{"id":954,"date":"2012-05-21T12:35:56","date_gmt":"2012-05-21T20:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/walking-ixus.net\/blog\/?p=954"},"modified":"2022-12-30T14:15:23","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T22:15:23","slug":"national-traits-on-flag-carriers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/walking-ixus.net\/blog\/national-traits-on-flag-carriers\/","title":{"rendered":"National Traits on Flag Carriers"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was reminded on my most recent trip back East about how an airline can reflect the personality and traits of its home base. \u00a0I took two flights on this trip: a multi leg UA flight (SFO-NRT-SIN-NRT-SFO) and a round trip SQ flight to Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

\""United<\/a>
“United Airlines” – sort of (Photo credit: Chris Guillebeau)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UA is typically American, from the obese passengers with entitlement attitudes (I am in C, therefore I own the aisle and I will block it when I want, gate lice, queue jumping) \u00a0to the adequate to poor service to the typically union attitude of skirting the regulations. \u00a0For example, nametags.<\/p>\n

Nametags are supposed to be worn as part of the uniform. \u00a0I have never seen so many creative ways that a name badge can be obscured or hidden. \u00a0I saw lapels conveniently covering nametags, one name tag that looked buffed out with a brillo pad, tags with first names only and several with none. \u00a0This is to prevent any sort of complaint that passengers may have about the flight attendants since the first step is to identify the culprit and how can you be identified if you don’t have an accurate name tag. \u00a0Unlike their counterparts on Singapore Airlines<\/a>, where the stewards and stewardesses wear their uniforms and tags proudly, UA flight attendants feel the need to obscure their identity, lest they get called out for bad service. \u00a0But what’s the point, since they’re AFA anyway! \u00a0They won’t get fired. \u00a0And the ones that tend to get called out for good service, they’re the ones that wear their tags properly. \u00a0Usually they’re Narita based and non AFA.<\/p>\n

Another example of the American “it’ll do” attitude is the condition of the airplane interiors. \u00a0Since the basics of aircraft maintenance are by gov’t regulation, UA has to follow rules to make sure their fleet stays airworthy and they generally do a good job at that. \u00a0However, there’s nothing that regulates the condition of the interior of the plane, where on my 744, trim pieces being held together by tape were the norm. \u00a0I have also been on planes where panels and doors were held in place with tape. \u00a0Maybe that should be part of every carry on bag, a roll of tape, in case the plane needs some emergency repairs. \u00a0And don’t get me started about the lavatories. \u00a0On the first return leg, I was seated in an exit row, next to the battery of 4 lavatories in the main cabin. \u00a0There were a lot of unsanitary types going in and out along with the various smells pushed into the cabin with the lavatory door being swung open and closed. \u00a0Not once were the lavatories wiped down during the 7 hour flight. \u00a0Yuck! \u00a0When asked about that, the flight attendant said in a bored voice, “that’s not MY job”. \u00a0 I wonder if Jeff uses these lavatories when he flies? Maybe he can make an improvement here that we will all like.<\/p>\n

\"Air<\/a>
Air hostesses for Singapore Airlines. January 19, 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SQ, despite being criticized by some long time business fliers as “not as good as before” is still the standard in the skies. \u00a0Despite having issues with their website and the criticism of some of the quality of the new crews, SQ is still the preferred carrier for the region, according to an informal poll I took while in Singapore. \u00a0The experience onboard was efficient, well mannered, clean and pleasant. \u00a0And those were my fellow passengers. \u00a0Kinda like Singapore.<\/p>\n

My flight was on an Airbus A330<\/a> regional jet that replaced the old Boeing 772s that SQ flew for years on these routes. \u00a0The planes are new and well maintained inside and out. \u00a0Actually every SQ plane I have been on has been almost Japanese in its upkeep and maintenance. \u00a0Unlike the UA 744s that have only a screen in the main cabin, every seat back on SQ has a version of Kris World, their AVOD system. And unlike \u00a0the flight attendants on UA who are either fat or old and cranky, SQ inflight service still remains pleasant and engaging. \u00a0The food reflects the destination so there was a choice of Cantonese dishes as part of the inflight meal. \u00a0Nice to have a choice besides “beef or chicken”. \u00a0And a beautiful smile from my stewardess when I woke up after my nap. \u00a0Yay. \u00a0It’s nice to get on a plane cynical and to depart smitten. \u00a0It means that the airline has done its job, not just getting you from A to B but leaving you with a good taste in your mouth. \u00a0Or was that the Krug?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was reminded on my most recent trip back East about how an airline can reflect the personality and traits of its home base. \u00a0I took two flights on this trip: a multi leg UA flight (SFO-NRT-SIN-NRT-SFO) and a round trip SQ flight to Hong Kong. UA is typically American, from the obese passengers with … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “National Traits on Flag Carriers”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-good-travel-advice","category-overseas-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2mgIi-fo","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/walking-ixus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/walking-ixus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/walking-ixus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walking-ixus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walking-ixus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/walking-ixus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2524,"href":"https:\/\/walking-ixus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions\/2524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/walking-ixus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walking-ixus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/walking-ixus.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}