Rant: Asia F/A's vs US F/A's

[L.Skywalker]

Just returned from a month in Asia: 5 legs, 4 carriers(all Asian), 3 countries. My experience in the cabin was nothing like any experience(in the last decade at best) that I've had in any cabin, with any cabin crew, on any US flag carrier. I now know why Cathay is heralded as the best from a passenger perspective, and did I just see a post on AA being the worst? No surprise, the old self entitled hags on mainline just don't care, because they're entitled! On the contrary the Asian crews will give almost anything(yes!), I just cant figure out why? Is it the pure lack of entitlement, fear of getting canned, or is it simply in the culture? My study will continue as I fully intend on another trip to Asia. So with that I give you this: http://www.wimp.com/coolestflight/

 

[J.Otto]

Just returned from a month in Asia: 5 legs, 4 carriers(all Asian), 3 countries. My experience in the cabin was nothing like any experience(in the last decade at best) that I've had in any cabin, with any cabin crew, on any US flag carrier. I now know why Cathay is heralded as the best from a passenger perspective, and did I just see a post on AA being the worst? No surprise, the old self entitled hags on mainline just don't care, because they're entitled! On the contrary the Asian crews will give almost anything(yes!), I just cant figure out why? Is it the pure lack of entitlement, fear of getting canned, or is it simply in the culture? My study will continue as I fully intend on another trip to Asia. So with that I give you this: http://www.wimp.com/coolestflight/

That was a funny video!

 

[rettofly]

Just returned from a month in Asia: 5 legs, 4 carriers(all Asian), 3 countries. My experience in the cabin was nothing like any experience(in the last decade at best) that I've had in any cabin, with any cabin crew, on any US flag carrier. I now know why Cathay is heralded as the best from a passenger perspective, and did I just see a post on AA being the worst? No surprise, the old self entitled hags on mainline just don't care, because they're entitled! On the contrary the Asian crews will give almost anything(yes!), I just cant figure out why? Is it the pure lack of entitlement, fear of getting canned, or is it simply in the culture? My study will continue as I fully intend on another trip to Asia. So with that I give you this: http://www.wimp.com/coolestflight/

I vote for culture and work ethic.

 

[CX880]

Just returned from a month in Asia: 5 legs, 4 carriers(all Asian), 3 countries. My experience in the cabin was nothing like any experience(in the last decade at best) that I've had in any cabin, with any cabin crew, on any US flag carrier. I now know why Cathay is heralded as the best from a passenger perspective, and did I just see a post on AA being the worst? No surprise, the old self entitled hags on mainline just don't care, because they're entitled! On the contrary the Asian crews will give almost anything(yes!), I just cant figure out why? Is it the pure lack of entitlement, fear of getting canned, or is it simply in the culture? My study will continue as I fully intend on another trip to Asia. So with that I give you this: http://www.wimp.com/coolestflight/

Besides the obvious things like culture and labor rules it also has to do with the fact that the FAs here have been working for 20 30 40 50 years at their airline. You show me an FA that's been working for that long that cares about anything other than hiding in the back of the plane collecting that credit hour and ill show you a pink leprechaun

 

[Dumb Pilot]

ANA, JAL, KLM, Cathay to name a few, all have senior cabin attendants in their ranks and quite the opposite is true, they are setting an example to the younger C/A's.

 

[Freight Dog]

That's what you get when you over-stress how FA's are there for safety and totally marginalize and play down the service aspect. This is not to take anything away from FA safety training and their role, but there definitely needs to be a lot more stress on the service aspect.

US flight attendants stand to learn A LOT from their counterparts overseas.

 

[macdu]

Is it the pure lack of entitlement, fear of getting canned, or is it simply in the culture?

It's all three. I really hesitate to post on this issue on this forum but since you seem to ask for an honest answer I will offer my insight. First you state you were in Asia for a month. That should have given you some clue of the huge cultural differences. I will not tap them all here but there is a wide gulf between east and west even today. I have been in China now three years and it still catches me off guard almost everyday.
I can only speak from my experience in China were I see women marginalized daily. Oh you see men and women working together here and there, you see women in management positions yes, but all the real power positions are owned by men.
This is an interesting topic but in short I think it boils down to several issues for China at least.
*Perspective, China is only 64 years old in modern terms(1949). It's taken over 100 years for American women to achieve their equality through laws and cultural change.
*1.3 Billion Chinese scrambling for everything.
*Hundreds of millions of young Chinese women looking for financial security. Translation; a job or a man(husband) with a good job.
Then there is the plain old very obvious chauvinism that exists here in China. I have seen leaders(that is what your superiors are referred to here)show up at dinners with hand picked f/a for their desert. Pat girls on the butt, yell berate and just generally abuse. This is all tolerated or even encouraged.
These girls will be shown the door by age 30 if they haven't found a husband by then or move to a desk job somewhere. If a passenger doesn't like the way they look or is not polite enough in their opinion and they complain to the company they can be fired. Something else often overlooked is the one child policy here in China. If the girl is an only child she may be working to help out the parents too. She needs this job so she is going to do whatever it take to tow the line. I could go on and on.
On a personal note recently I was behind a United f/a heading out of the Beijing terminal recently. Both of us heading to our respective shuttles. She, I am guessing is 65 years old and at least 65lbs over weight towing about 100lbs. of what I don't know. I think what on earth are you still doing this craziness for? I would love to know.

 

[jonjuan]

Is it the pure lack of entitlement, fear of getting canned, or is it simply in the culture?

It's all three. I really hesitate to post on this issue on this forum but since you seem to ask for an honest answer I will offer my insight. First you state you were in Asia for a month. That should have given you some clue of the huge cultural differences. I will not tap them all here but there is a wide gulf between east and west even today. I have been in China now three years and it still catches me off guard almost everyday.
I can only speak from my experience in China were I see women marginalized daily. Oh you see men and women working together here and there, you see women in management positions yes, but all the real power positions are owned by men.
This is an interesting topic but in short I think it boils down to several issues for China at least.
*Perspective, China is only 64 years old in modern terms(1949). It's taken over 100 years for American women to achieve their equality through laws and cultural change.
*1.3 Billion Chinese scrambling for everything.
*Hundreds of millions of young Chinese women looking for financial security. Translation; a job or a man(husband) with a good job.
Then there is the plain old very obvious chauvinism that exists here in China. I have seen leaders(that is what your superiors are referred to here)show up at dinners with hand picked f/a for their desert. Pat girls on the butt, yell berate and just generally abuse. This is all tolerated or even encouraged.
These girls will be shown the door by age 30 if they haven't found a husband by then or move to a desk job somewhere. If a passenger doesn't like the way they look or is not polite enough in their opinion and they complain to the company they can be fired. Something else often overlooked is the one child policy here in China. If the girl is an only child she may be working to help out the parents too. She needs this job so she is going to do whatever it take to tow the line. I could go on and on.
On a personal note recently I was behind a United f/a heading out of the Beijing terminal recently. Both of us heading to our respective shuttles. She, I am guessing is 65 years old and at least 65lbs over weight towing about 100lbs. of what I don't know. I think what on earth are you still doing this craziness for? I would love to know.

Yep-a husband can also beat the snot out of his wife in China and nothing will be done. Had a bud who married a china gal a few years ago and brought her to the us. He was proud of saying "Watch this" as he clapped a couple of times and out came the beer.". I've seen dogs treated better.

 

[climbhappy]

i have a chinese girlfriend and she is a doll. men that slap any woman around is a coward.....re asian FAs....they recruit young ones...at shenzhen airines for example, you can see a new group of hires on any afternoon marching in camos, yes camos, doing drill.....they are schooled in obedience....even hair salon employees can be seen in the morning in formation like a squad getting a talking to before the day begins......they are trained to please and they speak very softly.....even the airport announcements re a gate change or delay are amazingly soothing...they end with "have a pleasant journey" in the soft voice...now think of a newark gate change on A concourse.

 

[Varmint]

Yep-a husband can also beat the snot out of his wife in China and nothing will be done. Had a bud who married a china gal a few years ago and brought her to the us. He was proud of saying "Watch this" as he clapped a couple of times and out came the beer.". I've seen dogs treated better.

They eat dogs in China. Skin them alive.

 

[Freight Dog]

Yep-a husband can also beat the snot out of his wife in China and nothing will be done. Had a bud who married a china gal a few years ago and brought her to the us. He was proud of saying "Watch this" as he clapped a couple of times and out came the beer.". I've seen dogs treated better.

Your friend did it right...

This is probably a question we have all had in our heads at one time or another. What the hell is wrong with American women? They are definitely a different breed aren’t they? By far some of the oddest creatures that exist, so what is REALLY wrong with American women?

Well…

• For starters they tend NOT to take care of themselves very well. For whatever reason they believe men should like them no matter what. And so they end up getting overweight and out of shape. Now, love is blind but that doesn’t mean attraction is.

• They wear flip-flops ALL THE TIME! What’s with that? No clue why women think it’s cute or sexy but trust me, if you’re not at the beach, pool or in your home they ARE NOT cute fun or sexy.

• They seem to be stuck on their phones 24/7. If they’re not talking on it they’re texting on it, if they’re not texting they’re taking pictures with it. They are ALWAYS on their phone and have a complete fit if they can’t find it. As if real life isn’t entertaining enough.

• They actually read, understand and LISTEN to stupid girly magazines like Cosmo. These magazines are simply there to grab women in and make money off of them. Which they have successfully done but they’ve also successfully turned potentially smart women into morons.

• They wear PJs in public. What the hell were they thinking? Pjs are not for outside of the bedroom or home. We’ve learned this since birth but somehow American women missed that entire memo.

• They can’t cook. Haven’t they ever heard that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach? Well, apparently not because not only can they not cook but they don’t take the time and effort to try to learn! No one expects you to pop out of the womb a fantastic cook but you could AT LEAST try.

• They put drug addicted, rich pampered loser celebs on a pedestal. And more so then that they try to emulate these ridiculous losers. Turning themselves into these wannabees. What kind of role model is that? For whatever reason American women think it’s a good one.

• They have no sense of what a good man is. They look for the ones that will cheat on them just because they drive a flashy car or buy them a ton of shiny things. All men are capable of that and are willing but if women are JUST chasing the outside (like American women do) then you’re going to get a shallow hollow man. And they don’t care because “He’s good looking”

Now not ALL women are the same and not ALL women are this awful, but in general American women seem to have all of these flaws and more. Some of these are absolutely terrible and we are unable to overlook them.

Maybe American women should take some lessons from other women in different countries. Make themselves better females for us, the better males.

Now it’s no secret that men seem to be attracted to Asian women, but the question still rises, why? Well, a lot of people have been trying to figure that exact question out for quite some time. Even women have started trying to adapt Asian fashion and make-up so that they can bank on this quite obvious attraction men have to the Asian persuasion.

If women are picking up on it and trying to adapt to it then there is a very obvious draw to the Asian women, but again, why? Well, here are a few reasons why men prefer to date or even marry Asian women:

#1. For all cultures an exotic look and feeling is always attractive. Now for non-Asians an Asian woman looks and acts very exotic. This immediately gives off a certain level of attraction. You can look at it like this, an Asian woman would find an American man exotic, a Russian woman may find an Englishman attractive, this is all based on what is exotic to them and their culture.

#2. Now for the obvious reason of uninhibited beauty. Asian women are naturally gorgeous with long black soft hair, smooth skin and petite frames. They move slower and walk in that sensual woman way that drives men nuts! The thing is that they usually don’t intend on doing that, it just kind of happens. American women seem to take more stern strides and have adapted to living in a man’s world, which makes them act somewhat masculine in that way. Asian women have always kept their grace and very feminine ways.

#3. The femininity of the Asian women is incredibly attractive to men. A lot of American women believe that if you are too feminine and take care of your man then you are weak and a smudge on the page of the women’s movement. That cannot be further from the truth! Asian women are NOT weak slaves, but rather very strong and smart they simply know what it means to care for the one you care about.

#4. For whatever reason the Asian women have amazing genetics and they age quite well. This means that you may see a gorgeous woman and think she is in her early twenties when in reality she’s in her mid-thirties! This is a huge attraction for guys because they want to know that after marriage they will still have the beautiful woman they fell for in the first place.

If you are one of the men that finds all these things attractive then you are not alone. But you may be asking where can I find these beautiful Asian women? You may have looked at your local pub or even in the grocery store. Have you had any luck yet? Maybe a nibble here and there but not REALLY what you are looking for.

This is pretty common so again don’t worry. You can find your dream Asian woman, she is out there.

Not the popular opinion, but to a discerning male who's either not lucky enough to find an American gem and doesn't have time to sample through trash, this is a case of 'sad, but true.'

 

[Coool Hand Luke]

In the last month I've had multiple legs to or from Asia (Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong) on AA, JAL, and Cathay Pacific. Frankly I thought the service (mostly all in coach) was better by a small degree on AA.