Kind, attentive service should be a given, not a surprise. Even so, when a flight attendant goes above and beyond the call of duty, she should be recognized and I wish to recognize Patrizia today, who I had the pleasure of flying with from Pittsburgh to Chicago on United Express operated by GoJet this week.
Patrizia Sets The Standard On United Express / GoJet
Lately, I’ve been dismayed that so many of my United Express flights (operated by a variety of regional airlines like Gojet, SkyWest, Mesa, or CommutAir on behalf of United Airlines) feature frankly apathetic flight attendants who claim that a flight is too short to even perform a beverage service when historically there has been enough time for beverages for many years. Flight times have not changed. If anything, schedules are padded even more these days to ensure on-time performance.
Anyway, that was not the case on this flight. My flight was operated by a CRJ-550, a larger regional jet that United ripped 20 seats out of in order to be in compliance with its pilot’s scope clause (United cannot run too many 70-seat regional jets versus mainline jets as part of its bargain with pilots).
What that means is the regional jet is very roomy, with 10 first class seats and 40 seats in economy class. But since there are only 50 seats, one flight attendant is responsible for the entire aircraft.
Some use that as an excuse not to perform any service at all, claiming that due to the “short duration of the flight” there simply isn’t time to offer a beverage service.
But not Patrizia. Not on my 90-minute flight to Chicago.
Soon after we crossed 10,000 feet, she sprang up and welcomed each first class passenger by name. She offered us a choice of beverage, all with a big smile.
Then she offered each of us a cheese tray, which was actually a great little snack for a short flight (something I would love to see on shorter mainline flights). She also offered a selection from the snack basket.
Then she offered refills on drinks.
That itself is going above and beyond what is customary in first class.
But then Patrizia pulled out the beverage cart and offered a beverage to everyone in economy class, all by herself.
She then returned to first class and offered everyone a refill. She also offered more snacks. Before landing, she offered two more beverage refills, never sitting down.
Kind and personable, she was radiating joy.
By the end of the flight, she had memorized the names of the first class passengers and thanked each of us for our business.
What a model flight attendant. Oh how I wish I could fly with Patrizia every time I flew.
CONCLUSION
Flight attendants like Patrizia demonstrate how much good service can impact your perception of a flight. She really went above and beyond and I cannot help but to be grateful and offer her great praise for her lovely service and lovely smile. Thank you Patrizia!
This reminds me of the great UA FA I had in business from IAH-SYD pre-pandemic. I was traveling with my toddler son and the FA was very attentive and brought him toys and asked if he could get him an ice cream etc. just really thoughtful, kind individual who wanted to make our trip extra special. You don’t hear enough about those people, unfortunately.
That is great that you took the time to mention her great service! As a former F/A, it was always appreciated when a customer would recognize good service.
Glad you had good service………from experience on both sides of the Atlantic I know such attention to detail is rare: flying with most airlines…even the big flag carriers…is no longer the Joy it once was…..
she’s not American. She’s actually trained the right way. Fly to Europe and you see the difference.
Padding to schedules does not effect flight time, flights are not any longer then they used to be so that comment was kind of moot. It’s good to hear you got awesome service. When I flew for the United regionals I remember standout F/As who did anything to get the service done even on shirt flights. Now , sometimes it’s just not feasible. Too short , not enough time at cruise to make it done safe plus the possibility of not finishing the service and leaving some PaX with and some without drinks. Most F/As want to do the service and pass the time .. get out of their Jumpseats so I’d give them the benefit of the doubt that on most short flights it’s logistical and yes safety. I would constantly ask inflight crew to remain seated on short flights. Your 90 minute flight will always get drinks service unless safety is a concern. You must be referring to flights under one hour.
My husband and I have had Patrizia on a flight as well and you described her perfectly. She is such a delight and and obviously loves what she does!!
Who remembers choice of dinner on the UAL DC8 stretch in 2hrs; LGA/ORD DC10 dinner? Or maybe the full snack and beverage STL/ORD 135 pax with 3 F/As in back? These kids today have no idea how to do much; iphone? Come on now. Sit in the back and play with your phone? Making $50/hr?
Thank you for recognizing Patrizia and her dedication to making every flight a pleasant one. We hear so many horror stories about travel these days,it’s refreshing to encounter a positive one.
Everybody that just commented speaks the truth. It boils down to the TRAINING and work ethic born in all of us as crew on any flight. Some crew have life experience that assists in their training from United while the majority of today s generation of crew 20- 27yrs old can’t or don’t want to train correctly because they were spoon fed by parents or their peers that the center of the universe starts with them. As a 30 yr crew internationally and domestic purser for UAL I’ve worked the skies with these wannabe “I’m bitchin” crew. They seem to think it’s a chore to serve or work with others, even their fellow crew. They forget their training and job purpose. These types of crew are what comes out of training these days from all airlines. These crew are Temps in my eyes and the public is better for it. This f/a in the article is a great example of someone who has the maturity, skills, and look of a professional crew member that I would say could train others in customer service onboard. Check and report to United or any airline you fly the age, skills and interaction of the crew during their service. It’ll help to know how airlines hire, train or fire crew before they fly our friendly skies. Aloha
Those were the days..finally patrizia!!
Have you noticed how you can always see the name of the good flight attendants? The bad ones turn their badges around or hide them
I think any FA that goes above and beyond is a fool.
The airline is in business to make money. It tries to make as much, by doing as little. In oligopolistic markets the airline knows you have no choice and so they can get away with a lot.
You, as a flight attendant, have union backing. And it’s a job seekers market. Airlines can’t find flight attendants. Do for yourself what the airline does for its business. You should try to make as much, by doing as little. Going above and beyond is stupidity and completely opposite of how a capitalist will behave. And i love capitalism. Only do as much as what won’t get you fired. That’s it.
That is professionalism, doing a good job even when nobody is looking. Far too many flight attendants are militant and lack professionalism.
Let’s hope she gets hired to mainline United soon. More of these people, please.
I remember flying with her in my RJ days before I went to fly for mainline. She’s been the best for a long time, and she’ll continue to shine until she hangs her wings up, that’s just simply who she is.
On my last flight from RIC to ORD, I was treated to her kindness. I asked her why she was so cheerful and she said there was no reason not to be. She treated every passenger with cheerful professionalism.
I must say that most of the Gojet FAs are excellent. Patrizia just privides such memorable human contact.
I had one SkyWest CRJ7 flight LAX-DEN which was carrying about a dozen passenger–a flight added due to a UA mainline cancellation DEN-LAX and my LAX-DEN wasn’t selling until 5 hours before LAX departure–I switched to it after seeing it on the T7 alphabetical monitors. I was 1 of 2 in F (any silvers would’ve been upgraded). I remember photographing my free snack box on the tray table with my tablet behind, displaying a map tracking the plane using GPS. It was off the coast of Palos Verdes not yet east of I-110. On UA mainline, there was no way I’d be served food before leaving Orange County or even the State of California.
I had a similar experience on GoJet from MYR-EWR with Hana (sp?). She was absolutely amazing, having setup a bottle of water and lotus cookie at every seat before boarding. She was the friendliest FA I’ve ever had on a domestic carrier by far.
Our inter-island flights, from ACE to LPA, last about 40 minutes on an ATR-72. Pre-Covid, every passenger was offered a choice of still or fizzy water along with a chocolate wafer. Coffee was also an option on early morning departures.
The CR5 service is supposed to pretty much match what she gave you. My experience is that it does, though she does seem to have added some really nice extra touches that really deserve the accolades.
Terrific post!! HR finally got one right.
They are out there; find them HR.
Thanks for this article properly recognizing the exceptional service of many flight attendants on UA-flagged regional airlines. I’ve had very similar experiences with Russell flying out of/into Palm Springs (PSP) on United Express. He is always kind and attentive to every passenger and the model of what you visualize as an extraordinary flight attendant. Surely providing attentive service to hurried travelers on brief flights feeding major hubs is not what most people consider the pinnacle of the profession, but flight attendants like Patrizia and Russell demonstrate that excellence can be found at every level of an organization and we have a duty to recognize and celebrate it when we see it. And hopefully the companies—both the regional airline and its affiliate (in this case United)—are doing the same.
Once again you show what a snob you are boasting only about first class you seem to forget some of us who fly economy we pay full fare and are not able to take trips off our taxes. Get over yourself I’am sure the flight attendant Patrizia would not remember you again even thou you are very impressed with yourself.
Glad to hear something positive for a change.
With respect to your expertise and experience, as I understand it, the CRJ550 is not a larger regional jet. Rather, is it a RJ-70 airframe configured with:
–10 First Class seats
–20 Economy Plus seats, and,
–20 Economy seats
–A self-service beverage and snack station in First Class (which I have never seen stocked with any snack or beverage)
–A closet for carry-0n bags
This results in more overall space for 50 pax.
This is mere speculation but it seems that this plane was designed and put in place as an appeasement to passengers at some United stations now enjoying two-class RJ-70 or B737 or A319/320 service.
Matthew, too funny I was seated in 1A on this flight. Thought you looked familiar but couldn’t remember from where. This was the best regional flight attendant I’ve had in a long time, and the service was above and beyond. I hope you made a point to let United know, I didn’t catch her name.
Ha! You were in my picture I cropped you out to protect your privacy! She was great.
There are plenty out there. My son is a pilot for United Express. If you ever have a landing that felt like landing on a cloud, it was probably him! He loves flying for UE. He is with Republic out of Newark. I want to commend the author because very few take the time to point out the good, only the bad!
Surprisingly, all of my flights on CRJ-550 had a similar level of service, at least in First Class. Interestingly, they serve the cheese plate + snack basket on the Express flight, but nothing for the mainline.
The way he described her pleasantness seemed to refer to her in general, not just her demeanor around those in First. And he did specifically laud her service in Economy.
Most of us – whether sitting up front or in the last row – would rather not be “remembered.”
My eyes literally ballooned when I read that she did Y drink service too. What a FA, truly one that UA/GoJet should try and embody.