Make US Our US

[legacy-to-LCC]

As I stand here(with a beer in hand),for the life of me, I do not know what this refers to.

crack open another one, and, i suspect it will??
and, i will join you in a long distance, cyber toast...
i think, i hope, there are a few bud lights left in my fridge??

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

How about "US Airways begins with U"?
At least it shows we know how to spell.

 

[Zarah]

For me it is that we (employees) are not working as a team for anything.

Heck, the FAs have issues even getting the union to work fairly for all of us (block holders vs. reserves). They are all to willing to sell out one group for the other. You only have to look at the contract or re-visit the MidTitanic mess to see that clearly.

At MidTitanic, we worked as a team against our unions and the company and that fostered the family feeling between work groups.

Each work group needs leaders who are going to ralley the troups and work with other work groups to bring us all together. When we are working as a team then you will have the family feeling. Until then, you have US.

 

[SKY HIGH]

The thread about TWA got me thinking. Would US employees ever see themselves as a family like they did, or like Deltas recently? US (at least the east side, all I'm exposed to) is dysfunctional. The employees are beat down and jaded. There's no energy left. I think the general feeling is... all of that sacrifice... for THIS?

sky high states: Kinda feels like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTsZ0Ds__aE

around here!

<G>

only stating opinions

 

[hula-flyguy]

Kudos EMBFA, what a great post.

I can remember being proud to work for USAir, and then USAirways. At the time of the Piedmont and PSA acquistions, that is when things started to change for my generation of employees. I started to see the resentment between the 2 newly acquired airlines and the "original" Usair. In retrospect however, it was not the first time the resentment splintered the company. The acquistion of Mohawk by Allegheny created the first major fracture. To this day there are still old Allegheny and Mohawk employees that keep the "rivalry" alive.

The company has a major roll to play in the rivalry. With every acquistion it was the same story, "we're going to take the best from both...." which never happened. PSA employees and passengers dealt with the arrogance of the east coast businessmen as we plowed through the company and removed anything that remotely resembled PSA. Management thought they new better how to run and airline than their counter parts of the much smaller PSA. What managemnet at that time did not realize was the loyalty of the passenger base. Not to worry, US erroded the loyalty and passenger base. Not only did we remove anything the failty resembled old PSA, we removed the passengers, and eventually EVERY city served by PSA that US did not serve prior to the acquistion.

PSA employees were and are bitter that the smile had been not wiped, but smacked off their faces both literally and figuritively. Did/do they have a reason to be bitter? He!! yes!

Enter Piedmont, the speedbird that was going to be taken over by railroad. At first they were thrilled that US came to their "rescue" and staved off the hostile take over attempt by the railroad. They soon learned that their rescuer had properly planned for a rescue, or its aftermath, much like Emperor George and his Iraq debacle. rescue plan/exit plan....no plan.

We again were taking the best of both companies to make one big happy healthy prospersous company. Who remembers Mirror Image? How much of the mirror reflected Piedmont? Not much from what I could see. Computer systems were scrapped or retained on a whim. "Ours is better" Better?
No...not better, just more comfortable, it's what we're used to, so it will stay. Yeah yeah yeah, we know CARE is a superior product, but it's out of our comfort zone, so we will retain PACER and all y'all will make the necessary adjustments.

The Iconic Ed merged the two carriers into AL and jumped ship. Oh I'm sorry, thats not how we refer to his exit in the "family". We refer to it as his retirement after all of his hard work of bringing the 3 airlines together. He left us with somebody incapable of managing a regional, let alone an up and coming "global" carrier. Global because we now had PI's plumb LGW routes from Bwi..(eah Bwi, remember?) and Clt. For those of you not familiar with the demise of our international service, let me refresh your memories. We sold our slots to BA and entered into a wetlease arrangement which was supposed to benefit both carriers. Well, things didn't go smoothly with BA, we somehow alienated them, and we lost the routes and the wetlease, this after we spent the 400 million that the gave us.

I wont even begin to elaborate on the Wolfe era. I'm sure the majority of you remember what that had to offer the employees.

So, somewhere along the way, we lost our sense of "family", inpart because of the way management has handled ALL the mergers. No matter who is in charge at the time, their way is always the best way, regardless of what the truth may really be. That is probably the only consistency in management over the decades at what is now know as the NEW USAIRWAYS.

 

[Twicebaked]

For me it is that we (employees) are not working as a team for anything.

Zarah,

I have to disagree....just slightly.

I have been reading this post and I think that the reserves honestly have the "family" feeling. We are and have been soooooooooo beat up, that it gave us all a common goal. We look out for each other and feel what each other is going through.

I do agree that the block holders are NOT part of that group. Why? Because they don't try to understand or feel anything that reserves are going through.

I notice it even in people that were on reserve and now hold blocks....their attitudes have TOTALLY CHANGED!

Anyway, the reserves are one big dysfunctional family!!!

 

[X-U]

I don't think it's that the DL folks were so proud of their family, rather than they just didn't want the US management team to come in and make things even worse. But at least Grinstein IS trying to lay a strong foundation for the future by forgoing his bonus, a REAL leader and stand-up guy.

 

[jrsygrl]

Kudos EMBFA, what a great post.

I can remember being proud to work for USAir, and then USAirways. At the time of the Piedmont and PSA acquistions, that is when things started to change for my generation of employees. I started to see the resentment between the 2 newly acquired airlines and the "original" Usair. In retrospect however, it was not the first time the resentment splintered the company. The acquistion of Mohawk by Allegheny created the first major fracture. To this day there are still old Allegheny and Mohawk employees that keep the "rivalry" alive.

The company has a major roll to play in the rivalry. With every acquistion it was the same story, "we're going to take the best from both...." which never happened. PSA employees and passengers dealt with the arrogance of the east coast businessmen as we plowed through the company and removed anything that remotely resembled PSA. Management thought they new better how to run and airline than their counter parts of the much smaller PSA. What managemnet at that time did not realize was the loyalty of the passenger base. Not to worry, US erroded the loyalty and passenger base. Not only did we remove anything the failty resembled old PSA, we removed the passengers, and eventually EVERY city served by PSA that US did not serve prior to the acquistion.

PSA employees were and are bitter that the smile had been not wiped, but smacked off their faces both literally and figuritively. Did/do they have a reason to be bitter? He!! yes!

Enter Piedmont, the speedbird that was going to be taken over by railroad. At first they were thrilled that US came to their "rescue" and staved off the hostile take over attempt by the railroad. They soon learned that their rescuer had properly planned for a rescue, or its aftermath, much like Emperor George and his Iraq debacle. rescue plan/exit plan....no plan.

We again were taking the best of both companies to make one big happy healthy prospersous company. Who remembers Mirror Image? How much of the mirror reflected Piedmont? Not much from what I could see. Computer systems were scrapped or retained on a whim. "Ours is better" Better?
No...not better, just more comfortable, it's what we're used to, so it will stay. Yeah yeah yeah, we know CARE is a superior product, but it's out of our comfort zone, so we will retain PACER and all y'all will make the necessary adjustments.

The Iconic Ed merged the two carriers into AL and jumped ship. Oh I'm sorry, thats not how we refer to his exit in the "family". We refer to it as his retirement after all of his hard work of bringing the 3 airlines together. He left us with somebody incapable of managing a regional, let alone an up and coming "global" carrier. Global because we now had PI's plumb LGW routes from Bwi..(eah Bwi, remember?) and Clt. For those of you not familiar with the demise of our international service, let me refresh your memories. We sold our slots to BA and entered into a wetlease arrangement which was supposed to benefit both carriers. Well, things didn't go smoothly with BA, we somehow alienated them, and we lost the routes and the wetlease, this after we spent the 400 million that the gave us.

I wont even begin to elaborate on the Wolfe era. I'm sure the majority of you remember what that had to offer the employees.

So, somewhere along the way, we lost our sense of "family", inpart because of the way management has handled ALL the mergers. No matter who is in charge at the time, their way is always the best way, regardless of what the truth may really be. That is probably the only consistency in management over the decades at what is now know as the NEW USAIRWAYS.

100% agreed. All the merger's with the bandaid fixes have worn us down......

 

[Prince of PAWOBs]

Great post and question.
How about "WE are US" or in the singular "I am US".
Because WE truly are.

It's a nice sentiment, but Tempe will take your catchphrase and put it on a laminated procedure handout.

My guess is there is a designated person in whatever department handles "Culture" who surfs through here and picks up buzz words and phrases to "improve" employee morale.

IMO, morale will improve after all of the other thread subjects on this board are resolved.

As far as a family...well, I suppose I've experienced it at work. I have friends there who I see outside of work, vacation with, babysit for, give advice to and when they leave we still see each other. It's more of a family, not because of who we are, but despite who we work for.

 

[Zarah]

Zarah,

I have to disagree....just slightly.

I have been reading this post and I think that the reserves honestly have the "family" feeling. We are and have been soooooooooo beat up, that it gave us all a common goal. We look out for each other and feel what each other is going through.

I do agree that the block holders are NOT part of that group. Why? Because they don't try to understand or feel anything that reserves are going through.

I notice it even in people that were on reserve and now hold blocks....their attitudes have TOTALLY CHANGED!

Anyway, the reserves are one big dysfunctional family!!!

I agree that the reserves are bonding.

 

[SKY HIGH]

IMO, morale will improve after all of the other thread subjects on this board are resolved.

sky high states: Let's NOT forget that "we" are responsible for some of this. Many years ago, I was amazed at the comradery that exited at USAir. Walking through the halls of Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, you were always greeted by your "coworkers". A smile, a hello, a handshake. That disappeared after the mergers. God forbid, nowadays, you get eye contact from someone coming your way. :down: :down:


only stating opinions

 

[Itestwell]

sky high states: Let's NOT forget that "we" are responsible for some of this. Many years ago, I was amazed at the comradery that exited at USAir. Walking through the halls of Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, you were always greeted by your "coworkers". A smile, a hello, a handshake. That disappeared after the mergers. God forbid, nowadays, you get eye contact from someone coming your way. :down: :down:
only stating opinions

Really?? I have not noticed this at all. People always say hi to me as we pass in the halls; I think you are being a bit over dramatic......

 

[EMBFA]

sky high states: Let's NOT forget that "we" are responsible for some of this. Many years ago, I was amazed at the comradery that exited at USAir. Walking through the halls of Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, you were always greeted by your "coworkers". A smile, a hello, a handshake. That disappeared after the mergers. God forbid, nowadays, you get eye contact from someone coming your way. :down: :down:
only stating opinions

We were getting off the plane in Vegas the other day and one of our F/As walked by. I flashed a huge smile and said "Hi!" She looked taken aback, like she wasnt sure how to react! At MAA when you took over a plane from a crew you chatted with them, and if you hadnt met them yet, you introduced yourself and welcomed them back. Ive had crews stroll off the plane without even an acknowlegment of the new crew standing there. Thats just rude.

Again, I dont feel like we have any ownership of the name anymore. 1476 mainline flights a day vs 2281 Express. US has the largest percentage of available seats flown by other carriers in the industry, plus the largest aircraft by outside carrriers (they are not RJs now unless that stands for "regular jet"). When you see the 190 parked right next to the nearly identical 175 in PHL, how could you ever feel like anything you do makes a difference, or that your part of something? It's infuriating to see the bastardized "franchising' of the airline. 'US Airways' is as vague of a concept as Star Alliance. Do I feel any connection with Singapore Airlines or Austrian, no, same goes for US, the logo doesn't represent an airline anymore, just a code in a computer.

 

[PHLfa88]

I don't think it's that the DL folks were so proud of their family, rather than they just didn't want the US management team to come in and make things even worse. But at least Grinstein IS trying to lay a strong foundation for the future by forgoing his bonus, a REAL leader and stand-up guy.

Your Exactly Right. There is NO Family Feeling At DL..My Partner Works There And He Tells Me ( not that I did not know already) It Was More Anti Usairways Than A Big Happy Delta Family Feeling!

 

[hula-flyguy]

got to agree with skyhigh on this one. I assume that skyhigh was US before the PI/PS mergers, and guessing that Itestwell came after.