Always at the bottom of monthly DOT Complaints

N903AW

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Jul 27, 2005
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I am beginning to feel the pains of frustration whenever the monthly DOT Customer Complaint stats are released. The "new" US Airways is either dead last or second from last on the list.

I used to always ask myself "how can I improve my personal performance and try to make things better?" I am now firmly convinced that it is NOT the employees of this airline that keep us at the bottom of the barrel, but the poor performance and decisions that come directly from the top.

From what I see day in and day out while on the job is that the employees from the ground up are doing a remarkable job with bare-bones tools, substandard equipment, broken this, broken that, etc. We bust our butts to get our planes out on time and try to keep our customers satisfied.

Every time Doug takes something away from us, whether it be glassware, pretzels, layoffs in Boston, reduced seat pitch, removal of closets, butchering of galleys, etc., etc., it makes my job more and more difficult and gives the customer more opportunities to complain. :down:

How can Doug honestly tell us and our customers that we are striving to be the "Airline of Choice"?? The poor decisions management makes to cheapen our product standards have sunk to lows that are even lower than those we knew at America West! When we merged with US Airways it was my sincere hope that we might adopt some of the class that the old US Airways was known for. Doug stripped that away (with exception of the employees that came from the East) before the ink was even dry on the merger agreement.

It is high time that whenever our airline ranks last in Customer Complaints that Doug and his team step up to the plate and admit that it is their fault. The employees have nothing left to give our customers. It has all been taken away by the powers that be and our customers have every right to complain to the DOT. I will no longer accept any personal responsibility, nor should any other employee of this airline, for our low rankings!!

<< whew >> Rant over.
 
The Kettles are so used to being treated by royalty at Wal-Mart they can't understand why US Airways can't treat them the same way.
 
N903AW, not to belittle your thread, but what has Doug done lately to blame the front line workers? (“Stop pointing the finger at the employeesâ€￾ in your thread subtitle)

I thought the fault du jour was the cost of fuel.

IIRC it’s been a year since Doug apologized “on behalf of US Airways employeesâ€￾, for the SHARES cutover.
 
N903AW, not to belittle your thread, but what has Doug done lately to blame the front line workers? (“Stop pointing the finger at the employeesâ€￾ in your thread subtitle)

I thought the fault de jour was the cost of fuel.

IIRC it’s been a year since Doug apologized “on behalf of US Airways employeesâ€￾, for the SHARES cutover.

Quote from the May 8, 2008 "About US" re. DOT Customer Complaints ranking (we ranked number 9 out of 10 for the month of March).

"Like our baggage numbers, customer complaint levels are improving but still need some work. For the month of March, the DOT received 97 complaints directly from our passengers for a ratio of 1.96 compalints per 100,000 enplanements. This 9th place finish moved us up from February's 10th place ranking with a ratio of 2.28 However, we've come a long way since March 2007 when we received 232 complaints and a ratio of 4.45, one of our highest ratios since the merger."

Now, my take on this statement is that management is saying the employees need to make a more concerted effort to improve our numbers. Tell me how, as management keeps making cuts to customer service that go way beyond those of our competitors, they expect the employees to pull this airline out of this embarassing poor customer service rut that management has placed us in?

As for the cost of fuel...our competition pays the same price for fuel as we do and yet many of our competitors are retaining their customers and keeping their complaints down by offering a better product in spite of the economy.
 
I agree with 903. What gives here? Take responsiblility for your mistakes DP and TEAM!!! :down: America West, US Airways, doens't matter. Mismanaged for YEARS AND YEARS!! And the crap continues downhill... :(
Until this company wakes up out of there COMA, and WANTS to FINALLY take care of there employees and customers, for ONCE we will have a Great Airline!! United, is not the answer for a LONG term problem that will continue to spread years on end...! The debt accrued will only worsen, and this money machine stuborness will weaken, and ALL will lose in the END!! :rolleyes:
 
One only has to look at which airlines are included in what category of the USAirways stats
 
preach on 903, the sandcastle treats all employees as a necessary evil and treat us as such. then they expect us to make chicken salad out of chicken s**t

the local paper had a article about this and quoted a company mouthpiece stating how we had been first in on time departures last couple months. I wonder how many of those compliants were from customers who either they and/or their bags were left behind to make that happen
 
One only has to look at one of the worst pay scale of all of the airlines for customer service agents. (American West). Thank goodness for the union and collect bargaining that put American West management way of thinking customer service agents were bottom feeders to rest
 
One only has to look at one of the worst pay scale of all of the airlines for customer service agents. (American West). Thank goodness for the union and collect bargaining that put American West management way of thinking customer service agents are bottom feeders to rest
Yes, I am "one" of those America West person's, fa, making nothing!!! Yes, 12 years of service, with the bottom of scale for all US Airlines!?? Seems everyone wants to sink to our wages! ! And think, I might be UNITED sometime soon, but still will be on the SAME HP contract, and horrid working conditions! Yea, hey, let the merger crisis begin with 4 different contracts, Pilots, and fa's! :blink: :down: :shock: :rolleyes:
 
I agree that management sets the tone for the company. When Doug said that the frontline jobs are not careers they're jobs and that he doesn't want 20 year agents working here I think he set the tone for the New US Airways customer contact employees. In this industry you have dedicated, well seasoned, senior employees that are a frontline staple and contribute tremendously to the customer's overall perceptions of the company but there is no company pride, and this is not an employee friendly company. Yes, they do have drawings for money a couple of times a year but how many of the winning employees are actuall frontline airport employees?...a very small ratio considering that they have more of a chance to make a difference than anyone else. Customer contact employees can make or break the customers perception of a company but those in charge feel it is best to coddle the I.T dept, or spend time defending other executives and their misguided decisions, or trying to come up with ways to make the company bigger (bigger isn't always better, sometimes it's just bigger). Listen to us, Doug, we know what customers want. Wouldn't it be great to be ontime and be at the top of the list for customer satisfaction? Bring the pride back or put someone in charge who will.
 
Part of the problem is that we hire new people at low starting wages and as a result, we lower our service standards. Find me someone that really cares for $9.00 an hour with few exceptions. But that's an industry problem, not just US Airways.

Our main issue, despite much improvement lately, is still BAGGAGE performance! That is where the majority of customer complaints derive from. PHL is a major part of that problem, but not all of it. Until we FIX our baggage issues, we will continue to be on the DOT's schitt list!
 
For what it's worth, N903AW is and was one of the models for me on how to be a professional FA. I flew with N903AW a few times, learned a lot and implimented many of the things that I saw N903AW do while serving the folks in First Class. I also happen to agree with N903AW's assessment regarding why things suck as far as customer complaints are concerned. There is only so much you can do with nothing.
 
I was going to keep quiet on this because my views are well known, but if Doug and his mismanagement team are going to blame you folks out on the line, I am going to speak up--and LOUD.

As long as US ignores the proper priorities in making the airline run reliably and profitably, they are doomed to failure.

Doug has repeatedly made comments against both employees and customers--his comment mentioned earlier about not wanting 20 year employees, his repeated contemptuous comments aimed at Elite Members of the DM program (who happen to contribute an INORDINATE amount of the revenue by the way), and his penny wise pound foolish management style are coming back to bite him.

Until they start to see employees and high yield loyal customers as assets rather than liabilities, the airline will continue to fail in its primary mission--to provide safe, reliable transportation as well as providing VALUE for its customers, and a livelihood for its employees.

The first priority is the employees--give them the tools with which to do their jobs. Spend a little, save alot. With the proper tools, it becomes easier to do the job-takes less time, customers get taken care of, productivity goes up, costs go down, and the employees TAKE PRIDE in their work and their company. I will also add that "tools" include a FAIR wage.

With that said, the second priority is the customer--the one who PAYS THE BILLS. Without customers you don't have a business. If you take care of the employees above, this will almost take care of itself. While some changes need to be made, there are many incidences of nickel and diming which are unnecessary--such as the 500 mile min, pretzels, etc. All that does is give customers the incentive to go elsewhere, and I can tell you with all due respect that while no airline is perfect, almost ALL are better than US Airways today.

That said, if you take care of employees and customers, you are FAR more likely to wind up with happy investors. Happy employees are much more likely to result in happy customers--and with that combination, revenue goes up, as do profits.

I am sorry to say the high cost of cheap is rearing its head. Employees are no longer motivated to take care of customers and are showing their frustrations. Customers are no longer seeing the value to what US provides and are moving on...and they ARE moving on......and one of the byproducts of this mess is the constant last or second to last place finish in DOT complaints and other customer service metrics.

The annual airline quality survey results released today show US Airways DEAD LAST in customer satisfaction--with United circling the drain as a close second worst. It's sad that this is the only consistency shown by this company.

How DARE they try to blame the employees.......