<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>An incredibly discourteous flight crew
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->RECENTLY, I took a flight on United Airlines to Hong Kong. Having flown United before, I did not expect much but what I encountered was a new low.
Problems began even before the plane took off. The flight was slightly overbooked but for some reason, rather than upgrading people at the counter, United chose to allocate them seats at the boarding gate. This caused a long delay as two people were assigned the same seat and the flight attendants had to sort it out.
Some passengers were moving around in the cabin and this confused the air crew. However, rather than politely asking them to move back to their seats, some stewardesses snapped and vented their anger out loud at the passengers. At first, I thought it was an isolated incident.
As the flight progressed, I noticed that some of the crew were rude throughout their service. Without a word, one stewardess slammed my tray table open and dropped my breakfast on the table.
As the plane was landing, the crew did their rounds and ensured that passengers fastened their seat belts and put the seats back to their original position. However, they did this without any courtesy. Not once did I hear 'please' or 'thank you'. It was just 'fasten your seatbelt', 'put your seat up' and 'secure your tray table'.
It was not just that flight, as on the return leg, the service was the same. Honestly, I do not mind that United cannot provide amenities other airlines have such as hot meals or personal entertainment. But there is no excuse for such poor service on board.
I think even budget airlines offer a better experience.
Kenneth Chong
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->RECENTLY, I took a flight on United Airlines to Hong Kong. Having flown United before, I did not expect much but what I encountered was a new low.
Problems began even before the plane took off. The flight was slightly overbooked but for some reason, rather than upgrading people at the counter, United chose to allocate them seats at the boarding gate. This caused a long delay as two people were assigned the same seat and the flight attendants had to sort it out.
Some passengers were moving around in the cabin and this confused the air crew. However, rather than politely asking them to move back to their seats, some stewardesses snapped and vented their anger out loud at the passengers. At first, I thought it was an isolated incident.
As the flight progressed, I noticed that some of the crew were rude throughout their service. Without a word, one stewardess slammed my tray table open and dropped my breakfast on the table.
As the plane was landing, the crew did their rounds and ensured that passengers fastened their seat belts and put the seats back to their original position. However, they did this without any courtesy. Not once did I hear 'please' or 'thank you'. It was just 'fasten your seatbelt', 'put your seat up' and 'secure your tray table'.
It was not just that flight, as on the return leg, the service was the same. Honestly, I do not mind that United cannot provide amenities other airlines have such as hot meals or personal entertainment. But there is no excuse for such poor service on board.
I think even budget airlines offer a better experience.
Kenneth Chong
