To all on this forum:
What I have seen transpire here over the past day and a half makes me very emotional. Let me say several things. Please keep in mind that the purpose of this website is to share thoughts about the industry and what we are all going through, as customers, employees, observers, etc.
The first thing I want to comment on is the topic about the Pinnacle Airlines crash. I know what all of you have been through, but I think the direction that topic took was absolutely disgusting and wrong even in the aftermath of what happened with US Airways. USA320Pilot said it best when he said that US_Airways_Vote_No should be banned from these boards - I agree with him 110%. If I had lost one of my children, much less 21% of my pay, I never would have said "who cares" in reference to that topic. All of us are in this together; we've been through 9/11 for God's sake, and we know what it means to lose members of our "family." May God be with the families of the victims of that crash.
Now, on behalf of myself, I wanted to let all the employees know how truly sorry I am for what they are going through. I fly about 250 segments a year on US Airways. I am a CP because I fly US exclusively for my personal business travels, but I also like to protect flights by sitting in 2C or 3D on my spare time
, if you get my gist.
Spending so much time in the air, I've gotten to know many of you. You hear folks like me, Art @ ISP, Piney, etc. always say that "you are the best," but let me say this: there are truly no other people like you.
I flew US Airways when Stephen Wolf was trying to make it the "Flagship Carrier," and let me be the first to say that sure, the food used to be better, I used to enjoy the glassware in domestic first, and I truly believe that US Airways had the best product/ammenities in the industry. Sadly, those days are gone... but what isn't gone are the fine people that work for this company.
I'm not going to sit here and pretend to tell you that you need to accept the "changing realities" of the industry. All of you at US are mostly senior, so even if you don't want to admit it to yourselves, surely you are seeing what the airline industry is going through. I spoke to a F/A on JetBlue some time ago, and she told me that she was a 39 year vet of TWA before getting laid off by American. She then told me that for years she had cherished serving Kosher meals on the top deck of 747 JFK-TLV flights and thought she was at the top of the world. The last thing she told me was that the best 2 years of her life were the years she had been working for JetBlue. She said to me "I didn't want to accept the realities, but even if it means what I do for a living is changing drastically, I am still doing what I love to do." That might be something for you all to think about.
I just wanted to share some of my stories with you all. I'm sure that some posters will reply with derogatory comments, but I really don't care. The big thing that I wanted all of you to know is that for all of my personal travel, I will always book exclusively on US Airways because of you, the frontline employees. So many of you have touched me, from the gate agent in ROA who put me in F/C for the first time in the late 80's, to the Res. agent who cried on the phone with me when I told her I was cancelling my trip to ATL when my best friend was killed in a motorcycle accident.
This company will go on. For the sake of the customers, please don't call in sick or change your attitude towards us. We've been there before, and this is just another bump in the road for all of us. God Bless you all, and I hope that you are all able to somehow get by during these difficult months ahead.
What I have seen transpire here over the past day and a half makes me very emotional. Let me say several things. Please keep in mind that the purpose of this website is to share thoughts about the industry and what we are all going through, as customers, employees, observers, etc.
The first thing I want to comment on is the topic about the Pinnacle Airlines crash. I know what all of you have been through, but I think the direction that topic took was absolutely disgusting and wrong even in the aftermath of what happened with US Airways. USA320Pilot said it best when he said that US_Airways_Vote_No should be banned from these boards - I agree with him 110%. If I had lost one of my children, much less 21% of my pay, I never would have said "who cares" in reference to that topic. All of us are in this together; we've been through 9/11 for God's sake, and we know what it means to lose members of our "family." May God be with the families of the victims of that crash.
Now, on behalf of myself, I wanted to let all the employees know how truly sorry I am for what they are going through. I fly about 250 segments a year on US Airways. I am a CP because I fly US exclusively for my personal business travels, but I also like to protect flights by sitting in 2C or 3D on my spare time
, if you get my gist. Spending so much time in the air, I've gotten to know many of you. You hear folks like me, Art @ ISP, Piney, etc. always say that "you are the best," but let me say this: there are truly no other people like you.
I flew US Airways when Stephen Wolf was trying to make it the "Flagship Carrier," and let me be the first to say that sure, the food used to be better, I used to enjoy the glassware in domestic first, and I truly believe that US Airways had the best product/ammenities in the industry. Sadly, those days are gone... but what isn't gone are the fine people that work for this company.
I'm not going to sit here and pretend to tell you that you need to accept the "changing realities" of the industry. All of you at US are mostly senior, so even if you don't want to admit it to yourselves, surely you are seeing what the airline industry is going through. I spoke to a F/A on JetBlue some time ago, and she told me that she was a 39 year vet of TWA before getting laid off by American. She then told me that for years she had cherished serving Kosher meals on the top deck of 747 JFK-TLV flights and thought she was at the top of the world. The last thing she told me was that the best 2 years of her life were the years she had been working for JetBlue. She said to me "I didn't want to accept the realities, but even if it means what I do for a living is changing drastically, I am still doing what I love to do." That might be something for you all to think about.
I just wanted to share some of my stories with you all. I'm sure that some posters will reply with derogatory comments, but I really don't care. The big thing that I wanted all of you to know is that for all of my personal travel, I will always book exclusively on US Airways because of you, the frontline employees. So many of you have touched me, from the gate agent in ROA who put me in F/C for the first time in the late 80's, to the Res. agent who cried on the phone with me when I told her I was cancelling my trip to ATL when my best friend was killed in a motorcycle accident.
This company will go on. For the sake of the customers, please don't call in sick or change your attitude towards us. We've been there before, and this is just another bump in the road for all of us. God Bless you all, and I hope that you are all able to somehow get by during these difficult months ahead.
