RTW Roundup: Best flight attendants
The Best: Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines flight attendants (FAs) really are taught to smile ALL the time in front of passengers, because when they sat down for landing, I caught them not smiling anymore. It must be tiring.
But seriously, on both of my flights, they were truly friendly and courteous. I'm used to flying on United, and United FAs might say, "Put down your window shade." But on Singapore, it's "Mr. K, could you please lower your window shade? We're approaching daybreak!" Or if pillows and blankets are on the floor, on other airlines I hear, "Those need to go in the overhead." On Singapore, the FAs actually got down on their knees to pick them up themselves. I had flown Singapore only once before, and thought the FAs were just so-so, but on my BKK-SIN and SIN-SYD flights, I know now why they're so famous.
The Rest
- United Airlines: About 90% of my flights are on United, and now I board with slight fear that I might get a really bad flight FA. And then when I get a good one, I'm delighted. It really varies from one individual to the next I figure it's better just to have low expectations. On my RTW trip I was really pleasantly surprised that I got some pretty good ones. They often didn't have the professional polish of other flight attendants, e.g. from SYD-LAX the FA gave me a totally crumpled menu saying, and while serving dessert, she pulled out my seat mate's menu saying, "Hold on, I just want to see what I'm serving" even after my seat mate told her what it was. Still, everyone topped off beverages frequently, didn't mix up anyone's meals, helped reboot frozen video screens effectively, and was really friendly and courteous.
- Turkish Airlines: These flight attendants need to have some extra skill in serving all of the food in their meal services! For example, when they roll out the appetizer and dessert cart, they need to be able to hold your plate in one and and use the serving spoon and fork in the other hand to pick up individual items and plate them. Unfortunately on both of my flights, JNB-IST and IST-BKK, flight attendants have knocked on the lavatory door while I was inside, because I think I was taking too long (hey, I need to floss and brush my teeth before sleeping!). On my first flight, the flight attendant even unlocked the door from the outside! This didn't make me happy.
- Air New Zealand: Really professional, very friendly, no drama, no complaints at all.
- South African Airways: Generally very good and polite, but I did see a few crack under pressure. As in, getting in a shouting match about a window shade being up, or rolling their eyes at passengers. The passengers were always in the wrong, but still, you shouldn't shout.
- TAM: Good, efficient.
- Lao Airlines: Generally nice, not as smile-y as on other Southeast Asian airlines though.
- Bangkok Airways: Really friendly, top-notch service. They have tough jobs since their airline makes them provide a full meal and beverage service on flights under an hour long!
