Flight Attendant Gets Fired For Saying She Qualifies For Food Stamps

This is sheer stupidity on Compass's part. They fired her for giving the company bad publicity, and in doing so, the airline turned more bad publicity on itself.

This is sheer stupidity on Compass's part. They fired her for giving the company bad publicity, and in doing so, the airline turned more bad publicity on itself.

True, but given that the average airline customer will gladly spend four hours on-line searching all the discount travel web-sites so they can save $10 on their ticket, I doubt the average customer will care.All they want is the cheapest seat possible. If it comes off the backs of the workers, most could care less.

I just dont get it! They do changing shifts, they often have no time for their children, getting radiation of being so high in the air, more than when you have 4 x-ray scans in a month (would not be allowed to enter a nuke plant)They have to be friendly to the customers no matter how they feel of how they get treated by the customers... and still they get paid so lousy! There are 4 points of how an airline keeps a good public face: 1. Aircrafts are optimal maintained, so they are not getting any artikels at the news (crashes), 2. the pilots make a good job flying 3. the crew onboard is always friendly and handels educated and professional every critical situation and 4. the ground crew does a competent job about managing the customers needs no matter how critical a situation gets.What this Compass company does is anything but not optimal PR - this way they will loose customers and orders and cutoff of flights etc. There is not so much what airlines can do in order to cut costs. The fuel has its price, the pilots will chance company if they get paid too low, the maintenance must keep a certain level in order to be able to airborn there a/cs without crashes and keep up the live span. And if the costs of the groudd crew gets too low, they wil only hire those who are low educated and cannot handle stress situations (PC/network crashes or bad weather) and as well all crew would be low motivated doing a good job. There is a lowest level no airline can go lower in all quality matters!

This is sheer stupidity on Compass's part. They fired her for giving the company bad publicity, and in doing so, the airline turned more bad publicity on itself.

most could care less.

...most couldn't care less.

I care. I care if I buy a ticket from an airline those aircrafts tend to fall off the sky. I care if the ground crew is able to handle realy stressful situations without panic and chaos, I care about that the pilots are well educated and trained. I dont need food while flying, I can eat befor the flight and after. only when I fly real long trips over 4 hours, I need some food. Just need to dring water why flying. That should not be extremly expensive. I can forget about beer, juice, etc. Just pure water!If I need more and have the money, I'll buy a business or first class ticket!So, there is a limit for quality and service. The costs cannot getting cut off too low!

...most couldn't care less.

Guess that probably explains the F I got in English back in Grade 6 :(

I used to tip when I ordered cocktails but Delta (and I imagine other airlines) have instituted a no-cash policy on their flights.Maybe they should be allowed to put a tip jar at the front of the plane. I would drop a buck our two in it when exiting the aircraft if they were pleasant. The entire crew could spit the cash after the flight. I would include the pilots in the tip pool as well. It is one of the few service industries where tips are non-existent. It would give the FAs an extra incentive to provide friendly service and it would give them they opportunity to make a little extra money.After all, we tip cab drivers, shuttle drivers... The crew does a lot more for the passengers than most of the people we typically tip.

I care. I care if I buy a ticket from an airline those aircrafts tend to fall off the sky. I care if the ground crew is able to handle realy stressful situations without panic and chaos, I care about that the pilots are well educated and trained.

Which airlines fall off the sky and how do you check the ground crew's and pilot's abilities?

Which airlines fall off the sky and how do you check the ground crew's and pilot's abilities?

Colgan Air comes immediately to mind. The PIC of the Dash-8 that packed it in near Buffalo NY had busted something like 5 checkrides. He and his female copilot were too busy chatting to notice things going to h*ll in a handbasket on the flight deck, and then he borked one of the most basic maneuvers in flying, a stall recovery. It'd be the stuff of a comedy skit if people hadn't died as a result.You can't check their qualifications...but if you know that the pilots are being paid less than $20K a year, it stands to reason that very few stay around long enough to build much of an experience base. A friend of mine has a neighbor working as a FO for one of these small regional carriers, and we figured that his per-hour pay is less than what my son made bussing tables last year in his summer job.RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

There are many regional first officers out there that also qualify for food stamps and public assistance. It's pretty rediculous. Why do the airlines get away this you ask??? Simple! There are too many pilots more than willing to work for peanuts, therefore driving down the salaries! Works the same way with flight attendants. There are enough of them willing to work for next to nothing, so that's what the get paid.It's simple supply and demand.The only thing that will change this is a pilot or flight attendant shortage. When Pilots/FA's become more in demand, the pay will go up (as will ticket prices!!).-m@

There are many regional first officers out there that also qualify for food stamps and public assistance. It's pretty rediculous. Why do the airlines get away this you ask??? Simple! There are too many pilots more than willing to work for peanuts, therefore driving down the salaries! Works the same way with flight attendants. There are enough of them willing to work for next to nothing, so that's what the get paid.It's simple supply and demand.The only thing that will change this is a pilot or flight attendant shortage. When Pilots/FA's become more in demand, the pay will go up (as will ticket prices!!).-m@

Hit the nail right on the head. As long as there are pilots willing to be paid so little, there will be pilots being paid so little. I suppose they are looking at it as just a way to build hours while they live at home or whatever.

When Pilots/FA's become more in demand, the pay will go up (as will ticket prices!!).-m@

You'd think so in theory, but remember that from 2005 to 2007 there was a very strong demand for pilots in the US as the economy was really hot (right before it crashed).Yet in spite of pilot hiring being so strong from 2005 to 2007, the regionals still had no problems getting FO's to work for wages on par with fast-food workers.(And that was when the economy was really hot. I can only imagine what the situation is like in the US now...)

I used to have my airplane in a small airport-3da just north of a class c Flint airspace.I was out polishing my airplane when at the time several "valuejet" (now named something else ) pilots showed up at our hangars and asked if they could sleep in our hangars in sleeping bags for the night. Seems they didn't have enough money for a cheap motel 6 from their company for their layover.Sad...I know few professions where you have to spend the amount of money to be trained to do your job, then make less than many with 1/1000 the education let alone responsibility for other's lives.

 

I was out polishing my airplane when at the time several "valuejet" (now named something else ) pilots showed up at our hangars and asked if they could sleep in our hangars in sleeping bags  for the night. Seems they didn't have enough money for a cheap motel 6 from their company for their layover.

ValuJet is now AirTran.