With fair warning, US Airways on Friday became the first American airline to charge its passengers for in-flight beverages. Coffee is now $1, other nonalcoholic drinks cost $2, and there's one group that isn't pleased about the new policy — the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.
Because the airline must rely on unionized employees who disagree with the idea of charging for beverages, there's a good chance the flight attendants will loosely follow the rules. In fact, getting a free drink on US Airways could be as simple as insisting on it. Mike Flores, president of US Airways’ AFA chapter, spoke candidly about the situation.
We’re trained to keep order on an airplane and defuse confrontation. If it takes giving a free beverage to somebody to do that, so be it. I expect there will be flight attendants who just give everything away.
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i would say that the karmic cost of making a fuss over a beverage is a little higher than the $2.
1I assume water's still free, no? I never get anything else anyway.
2Yeah, I think I'd be too embarrassed to make a fuss over a drink. Especially if I got the FA that doesn't give free drinks & enjoys tossing passengers off the plane. Besides, I always buy an alcoholic drink anyway--it helps me deal with turbulence.
3Why would anyone encourage someone to make a scene and be obnoxious or rude to a flight attendant. This just doesn't make sense to me. The only thing that is really good to be drinking on a flight is water anyway.
4From the comment given by the president of the AFA chapter, it seems to me that most flight attendants want to give free drinks. I really don't see anyone encouraging passengers to be confrontational, rather simply suggesting all it takes is a mild-mannered "Do I really need to pay for this?" And if someone says they don't have $2, I really don't see it being an issue given the attitude of the union.
5I read water and coffee are $1. All it takes are everyone bringing $20 bills and they won't be able to make change. Or just add a dollar to your fare price which would make things a lot simpler.
6I get what you meant, I just think that maybe people will take it too far and just be rude instead of asking nicely.
7I totally understand why the flight attendants do not want to charge they do not want to have to deal with the money when my sister worked for Delta that is what she hated the most and the Duty Free crap!
8The real problem is going to be when one person pays the charge and then sees another passenger get a free drink.
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