I think the move was more because PHL was a better money generating area.
Did it actually work out that way? What US management has historically seen as "good business decisions" never seem to work out that way. Their mistakes are too numerous to mention. Just ask all the former PSA employees who once worked for a well-managed airline and lived on the West Coast. I sometimes think that US should have done the same as George Costanza in one episode of Seinfeld, i.e. whatever he decided to do, do the opposite.
I wonder if the great PHL baggage fiasco (which btw, they blamed on their liabilities, err employees, rather than their own staffing ineptitude) could/would have happened in PIT. In terms of US screwing over their PIT employees, remember it wasn't "just" airport employees but the rez center as well.
For all of you former US employees who continue to give business to that company who screwed you over (and is continuing to do so if you're a retiree) because you feel a loyalty to former co-workers, good for you. Personally, I always felt that loyalty was a one-way street with US management, i.e. you take the cuts and we'll take the bonuses. As I said before, I get satisfaction (some might call it perverse satisfaction
) in depriving US of revenue they otherwise would have had since it statistically reduces the amount of money they screwed my family out of, relatively speaking. YMMV.
FWIW, my most vivid recollection of the pure nastiness of US management was when Wolf told the non-unionized cust service folks (my spouse was one) not to unionize because "we'll look out for your best interests". Yeah, right. W & G proceeded to screw over those folks worse tham any other employee group. There was also the matter of US management having Fidelity create a new US Airways stock fund for employees to invest their retirement money in. This was when they knew damned well that the company stock would be going in the toilet. They no doubt figured that employee purchases of US stock would help support the stock price for a time and enable them to dump their stock at a better price (or exercise options granted to them as bonuses for their great management performance). :down: Thankfully, my spouse never even considered investing money in that sinking ship, but I sometimes wonder how many US employees did. Just think, they're having their pay and benefits cut and lose more money on top of that in their 401K US Airways stock fund. Enron management pulled some of the same crap with their employees. Why is it that folks like Wolf and Gangwal can't be prosecuted and Lay and Skilling can?
