There have been many mistakes in the course of the AWA aquisition of USAirways, but the single biggest mistake was retaining the name.
It has given the former AA employees the mistaken belief that somehow AWA was just added to their airline, and a lack of understanding as to why and how things needed to change, and what exactly transpired. Why on earth would an east F/A ask Kirby in the CLT crew news a few months back, (paraphrase), since there is all this animosity between the east and west pilots, can't we just sell off that little ol' West operation? Kirby did an okay job of explaining that it would be like "trying to split out Piedmont", but what was evident was this person had absolutely no clue as to who we are and how we (the entire airline) arrived at where we are today.
Had the powers that be went to Madison Avenue, came up with a campaign, and launched an entirely new brand, many of the troubles we see now would be near non-existent.
There certainly is value to the USAirways brand name, but it is not Coca-Cola for pete's sake. It should have been abandoned, in favor of something fresh. Since it was not, we are saddled with the same tired, losing mentality that got the east in trouble in the first place, and the quoted post highlights this fact.
Solution? There may not be one, the USAirways brand may be a lost cause. But, I would suggest that Tempe start educating all employees with a new emphasis on exactly what the plan is for the brand name. How it differs from the past and the individual airlines to which we were hired. What being a LCC truely means on an individual basis.
