Service issues and culture change

[robbedagain]

freedom, why is it a bad idea? if you think about it, the senior agents make the top out pay of 20? something an hr. If the company says here is a buy out offer and say 2 or 3 or whatever yrs of medical, then hire (like Air Tran in BWI) they would probably save money. DFont get me wrong Senior agents are among the best of the best we got but I think if the airline did like SWA is doing, you will see a lot of the folks say "see you later" if you know what I mean. Thats on top of losing 103 mil in the 1st qtr

 

[freedom]

freedom, why is it a bad idea? if you think about it, the senior agents make the top out pay of 20? something an hr. If the company says here is a buy out offer and say 2 or 3 or whatever yrs of medical, then hire (like Air Tran in BWI) they would probably save money. DFont get me wrong Senior agents are among the best of the best we got but I think if the airline did like SWA is doing, you will see a lot of the folks say "see you later" if you know what I mean. Thats on top of losing 103 mil in the 1st qtr

The problem with that scenaior is that we take cash out of the till to pay a bunch of people all at one time ... money that we may need ... what if our company spent like 500 million to cash out the senior people and then we lost 500 in the second quarter ...

This may sound very bookish , but i think we should not take any accouting risks ...we already have our cash flows for the future laid out , we know that XYZ amount of employee's will cost the company XYZ amount per year etc ... Right now there are so many econmic variables and unkowns that we need to keep our cash postion strong and our blance sheet as simple as possible ..

 

[EyeInTheSky]

I found the newly reconfigured Enoy seats to be very close to LH Biz class (very clean A/C for a 20 year workhorse). Was it LH....no. As much as we wish we are or were we will never will be LH (just one comparison).

When was the last time you flew Lufthansa Business Class? I just flew Envoy in the new seats two months ago and just got off Lufthansa biz class last week. US new seats are not even close to Lufthansa's. Lufthansa's seats are nearly lie flat -- US far from lie flat. I agree about the service and food -- the US FAs do a great job. BUT IMHO, the best business class in the Star Alliance goes to Air Canada. They have individual sectioned biz class seats -- the same seats that United, Lufthansa, and Swiss use in First Class.

Later,
Eye

 

[vantheman63]

When was the last time you flew Lufthansa Business Class? I just flew Envoy in the new seats two months ago and just got off Lufthansa biz class last week. US new seats are not even close to Lufthansa's. Lufthansa's seats are nearly lie flat -- US far from lie flat. I agree about the service and food -- the US FAs do a great job. BUT IMHO, the best business class in the Star Alliance goes to Air Canada. They have individual sectioned biz class seats -- the same seats that United, Lufthansa, and Swiss use in First Class.

Later,
Eye

I agree...and was going to reply to the comment made earlier comparing US Envoy seats to LH.

Dear God...I hate saying it...'cause it's just a recurring theme....but US has, by FAR, the worst Biz Class everything across the Atlantic. And the seats are a big reason....or rather, a skinny, thin, non lie-flat, hard reason....

Last two times I flew Envoy....I felt like punching someone when I got off the airplane...realizing I have actually PAID money for it. But I won't be fooled a third time.

 

[JS]

The problem with that scenaior is that we take cash out of the till to pay a bunch of people all at one time ... money that we may need ... what if our company spent like 500 million to cash out the senior people and then we lost 500 in the second quarter ...

This may sound very bookish , but i think we should not take any accouting risks ...we already have our cash flows for the future laid out , we know that XYZ amount of employee's will cost the company XYZ amount per year etc ... Right now there are so many econmic variables and unkowns that we need to keep our cash postion strong and our blance sheet as simple as possible ..

It's a good thing you don't work in the accounting department. You would run a lemonade stand into the ground with your paranoid financial "advice".

 

[Travelpro72]

Offering a buyout to me is the smartest thing the company could do. Now as a flight attendant we are ALL unhappy. You have senior people that are now on the "Fly Til You Die" program and reserves that still hear "someday lil' buddy.....someday". Yeah we have a stagnant group going absolutely NOWHERE. The kicker for me is that regardless of how you cut it the junior have suffered the most as for those still working. It's just the way it is. Sure paying gto get senior folks to leave is a cost up front but the company would save MILLIONS down the road in labor with lower paid workers. I just don't understand why they don't see that. The junior flight attendants that are on reserve would jump for absolute JOY if they were able to be full time or even part time line holders. They WOULD go to work with a smile on their face and and a spring in their step for no other reason but to know they weren't on scheduling's radar. Listen, the job market blows and so does this jackass, nickel and dime, hokie pokie, third world airline ran by monkeys but how do we get the company to listen? I don't think we'll EVER see a buyout.

 

[Dog Wonder]

Well I guess I should have guessed that everyone would read my post negatively.

Excuse me for thinking your suggestion would be to your personal benefit.

 

[flybynite]

You are in the company of very many professionals at USAirways as well. Trust me.




Your post reeks of something called "ageism". In your pursuance of your degree, they may not have covered this term. Look it up.

We have just as many lazy junior people as we have senior people(which is what you're getting at, when you refer to "miserable" people below...). In fact, many of the very senior people are an absolute joy to work with, and I am junior. Remember, USAir mainline (East) is 50% smaller (or more) than it was in 1996. Not my fault; not the senior peoples fault.




Not sure what you are missing, and not sure you are making sense. Again, other airlines have a much different situation than we do. As much as I'd like to move up, do not blame the senior people. Many here will agree that the majority of them give stellar service. The current situation we find ourselves in is nobody's fault, regardless of seniority.

I couldn't have said it better.

 

[john john]

I think any sort of buy outs are a bad idea :down: ... in this economic enviroment our company needs to conserve money , not spend more of it ... our most recent quarter we lost 150 million ...

Of course not what do you have like TWO days with the company

 

[phlagent]

To galley princess, did you ever stop and think what this company was when we had better
people running this company, maybe you are too young to know. But an employee can only work with what the company gives them. If the company does not give you the tools to work with how the heck are you supposed to take care of the customers paying your salary. Senior
employee's is what hold this company together, it is the experinece that keeps the customers
returning to with US. when we had people that knew customer service and knew how to run this
company are complaints were low, it is your DP and company that does not understand it
when wolf was here our TA service was the best why he knew the business. You can take
DP and company they are worthless.

 

[freedom]

{so on and so forth }
when we had people that knew customer service and knew how to run this
company are complaints were low, it is your DP and company that does not understand it
when wolf was here our TA service was the best why he knew the business. You can take
DP and company they are worthless.

So why did your company the old us airways go BK twice then ?

 

[galley princess]

To Flybynite and Dogwonder,

When did I bash senior people?

Did you read my posts? It's primarily about demographics and its untoward effects on the junior of US.

A buyout by definition is voluntary. At no time did I suggest "farming them out to pasture". The idea would be for US to allow those who want to leave to do so, leaving those who want to stay understanding that it's a new day and service would change for the better. This isn't rocket science, nor is it new. Many companies remake themselves. Surely most would agree US has a service problem?

Where this "benefits me" is that I get to retire from an existing profitable company, I get to keep a job I love and I stop being mortified and reluctant to disclose who I work for. If you'd read my post you would know that I am not the much abused junior, nor am I senior. I am happily middle. I don't get holidays off but I do my best. But I'm getting tired of getting on airplanes with my trusty service sheet only to be told "we'd don't do that".

It's easy to blame Tempe for everything, but at some point isn't it about solutions? A buyout is not a fix-all. It would have to be accompanied by decent contracts and other stuff, like giving the agents more autonomy to fix problems.

Good grief, try reading a post thoroughly before resorting to flaming.

 

[phlagent]

So why did your company the old us airways go BK twice then ?

Because after Wolf came a Ceo that was worthless. Worthless ceo's after Wolf
that is why the company was in BK twice

 

[Dog Wonder]

To Flybynite and Dogwonder,

Good grief, try reading a post thoroughly before resorting to flaming.

Who has time to read a five paragraph screed?

You protest too much.

 

[Twicebaked]

I think any sort of buy outs are a bad idea :down: ... in this economic enviroment our company needs to conserve money , not spend more of it ... our most recent quarter we lost 150 million ...

I couldn't disagree with you more!!!

We waste thousands upon thousands of dollars paying reserves 40+ hours a month that they DID NOT work while paying senior people topped out pay and OVERFLYING hundreds of hours a month.

We have a stagnant airline and an outdated scheduling system that waste money and kills the moral of the flight attendants.

If you would come to a system that you don't pay people not to work, you could afford to give those seniors a buy-out and work the junior or hire people making half the amount of money.