American Airlines lessons to be learnt from them

Greed can take over all of us and I have seen it from kids fighting over a toy to trying to get up the cooperate ladder. American Airlines and US Airways, the mega company: once a company that perhaps cared about their passengers and now many people who work for them have perhaps lost what customer service is about. When flying home to England in March 2015, the first time in eight years, after raising money through yard sales and countless people donating to our yard sales, I found that the airline I had flown on eight years ago was not the same. I asked many customers who were flying with me and since have researched that many people feel that the customer service is no more. More that passengers have to put up with it because they do not want to do a connecting flight. Over six hours of Curt staff is enough to make anyone kiss the ground at London and sit for a moment and reflect that perhaps it was all a horrible nightmare. Why are there rules of the age limit of watching PG13 movies in theaters if the airlines allow themselves to not abide by them and play them while children under that age merrily watch them on the plane as their parents fall asleep. I asked this very question only to be laughed at and told that "Surely you do not expect us to play just G-rated movies?" I wish to God they had played movies that brought laughter. With turbulence the whole way and movies that needed only to go into the bin, my flying experience was awful. Customer service has gone. On my arrival back, I talked to a supervisor that informed me that "The job of the stewards is safety, not like years ago when they can talk to you." Yet as normal human beings, shouldn't we care about people? Has the dollar sign or whatever currency taken over our lives so much that we forget to treat others with respect? I remember years ago flying with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic: I was treated like I was Royalty. Indeed they truly knew how to make sure that customers came back. A smile does not cost. But in this world we live in, have we forgotten what it is like to be polite to care? It is in moments like these that we can learn that bigger is not always better and that taking the time might not make you a millionaire but it might gain something to your life that money cannot buy like knowledge, compassion, and to learn about another person: what price can be put on that! So although many of us out there do not appreciate how we are treated by the new mega US Airways/American Airlines, we can learn that we do not have to be like them rather we can value people and care about others around us.