Must Read..from Ffocus Web Site

[deano]

I'm not all that interested in being liked if it means sacrificing my beliefs.

[post="233395"][/post]​

Baha'i: won't work, it depends on people.

Ethical Culture: scratch that one, you had people fired which is a big no no here.

Taoism: Nope again., prescribes that people live simply. You fly too much disqualifying yourself.

[/B]Shinto: Forget that one too, your kind of Karma is deadly to people around you.

Rosicrucianism: cosmic forces by unveiling secret wisdom__ nay, not Bob

Unitarian Universalist Association: aimed at the creation of a worldwide interfaith religious. Could be part of this "focus" thing...Hmmmm

 

[ITRADE]

JAMAKE1, they see what you don't: good people. If it was as horrible as you say it is then why would these people care? Simply put, yeah, what is happening this week is pretty pathetic. Still, this isn't what the airline is about the other 355 days of the year. I agree, PHL is the big thorn in the side of this company. It's always been a mess and getting messier. Look, I am biased, I live near PIT a gorgeous facility that is a pleasure to use. Still, management is going after bodies to fill planes and they think they can put more on in PHL than any other hub. If management is serious about making this airline more user friendly they need to reconsider using PIT for more connections; if they don't you're right the airline is doomed.

[post="233371"][/post]​

Wow. I've been gone for over a week and came back to this.

I have to agree that there are a lot of good people still at US. My trip this past weekend through CLT was great. No problems; minor delay due to utility issues; and friendly passengers.

OTOH, for those of the employees who chose to call in sick, you've inconvenienced a heck of a lot of people. You've inconvenienced innocent passengers who were simply trying to fly an airline for the holidays to see loved ones. You've inconveninenced and embarrassed your fellow coworkers who were forced to deal with irate passengers, stressed to the max by YOUR actions, were forced to miss their own trips home or to see friends, and lost scheduled time with their families just to cover up for your mess and self-righteousness. You've inconvenienced and hurt yourselves by placing yourself one step closer to unemployment by causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses stemming from rebooking, overnight accomodations, baggage handling fees, and parked aircraft.

Truly amazing.

 

[JS]

I've stuck with USAirways during the last few awful years in part from nostalgia. I remember the joys of flying on Piedmont, and even though USAir bought Piedmont and, on paper, destroyed everything Piedmont was about, some of the old Piedmont culture and people are still around. 🙂

Some people hate turboprops, but personally I think it's more fun; besides, it reminds me of the "good old days" (anyone remember Air Virginia?). I know, I'm mixing together USAirways mainline, contract carriers and wholly owned carriers, but you get the idea.

I fly a lot more miles on Delta, in part because their network coverage is far superior. The Delta culture suffered some damage from the Mullin reign but they still manage to take care of you.

While US does partner with UA, theoretically increasing their network coverage, I can't stand dealing with UA anymore and plan to fly no one but Delta after 1st quarter 2005. Sorry, but without UA, US is just another regional carrier that can fly me to obscure places like BHB or PQI.

AA has always annoyed me and has a serious AAttitude problem that I thought would have disappeared after their flirting with bankrupcty. CO and NW have awful mileage redemptions and are run by ***holes from the top to the bottom IMHO.

 

[SS255]

This is my first post on USAviation, because frankly this board intimidates me. I normally hang out on the US Airways forum on FlyerTalk, which up until recently had been a warm, friendly, helpful environment. Now that it has been infested with predictions of doomsday, I thought I'd mosey on over here and at least introduce myself.

I'm a 34-year-old female (US 2 since 2002) who grew up in Northeastern PA, flying primarily Eastern, Piedmont, and US Air, and I have many fond memories of all 3 airlines, and especially of the US Air club in the old PIT airport as a kid. I eventually moved out to Los Angeles after college, and was able to easily keep flying US because of its strong presence in CA, and frequent service to the East Coast. I dabbled in other carriers, both legacy and of the low cost variety, but my heart belonged to US. And it still does. Because you guys have the best employees in the sky. And now I find myself defending my choice of airline to my friends and colleagues, who cannot understand why I would choose to fly a "bankrupt" airline with practically no service in & out of LAX. And I tell them it's because US Airways has the nicest employees. I couldn't care less about drinking alcohol in real glasses, or whether or not I get my first meal choice in F. I care about the big seat, and a friendly FA who will serve me my bloody mary in a plastic cup, and offer a sincere apology when I'm in Row 6 and only one meal choice is left.

I'm also in that horrible purgatory called "middle management" at my own company, so I understand the challenges of both sides. I have been the victim of many bad senior management decisions at work, but I just keep my mind focused (no pun intended) on the work, and keep rolling with the punches, because I'm lucky to have a job. I thankfully have never experienced a pay cut, but my department was just downsized by 25%, and as a result I've been working 7 days a week without overtime in order to meet my deadlines using the resources I've got. I also have to work with various unions, so I understand union issues, as well.

I joined FFocus about a year ago, when the group was calling itself the cockroaches. I have been lucky enough to meet the grand pooh-bahs of FFocus, and they're a great group of people who really care about the survival of this airline. We may not always agree on every matter, but we do always agree that US Airways has the best employees. If it hadn't been for the employees, I don't think FFocus would even exist. As a matter of fact, if not for the great employees, I think most FFocus members would have abandoned US Airways long ago. We have stuck with US Airways throughout all of the turmoil of the past few years, and with few exceptions, we are not going to abandon ship when US Airways needs us the most. I hope I speak for all of my fellow FFocus members when I say that I hope that we have the opportunity to choose US Airways for many years to come.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

SS255,
Wow! SS255 your posting means a lot. From the bottom of my heart thank you. I think the employees stick around because for the most part there are a lot of good customers out there that make work a pleasure. Thanks!

 

[WestCoastGuy]

SS255....
Thank you for those wonderful thoughts and words. I hope all your future travels are "noneventful" and pleasant. Everything eventually passes, this turmoil will also pass. It's wonderful to know there are still people like yourself that appreciate the sacrafices and efforts made by the best in the business! I wish you only the best of everything in the future... 🙂

 

[BoeingBoy]

To the customers.....

First, thanks for sticking with us through good and bad for so long. 99% of us realize that it is you who make our paychecks appear twice a month. Doesn't matter who signs them or who mails them, your dollars make those checks possible.

Second, one person's perspective on the fiasco over the holiday.

This has been coming. For a year, upper management has been counting on contractual relief to work employees more (pilots and F/A's) or replace employees with outside vendors (parts of every other group). Because of the belief that they would get this, staffing has been allowed - even encouraged - to slowly shrink.

Understandable or not, sick calls go up on the holidays, with Christmas probably having the most. Is it right? Of course not, but it happens. So an already short-staffed operation is even more short-staffed.

Now throw in weather. Unlike Thanksgiving, Mother Nature didn't cooperate for the Christmas travel rush. If she had, a lot of what happened wouldn't have. Would it have been worse than any other "normal" time - sure. The number of people traveling would have ensured that.

Take the "normal" cancellation rate and more passengers are affected. Higher passenger loads means less ability to reaccomadate them on other flights or even other airlines.

Take the "normal" rate of passengers arriving without bags and more passengers traveling means more bags don't end up at the destination with the passenger. A higher volume of passengers means baggage compartments are pretty full, if not completely full, already, so putting the bags on later flights is more unlikely. And don't even get me started on RJ's that can't take any bags when the weather is bad.

At some point, (my guess is mid-afternoon Thursday) all this reached a "critical mass".

Cancellations had reached a point that rebooking anyone was either impossible or meant that passengers already booked on the later flight couldn't be accomadated.

The piles of misconnected bags became so large that they were overwhelming. Those who were working were focused on bags coming in on flights. Those "other bags" became something to worry about later. Of course, "later" turned became Saturday and beyond.

So, is anyone blameless? Those employees who showed up for work as scheduled certainly are. However, neither management (who should have seen this coming) nor the employees who called in sick but weren't share the blame.

I would say "Far be it from me to apportion blame", but those who know me know better. So here's my take....

Management - 80+%. Anyone with any experience in this operation should have known that the combination of short staffing, bad weather, high passenger volume, and Philly was a recipe for disaster. Management was betting that at least one of these factors would be absent over the holiday. They lost that bet.

Employees calling in sick who weren't - 20-%. At the risk of pizzing off PitBull, here I fault the F/A's more than the ground staff (F/A's 12%, ground staff 8%).

Without the cancelled flights due to F/A staffing (there would have been cancellations due to weather - probably 75% or more were due to that) the problem wouldn't have been as bad. Less rebooking of passengers necessary (which was nearly impossible anyway) and more flights to carry baggage (it may not have gotten there on the passengers flight but maybe one of the next two, three, or four).

The extra ground staff shortages are responsible for some of the extra time airplanes spent waiting for a gate, waiting for someone to pull the jetway up to the plane, waiting for bags to be unloaded/loaded, etc. Delays would have happend anyway - the short staffing that existed before the first sick call would have ensured that - but they wouldn't have been as long.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Again, a big "Thanks" to the passengers that are still with us.

Jim

 

[700UW]

Once again Jim, you are a voice of reason.

 

[deano]

To the customers.....


Jim

[post="233487"][/post]​

I submit Jim's name for ambassador of U, after he stops flying, because he sure blows away the current overpaid suits manning the battle stations.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Jim, excellent post. And, I totally agree.

 

[Schatzee]

Jim,
that's the problem, how does any company purge the 1 to 2 percent of employees that aren't worth the space they take up?

Company knows who they are and so do the unions. They need to go NOW! Yet they don't.

[post="233492"][/post]​

The problem is that the 1 to 2% that remain are called "professional FMLA" users. They have studied all the loopholes and use them regularly making it harder for everyone to not get hassled when applying for legitimate FMLA usage. The company's hands are tied when it comes to FMLA.

 

[BostonTerrier]

And I tell them it's because US Airways has the nicest employees. I couldn't care less about drinking alcohol in real glasses, or whether or not I get my first meal choice in F. I care about the big seat, and a friendly FA who will serve me my bloody mary in a plastic cup, and offer a sincere apology when I'm in Row 6 and only one meal choice is left.

[post="233452"][/post]​

SS255,

Yours is the first post in recent weeks that actually made me (for a moment) regret my decision to resign as a flight attendant for US. No doubt, US truly has some outstanding frequent flyers, and to see any inconvenience come upon them is beyond unfortunate.

I've traded in serving 26 first class passengers for 26 far harder to please customers: eighth grade boys and girls. Although the rewards of my new job as a teacher are immeasurable, reading a post such as yours allows me to know that my service at US Airways was not in vain.

Best,
BT

 

[SS255]

I was actually having a really rotten day today -- the kind of day where nothing went right despite all of my efforts to the contrary. I went on usaviation because I got fed up with FlyerTalk, and was curious about employee reaction to the weekend's fiasco. I basically just decided to do something nice and try to make someone's day. It sounds like I did, so it was well worth the effort (and I even conquered my fear of posting on this site). To those of you who have given up and chosen to throw in the towel, please know that your years of service were not in vain. There are so many customers out there who really do make the extra effort to smile and say thank you, and not treat your service as an entitlement. We don't blame you for the degradation of service, or for the hassles of irregular operations. We are all sad for those of you who have been impacted financially and emotionally by the events of the past several months. And for those of you who question your decision to stay in the ring, please know you are not alone, and you have many fans rooting for you.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Jim,
that's the problem, how does any company purge the 1 to 2 percent of employees that aren't worth the space they take up?

Company knows who they are and so do the unions. They need to go NOW! Yet they don't.

[post="233492"][/post]​

Bob,

I suspect every company with more than a few hundred employees has a "1 or 2 percent", so to some extent it's a fact of life to be accepted. Obviously, the better a company treats it's employees, the smaller that "1 or 2 percent" really is. Conversely, the worse the employees are treated, the larger that small percentage gets.

How do you punish the bad without hurting the morale of the good? Punitative policies hurt morale of all and probably tend to hurt more than they help. Snitch lines risk being merely conduits for some to use to "get even" with someone they don't like. Etc, etc.

As far as "the company and the unions" knowing who are the bad apples....

If that's the case, the company should have no trouble getting rid of them. As has been said by your favorite poster - 700UW - if the company has the documentation to prove it's case there's nothing the union can do. Unfortunately, what usually happens is that the company (management at some level - usually pretty low) just lets things slide until something like last weekend's fiasco happens to get upper management's attention, then all he// breaks lose - people get fired out of hand whether they're really guilty of some infraction or not. That get's the union involved, the company can't prove it's case, and everyone gets their job back - innocent and guilty. And morale just goes down another notch.

Unfortunately, human nature doesn't only exist at the worker bee level, and the company's efforts to weed out the bad apples starts at the bottom of the management ladder - supervisors and such. Supervisor A might let worker B slide because "he's a good guy" or "she's having problems in her personal life right now", etc. The other worker bees see this going on - they're not blind - and some will think to themselves "If they can get away with that why shouldn't I?"

What it amounts to (at least from my perspective) is that you're always going to have that 1 or 2 percent. So someone better have a plan that takes them into account or works around them.

In short (or long, as it turns out), what you're asking for is a perfect world. A world where every employee is basically perfect in their duty to the company. A world where no employee cuts the corners on the rules.

So let me ask you this. In all your previous work experience, have you ever left a little early, took a little extra time for lunch, maybe used company time for personal business, company property for personal use, etc. I suspect 99.9% of workers in this country have, from the bottom to the top of the companies. And every one of them thinks "It won't really hurt anyone" or something like that. I'll guarantee that any individual that called in sick this last weekend thought that same thing.

Jim

ps - in all that I forgot to comment on your "employees that aren't worth the space they take up?" comment. That's a pretty big assumption. How do you know that anyone that called in sick but weren't aren't the hardest workers when they are at work? Or that some who reported as scheduled aren't the worst slackers even though they were there?

 

[deano]

Bob,

I'll guarantee that any individual that called in sick this last weekend thought that same thing.

Jim

[post="233597"][/post]​

AMEN...this man has a grasp on the "human element" where the people who should have that grasp, just don't.

Way too much has happened, negatively, for any reasonable thinking person not to expect a negative reaction to occur. This is where this management team is clueless and in over their heads as they bury themselves when trying to use cattle prods on humans.