As Per the August 2nd About US,
1. September - Premium Beverage Test for Coach (Teas, Energy Drinks, Wine by the glass)
Wine by the glass stupid and time consuming for coach. What do you do, leave the cart and wander up to another cabin to pour wine? Energy Drinks, maybe, worth a test.
2. Late September/Early October - First Class Meals (Fresh, nutritional, higher-quality meals rotated more frequently and served during expanded/longer windows)
Anything would be better than the crap we have now.
3. October - Buy On Board (Roll out better-quality fresh meals and expanded snack options. Also, provision greater quantities on board)
About time. People are sneering at our snack box.
4. Ongoing - US Airways Club (Upgrade food and beverage choices and make them consistent with onboard offerings)
Is it really an upgrade to be on par with our spartan onboard offerings? Scary.
5. December - Envoy Class (Create a uniquely American experience that travelers seek out on an
American carrier, increase food and wine quality, provide more wellbalanced nutrition, trade “fluff†for quality. These enhancements are in addition to new seats, inflight entertainment and other cabin improvements for the B767 fleet.)
What? So, a bigger disaster than now. Crappy here-in-the-desert regional mgmt thinking they know best how to do international premium service. Use of the word "fluff" worries me- we don't have enough fluff, hence our service being called "bare bones," "stark," "basic," and "primitive"- online reviews, not my words. What are they considering fluff? Linens? The whole description above reeks of the "bring these snobs down to our level" mentality that has irked so many in this merger. This is the group that said our inflight magazine was too "highbrow" and our basic suit uniform too "stuffy". "Uniquely American?" WTF does that mean? I'm envisioning cheeseburgers and Budweiser, and if you prefer finer dining you are a commie. And it will be unique, but people already seek it out? Huh? I'd like to see evidence of this, an untapped market of premium transatlantic customers who find all current offerings to be too 'foriegn' and having "too much fluff". "Quality over quantity?" The biggest complaint is that we offer so much less than everyone else for the same price. What does this mean? Less food on the plate? A smaller but tastier "Arrival Pizza" for them to laugh at? I'd like to see thier marketing research on this particular segement of the market and what has brought them to this choice of product. I'd be surprised if they have done any. Arrogant kids way in over thier heads.
6. January - Economy Class Meals (Upgrade transatlantic hot meal options and return to traditional tray service instead of current “meal in a box.†These enhancements are in addition to the new digital inflight entertainment servers, LCD flat screen monitors, leather seat covers and other cabin improvements on the B767.)
About time. Seat covers are a joke though, tacky and ill-fitted. How is it that other airlines reconfigure entire 100 strong widebody fleets all the time, while US makes a half-ass, major production out of our ten decrepid, junker 767s? Covering a seat is okay for a college dorm, not here. They are so damm cheap.
7. January - Inflight Hand Held Devices (Begin accepting inflight purchases using credit cards so customers aren’t limited to only using cash.)
Progress.
8. January - Service Standards (Create a new set of “business casual†company-wide service standards to establish customer service consistency.)
I wonder if word has hit Phoenix yet that our frequent fliers and flight attendants are using the term "Business Casual" derisively... e.q "Wow that is one business casual airplane, is it airworthy?" or "That lav smells really business casual, we need it dumped." Business Casual is already a punchline, I wish they would stop saying it... maybe it's an Arizona thing, maybe they are behind the times there but the whole "business casual" thing is as cheesy and 90's as Wilson Phillips... it makes you think of "Dilbert". It's a negative connotation and these clowns seem to think it's a compliment to call something business casual. I guess when you're coming from Straightup Crap, Business Casual is a step up? Marketing error, don't proudly announce the deterioration/dumbing down/cheapening of your product. Duh.
9. January though April - Service Training (Effectively communicate and train a new standard of customer service.)
Hmmm. How do you train a lowered standard? Should be interesting. Maybe it's reverse psychology. Since this business casual nonsense came about, alot of F/As seem to have adapted a better appearance and demeanor in an attempt to distance themselves from the garbage the airline has become... an effort to show that they came from better.
10. March - Travel Like Customers Program (Evaluate the customer’s experience from beginning to end by deploying a team of part-time employees dedicated to traveling like customers, measuring their travel experience on US flights and providing feedback to marketing, senior management and operations for areas for improvement.)
Uh.... why not just ask an actual customer? Afraid of the answers? FFOCUS?www.usaviation.com/usairways?
11. Ongoing - Aircraft Cleanliness & Condition (Upgrade the interiors of our older aircraft, create consistently branded interiors fleet-wide and determine processes that need to be improved to help us better maintain our aircraft over time and between turns.)
Unnacceptable. This shouldn't be a goal, it should be a reality. This should not be even discussed as a 'service enhancement.' The fact that they see basic cleanliness as a product, something they have been forced into, shows just what white trash mentality we are dealing with here.
These people should not be allowed anywhere near anything to do with product or marketing. Since they are so willing to outsource my job and everyone elses, how come they do all this stuff in-house/trailer? They are quick to pay Republic, or El Salvador, or teenage mechanics in Louisiana to do our jobs, why not hire a marketing firm to come up with something modern that the public wants and employees will be willing to go along with?
There ya go.....lets just see if they can stick to the timetable and stick to actually trying to make the necessary changes to this airline