Cabin crew outrage over insulting recording

Jat cabin crew member insulted and humiliated online

Jat Airways cabin crew are outraged after an audio recording of one of their colleagues making a passenger announcement surfaced on the Internet. The recording, made on November 30 on a flight from Belgrade to Milan, entitled “Jat - when we drink, we drink! But really”, insinuates that the purser making the pre flight safety announcement, Snežana Živković (pictured above), is intoxicated due to her slurred speech. The recording, which appeared on the Internet on Saturday, has been listened to over 10.000 times and shared on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, with insulting comments directed at both Ms. Živković and Jat Airways. Commentators note that drunken cabin crew work on board Jat’s planes and that they can “barely stand on their own two legs”.

However, the twist to the tale is far from amusing. After Serbian media began reporting on the “funny” recording, Ms. Živković revealed that her minor speaking difficulties are a result of a horrific car crash several years ago when she was badly injured and lost the power of speech and the ability to write. “I don’t know what I did to deserve this? After a long and difficult battle, I managed to regain my speaking and writing abilities”, Ms. Živković says. She strongly denied claims that any Jat cabin crew member would ever work under the influence of alcohol. “When my vocal chords get tired I have some speaking difficulties and that is why I sound like that on the recording”. The Union of Jat Airways Cabin Crew Members condemned the recording, asking, “Who could find something like this funny? This is a public humiliation of a brave and hardworking professional. We suggest the media check what they publish”. Snežana Živković has been with company for 34 years.

Last night, the individual who posted the audio recording apologised. “Ms. Živković I’m sorry! I’m sorry I hurt you and I’m sorry I thought you were drunk. I’m sorry you have been a victim in all of this. I’m sorry that negligence, corruption and a lack of clear vision has brought Jat to the brink of collapse, a company which didn’t even stand up to defend you. I’m aware of the numerous failed attempts to transform the once mighty Jat and of its resources being wasted, its timeworn aircraft, passengers harassed while both crew on the ground and in the air are humiliated”. The passenger extended his support to Ms. Živković. “I look forward to my next flight with you”, he concludes.

Comments

  1. Anonymous09:09

    We, Serbs, can be real dicks sometimes. The person who posted this video should be banned from flying Jat Airways in the future.

    I regularly fly on Jat and I love the crew. They are polite and they always interact with the passengers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous09:17

    Mocking on You Tube should be regulated by law, so hypocritical apology could only be acceptable with proper punishment!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:51

    I was flying from Berlin 19.11.'12 and she was on board, and for true, she really speaks that noone can understands, so I am sad about her accident but she should get some job in jats administration not to be an cabin crew member. If someone flies for the first time, how to know what to do in case od emergency if not understand the one who is giving instructions????

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:58

      How was the load on your flight?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:03

      hey, i am also always interested in that. It was around 80 pax, and this sunday i came back from milan,there were onboard 73 pax, and it was sunday, busy comingback day. so, its pitty jat planes are almost half full. on the flight from milan there were maybe 10 italians, business ones, and all the rest local serbians who work in italy. no tourists at all :(

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:12

      Thanks for the update. Well, the 80 passengers means a loadfactor of roughly 65% which is ok, having in mind it is early December.

      Maybe Air One's entry into the market had a negative impact on them...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:35

      maybe, but anyway, its really bad situation if we consider that most of the tickets are usually bought by those promotional prizes.. and hellooo, 4 flights per week to berlin should be full. its only 126 sits!!!

      Delete
    5. Anonymous23:35

      Not true 73 pax MXP-BEG 09/12/12.
      FYI, there was total 67 pax on board, incl.1 Business Class.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous11:19

    65% is okay if they had ten in the front cabin.

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  5. Anonymous11:21

    I flew in August from Belgrade via LCA to TLV. The crew announcements were terrible. Very bad english, half of the words swallowed and announed in an arrogant mix of impatience and boredom. Sorry, was one of the worst announcements I have ever heard. Made the impression to me that crew was angry that they have to make it! It would be better to have it from a tape then from "Olgica" who "mrzi prepodne sebe a poslepodne ceo svet"!

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    1. Anonymous11:39

      I live in Israel and I have been living here for almost 20 years. I fly with Jat every four weeks because of business. There are times when their service is pathetic but most of the times it is ok. Then again this is not exclusive to Jat but it is a phenomenon commonly seen within the aviation industry. Your 'one off' does not represent the overall situation in the airline.

      Delete
  6. CREW12:01

    Good to hear she recovered from the accident and I wish her nothing but the best! However, if she is not able to speak clearly, she is not fit for flying as she could not, for example, give clear commands during preparation for emergency landing, evacuation etc. She should really be transferred to another administrative position.

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  7. Anonymous13:09

    Snezana is one of the kindest and most attentive flight attendants on JAT. Always a pleasure when she is on board.

    Julian Harston

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    1. Anonymous21:32

      +1
      In general, I'm always glad to see smiling Jat cabin crew when I fly back home to Serbia, even though it's usually evening and they all are probably tired.
      BTW, does anyone know personel breakdowns for Jat? How many pilots and FAs do they have? How many people are staffing sales/operations offices abroad? I'm under impression that Jat like many state companies in Serbia is overstaffed in marketing, strategy and HR department, while they lack people in operations.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous14:01

    Talking about Iberia:
    http://www.aviokarta.net/vesti/1570-iberia-ukida-pet-linija-od-naredne-godine/

    ReplyDelete
  9. JATBEGMEL15:38

    I am yet to have a bad PA on a JAT flight, always flying them and even on my flight to Frankfurt it was in Serbian, English and German. In JAT lacks alot of customer service skills. But hey, cabin crew meet also meet alot of rude and obnoxious people and take soo much crap from passengers, as shown in this video. He is appologetic now, but when putting the video up, because she is JAT crew she is automatically drunk? I never have a negative experience with the JAT crew, always has been a pleasure meeting them and having some really great conversations. I feel sorry for them, i have met crew who are wanting to send their children out to QR and EK because of better enmployment situations in the Middle East. They go through not knowing how much longer their job will last, will they be able to support their families, children...demotivating if you ask me!

    All that asside, there is 4 crew on board, i am sure another crew member could of made the PA and spoke the emergency procedures.

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    1. CREW01:48

      You cannot expect other crew members to dill in in emergency because you cannot speak clearly! Utter nonsense. It's the law and regulation! Again, all the best for her but SHE IS NOT FIT TO FLY. End of story.

      Delete
  10. I feel bad too for this unnecessary insulting recording but I am glad that the author apologized. I hope that we can all learn something from this and make sure we think before posting something that might hurt other people's feelings.

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    1. JATBEGMEL19:24

      His appology was pathetic and he is still justifying his words on youtube, regardless that there is outrage to the recording.

      Delete
    2. Didn't really search for the recording at all. I just felt so sorry for the poor woman who became the target of all this hype.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous10:07

    Anyone wiith a youtube link?

    ReplyDelete

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