Ferd149

Anyone know how many Asia based flight attendants we have?

Also, for you pmDs, do the "speakers" get to bid a trip out of seniority if it's going to an area they are a qualified language speaker? Just wondering how the LODs fit in with the senior mommas going to XYZ

Ferd

Sink r8

Don't know about Asia, and don't know exactly how the LOD system works, but the bottom line is that they have one speaker position (or more) on certain flights, and not everyone is qualified to be a speaker. Which means the senior mammas resent the fact that someone junior may be able to go somewhere they couldn't hold were it not for the fact they were Speakers. So the answer to the second part is "yes".

I was just discussing this with a North F/A, who was explaining the dynamic. The only problem is that if we didn't have Speakers, we would be about the only airline of any significance that doesn't. From the standpoint of customer service, it's a basic minimum.

I guess the answer is to give incentives to senior mammas to qualify for a language... which I guess is what's being done already. I guess the good news is that the company doesn't in any way shape or form discourage people from learning languages. The F/A's I was speaking with said NW offered free classes, but they were poorly attended. Ironically, she said everyone was frustrated because the Chinese Speakers would refuse to speak the Chinese they were hired to speak, because they didn't get special language pay for speaking Chinese (!). So, in other words, these two North F/A's said their colleagues were mad because they had Speakers that didn't speak before, now some are mad that they have Speakers that speak.

There is even another twist to this: a few of the "Speakers" actually don't know how to speak the language they "qualified" for.

It's AFU, but the pax need Speakers one way or another.

Ferd149

Sink,

Interesting, and the way I remember a short lived experiment with language school and trying to hire US Chinese speakers who's English was atrocious. Then, when the FA union stuck to their contract, these atrocious english speakers were doing DC-9 trips out of Fargo till most of them quit.

What we always did for language speakers is to use Asia based, indigenous FAs who are interperters going back and forth to Asia, primarly Tokyo based girls going to NRT. Once you are in NRT, all "south flying" is done by Asians with only two (the Purser + one helper) US based FAs.

The Asia girls are non-union and they pay them dirt. Will be interesting to see what they do with the program. I'm not sure they want to keep it since they are advertising for Asia speakers...................??????????

Added.......Asia FA bases:

NRT, NGO, TPE, PEK, ICN, PVG, HGK, MNL, BKK.

Anyway, I feel strongly both ways on the issue. We are a US carrier and the Asia girls are outsourcing, but they do look good and provide OUTSTANDING (an understatement) service.

Sink r8

This may be an indication: we once had Indian flight attendants. I never worked with them, but they were said to be absolutely outstanding in every way. They were said to be sharp, intelligent, and hard-working. They went back and forth between Frankfurt (then Paris) and their homeland. They were more or less paid per-diem, as I understand it.

They were all dumped, much to the chagrin of the Flight Crews that worked with them.

I'm not for outsourcing, that being said. But I am also not for hiring people and canning them. So I think hiring Speakers and putting them on the list is probably the best long-term solution, and stop the experiments with indigenous crews.

I think actually checking the Speaker's qualifications is also a must. If people have a problem with Speakers getting better destinations, and they themselves are unwilling to learn a language... then I guess I would remind them it beats having entire crews of non-seniority list speakers. One way or another, the product has to be competitive. I guess this makes jealousy against LOD's not just petty, but self-defeating.

BTW, I'm not saying disliking the "super-seniority" enjoyed by Speakers is reserved for the North: many South F/A's grumble too.

Ferd149

Yeah will be interesting to see what they do.

We go to so many place with so many dialects. For example, when we went to Guangzhou, we would have one PEK for Manderian and one PVG for Cantonese plus at least one Japanese and a few others, plus the US.

Interesting about the Indian FAs. I hate to say it, but I think that's the hand writing on the wall for the Asia program. Too bad, they are a lot nicer than a senior US momma..........plus talk about RED DRESS QUALIFIED!!

PilotFrog

Little off topic, but I really like the New 11.6 in Mac Air. Similar internals to an iPad ie no Hard Drive so maybe not have to take it out of your luggage.

acl65pilot

Talking to the FA's the speaker tests that DAL gives are fairly thorough. There are a few French speakers that are good readers but not good speakers. From talking to the InFlight Trainers they are aware of this and adjusting accordingly.

I also had a few FA"s this last week tell me that DAL is in fact offering language course. Told me I could do them too, which kind of surprised me. (Somethin I did not know! ) A bunch are taking Spanish on line. Might have to go digging for those.

<----Would love to learn Mandarin

PilotFrog

Where do we find out about these offered classes?

acl65pilot

That is what I asked. They told me they were on Delta Net. I have yet to go look for em. Been doing a few other things, but will be looking and asking in short order.

RunFast

Pilot refuses full-body scan, pat down - CNN.com