Galley Gossip: How to prepare for a flight attendant interview

by Heather Poole on

Dear Heather,

I’m interested in becoming a flight attendant. I was wondering if you could give me a little advice as to what to expect in an interview, how should I prepare for it, etc. I would really appreciate it.

Donna

Dear Donna,

Whatever you do, do not wear a canary yellow suit to the interview. That’s exactly what I did the first time I interviewed with a major airline. Needless to say, I didn’t get hired. Not that that was a bad thing because I wound up graduating from college instead. Not to mention, I prefer the airline I work for now. That said, education is key. There aren’t many airlines hiring these days so competition is fierce. Only the most qualified will succeed. Since the aviation industry isn’t as stable as it once was, it’s always a good idea to have something to fall back on.

DRESS THE PART: If you want to become a flight attendant, try looking like one. Start by wearing a blue or black suit to the interview. Skirt length should be no more than an inch above the knee and pantyhose are a must. Keep fingernails clean and polished and long hair pulled back or styled conservatively. Jewelry should be kept to a minimum – no dangly earrings! Do not overdo the makeup. Think fresh and neat.

BE YOURSELF: First impressions count. It’s a nerve wracking experience, but try to relax and don’t forget to smile. Introduce yourself to other candidates in the room. Airlines prefer applicants who are friendly. So be yourself, enjoy the moment, and laugh! Have fun.
CONFIDENCE IS KEY: If your experience ends up being anything like mine, you’ll find yourself participating in a group interview with about four other candidates a lot like yourself. It’s important to make a good impression. Keep it positive whenever answering a question, especially when discussing yourself or any past employers and coworkers. Also, don’t be the last person to answer each question. Be confident. Raise your hand.

TALK THE TALK: Use the phrase “good customer service” and the word “flexible” as often as possible. Flight attendants spend more time with passengers than anyone else in the industry, so airlines are looking for applicants with experience in customer service. Try sharing stories about the times you provided good customer service. Because a majority of flight attendants do not get based where they live right out of training, and because a flight attendant’s schedule is constantly changing and many of us are on-call for days, even months, at a time, it’s very important to remain “flexible.” Show examples of that as well.

SLOW DOWN: All I remember during my one-on-one interview fifteen years ago was reading a safety demo announcement out loud. While I know you can read, otherwise you wouldn’t be here reading this, doing it out loud in front of a stranger who does not crack a smile while analyzing your every move and scribbling notes on a clipboard, is totally different. Remember to slow down and add a little life to what could be a long, drawn out, monotone speech. Before the interview takes place, try practicing reading magazines, books, whatever, out loud at home.

BESIDES TRAVELING AND MEETING NEW PEOPLE…. why do you want to become a flight attendant? Trust me, that is a question you will have to answer. So come prepared. I think I may have said something about looking for a career with a reputable company that I would be proud to work for. And then I’m sure I went on to say something about how much I enjoyed providing good customer service and how appealing I found the flexible lifestyle, since I wasn’t really a 9 to 5 kind of person. Two other questions I can remember were, “How did you prepare for the interview?” (I bought a navy blue suit and a pair of navy blue heels) and “what question did you think we would ask, but didn’t – answer it” (When can you start training – now).

BUH-BYE, ADIOS SAYONARA, SEE YA LATER: Flight attendants are expected to welcome and say goodbye to each and every passenger while boarding or deplaning a flight. Wouldn’t hurt to do the same to the person(s) conducting the interview process. Thank the interviewer for their time and tell him or her you look forward to seeing them again.

Let’s say you score an airline interview, but for whatever reason you aren’t hired. Don’t give up. Keep on reapplying. Or try another airline. My friend Shirley who worked for a charter airline applied to a particular commercial airline eighteen times – eighteen times! – and never did get hired. Did I mention she speaks three languages and is an amazing flight attendant? Finally Shirley applied to my airline and they hired her on the spot. Two weeks later she attended flight attendant training. Another flight attendant I know attended a yearly flight attendant open house like a contestant on American Idol. Five years after his first open house interview he got hired. Just goes to show, you never know. Just keep on trying.

Hope that helps, Donna. Good luck to you!

Heather Poole

Got a question? Email Skydoll123@yahoo.com

Photos courtesy of GeorgeParilla’s and Changing_Name

Cockpit Chronicles: “Flying Drunk” by Joe Balzer

by Kent Wien on

Most people would question their career choice after working for five different airlines in their first six years as a pilot. But the early ’90s were a turbulent time in the industry, and I was simply happy to be working, even if it was as a flight engineer on the 727. Flying is what I wanted to do.

But a flight engineer doesn’t actually fly. This position, once reserved for experienced mechanics, was now populated with junior pilots working their way up the seniority ranks until they could hold a co-pilot or captain seat. I seemed to have had the unfortunate luck to be at my third airline working at that very junior flight engineer seat by 1996.

There I was, sitting in another indoctrination class, in a windowless room featuring six Office Depot particle board tables with twelve swivel-type desk chairs looking at a white dry erase board.

This time I would be learning about Kittyhawk Air Cargo; their rules, procedures, insurance benefits and hazardous material policies among other things.

If I had, even for a moment, felt that my career had been less than charmed up to this point, those thoughts would soon be eclipsed by a pilot sitting behind me and to my left. He was someone with a very well known past.

In the previous row I heard the typical banter of two new-hire pilots. The first pilot answered the most often asked question in this setting; where’d you come from?

It sounds rather direct, but there’s no better way to get to know a fellow aviator; their experience and maybe even if they’ve flown with someone you know.

My ears perked up when I heard my classmate mention he’d flown in Alaska, since I had spent the first 3 years of my career up there. I quickly realized from eavesdropping, that we’d flown in different parts of the state.

“How about you?” The Alaskan pilot asked his neighbor sitting to the left.

“Remember those Northwest pilots who were arrested for flying under the influence?” He said, as everyone in the class glanced toward him like the famous EF Hutton commercial where people stop talking and turn to listen to a far more interesting conversation.

“I was the flight engineer on that flight.”
It’s fair to say that no one has ever had a more turbulent career than Joe Balzer. But flying was what he too, had always wanted to do.

His career started at Delta as an aircraft cleaner while he flew at night as a right-seat pilot/freight loader aboard WWII vintage cargo planes out of Florida to the Bahamas. Later on, he worked as a Learjet pilot before landing his dream job at Eastern Air Lines.

Joe left for greener pastures at Northwest while Eastern began to collapse.

And on a winter’s night in Fargo, North Dakota, his career would also begin to crumble.

Since it was clear that our indoctrination class wouldn’t be starting until we heard Joe’s full story, the instructor agreed to let Joe speak in front of our class.

This wasn’t going to be your typical indoctrination class, I remember thinking.

Joe explained the circumstances that led up to a night of drinking on his long Fargo layover. While he and his co-pilot had given up on their captain and went to bed before the eight-hour “bottle-to-throttle” rule, the captain remained at the pub long afterwards. He made enough of a scene that a few patrons of the bar elected to call the FAA in an effort to prevent this captain’s flight from departing in the morning.

A representative of the FAA met up with the crew the next morning and asked them about the night before. Joe insisted on taking a breathalyzer test, but the inspector deemed that to be unnecessary.

But when they arrived in Minneapolis a few hours later, the state police were there to handcuff all three pilots at the gate and take them away.

It turns out, Joe and the co-pilot were just over the FAA’s legal limit of .04 blood alcohol level.

While we listened to Joe’s story, I couldn’t help notice that he didn’t blame anyone but himself and he remained amazingly positive and upbeat about his situation.

After turning down a plea-bargain (a mistake that cost him dearly) Joe lost all his licenses and ratings to fly and spent a year in a federal penitentiary in Atlanta. It was at this point that the story became edge-of-your-seat interesting.

Joe finished up his story, leaving his classmates and even the instructor in a stunned silence.

Later, I invited Joe to my place, where he relayed the experience in even more detail to my brother and me.

“Joe, you need to write a book.” I remember saying.

Apparently, over the next decade enough people said the same thing to Joe, that he’s done just that.

In July, Flying Drunk was released and I managed to get an early copy. It sat in my suitcase for a few days before I tackled it on a rainy London layover. I missed lunch. A few hundred pages later and I had missed dinner as well.

Joe chronicled his early career, which would be fascinating reading for anyone learning to fly today who hopes to become an airline pilot. Flying Drunk pulled me in like no other aviator autobiography.

For Kittyhawk and later American Airlines to give Joe another shot at a flying career after his horrible mistake in 1992, is a testimony to Joe and those at the subsequent interviews who listened to his story.

Cecil Ewell, the well respected and now retired Vice President of Fight Operations at American, says this about Joe:

“In 1998, a man came to my office looking for a job as a pilot for American Airlines. I had 50,000 applications for only 80 jobs per month. The story he told me nearly caused me to fall out of my chair. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. In my 50-year aviation career, his hiring was my greatest success.”

I talked to Joe Balzer this week about the book and his flying career:

Kent: Joe, American took a bit of a publicity risk in hiring you 11 years ago. Have they been supportive of your efforts with this book today?

Joe: The men who hired me at American Airlines knew my hiring had potential for controversy, yet they felt like they were doing the right thing, by giving a man a chance that no other airline would give him. This is a company that is dedicated to helping people recover from alcoholism, saving families and pilots, and getting people back to work with the true potential that they have living sober lives. I struggled for so long to feel useful in the workplace, and writing this book has created the opportunity for me to give something back to all of the employees of American Airlines and the rest of the world.

Kent: There have been a few recent cases of pilots that were pulled off trips while passing through security after they were found to have been drinking prior a flight. Have you ever talked to any of these pilots?


Joe: I have spoken to several pilots who have gotten into trouble. It’s amazing how similar their feelings are to the ones I was having when my life fell apart. Most of these pilots really want to change their lives and get help. They want to surrender and learn about themselves and the disease of alcoholism, find support, get an education and become healthy and sober people.



Alcoholism is a very misunderstood disease, and denial and the negative social stigma do tremendous damage. My desire is to educate people about the disease, and perhaps raise the tragic bottom for someone so they don’t have to go through what I did before they seek help.

Kent: Do you think alcoholism is a widespread problem among airline employees? Should passengers be concerned?

Joe: Based on the letters I have received from other pilots and many conversations I have had, alcoholism is alive and well among every work group in this country, and to think it doesn’t affect pilots in today’s world would be pure denial of reality.



All airlines and companies with flight departments have people who are still suffering from alcoholism and need help, and thankfully, many companies have an employee assistance program to help people recover from this 100% fatal disease.



Over 4,000 pilots have been rehabilitated with the HIMS program, and every single pilot who is flying in recovery is enhancing air safety. Think about it, if just one pilot on the NWA crew in 1990 had been in recovery, the flight would have never left the gate.

Kent: What has been the reaction from the pilots you’re currently flying with?

Joe: The vast majority of pilots I have flown with or talked to have been very positive. Most pilots tell me that they admire my perseverance and are happy that American Airlines offered me the opportunity to fly again for a major airline.



Some amazing things have happened also. One pilot I spoke to on an airplane called me a few weeks after I met him and told me that “after hearing your story and talking to my wife, I decided to enter a treatment program for alcoholism.” When I heard that, I had a feeling of usefulness, that all of my pain and suffering was for the greater good and would help other people.



This pilot is a happy sober pilot today and is grateful for the positive change sobriety has made in his life. It’s easy to be locked into toxic shame and guilt, and in my story I explain how that was very dominating in my life. It kept me from wanting to get help.



Just yesterday I had a jumpseat rider who read my book on a four hour flight home. His comment to me was, “Every pilot in the industry needs to read this book.”

Kent: Had you taken the plea bargain which would have eliminated the felony charges, would you have been able to keep your licenses instead of having to go through, like you did, and earn them all back?

Joe: No, the FAA had already EMERGENCY REVOKED all of my pilot licenses–a very horrible experience to say the least. Obviously, my life had become unmanageable at that point in time, I had compromised my personal values by flying an airplane with too much alcohol is my system, and the locomotive had already crushed me. I was like a bug on the windshield of life, crushed and battered, but still somehow hanging on, just enough to get through the day. My flying days were gone, and a giant vacuum was whistling through my heart. That’s how much I enjoyed flying.


Kent: Are you aware of anyone else, besides the Northwest captain, who lost their licenses and earned them back again after a case like this?

Joe: There are many people flying today who have had to earn their licenses back in order to fly again. I think historically, we were the first ones who were ever charged with criminal charges for flying under the influence.

Kent: What has been the most rewarding thing about telling your story?

Joe: The things people say to me after they read the book are very uplifting. My life was super painful and difficult for a very long time. I suffered from post traumatic shock from being in prison for one. Then endured years of rejection from potential employers. I reflect on the wonderful people who were already in my life, my wife, family and friends, and all of the new people God put in my life who have supported me emotionally and spiritually over the years.


Joe’s book, Flying Drunk is available at book stores or directly from his website.

Cockpit Chronicles takes you along on some of Kent’s trips as an international co-pilot on the Boeing 757 and 767 based in Boston. Have any questions for Kent? Check out Plane Answers.

Talking Travel: David Farley, Author of An Irreverent Curiosity

by Mike Barish on

Striking a balance between being informative and being entertaining is one of the most difficult aspects of non-fiction writing. And when it comes to travel writing, it becomes even more challenging. The author needs to educate readers about people and places while also keeping them engaged in his own personal story. Thankfully, travel writer David Farley has done just that and managed to go the extra mile of writing a truly enjoyable, educational and funny chronicle of his time in Calcata, Italy searching for Jesus’ foreskin. Yes, you read that correctly. He was searching for the lost foreskin of Jesus and details it in his new book, An Irreverent Curiosity

Along the way, he met a wide array of locals, each quirkier than the last. He deceived priests at the Vatican, befriended a woman who talks to birds and managed to put a tiny village back on the map. I recently sat down with Farley at a bar in New York City to discuss his adventure, how he ended up being called Gary Coleman and what it’s like to be known as “the foreskin guy.”
Mike Barish (MB): I’m sure everyone asks you this, but it’s the 800-pound gorilla in the room. So why Jesus’ foreskin?
David Farley (DF): Why not Jesus’ foreskin? Who had actually thought of Jesus’ foreskin until you heard of it the first time. The first time I heard “Holy Foreskin” with those two words in succession to each other I thought it was some sort of foreskin fetish magazine.

MB: At the beginning of the story you talk about how you wanted an adventure, but you didn’t know exactly where you wanted to go. What made you want to uproot yourself, head to a tiny Italian village and search for the lost foreskin of Jesus Christ?
DF: Just out of habit of not really staying in one place at one time. Before that in the last 10 years, I had moved around so much from Santa Cruz, Prague, San Francisco, Paris, Rome, and a few years in New York. I just started to get antsy again, so my wife and I both were thinking about moving somewhere for awhile but didn’t know where. She had been reminding me about Calcata because we went there on a day trip when we lived in Rome, and it was such a fantastical place with all these crazy bohemian types there. It looks like a classic medieval Italian town, but once you start wandering around, you see that there is an absurd amount of art galleries and people are dressed in saris. You start talking to people and they start speaking about this weird energy that comes from the rock and stuff. Then I came across the story of the Holy Foreskin, and that’s when I realized that it was interesting enough.

MB: In towns of that size [Author’s note: Calcata has app. 100 people], you often encounter two types of people: those who are very excited to have an outsider and those who are incredibly distrustful of the interloper. Overall, was Calcata inviting or suspicious towards you?
DF: I expected it to be really distrustful, especially because I was coming there to speak about a relic that I thought was a taboo subject. It wasn’t taboo at all, and Calcata is really welcoming. Pretty much everyone there was really welcoming of me there and really curious about me at the same time. It really went beyond my expectations. I really thought that some guy from New York showing up who claims to be a journalist, is mentioning writing a book about his time there; I thought that a lot of people would be really suspicious of me. Maybe they were, but maybe I just didn’t realize it.

MB: You were confronted by some priests at the Vatican while you were attempting to research the Holy Foreskin. When they asked for your name, you panicked. Why did you tell them that your name is Gary Coleman?
DF: Because, first of all, I was just talking about Gary the night before with an actor who spends his weekends in Calcata and who was in the Italian production of Avenue Q, which in Italy is called Viale T. He was just telling me that there is this part where they say, “I’m Gary Coleman,” and that’s one reason. I thought that was really funny. Then he told me when Diff’rent Strokes aired in Italy in the 80s, and if you were of a certain age everyone knew who Gary Coleman was and the famous phrase: che cosa stai dicendo, Willis (What you talking about, Willis?). I thought that was really hilarious. I even thanked him in the first book that I co-edited, Travelers’ Tales Prague and the Czech Republic: True Stories. He’s in the acknowledgments and gets a big thank you.

MB: Some of my favorite parts of the book are your interactions with the Vatican and other scholars and how you always tried to come up with a diplomatic way to bring up the Holy Foreskin so as to not be laughed out of the room (or aggressively dismissed from the room). On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being Martin Luther and 10 being Martin Lawrence, how much of a sense of humor does the Vatican have?
DF: From my experience it would have to be a 1. They are an ancient institution that is having trouble keeping up with the modern world. So you get people like me coming in asking questions about this ancient relic that used to be part of the institution of Catholicism and the church, and they don’t know how to deal with it. If it were 500 – 600 years ago and I came in asking about the Holy Foreskin, they probably would have invited me in to lounge on their sofa and ask all the questions I wanted to about the Holy Foreskin. Now, of course, things have changed.

MB: In your recent WorldHum article, you talk about how there were mixed reactions to you writing an New York Times article about Calcata. Now you have a whole book about the town. Are you persona non grata, persona quasi grata? What is your relationship with the town and the town’s people now?
DF: Some people won’t be happy with it. I didn’t say anything intentionally bad about anyone in the book, but you never know how people are going to react to the way things are mentioned or characterized in the book. I think Calcata is a special case because the village was abandoned and the people there who still live there, these artists and bohemian types, felt like they saved the village because they did have it taken off of the condemned list. They feel really protective over it. So it is particular to Calcata that anything you write about, people are going to kind of react to in a certain extreme way just because it’s like they’re looking after their child or something like that.

MB: Part of
the story is that a German soldier during WWII had the foreskin, brought it Calcata, and that’s how it arrived in the village. The only real interaction that people have with Nazis and Catholicism up until now is in Indiana Jones. Were you at all concerned that had you laid eyes on the foreskin that your face would melt?
DF: That wasn’t my concern, but my concern would be that my hands would become numb, because if you remember from the story, that everyone was trying to untie the sack that held something in it and their hands would become numb. They needed a woman of complete purity to open it, and they found a seven-year-old girl named Clarice, to do it and she opened it. So not being a man of complete purity, I think that I wouldn’t have much of a chance of touching the Holy Foreskin without my hands or another part of my body becoming completely stiff.

MB: To me, one of the most wonderful parts of the book is that it is about you wanting to shake yourself out of your comfort zone and go on an adventure. What advice would you give to people who are maybe thinking about uprooting their lives? How do you break that inertia and say I’m going to do it?
DF: Right. I actually don’t have any practical advice for that except just to say the annoying answer is just to say that you have to do it. I’ve done it 3 or 4 times in my life already where I’ve just moved somewhere for that reason just to welcome the unfamiliar, uncomfortable. At times it sucks but in the end you become a much better, wiser person for that. You really just have to have the courage to do it. Changeability changes your world.

MB: J.D. Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye and never released anything after that. He’s known for The Catcher in the Rye, which not a bad way to be remembered. Now, heaven forbid writer’s block attacks you or no story catches on the way searching for the Holy Foreskin does, have you come to peace with being the Holy Foreskin guy?
DF: No, I haven’t. I was at a party a few months ago on the Upper West Side and somehow it was at one point where the topic of circumcision came up. As soon as it did, everyone looked at me, and I said, “What?” I knew why they were looking at me, but it was just kind of funny that just circumcision, nothing to do with historic circumcision or Jesus’ circumcision, but just circumcision in general made everyone look at me. So it would be nice in a weird way to write something else that I might be known for other than Jesus’ foreskin. I hope that I do, but until that happens, I will just be Mr. Holy Foreskin, I guess.

David Farley’s travel writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post and National Geographic Adventure amongst other publications. He also once showed Gadling what’s in his pack. His new book, An Irreverent Curiosity, is in stores now.

US Airways customer service director: À la carte fees are the only way forward

by Christopher Elliott on

John Romantic is the director of customer relations and central baggage resolution at US Airways. But he’d prefer that you simply think of him as your advocate at the airline. For the last nine months, he’s had the unenviable job of improving the carrier’s checkered reputation for customer service. I asked him how he’s doing it.

Q: I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about some of the changes within US Airways, when it comes to handling customer service questions. And I’ve seen a marked decrease in reader complaints. What are you doing?

Romantic: We are doing a lot, and we’re glad there is a buzz starting.

My goal when taking my position nine months ago was to transform customer relations from a complaint resolution center into a customer advocacy center. Better said, while we handle customer inquiries, we also need to globally understand customer sentiment and use all of that data to look at our product, policies, and processes. Our focus is to find ways to be easier to do business with.

Q: How?

Romantic: We code 100 percent of the customer responses we receive, and have created better reporting from this data. We have established an executive steering committee which meets regularly with the primary focus of understanding our customers’ feedback, and finding ways to improve our customers’ experience resulting in reduced complaints. The work of this team has lead to several recent changes – with some still in progress.

We realize we have a little more ground to make up on customer complaint rankings, but our actions are starting to close the gap with our competitors.

Q: How many requests does your department handle in an average week? Can you break it down by phone, fax, letter and e-mail, please?

Romantic: The actual number of requests varies by time of the year, load factor, peak and off-peak times. But the current breakdown is 91 percent handled via e-mail, 5 percent via phone and 4 percent via fax or written correspondence.

Q: What’s the best way of contacting US Airways when you have a problem with a flight?

Romantic: The preferred method of contacting US Airways is to use our Web form on the US Airways Web site under “Contact US”. The data provided by the customer on the Web form enables us to assign the issue to the best person available in customer relations to handle the request.

It is also the most expeditious method of contact in that it allows the representative to complete any research before responding to the customer.

Q: What’s your average response time? Do you have performance targets for responding to customers, and if so, can you tell me what they are for inquiries by phone, fax, letter and e-mail?

Romantic: We publish a response time of one to three business days. But to be honest with you, I get a little excited when our response time climbs above one day. We are looking to improve upon that metric by looking at more technology to improve productivity and respond more quickly.

Q: How are passenger inquiries prioritized? Do frequent fliers get answered first? Do people with tickets booked through a consolidator get processed closer to the end?

Romantic: Another advantage to using the Web form is that the structured data fields enable us to triage – or compartmentalize emails by issue or customer type. This allows us to prioritize certain types of customers such as Dividend Miles Preferred customers or customers with disabilities. It also allows the many compliments that we receive to be handled later in the queue and by other employees in the department.

Emails sent directly to specific personnel at US Airways do not get the same level of filtering or prioritization. We do not currently differentiate our service by ticket price in any way.

Q: Tell me more about your new email system. What did you change, and how is it working out for you?

Romantic: In September of last year, we replaced our database system with a Web-based customer response management system. The CRM application provides us with a database by which we can better understand our customers’ concerns as well as positive customer feedback. It also enables us to better manage the type of requests coming in as a result of the email triage component of CRM.

We are looking at more automation as well that will further improve productivity and reduce customer response time.

Q: What one thing about handling customer complaints do you wish customers knew, but don’t?

Romantic: Customers can do a couple of things to ensure an appropriate and speedy reply to their concern.

Customers should always summarize their concern at the beginning of their note, including key information like their confirmation code, date of travel, and flight numbers. Then, provide a few succinct bullet points illustrating the key aspects of their experience. We sometimes get very long, detailed letters that include irrelevant information. These types of contacts are difficult to comprehend and craft an appropriate response in a timely manner.

And give us a chance. Sometimes customers feel like they increase their chances of a successful outcome by sending their concern to multiple points of contact in the company. We have seen instances where customers research our corporate officers, sending each one a personalized letter detailing their experience. This sometimes lead to multiple people trying to solve the problem, and can cause the response to be delayed.

Q: Let’s say the question wasn’t answered. That happens from time to time — and I’m guilty of doing this, too — but sometimes agents read the first two paragraphs and send a form letter that doesn’t address the issue. What’s next?

Romantic: This does happen, but fairly infrequently. Our representatives are well-trained to handle just about any type of customer issue to their satisfaction.

The appropriate way to handle this is to simply send us another short response. We categorize this as a rebuttal, and it gets prioritized for handling. We also realize that at some point it may make better sense to use the phone and we will contact a customer after a rebuttal. This also gives me an opportunity to look at rebuttal responses for coaching improvement, as we strive to continually increase customer satisfaction when corresponding with customer relations.

Q: What are the biggest mistakes customers make when dealing with your department? Is there one thing that guarantees you won’t get an answer — like YELLING or using profanity?

Romantic: Well, we understand when things don’t go well that a customer may be upset. Our representatives are well trained to handle the emotions that sometimes follow service failures.

One thing we hear from time to time is that responses from customer relations get trapped in someone’s spam filter. So, it is best to ensure that your email is set to receive a response. We do appreciate not yelling or use of profanity though!

Q: What do you think passengers should expect from US Airways? Do you think that differs from what passengers expect, and if so, how?

Romantic: I believe that more often than not, we are able to meet our customer’s expectations. It really depends on the circumstances and the type of service failure. Expectati
ons seem to have a wide range dependant on the person and their situation.

We do get a lot of requests for roundtrip tickets on traveled — yet delayed — itineraries. We do not provide round trip tickets as compensation, but we do compensate with future travel dollars when the circumstances warrant it.

Weather delays and cancellations can also be tricky as we typically do not compensate for acts of nature outside of our immediate control.

Q: I’d like to ask about some of the more recent changes, including the baggage fees that were added last month. How do you go about explaining something like this to passengers who maybe feel as if luggage charges and other ancillary fees are unfair?

Romantic: Without a doubt, the airline industry has changed dramatically over the past five years. The model that airlines used five years ago is no longer a model that can sustain the costs of doing business. Even at today’s lower fuel prices, airlines are still losing money.

As a result, most major airlines are adopting an “à la carte” business model, which allows customers to pay for what they need, and not pay for what they do not need.

Sure, it sounds easy to just raise prices across the board instead of applying fees for services. But with too much capacity in operation and fares changing literally every minute, it is simply too hard to raise fares while remaining competitive with other airlines.

Besides, if you are on a business trip or typically carry on your one bag, then you would not want to be subject to higher fares. So, for some customers, the a la carte business model may actually save them money.

Q: I wanted to ask you about the latest Air Travel Consumer Report, which shows 63 people wrote to the government to complain about US Airways in February. Can you help put that number into perspective for our readers? How do you get that number down, apart from appealing or shifting the complaint to a regional carrier?

Romantic: In February, US Airways flew 3,843,035 passengers which excludes Express carrier traffic and received 63 complaints written to the DOT [Department of Transportation]. That is a rate of 1.64 per 100,000 customers flown. Purely from a numbers perspective, most carriers are within 5 to 10 complaints of each other monthly. And US Airways is closing that margin fast.

We are analyzing our DOT complaints very closely. As I mentioned earlier, we are looking at everything we do that may detract from customer satisfaction. The prominent driver of DOT complaints for all airlines is ineffective recovery from flight problems that occur. While US Airways boasts one of the better on-time records of late, we must look at ways to better manager service challenges when they do occur.

The March report will be out soon, and we are definitely seeing progress. The actual number of DOT complaints is down 35 percent year over year through the first quarter of 2009, and 29 percent on a ratio per 100,000 customers.

Finally, it is my responsibility to understand what drives complaints and work on solutions. As we do that, I also want to ensure that all customers know that their voice is being heard when writing directly to my customer relations team at US Airways.

Elliott is a syndicated travel columnist. You can read more interviews on his travel blog.

Galley Gossip: A question about Southwest Airlines, AirTran Airways, and other airlines who may be hiring flight attendants

by Heather Poole on

Dear Heather,

I was hired with Southwest Airlines earlier in the year, but I was informed today that Southwest will no longer be having any training classes in 2009. Now I’m going to try for AirTran Airways. I had an interview and told them I successfully interviewed with Southwest Airlines last August however they aren’t having any training in 2009 and I’m ready to move forward with my flight attendant career. I hope it doesn’t hurt me that I told them that. What do you think?

Leesa

Dear Leesa

Southwest is an amazing airline. People absolutely love them, passengers and crew alike. I mean what’s not to love about an airline that treats their employees like family, an airline that knows how to have fun, and more importantly, an airline that can lay claim to employing the rapping flight attendant (whom I’ll be interviewing soon!) Many years ago I wanted to work for Southwest Airlines, and always thought that I would work for Southwest, and even got a letter inviting me to interview for them, but then the airline I currently work for hired me first. Obviously I’m a huge fan of Southwest, even when I wind up in group C. The fact that you got hired to be apart of their family says a lot about you!

I’m sure you’re extremely disappointed about the training class being cancelled. I know I would be. So I logged onto twitter.com (click here to follow me on twitter) and sent a quick tweet to Southwest Airlines. I asked them if you’d be called back when classes resume or if you’d have to go through the interview process again. Five seconds later Southwest responded, “Yes, unfortunately she will have to go back through the interview process again.”

Honestly, I’m sure you’ll have no problem impressing them twice. That said, I also think that moving forward and interviewing with AirTran Airways was a great idea! Don’t worry about telling AirTran about Southwest, I’m sure that’ll only make them want you more knowing that an airline with an amazing reputation already showed interest in you.

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Before I started working for a major US carrier, I worked for a discount airline called Sunjet International Airlines for about three months. It was a lot of fun and gave me a taste of what flying was all about. The great thing about working for a smaller airline is you’ll be able to really get to know your coworkers, which in the long run will make all the difference in the world. Because at an airline, regardless of the kind of trips you get stuck working, if the crew is good the trip will be good. And you’ll be more than just an employee number. Who knows, by the time Southwest calls you back to flight attendant training you may not even want to leave AirTran. Stranger things have happened!

Speaking of strange things happening, did you know that there’s been talk in the past about AirTran and Southwest merging? For real! Can you imagine? But then if you were already a flight attendant you’d know not to listen to airline rumors.

I’m glad you haven’t given up on your dream of becoming a flight attendant, even in this tough economy. I do recommend the job to anyone who is interested and can actually land an interview. It is a wonderful job to have when times are good, but right now unfortunately many airlines are furloughing flight attendants in order to survive.

If you get another interview with AirTran, Leesa, make sure to check out this AirTran Interview Forum for the latest information of what to expect at your interview. If something happens and for whatever reason you don’t end up working for AirTran, make sure to check out flight attendant career.com There you’ll find a list of other airlines who may be hiring.

Good luck and keep in touch!

Heather Poole

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Photos courtesy of (Southwest) Allysdad, (flight attendants) AirTran Airways website