 90-minute to 2 hour delay in ATL means many flights will be missed. Pax would like to be able to inform others at their ultimate destinations of this fact, not 9 hours later when they arrive in Paris when they are allowed to use their phones again.
2) For a long-haul, nightime, overwater flight that arrives at 0800 (scheduled anyway) pax don't need a rambling, 5-minute long PA after being airborn for 90 minutes detailing the flight plan and every point of non-interest they will be passing over or abeam by 500 miles. For one thing, everything outside is shrouded in darkness. For another, in an effort to arrive on the right side of the clock most people will be trying to sleep by the time we pass Canada, and lastly, every seat is equipped with an Airshow for the awake and curious for this expressed purpose.
3) And because people ARE trying to sleep, stop flipping the seat belt sign on and off during the wee hours with every ripple or bump along the route if your F/As are going to make announcements every time instead of just walking through the trying-to-sleep cabin to visibly check them. This is why on many airlines for similar flights a request is made early to buckle your belt outside your blanket if you're sleeping...so they can visibly check rather than wake people up. Of course, with a 100 decible PA you mights as well blow an airhorn.
You're awake in the cockpit because you adjusted your schedule to work at night. Many people in the cabin had to work all day long before getting on your plane. They'd prefer not to arrive at their connection city having been awake for 24+ hours.
Worse, please refrain from making "I turned the seat belt sign on" P/As yourself with more lengthy and detailed descriptions of minor turbulence ahead. Pax get it...the seat belt/lawsuit thing. Save P/As from the cockpit for the really bad stuff that could actually hurl them about. They're trying to sleep, remember?
4) When announcing arrival concourses, please don't use the phonetic alphabet. To say "wer're arriving at terminal 2 Charlie" sounds lame and confuses them. Say "2 Cee". P/As are not like transmitting on HF and we can differentiate between "Bee and Dee and Cee". If your P/A is so unreadable, write it up or speak more clearly.
I'd complain about the food, but that's a dead horse.
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