An American Airlines flight attendant proudly shares how they deliver first class service on a short domestic dinner flight. What’s striking to me is a corner that they cut to get everything out to 20 first class passengers on the Airbus A321 – and that they’re proud of how they do it. The truth here is that there’s no great way for one crewmember to do service for 20 passengers, and American Airlines is cutting too many corners on staffing.
This flight attendant places warmed nuts in ramekins prior to takeoff. What is the purpose of heating the nuts, exactly, then? It’s more efficient for him, but he’s going to serve room temperature nuts. A first world problem for sure, but it points to an underlying problem – since that’s not the intention the airline has, or the experience that’s supposed to be delivered. Cabin crew are meant to heat the nuts in aluminum trays and place them in ramekins just prior to serving!
It’s not really his fault, though. Broadly speaking, American reduced flight attendant staffing levels during the pandemic and hasn’t brought those levels back to they were even as they’ve brought back service. However the domestic Airbus A321 staffing has always been to FAA minimums, which is fine for passing out peanuts but not for delivering premium service.
Twenty first class passengers are a lot for one flight attendant to serve drinks, nuts, and meals to on a short flight and service will take longer than passengers can reasonably expect – and longer to have their trays removed so they can go back to work as well.
At a minimum the number three flight attendant should prep the nuts and stay up front to assist with drinks and serve nuts while the number one flight attendant prepares the dinner trays.
So the beef here is with American Airlines inadequate staffing, not with this flight attendant who clearly takes pride in his work.