My how far this airline has fallen!

phlus2

Senior
Apr 11, 2007
354
1
Arlington, Virginia - US Airways' premium transatlantic Envoy Class service has received the "1999 Presidents Award of Distinction" for Innovation in First and Business Class Service by the International Inflight Food Service Association.

The President's Award was presented to US Airways in recognition for outstanding achievement in airline in-flight service. In the "Innovation in First and Business Class Service" category, airlines were judged on menu selection and presentation, serviceware and table linen, spirits and wine, and for special presentations such as dessert, amenities and cabin service.

"We are honored to receive this distinguished award recognizing our milestone accomplishments in the design and delivery of our distinctive Envoy Class service," said US Airways President and Chief Executive Officer Rakesh Gangwal. "This award, coupled with recent recognition of US Airways as the top-rated airline in the United States by the Airline Quality Rating study, clearly acknowledges the superb efforts by our family of employees in providing our travelers with the highest levels of quality service."

The International Inflight Food Service Association is a global professional association created to serve the needs and interests of airline personnel, inflight caterers and suppliers responsible for providing passenger food service on regularly scheduled flights. The International Inflight Food Service Association is dedicated to the advancement of the multi-billion dollar inflight food service industry.

Envoy Class service, introduced by US Airways in December 1997, offers sleeper-type seats that recline 155 degrees with 55 inches of legroom between rows, meals served by flight attendants trained in the tradition of the Culinary Institute of America. Philadelphia's award-winning Le Bec-Fin restaurant assisted in the development of the "Signature Chef's Creation" entree, as well as with the hors d'oeuvres and desserts.
 
Now we have meetings about how to set up a beverage cart and have no place to put trash.
 
for as much of a Horses A-- Rakesh and Wolfe were toward the employee groups.. They DID know 1 very important aspect about running an airline or any service oriented business

for that matter . and it was PUT THE CUSTOMER FIRST , retain CUSTOMER LOYALITY .. the rest will take care of itself.. Oh well , Tempe must have used their cliff notes when going

over that in how to run an airline class 101..
 
Here's a picture guide for those who are unsure of what "real" meal service used to look like:

usair019.jpg


usair020.jpg


usair022.jpg
 
That looks more recent, pretty much what they have now. The old Envoy and First food was off the chain.
 
Here's a picture guide for those who are unsure of what "real" meal service used to look like:

usair019.jpg


usair020.jpg


usair022.jpg
segment,
we are a BUSINESS CASUAL airline now!! our premium pax have consistently demonstrated that ALL they want is to arrive at their destination on time and with their checked baggage!!
and, to stifle their complaints, we are now serving cost effective vanilla yogurt and open faced sandwich on our international "product". isn't that enough? what more can these people want? aqua green and orange linens?
:blink: :blink: :blink: :blink:
 
It's the same sad story with TWA, and it doesn't have a happy ending.
And Pan Am- not that we were ever in the same class of either (unless you count bankruptcy)for any length of time.
That was 2 count them 2 BKs ago- the paradigm has shifted. Its good to have fond memories its not so good to live in them.
 
I think even the crew meals use to be better then the crap they serve to the pax, and they were not much to speak off.
 
When US launched a first class product on the A-330, it was the best in the industry. Remember the pajamas and the comforters, the flowers in the lav, the flowers on the trays -- the bottles of Dom?? Hard to believe the US product went from first to worst in such a short time.
 
This airline is such an embarrassment! We used to have such a nice product. Those days are long gone. I'm embarrassed to even work in first class.
A while back I worked A going to the west coast. Since we departed after 8:30pm, there was no food at all! None! Imagine how I must have felt when pax were complaining to me about no food being served. I could have died! Then the other day I was working a short flight BDL-CLT in the morning. A really mean pax first asked for a mimosa. I apologized and told her we did not have champagne on board the aircraft. Then she asked for a glass of milk. I told her I was not given milk because BDL isn't a catering station for us. Then she asked for decaf coffee with milk (talk about beating a dead horse) and splenda. I told her once again that I only have cream. I checked for splenda and there was none so I told her there was no splenda. Then she asked for decaf tea. I again explained that I only have caffinated tea. She was really pissd at that point. Then she asked what kind of an airline is this. Then she asked for regular tea with Equal. I checked and all I had was sweet-n-low. She was livid! So she gave it back to me and said "Fine, I'll just have a glass of water!" I gave her water in a party cup and she looked disgusted. Then she asked for a blanket. I got her a blanket and she looked even more disgusted and was complaining even more. Then she threw her cup at me and asked me if what i had given her was bottled water because to her it tasted funny. I assured her that it was bottled water and I brought her a new one. Oh and you should have seen her face when I came through with the snack basket! Later on when I checked up on everyone I asked her if she was doing OK. I wasn't about to ask her if I could get her anything else. Then she got all huffy puffy and yelled "NO, I'M NOT DOING OK!" So I walked off and didn't offer her another thing for the rest of the flight. She really pissed me off with her attitude and disrespect! She was only a dividend miles customer too. What pissed me off even more though was the fact that our management stripped us of what was once a great product. Now what we have sucks. We have nothing to offer in first class. I have also worked envoy and the food is not that good and the service is not as nice as it used to be. Also, when we do have food on transcon flights in fc it is disgusting. Ugh! I am so over this place!
 
I really get annoyed when I see a customer take out their anger at the airline operations/services on a front line employee. It sounds like you handled it well. As you well know, there are customers who won't ever be pleased. The best thing for her to do would have been to just roll with it and accept what was available. If she wanted the red carpet treatment maybe she could have chartered a Lear.