I noticed a few things on my most recent American Airlines flight, like Duct Tape on the Engine, and airline employees sitting chatting it up while a customer stands at the gate waiting for service.
Really…Duct Tape on Engine?? Really..
I have no idea if this is common practice, or if this is considered safe and best practice. Looks like the latch underneath the tape was missing so they covered it up with this tape. Does anyone know if this is common? All I can find is this 10 Ten list of things to know your flying on a bad airline.
Employees Sitting Around Chatting While Customer Waits For Service
There were 5 American Airlines employees sitting next to the gate chatting it up less than 50 minutes prior to departure. Not one of them stood up to see if they could help the customer standing in front of the gate before the flight, and 2 of them ended up on the flight sitting in the bulkhead seat.
Bottom Line
American treats its Elite members well. I was just shocked to see that tape on their plane engine and the lack of customer service in this instance.
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Obviously if those employee's who ended up being on the plane, weren't able to accomodate the pax standing in front of the gate. Remember, crew members do not have the same access to the computer systems than gate agents do. Only the gate agents are able to accomodate or are officially the ones to help out with pax inside the terminals.
I don't know if all 5 of the employees who were standing there were crew members. Although the 2 that were could have inquired why one of their customers was standing at the gate seeming to need service.
Its actually speed tape. Here is a video of a wing essentially held together by it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3srEUzISC0