I do not post here much anymore as I have moved on, but this thread just tugs at the heart…. This post is “dedicated†to all the wonderful PI employees.
The first commercial flight I ever took was on a PI flight thirty some odd years ago in 1973. I flew with my grandmother from BNA to RDU. I remember it like it was yesterday.
I started flying as part of my job in the early 1980’s and living in NC, I of course flew PI most of the time. To those of you who read this and do not believe that it was a family, well you just could not be more wrong. I still remember the warm and friendly employees in RDU and then later GSO and CLT. I met during a brief stint in politics as fundraiser most of the senior management of PI in the early 80’s. They could not have been more down to earth. I was always impressed how easy going they were, even with a snotty nosed young man in his early 20’s who was always asking them for some big bucks for the candidates that I worked for at the time. I was always treated with respect and to some extent as a member of the “familyâ€. It was during this time that I developed a lasting respect for Tom Davis as a business man and as a person.
By 1982, I flew weekly out of GSO, CLT or RDU. I can still remember the faces and the names of the wonderful agents thirty years later. I still specifically remember the times that a ticket agent or gate agent would save my bacon during irregular ops to get me where I needed to go and on time. Yes in many cases, they were little things, but on occasion, they did things that would never be allowed today. In short, I learned how to become a frequent flyer from some wonderful PI people.
Moreover, like many others, I hated the thought of the merger. I was truly sick over it after having flown Agony Air many times. However, I did not see the immediate impact in GSO, CLT or RDU until we moved away for a number years. After moving back to NC in the early 90’s, you could literally see the difference in the people and policies after that cool northern efficiency had been put into place. Instead of enjoying flying, I came to despise US Air and all it become. The people were the same great folks they had always been, but their hands were tied. The change in those few short years was simply stunning.
Through it all, the old PI agents in GSO and CLT were still the best and did all they could do to help you when they could. I have always believed that a true measure of an airline is how they treat you when all goes to hell in a hand basket. Any airline should be able to serve their customers when the skies are blue and the weather is fine. It is how you treat me as customer when all goes wrong that makes the difference. For many years after the merger, the former PI employees continued to be that difference at US.
Then came the BK’s and the incompetent management at the top. The friends that I had made over the years all started to leave as the incompetence took its toll. I no longer felt the loyalty to US and I realized my loyalty had never been to US, but to the great employees that were former PI’s.
I know this has been a long post….but I just wanted to say one more time, THANK YOU to all the wonderful PI employees, both retired and present day, who made my first 30 years of flying an enjoyable experience. You were the best and to this day 30 years later, I am still longing for Piedmont. As long as I am on this earth and still flying, I will continue to miss you all.
l4pi
), but one can draw comparisions to the HP/US merger. Both were more takeovers than true amalgamations - with "there's a new sheriff in town" attitude from teh top - rather than taking best of each carrier's way of doing things.
