Fellow Anet Folks - Opinions Please
Is it a reasonable expectation for a US Citizen, traveling on AA, at a US airport to be able to understand boarding announcements ?
Reason why I ask. Last week I was a customer on AA from MIA - CLO, the gate agent made only announcements in Spanish. After the first announcement PAX began to line up at the counter, not understanding what this was for, I approached and asked that the announcements be made in English so i can understand them.
The agent was not impressed, but he did make the next announcement in English.
Moderators: richierich, ua900, PanAm_DC10, hOMSaR
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
That's a perfectly reasonable expectation. Even in a Spanish-speaking country, one would expect to hear English announcements given that English is the recognized "international language".
I'm not sure what this agent was thinking, or whether he was trying to make a point of some sort, but you should really send a complaint to AA.
I'm not sure what this agent was thinking, or whether he was trying to make a point of some sort, but you should really send a complaint to AA.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
Oh...here we go...
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- gatibosgru
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Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
Yeah I think it should be in both languages, not one. Is this a common occurrence or a one time issue?
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
Obviously I wasn't there, but I can't remember the last time I didn't hear English announcements in a Spanish speaking country, even in small places like PMC, so it's hard for me to believe this story about MIA unless the agent was trying to make some sort of point.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
Could have just been a simple oversight. I wouldn't read too much into it unless it's something you experienced consistently, but indeed even on flights I've been on between two non-English speaking destinations there's almost always announcements made in English as well just because it's such a common second language.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
Even on a short domestic sector in Spain last May, MAD - SVQ ( Seville ), Iberia Express, all announcements were made in English and Spanish.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
Very reasonable expectation. I have flown MIA to various Spanish speaking destinations many, many times (Santo Domingo, Mexico City, Panama, Bogota, Montevideo, Lima, and one or two others) and can’t remember ever hearing only Spanish. I would be shocked if I did.
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- aircatalonia
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Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
Here we usually get an announcement in Spanish followed by a very fast uncomprehensible message in "English".
Last edited by aircatalonia on Sun Sep 23, 2018 7:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
On a recent flight between Germany and Palma de Mallorca on Eurowings announcements were made in German only. I have flown quite a few other times with Eurowings (even domestically in Germany) and I couldn't recall not hearing announcements in English. I found it odd but realistically speaking probably everybody but me on that plane was German or spoke German fluently. Likely Miami-Cali (which is not a tourism/business destination for Americans) is overwhelmingly Colombians so they understand Spanish.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
SCQ83 wrote:On a recent flight between Germany and Palma de Mallorca on Eurowings announcements were made in German only. I have flown quite a few other times with Eurowings (even domestically in Germany) and I couldn't recall not hearing announcements in English. I found it odd but realistically speaking probably everybody but me on that plane was German or spoke German fluently. Likely Miami-Cali (which is not a tourism/business destination for Americans) is overwhelmingly Colombians so they understand Spanish.
That's a bit odd, given that Eurowings is attempting to position itself as a pan-European airline - in which case announcements should always also be provided in English alongside German.
At the other end of the extreme is KLM. On many intra-Europe flights, announcements are made only in English.
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- maverick4002
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Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
ClipperClub wrote:Fellow Anet Folks - Opinions Please
Is it a reasonable expectation for a US Citizen, traveling on AA, at a US airport to be able to understand boarding announcements ?
Reason why I ask. Last week I was a customer on AA from MIA - CLO, the gate agent made only announcements in Spanish. After the first announcement PAX began to line up at the counter, not understanding what this was for, I approached and asked that the announcements be made in English so i can understand them.
The agent was not impressed, but he did make the next announcement in English.
Maybe they made the announcements in Spanish first and then were going to in English. I find it very very unlikely that they would make Spanish only announcements so I am going to guess your issue was that Spanish was first eh.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
Franky does not bother me too much.
Its a flight between MIA a city where the majority of the population speaks Spanish and Cali Colombia which means the bulk of passengers will be an ethnic crowd.
Sure yes English as a secondary announcement would be appropriate, but using Spanish as the primary communications method seems logical to ensure understanding buy bulk of customers.
Its a flight between MIA a city where the majority of the population speaks Spanish and Cali Colombia which means the bulk of passengers will be an ethnic crowd.
Sure yes English as a secondary announcement would be appropriate, but using Spanish as the primary communications method seems logical to ensure understanding buy bulk of customers.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
KLDC10 wrote:At the other end of the extreme is KLM. On many intra-Europe flights, announcements are made only in English.
well, the dutch and such are used to use english in their daily life
they are only a few million inhabitants
even most movies on the television are not translated in their nativ language and they are used to watch them in english with dutch subtitles only
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
In practical terms making primary Spanish announcements with smaller or secondary English one seems fine on this flight.
Here at LAX, I hear Spanish only announcements all the time for carriers like Interjet, Volaris, TACA etc. They might make a single English announcement but bulk of the repeated ones are in Spanish since that works best for the clientele.
Here at LAX, I hear Spanish only announcements all the time for carriers like Interjet, Volaris, TACA etc. They might make a single English announcement but bulk of the repeated ones are in Spanish since that works best for the clientele.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
I fly out of MIA a few times each year and I have always heard gate announcements first in English and then Spainish. Interesting thing is last week I flew MIA-GRU and all announcement at the gate were in English with nothing in Portugese.
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- Wayfarer515
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Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
IMHO, this is totally unacceptable, being a Central American myself I find it pretty disrespectful for this to happen...but then again this is Miami we are talking about...nobody ever asked them to adopt the local language and customs, which resulted in a bizarre and pretty decadent combination of the worst of both Anglo-American and Latino cultures. I guess this shows Fidel had very good reasons to kick them out of Cuba, guess time always proves who was right.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
Living and flying out of Miami for most of this year, I've found quite a few instances where English announcements were not made. Most of the time it was just to update the passengers on a delay or the boarding process, since it was Spanish speaking customers making inquiries. I have yet to encounter a situation that pertinent information was not also given in English.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
Wayfarer515 wrote:IMHO, this is totally unacceptable, being a Central American myself I find it pretty disrespectful for this to happen...but then again this is Miami we are talking about...nobody ever asked them to adopt the local language and customs, which resulted in a bizarre and pretty decadent combination of the worst of both Anglo-American and Latino cultures. I guess this shows Fidel had very good reasons to kick them out of Cuba, guess time always proves who was right.
Let's try to keep this civil. I know a few Cuban immigrants down here that left Cuba decades ago. They all speak grammatically correct English.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
Could it be the agent was making an announcement that only concerned Spanish-language passengers? Working at Korean there are tons of announcements specific for Koreans because Koreans are the predominant passenger and also the predominant target for certain announcements like “please do not line up until the boarding announcement” or “Paging for Mr Park Hee Young to the service counter.” Just throwing this out there.
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- Miamiairport
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Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
As someone that lives in MIA Ive never heard Spanish announcements only. Probably just a one off for whatever reason.
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- rivervisual
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Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
I think the issue is that this was at an airport in the US. So perfectly reasonable to expect announcements in English regardless of where the flight was going.
I've been on many flights outside of the US where English was not used but I didnt have an expectation that it would. I just went to the gate and let them know I didnt speak the language and if there was anything I needed to know to call me over.
I've been on many flights outside of the US where English was not used but I didnt have an expectation that it would. I just went to the gate and let them know I didnt speak the language and if there was anything I needed to know to call me over.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
KLDC10 wrote:you should really send a complaint to AA.
You mean because the guy promptly made the announcement in English when the OP asked him to?
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
really? I've heard English every time out of MIA (and really everywhere-even domestic in places like Peru where it wouldn't necessarily seem like they would have to.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
Airstud wrote:KLDC10 wrote:you should really send a complaint to AA.
You mean because the guy promptly made the announcement in English when the OP asked him to?
No, I mean because it's the typical lack of consistency that AA has become known for in recent years. It's not a difficult job to do properly, and the OP shouldn't have had to ask. Heck, I recently took a Lufthansa domestic German flight from FRA-TXL and they made announcements at the gate in English as well as German.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
Probably a one-off but not really surprised.
This is the same city that this occurred in...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/foo ... e1f227c35a
This is the same city that this occurred in...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/foo ... e1f227c35a
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
Never had this happen before in my 100+ flights on AA out of MIA. Very odd.
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
ClipperClub wrote:Fellow Anet Folks - Opinions Please
Is it a reasonable expectation for a US Citizen, traveling on AA, at a US airport to be able to understand boarding announcements ?
Reason why I ask. Last week I was a customer on AA from MIA - CLO, the gate agent made only announcements in Spanish. After the first announcement PAX began to line up at the counter, not understanding what this was for, I approached and asked that the announcements be made in English so i can understand them.
The agent was not impressed, but he did make the next announcement in English.
I think you're being overly sensitive to a one off occurrence based on the tone of your rant and on the fact you wrote frustrating in all capitals. It may have been an oversight. Unless you've observed this happen consistently at MIA, don't be the boy who cried wolf.
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- directorguy
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Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
I have heard of this sort of thing before happening in Florida and in the states that border Mexico. A lot of "Dial 1 for Spanish, and 2 for English" type phenomenon.
Out of interest-is there anything that would legally AA to make announcements in English? Are there official languages at the federal or state level? Are there any protocols (IATA or otherwise) that regulate what languages should be used by airlines?
Out of interest-is there anything that would legally AA to make announcements in English? Are there official languages at the federal or state level? Are there any protocols (IATA or otherwise) that regulate what languages should be used by airlines?
Re: AA - MIA Spanish only Boarding Announcements - FRUSTRATING !
directorguy wrote:I have heard of this sort of thing before happening in Florida and in the states that border Mexico. A lot of "Dial 1 for Spanish, and 2 for English" type phenomenon.
Out of interest-is there anything that would legally AA to make announcements in English? Are there official languages at the federal or state level? Are there any protocols (IATA or otherwise) that regulate what languages should be used by airlines?
Couldn't tellya about IATA stuff, but there are no federally official languages in the United States. It's a touchy subject.
Some states have declared official languages and some states (Louisiana, namely) recognize a non-English/Spanish language as a lingua franca.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages ... ted_States
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