Doug Parkers first TownHall in PHL

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PhxMama said:
John, Phx rez is a nightmare and gettig worse by the minute. We are averaging 140 calls in que ALL DAY and many pax are fed up with long hold times and poor customer service. Agents are totally burnt out- I mean how many times a day can you deal with "I've been holding for an hour what the **** are you people doing?" The new web is all 401 tkt stock and Manilla agents can only basically assign seats on those rez. A phx agent must make all the changes but cannot assign seats so many pax need to get xfrd. Due to our system if a pax is trvling east flight and has no info they end up being xfrd to Manilla and than when its discovered it is 401 tkt stock pax is xferd again. Great customer service!Many of us have disregarded any reprimands for high talk times and I have advise my sup-I dont want to hear it, my job is to service these pax and after having been xfrd and disconncted I will not be party to a continued debacle and frustration on their behalf. It took me 32 min with east CSD to upgrade a preferred on west flight and 037 tkt. He needed to catch a flight and I promised him I would get his upgrade and aisle seat. There were 7 seats avail. I refused to let east CSD agent release me and advised I would hold to give him his seat. When a pax is very grateful for the help and wants to speak with a sup the ext they gave us to xfer does not work. We are extremely understaffed and it is not getting any better. If you need to speak with an agent I suggest you settle in for the long hold time and take names of everyone you speak with. I know how hard so many work to make this airline function and the frustration of pax not booking with us due to the inability to answer the calls makes me sad. Someone in upper managment needs to realize the dire straits of its rez centers and get these systems straightened out NOW. The west side rez centers are a disgrace to all who do their job now or in the past have done their jobs to the best of their ability. I dont know who can pass this info on but try to call at 10am east or pacific time and see how long you hold. Try the reg 800 number. How can anyone see what a good job you do when we cant get them tktd on our flights?
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Mama....you are a classic example of what good customer service is all about. You and those like you should be commended. I hope the company gets this straightened out very quickly for customers and for you folks manning the front lines! I applaud you for your service though, and for not giving up!! We need you on the other end of that phone!! :up: :up: :up: :up:
 
Old PSA said:
Actually, I would take a little issue (though not much since the efficiency issue is much more impacting then the pay issue) with the thought that WN employees are highly paid. While it is true that they top out higher that just about everyone else, the average wage that WN pays is not. In fact it computes to being in the lower middle of the airlines. Reason behind this is there continual growth. By adding 15%+- new employees each year, their average pay is at about the 6-7 year mark. This has been creeping up as their employee growth has slowed down. Several years ago, it was around the 5 year mark. WN management has already acknowledged this may be a problem in the future and is looking at was to deal with it. Nice to see someone's management trying to find a solution before it becomes a contentious problem.
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Actually, WN's employee ranks only grew by 2.3% last year, although normal turnover would necessarily mean a somewhat greater number of additional new employees coming on-board. They actually shrank by roughly 300 employees in the first quarter of this year. Southwest is now down below 70 employees per aircraft, and in the first quarter, they produced 703,000 ASM's per employee. US Airways Group produced 568,000 mainline ASM's per employee in the same period. Southwest is simply able to operate its business more efficiently.

Lower average seniority among Southwest's ranks doesn't explain it all away where the pilots are concerned, either. The first-year captain rate at WN ($168/hr) is higher than the topped-out A330 rate at US ($160/hr). The fifth-year FO rate at WN ($114/hr) is higher than the topped-out A330 FO rate at US ($109/hr), and a third-year FO at WN makes more than a topped-out FO at HP (while a second-year WN FO earns the same hourly rate as a topped-out A320/737 pilot at US).
 
Planenuttz said:
Doug Parker had his first town hall meeting in PHL today.
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Ummmmmm....It's Parker's SECOND Townhall meeting in PHL.
And....anyone who works the ramp in PHL knows that the new equiptment breaks down even faster than the old stuff did.
While "on paper" the equiptment numbers may look better....in real life it still isn't enough.
So put on your rosey glasses and drink up the kool-aid!
Listening to the rampers complain about not having the tools to do their job couldn't be as painfull as listening to the gate agents get up in front of everyone and sing the "Usairways Happy" song!
 
Travels2mch said:
Mama....you are a classic example of what good customer service is all about. You and those like you should be commended. I hope the company gets this straightened out very quickly for customers and for you folks manning the front lines! I applaud you for your service though, and for not giving up!! We need you on the other end of that phone!! :up: :up: :up: :up:
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Thanks but Im just doing what I love to do. Anyone who works front line in this company knows that we are not valued by management. We get our thanks from our satisfied pax and in knowing that we have done our best. Its an internal pride that makes us trudge on. Many of us owe our co workers gratitude for helping get around a system that prevents us from doing our job and CSD agents and NET agents have risen to the occasion on both sides of the company. Challenging to say the least but when you can stop the transfers and solve a problem it is truly rewarding and the many grateful pax are the reasons we stay. Best to all of you and thanks for an avenue to vent a frustrating situation.
 
FCYTravis said:
I was wondering why I spent two hours yesterday trying to get an agent available on the chat thing before finally giving up and calling the Gold line.
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Im not surprised it was two hours. The net agents that work the chat line also are understaffed. Think about 2 big companies combining into 1 with all the web problems and west side understaffed to begin with now handling both companies. Its a recipe for disaster. Even with all the problems preferreds calls are handled quicker than non preferreds. Not that thats much of a consolation but right now its a big advantage. Spoke with an agent today and she adv 135 calls ave on hold all day. Anyone in that building not taking calls is useless. Anyone know if anyone has a clue what is happening? You cant expect anyone to be able to walkin as a new hire for 8/hr and put up with it. If it was just reg training fine but with all that we have to handle and the strange screwups it takes a knowlegeable agent to even begin to know who to contact or how to solve these issues. I told sups your senior agents are worth their weight in gold these days but they also have vacations and sick days they are looking at using. Our good sups are supporting agents as best they can. The rest give the usual BS lines-"as soon as east agents are trained it will get better,as soon as this training class is done they will be taking calls... Too bad 75 percent and higher of new hire training classes are gone BEFORE they start taking calls. Hold on for a VERY long summer.
 
Im glad your call was handled quickly. The number that you call jumps preferred members to the front of the calls holding. Im not sure how the east side has worked but thats how the west always worked. If you dont have the fon for preferred or dial the straight 800 number you will hold for a long time. At least our preferred members are being serviced. It could also be that customers holding for a long time gave up and called another carrier.
 
Parker was in PIT on the first of the month. Fewer attendees to both town halls, especially at night. Agents were busy trying to turn planes after two different ramp closures, but Parker didn't see any reason to delay his 6pm town hall. The guy gave his "business as usual" spiel and basically parroted what he said last visit.

Perhaps his most interesting comment was about the PSA walkout earlier this year. Not directly germane to the walkout, he said that Keith Houk reports to Al Crellin who reports to him. Any problems with Express should follow that chain of command.

Houk never ventures into PIT to find out what's going on there, so I'm sure Crellin doesn't hear anything about PIT (not that he would necessarily care). So, chances are good that Parker thinks everything is okey-dokey in the "marginally profitable" station.

The town halls, IMO, are pointless. Pep rallies are for high school, and the information on the Hub is adequate, albeit biased. I bet the next town halls will be ghost towns since nothing addressed is ever rectified.

Oh! One last thing. Parker claimed that he tries to answer his email, as do his subordinates. Maybe he does, but I know for a fact that it's dependent on whether or not he feels like answering. Same for the other executives.
 
Prince of PAWOBs said:
Oh! One last thing. Parker claimed that he tries to answer his email, as do his subordinates. Maybe he does, but I know for a fact that it's dependent on whether or not he feels like answering. Same for the other executives.
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We'll see. I just sent him an email asking him where his answers are that we submitted here several months ago and still havent seen. I'll let you know if I get a response.
 
tadjr said:
We'll see. I just sent him an email asking him where his answers are that we submitted here several months ago and still havent seen. I'll let you know if I get a response.
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Tad, I think the silence so far on this issue is the answer iself. Dont hold your breath.
 
PITbull said:
Geez, I surely wouldn't want to work for the best airline in the industry, and be at substandard wages...that some reality to live with my friend.

Put down that koolaide! Dougie's no movie star, shttz the same as everyone else. He doesn't want you to walk away with any dulusions of Grandeur ...its JUST FOR THEM.

Slave, please go in the hole and collect the garbage. Thanx.
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What's your problem? Just because we're not burned out and bitter like you doesn't make us koolaide drinkers.

You're the one who's delusional. The sooner you realize wages are not going back pre bankruptcy levels anytime soon the less miserable you'll be.

Excuse us for being happy that unlike Colodny, Schofield, Wolf, and Seigal, we have someone with the ability and desire to run the company.
 
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