Experience 034. Who's who at the zoo – part 2. Staff hierarchy onboard the plane. The Seat 1A Podcast.

In this experience we continue our look at the aviation hierarchy – who's who at the zoo? Now we move onboard the plane itself. We will look at two different types of staffing – one for traditional international flag carrier flights and one for low-cost/ultra low-cost carrier flights. Different airlines have different names for the same staff roles. And depending on where you are in the world, you could have a cabin crew or a flight attendant. But there is always one person who is running the entire cabin experience on the flight. They go by many different names - senior purser, cabin service director, cabin manager, cabin flight director, onboard director, flight manager – but the role is generally the same. We use the term "senior purser" in this podcast experience. Once the door of the plane is closed, it's their flight. The list of responsibilities of the senior purser is long – including crew performance, delay handling, passenger relations, onboard problems, timings, crew briefing and debriefing, crew rest periods and being the liaison to the flight deck for service and safety. They handle all of this while being an active cabin member. Your life is in their hands since they will lead plane evacuations. For someone with all of this responsibility, how can you tell them apart? Some have a different uniform, while some have different pins or medallions. On flights with multiple cabin classes a purser or cabin manager may be responsible for one cabin. On less complicated flights this sub-level may not exist. And then you have the cabin crew member / flight attendant. How do you know that all the doors are accounted for in case of emergency – everyone knows where to sit during landing and takeoff. The senior purser work doesn't end when the flight lands - layovers have to be coordinated, staff coordination has to happen if cabin crew gets sick. On low-cost airlines often staff will rotate through who is the lead flight attendant. When you board a flight, the flight staff are doing more than just giving you a smile and hello. If you need to escalate – the senior purser will be the one who can get things done for you. Vinod had an upgrade interaction with the senior purser when flying from London (LHR) to Nairobi (NBO). We go beyond the cockpit door – to check on the Captain and First Officer. Who is the pilot in command? How many stripes do each have? On long-haul flights you will have multiple pilots – you may even see some in the cabin or sleeping. We remember old movies and comment about the flight engineer – a role that is not very common these days. Depending on the airline, you might see a hierarchy even when they walk through the airport. And some airlines have a very distinct uniform difference. Vinod always made sure to pay it forward when flying staff standby. Sometimes the thank yous were almost non-stop. Pro tip – keep an eye on who's wearing what. News Items: CNN Travel article "Taiwan airport offers 'pretend to go abroad' airport tours amid Covid-19 pandemic.". businesstraveller.com article "British Airways changes food on board" If you have a story about staff hierarchy onboard a flight, a question, or other experience that you would like to share, please email us at stories(at)seat1a.org or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Patreon. Show notes are available online at http://podcast.seat1a.org/