Is it time to send Doug Parker on a media blizt ?

[luvthe9]

Find Member's Posts Posted on: Jul 18 2008, 10:50 PM

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QUOTE (luvthe9 @ Jul 18 2008, 04:45 PM)
Our CEO behind bars for 4 DUI's and now his infidelity, That's rich where were you then freedom, were you OK with that, I don't remeber you mouthing off about that ordeal!!!!

FREEDOM SAYS
No I was fine with that , I don’t have a problem with DUI’s …

Your talking to a guy who enjoys drinking .


Are you going to moan on about the past forever ? why don't you mention some of the good things parker has done , oh wait , you can't because your bais and can't seperate your emotions from your thoughts .....

 

[john john]

Ok, let's really talk about the issue here...

None of the unions with any size have a merged contract. Just my opinion...

The mechanics and stock clerks and Utility and ramp and passengers service is a major part of the airline
All have contracts in place

 

[robbedagain]

i have seen a dui accident whereas 12 US NAVY sailors were all killed in one simple accident whereas the pickup truck flipped upside down in about 40 feet in the air and landed on its roof after hitting a small car and that was back in 1990s when I was in VA Beach. not a pretty scene. sO i ENCOURAGE everyone NOT to DUI and that includes DP!

 

[jerseyfinn]

. . . Does Parker have the ability to change the public image? I think not . . .

Actually, I agree with Freedom here. Parker is the CEO and the buck stops with him. He is indeed the guy who has to put his face out in the public and to take the heat he deserves, as well as putting his own message out there. As to what his personal faults/missteps are, they make for a good joke & he has certainly asked for it, but they really have nothing to do with the conjoined needs of your pax and employees.

I will say this, when I listened to his point of view on MSNBC about Tempe's decision to go a la carte pricing, I think that he spoke cogently and argues his case well. The only unfortunate thing is that he and his board room brethren continue to fail to grasp the need to communicate directly with your customers. I'm thinking expecially of your elites whom all have e-mail address and it takes no effort to run off an e-mail laying your point-to-point thinking to them. I do not want to hear or read about Mr. Kirby's heresays as above all things, he epitomizes what is wrong with US in a public relations sense. Those elites who have stuck around will neither forgive or forget his incompetent handling of the reservation migration and his glib excuses there after. That is just the kind of guy you do not want speaking for your airline. And yet there he is again defending the elimination of elite bonus miles by suggesting that US polls elites who say UGs are their main desire ( true ) and that US is simply responding to their desires -- we all know how the UG game really works and we are not that stupid. Parker . . . you need to seperate yourself from your good buddy and run your airline.

So yeah, it would be nice for Parker to step forward and handle this mess himself. It's his company to run, and his job to lose. But he controls his own destiny if he so chooses and one way to do so is to look your pax dead in the eye and plead your case. I gotta admit, I'm a captive of PHL, but I'm really pissed at this DM doublespeak that Kirby does. I'm well aware of the improved ops and quite grateful for it. But that's not good enough for me anymore. I want to know whether you guys in Tempe really get it or not.

So Mr. Parker get your butt out and deal with your customers. And don't give me a sob story which sounds like the political conventions ( Freedom, I don't want to hear about the soap opera trials and tribulations of US ). Look me in the eye, tell me what you're doing with the airline and help me to decide whether to stick it out with you guys -- I promise that I won't bite. I suspect a lot of your elites feel this way. Remember, a satisfied customer who feels part of the process is your best advertisment ( and it's free ).

Barry

 

[safety stud]

The mechanics and stock clerks and unity and ramp and passengers service is a major part of the airline
All have contracts in place

The pilots, and flight attendants don't. They are the ones that spend the MOST time with the passengers. If you can't get these two together then the system fails. What good is it if you have a happy csa or stock clerk or ramper loading up an airplane if the pilot and flight attendant working the plane is still operating under old and BK conditions? The reason the company made all that money was the give-backs these two groups gave the most. A csa or stock clerk, or ramper can be replaced much easier than a pilot or flight attendant. The agreements post merger allowed the companies to combine the flying certificate to operate under one umbrella. The company is keeping itself dry while letting the pilots and flight attendants get wet.

True sysnergy, will never take place until ALL unions and groups have contracts, not just the few. This all falls under DP who has yet to make a stand and complete the merger by getting everyone on board. It is his responsibility and his alone to accomplish this. You set a goal, you move to accomplish it. Parker, Kirby and all of his gang are soley responsible to the unification of the airline to make it whole.

Sorry John John, but only having a few contracts in place doesn't show he is making progress when the merger is years old.

Just my opinion...

 

[N965VJ]

That would be Gordon "The Blowhard" Bethune whom I actually admire. He has a point, however the singular quote obscures the context of his quote which IIRC was in response to a well know case of air rage that injured a CO gate Agent.

He was ultimately supporting his people which is Art's point.

Bob, my example was Herb Kelleher. He went on to elaborate that some customers are the type that you don’t want to have, in regards to low yield and making disproportionate demands on resources (employees). This was in a mid-90s article in a business magazine I read, IIRC.

However, it’s just another example how WN and CO are successful because they value their employees.

 

[john john]

A csa or stock clerk, or ramper can be replaced much easier than a pilot or flight attendant.
Sorry John John, but only having a few contracts in place doesn't show he is making progress when the merger is years old.

Just my opinion...

You way of thinking has a lot to do with your current situation
Meanwhile your scope has deteriorated to point of nine Express carriers replacing your flying and short amount of time. And more coming

 

[john john]

The pilots, and flight attendants don't. They are the ones that spend the MOST time with the passengers. .

You really need to spend some time with a reservation agent, ticket counter/sky cap agent, a club agent a gate agent a baggage service agent

 

[Glucose Intolerant]

The DUI image isnt something we can play up consciously. But when you hear someone has a DUI ,one tends to gets the impression that the person who has them ,knows how to have a little too much fun , a risk taker yes yes , DUIs are horrible and no ones advocating them saying their cool , parkers stance should remain he had some troubles in life , it could humanize him to the public however

Hey Freedom: How you going to spin the fact that it was multiple DUIs? That he couldn't even learn from the 1st or 2nd time? 3rd?

How about making the decision to migrate to SHARES to "save 50 million a year" only to spend exponential more to recover from it's implementation and it's system limitations. Same reasoning? Oh yeah I forgot the Tempe mantra: "It's cheap", "at least I have a job" blah blah blah.

Maybe a blessing in disguise, Sabre probably would have completely shut down the entire west operation because it would have been too steep a learning curve during migration for a department that has few mature agents, a huge turnover, and grossly underpaid......but then again you wouldn't have needed as many agents with SABRE as the "wunderkind" found out when they had to go out an hire thousands on the east during what we like to call DOS 2.0 migration.

How you going to spin that on CNBC? They actually interview good management and CEOs so it's not like a "Crew News" session.

The fact that our CEO surrounds himself with complete boobs (no pun intended) Oh that's right Travis Christ is gone....not Kirby.

Nah I think of Dougie's buddy John McCain has the right idea.

Make the Media think your in charge and know what you are doing but keep yourself and KEY players in your organization insulated on having to answer any direct questions with something other than the usual talking points and Kool-Aid dispensed out to the loyal.

Also when you "prance your pony" as you put it, Dougie takes the risk of saying something that draws attention to the fact that he and his our organization don't really know what they are doing and really haven't done anything the past three years when you get right down to it - except exploit your employees, make some really bad decisions like focusing on leisure travel over our business travelers (SMART MOVE IN THIS ECONOMY), and made sure the he and his friends got rich in the process.....but they left out the ones that brought them to the dance: the employees "who are lucky we have our jobs."

To Tempe's credit: They they did paint a swoosh on the planes - and padded the heck out of the schedule - so I guess in the current economy, with the current administration, that's what considered good management these days.

"Your doing a heckuva job Brownie.......I mean Dougie"

Prance your pony?

 

[InternationalShannon]

Freedumb

You need to get out of that straight jacket and trim those dreadlocks dude. Let go of managments belt loops and get back to work loading bags............................

For all intents and purposes I am not laughing.

.....bbbffhhhhahaahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaahahaha

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAHA.....

aaaahhhh................y u so funny?

 

[safety stud]

You really need to spend some time with a reservation agent, ticket counter/sky cap agent, a club agent a gate agent a baggage service agent

Well John John, so that everyone on this board can see your true understanding the the airline world...
Does a reservation agent spend any more than say 15 min with a passenger while booking.... Hmmmm..... nope
Does the ticket counter spend say, 25 min with a passenger...... Hmmmmmmm..... nope
and, this is my favorite... Does a sky cap spend anymore than say 10 min with a passenger..... Hmmmmmm nope

You see, passengers board an airplane that can take up to 45 min alone depending on the size of the A/C. Then for your sake we can take a short leg from say CLT-ATL. That leg can last if the weather is nice for about say 55 min. Now you have to deplane... do you see were I am going with this. You have no clue... my suggestion is.... Get one!!!

Flying Domestic cross country is usually 4 and half to 6 hours depending on the destination... Do you want me to get to International flying or do you think you NOW have a basic understanding....

There... that clears that up

Just my opinion...

 

[philly rocks]

Safety --- Yes we ALL deal with the public!

Ticket Counter- Have thousands of passengers they push through to the gate
Gate Agent- Havethousands of passenger they push through the gate not to mention their carry-on
Sky Caps- Have thousands of passengers they push through their baggage and CSA now handle the curbside baggage charges.

CAR Group- Have thousands of passenger they push through ticket counter, gates, re-check, customs and immigration.

Reservations- Have thousands of passengers they take calls from not to mention management listening in on every call.

If you really want to get snide against front liners, your passengers are strapped in their seats, and are not all standing up in your face while in the air. They do not handle extra carry-ons, car seats, strollers, wheelchairs as remember they are not permitted to leave the cabin door.

But I will say that ALL of us including FLEET have our moments and they are all shared. There is no competition here brother. It is divided equally so stop the rhetoric and move on.

 

[hp_fa]

If you think about it even in F a customers "face time" with a Flight Attendent is no more than anyone else who works for an airline.

I'll disagree with that.

Many customers have little to no in-person interaction with other departments between printing boarding passes at home, kiosks, etc. A good, not great, FA will interacts with customers depending on how the customer is acting. If the customer is sleeping you leave them alone. If the customer is working or reading you simply and quickly ask if they need anything. If the customer feels like talking you can talk to the customer.

 

[philly rocks]

Wow, front line employees only issue boarding passes and baggage tags? Does the employee have to greet the customer? Does the employee have to ask them where they are going? Does the employee need to summon a wheelchair? Does the employee need to reissue a ticket? Does the employee need to explain to hundreds of people on vacation holiday travel or bad weather days and repeat the same messages over and over. Does the employee have to listen to irrate passengers. These examples all take interaction and WORDS and WORK and alot of the times GRIEF.

But as HP FA states, all he or she is required to do is talk to the customer if they feel like it. I don't want this thread to get ugly, so no need for backlip here.

 

[freedom]

{so on and so forth }
Also when you "prance your pony" as you put it, Dougie takes the risk of saying something that draws attention to the fact that he and his our organization don't really know what they are doing and really haven't done anything the past three years when you get right down to it - except exploit your employees, make some really bad decisions like focusing on leisure travel over our business travelers (SMART MOVE IN THIS ECONOMY), and made sure the he and his friends got rich in the process.....but they left out the ones that brought them to the dance: the employees "who are lucky we have our jobs."

{so on and so forth }

Ah but that's where your wrong , the man seems to have a VERY good grip of what's going on in our organization , at least as far as one human being can have .

You see I think your problem is your looking at this situation too much as an employee and not so much from an outside position. When you write that all he knows how to do is " exploit your employees" Are you one of those being exploited ? Yes from our point of view it DOES feel like we're being exploited sometimes , but from an outside perspective , that could be considered keeping your costs down .When the media looks at us , their not going to see the FA or pilot who's frustrated because their still stuck in their BK contract , the media is going to see an airline that was dead last in on time arrivals and missed bags having made a HUGE turn around .

Do you think the media , or the general public care what your wages are ? They most certainly do NOT ,the vast MAORITY of pax would rather you and I work for peanuts if it will keep their ticket costs down .. So when the outside world is looking at our company , their not going to see you , their going to see �"wow their on time and our bags made it with us!" .. that's what their going to see , and that's what parker could EASILY play up . Personally I think the hardest media issue for him wouldn't be that the FA's and pilots don't have a new contract (that can easily be talked away ) it would be his DUI's and even that can be taken care of with the usual "ah , I've made some mistakes , and while I thought I had conquered the beast it came back and got me ,etc etc ". heck if he made a few motivational appearances at some AA meetings we'd REALLY have a great PR angle to work .

As much as you may hate to admit it , Doug Parker is the public face of our company , not the thousands of nameless ,faceless employee's who make it go .

But that wasn't my point , my point is that Parker does some really good PR , be it news clips or business interviews , he generally scores quite well in the competency department when interviewed and leaves the reader or spectator with the impression that us airways is up and coming, making changes , and a world class airline etc etc .

All I'm saying is if it were up to me , I'd send him out there to talk about US .