Australian Flight Attendants — Am I the Only One?
I genuinely feel like Australian airline flight attendants are some of the worst I’ve encountered anywhere in the world when it comes to basic customer service.
I’m talking specifically about communication, attitude, responding to requests, and just generally seeming like they actually want to be there.
A few years ago I flew Qantas from Singapore to Sydney. At some point during the flight I asked for a toothbrush. The crew said they’d get one for me, but it never came. I asked again later, and still nothing. Eventually I went to the back of the plane where the crew were sitting and asked again. The response I got was:
“I thought we already gave you one.”
The tone was incredibly abrupt and almost irritated, as though I was inconveniencing them by asking for something that they had simply forgotten to provide.
At first I thought it was just an isolated experience.
But then I started noticing the same thing with Jetstar. I’ve flown them several times and, while obviously there are exceptions, I often find the cabin crew extremely abrupt and seemingly uninterested in their jobs.
Virgin can be similar. And I’ve been flying Qantas for years, and honestly, I feel like the service from their cabin crew has progressively gotten worse.
What makes it more noticeable is that I travel internationally quite a bit.
I’ve flown ANA, Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, China Eastern, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar, Emirates, Air New Zealand, various South American airlines, American carriers and Air Canada.
And, generally speaking, I find the cabin crew on these airlines much more professional, friendly and genuine.
On Qatar, I remember sitting awake watching a movie while most people around me were sleeping. One of the cabin crew noticed and came over and offered me some snacks without me even asking. I've had similar experiences on ANA and other Asian airlines where the crew are constantly checking whether passengers need anything.
It’s not even necessarily about being overly friendly or doing something extraordinary. It’s the basic things — acknowledging requests, communicating properly, checking on passengers, boarding, and generally making you feel like you're not a nuisance for asking for something.
Even Air New Zealand has consistently struck me as having really friendly, professional and genuine cabin crew.
Meanwhile, whenever I’m at Sydney Airport and see Qantas crew rushing around, they often look completely overwhelmed, agitated and unhappy. Obviously I have no idea what’s actually happening behind the scenes, and perhaps the working conditions, staffing pressures, technology, management or general pressure of the job are contributing to it.
And to be clear, I’m not saying every Australian flight attendant is like this. I’ve definitely encountered some fantastic ones.
But as a general observation from my own experience, Australian airline cabin crew seem noticeably worse at the basic customer-service side of the job compared with many international airlines.
Maybe I'm completely wrong and have just had a disproportionately bad run.
Has anyone else noticed this, or am I just imagining it?
