emj55

Its not about being scared. I stand outside the cockpit with my newly pressed uniform and a smile on my face.

Me:"Welcome Aboard Sir!"
PAX#1:"How do you work for this SH!TTY Company"

Me:"Hi, How ya doing?"
PAX#2:"You and your airline just ruined my vacation!"

Me:"Hello"
PAX#3:"Give me a number to call for complaints! I paid 15 extra bucks for an aisle seat, and they gave me a middle seat. Now they won't give me my money back"

Me: (Im still smiling) "How are you?"
PAX#4:"TERRIBLE!"

Wow! 140 more passengers to board! I think I'll go sit in the cockpit.

My first PA to the PAX:" Well folks Im terribly sorry, but we have no drinks or snacks for purchase because catering never came. And managment doesn't care. They want us on time. Oh and by the way, theres no toilet paper."

Thats why I stay in the cockpit.

Now I may sound a little harsh and disgruntled, but this is an average day for me. This management blows.

PFactor

I had a pax in FLL just walk up to me out of the blue and tell me to go "F myself". Apparently I was the sole cause of his twenty minute delay arriving in to FLL that evening. Sometimes it can be hard just trying to keep from laughing at certain situations.

captscott26

Im not going to be the one to stand up for our management, cuz they dont deserve that, but I cant help but feel that you are stretching the truth here just a little. I would say the majority of the passengers I see get on the airplane are nice people, I say hello and they smile and say hello back. Im sorry you have had such bad experiences, maybe you do to many fll-lga flights

Normann

You know I am not trying to judge you, but IMHO based on no additional information, when something like this happens you get the next cop and have that person removed. There are limits to what anyone can say in public places especially to employees that are more or less officials. Walking up to people and tell them to f themselves is considered an assault in many states. Go try to do that with TSA and see if you will fly that day. What is the next thing he is going to do when on board and after an additional 20 min delay? Why risk a diversion later and screw everyone's day?

On the topic. I had way less upset pax at NK than when I was flying the ERJ for a bunch of different legacy carriers. Those guys/girls were constantly upset and often for good reasons. Bags left behind, on time performance, overbooking, boarding issues etc... Mainline really overdid the RJ thing. And they have paid a higher price for the ticket in that 50 seater compared to a LCC price. Those folks were paying legacy prices and they did not even know that they were not flying on the airline that was painted on the side of the plane.

When I was still on my 2 leg commute for almost 2 years I had pax coming up to me and complain thinking I was the pilot of that flight. I can only recall two occasions when I was not able to calm them by explaining the likely reason for the issue. And I was not even part of the crew. Most people just need a little conversation and just a bit of insight so they can understand what is going on and how the system works. It was definitely not less frequent than at NK. If you think NK has much worse service than anyone else I think you are not jumping offline very often or may be everything changer for the better in the last years since I have not been commuting anymore.... riiiiiiiiiight. People are upset mostly because they don't know what is going on and they feel out of control. It has little to do with how much the gate agent is smiling or are they going to get free diet coke on board or not. If they are ****ed, it is booking, connecting, and bags. I think those three summs up 90%. Every airline has issues in these areas, and often it is not even their fault.

Besides, airlines can't afford to charge for good customer service anymore anyways primarily because most people are not willing to pay for it.

PFactor

Normann, I understand what you're saying about involving LEO's. However, I did not view this individual as a threat to myself nor any of the other pax in the terminal. Just your average LGA pax trying let off steam the best way they know how. The chances of the individual getting in to a FELONY assault scenario was pretty unlikely, the police would have just made sure he was going to continue down to bag claim. He was coming "home" to FLL, I'm sure to a very happy and loving home lol.

Normann

So this was after the flight. Yeah no threat in that case. I agree though LGA folks are just famous for their attitude.

PFactor

Yeah, I've got some pretty good stories from working in the north-east. It's such a laid back and carefree group up there.

Kubota

NK & customer service, priceless! You know it is bad when you have crew that would rather non rev off-line then on their own airline.

Kingjay

Being a commuter, I have the opportunity to ride on a number of different airlines. I have had bad experiences and good experiences on all of them. Its always the individuals that make or break that experience. Every airline has stand outs, people who go the extra mile.They all also have people so ****ed off at the world that they can't help but make your life miserable too.

GoldenGoose

NK is still Ft. Lauderdale's favorite airline by a wide margin.

New airplanes, ontime service, assigned seating.

If things were so bad , why are they number one?

Sounds like somebody has an agenda. Sour grapes, maybe?