US Employee Attire & Grooming Standards

[737823]

Took a Shuttle flight from DCA the other day and was surprised and disappointed with the appearance of the gate agent working my flight. The agent wasn't wearing a formal uniform, rather just a US logo T-Shirt that was not tucked in and Dockers. It also appeared the 40-45 year old male agent hadn't shaved or combed his hair. Why would US allow their employees at one of their most important airports, Washington Reagan to look unpresentable in front of customers? Any respectable airline would enforce strict dress codes and provide employees with a real uniform.

Josh

 

[etops1]

Although I really don't like any of your post because all you do is bash USAirways . I am gonna have to reluctantly agree with you on this one . It does embarrass me on how some of our employees look in the uniform . I can speak for inflight . There is no type of accountability when it comes to uniform standards . I just flew with a girl who had blue and white tennis shoes on . I also once flew with a FA who wore flip flops during the service .. No joke . I blame upper management for not enforcing the standards . We have a uniform . A very ice one if worn properly . I do see a lot of agents look like crap though.

 

[UPNAWAY]

It is not upper management it is lower/middle management that doesn't enforce policy which is where almost all the problems are, that tends to hold true in most large organizations. Ultimately the buck does stop with upper management.
In this case I'd throw out a few other possibilities, could have been a non rev helping out or a person who normally is not customer facing.

 

[wings396]

Many employees at several airlines look shabby today. I have seen C/S, Ramp, and Crews that are all a mess, and it seems to be across the board. At one time working for an Airline was a glamarous job, but that's not the case any longer. How many times has mamagement told us that this was never intended to be a career? In short, you are dealing with a different breed of airline employee today than you were in the past. It's just another job, with wages that are inline with fast food chains, and Dept. Stores.
Sad, but True......

 

[luvn737s]

Your expectations are too high. Work on that, will you.

 

[Ramp Rogue]

On a daily basis, i still see employees wearing america west uniforms. Management sees it also and turns a blind eye. But get 50 jetway bags with one minute til departure, and neglect to scan one and see who gets written up.

 

[Phoenix]

Took a Shuttle flight from DCA the other day and was surprised and disappointed with the appearance of the gate agent working my flight. The agent wasn't wearing a formal uniform, rather just a US logo T-Shirt that was not tucked in and Dockers. It also appeared the 40-45 year old male agent hadn't shaved or combed his hair. Why would US allow their employees at one of their most important airports, Washington Reagan to look unpresentable in front of customers? Any respectable airline would enforce strict dress codes and provide employees with a real uniform.

Josh

Respectable airline....? Did you comment on passenger attire?

http://blog.sfgate.com/crime/2011/06/21/man-flies-us-airways-in-womens-underwear-photo/
( Warning: link is pic of USAir male passenger in women's underwear and may not be appropriate for work, unless of course you work at USAir.)

ok, ok, everyone ought to at least comb their hair and brush their teeth.

 

[Dog Wonder]

I am disgusted.

Get this guy a tuxedo.

 

[Keroseneuser]

The old saying is quite apparant. "You get what you pay for"

The industry as a whole is not what it used to be. I have already seen it discussed in several places that many of the US airlines are already looking into setting up AB-Initio training for pilots once the mass retirements kick in. Meaning that they will set up their own training programs in house to get young pilots the experience needed to meet the new FAR's coming out. Similar to what Lufthansa and some other european and asian airlines do. Hire a guy with little to zero time and train them at inhouse or contracted flight schools.

Guess in the long run that is cheaper than paying for experienced pilots like in the past. With pay scales way down and starting pay in the 18 to 20k range guess nobody is willing to choke up 80 to 200k to learn to fly.

As far as the gate agents and ramp people it is a hard job in the weather all day everyday or dealing with mad customers on a daily basis.(Due to factors that said gate agent has zero control over) The flight crews deal with huge amounts of time spent on the road and in hotels away from family. In the past higher payscales made up for the inherent downside of the jobs......that is not the case anymore.

 

[TWskyliner]

[sup]Please post a pic of yourself Josh so we can see what someone who makes over 400K a year (as you have stated) looks like...We'll let you know if we approve.[/sup]

 

[Veritas]

Although I really don't like any of your post because all you do is bash USAirways.

It's nothing compared to how badly he bashes AA on FlyerTalk. That's only exceeded by his hatred of ORD and SFO.

 

[EastUS1]

The old saying is quite apparant. "You get what you pay for"

The industry as a whole is not what it used to be.

Indeed. I'm nowadays more surprised that, given what the gate agents/et al have to put up these days, and what routine miracles they're expected to perform, that anyone that's able to do the work even takes those jobs for the ridiculously low pay involved. A sad testamonial to the current economic distress methinks.

 

[700UW]

It's nothing compared to how badly he bashes AA on FlyerTalk. That's only exceeded by his hatred of ORD and SFO.

He constantly downs US on here and AA's thread, Just go look at his posts.

And your link doesnt show anything he posted there.

 

[Veritas]

And your link doesnt show anything he posted there.

Sorry about that.

The search results must expire on that site.

Just to to his profile page, select the Statistics tab and click on "Find all posts by AAerSTL."

 

[Newman]

Some of our uniforms are in bad shape and in need of replacement. Yet mgmt doesn't make this easy for those of us on the front lines