There are plenty of viable needs to push the button where you can't "go get it" yourself. Something wrong with your seat, water pouring out of the overhead (yes, has happened). Someone next to you is sick, you are sick. You can't always "go get it" yourself.

 

Document it - record on your smartphone - then file a DoT complaint.

If you are really upset, you can also see a lawyer.

 

I have hit the call button in business class and it stayed on for over 30 minutes. Even in business no one cares- they just let it stay on. Call button, please.

 

Why don't I go get it? It's because I don't get paid to provide service to passengers on the plane....someone else does...they're called Flight Attendants...and their primary job (according to me) is to provide service when I push the magic button. They have other jobs also (safety)....but Job #1 is to provide excellent service.

I'm only about 25% joking here.

 

That is what makes US-flag airlines different from the Asian airlines!

 

[conforming Moderator edit to now-deleted post.]

The FA for Asian airline is service-oriented and always asks what is needed before he/she resets the button. YMMV.

 

You are preaching to the choir. On OZ, FAs ladies actually kneel before older Korean men so as to make the pax look down, rather than up ( this is in J, don't know how things are in Y ). Try telling white FAs on UA or LH that they have to kneel before you. Heh heh.

 

This is not a practice just for asians or Korea women in general. It is a kind of higher level of customer service, look at your customer at the same eye level. There are waiters in restaurants in the US practice the same, and the waiter is caucasion.

 

I too have never seen a waiter kneel in front of a customer. They may under certain circumstances reduce their height by bending their knees (and perhaps substantially so by completely bending the knees) but they still remain upright with the bottom of their feet on the ground.

The OZ flight attendants will actually kneel, with the bottoms of their feet off the floor and their weight supported by their knees on the floor. And they do this not just for older Korean men.

Getting back on topic, those OZ ladies also know how to respond to the call button. On a First Class OZ flight once, me and my traveling companion were enjoying ourselves with the free drinks and all, and decided to use the call button to re-order. I'd never normally do this, but they were making such a point at being service oriented, it didn't seem out of place. The response time was nothing short of amazing. I got my stopwatch out at one point, and measured an average response time of 3 seconds, and a maximum of 4 seconds, and this was on a TPAC flight, including during the "dull" hours where everything is quiet and the FAs are mostly resting.

 

The aisle chair. I have no idea where it lives when it's not being used nor could I have gotten her into it without inflicting a lot of pain.

If it could be planned for that might help. This was an injury only about 24 hours before flight time, though.

 

Most FAs don't know where it lives or how to use it, either. I don't think I've ever used it without the whole thing turning into a training exercise.

 

They weren't all that skilled but that wasn't a problem. It's just a two-person job. The airport people that handled things on the ground did a better job.

 

The one time I had to use an aisle chair to get off the plane (pmUA 737), the chair came from the terminal, and ground staff was responsible for getting me on the chair, off the plane, and on to a regular wheelchair. I'm not sure if things might have been handled differently if I had needed the aisle chair when I was boarding though.

 

In F on OZ I've usually had the FAs kneel down when speaking to me. On TG occasionally as well.

Moving past airplanes in particular, when a young(er) person is walking past older seated people they'll generally bend slightly at the waist to lower their physical stature. Similarly it's down as a status/service respect.

In Asia it's a form of respect.

 

Okay, moving forward, if anyone has any disability-related/ada/acaa issues on a flight or in an airport, you have the right to demand a CRO. They *have* to make one available to you. In person most of the time, or by phone. They cannot deny you that. They will take a report for you, and it starts a chain of paperwork to everyone involved, including the DOT.

I would make a DOT complaint also. Keep it straight and to the facts. I'm not sure how deep the audit trail goes on an airplane (paging aluminumdriver or FAB) but they may be able to see the dings and the resets. If you encounter it in flight and there's no good reason for the 'reset'.... film it. There's absolutely no reason for being that lazy, especially when you have a pax that requires special assistance.