Always at the bottom of monthly DOT Complaints

[SS255]

We studied every DOT complaint to figure out how we could prevent that sort of escalation again. I can't speak, obviously, for how the New US office does business. I suspect they have a similar process.

Hmmmm.....only if Management makes it a priority to thoroughly investigate the sources of the complaints, and implement procedures to prevent reoccurence.

 

[galley princess]

Just a couple of thoughts here:

From the get go, flight attendants have always hated our "clean up the mess" role. I used to joke that by the time I got a customer to come around from the nasty gate agent, the delayed boarding, the rotten video system and his reading light out, I deplaned him and off he went to find out that his luggage didn't make it.

Fast forward to today, and I would agree that often the customer experience now excludes the "cleaning up" by flight attendants and instead is met with a resigned nod. It's just too rampant. I can sweet talk somebody around one or two of those messes, but not all of them, and frankly why should I? If the company doesn't care enough to husband the product from start to finish how am I supposed to make up for that?

We do our best on the airplane with what little we've got, but we're not miracle workers. Throw in that we are severly under paid, and you've got a lot out there that simply have shut down.

Settle the contracts, make peace with employees.

Anyone else see the similarities between US and Circuit City? (now bankrupt)

 

[JAMAKE1]

When Doug said that the frontline jobs are not careers they're jobs and that he doesn't want 20 year agents working here I think he set the tone for the New US Airways customer contact employees.

That really says it all right there. What kind of CEO in a customer-driven company would make such a comment? Beyond the arrogance and contemptuousness of it, it is a totally stupid thing to say. The reality is, is that there are 20-year customer service agents in this industry. Furthermore, why would the CEO of a customer-driven business want to alienate and de-motivate the people who interact with the external customer by telling them that they have little or no long-term value to the company? There in lies the difference between, say a Gary Kelly type of CEO and a Doug Parker type of CEO. Perhaps someone at US Airways should forward a copy of How To Win Friends and Influence People to Doug Parker...

 

[hp_fa]

Just to clear up an inaccuracy...

Circuit City is has not filed for bankruptcy......yet.

 

[YVINTERN]

I've posted this link several times. But the article stands the test of time. If you want to know why WN kicks uS's arse in nearly every way please read Herb Kelleher: The Thought Leader Interview

Here is a snippet:

S+B: Let’s start with some words from your award. You made an “audacious commitmentâ€￾ to putting employees first, customers second, and shareholders third. How did you get away with that for 20 years?

KELLEHER: When I started out, business school professors liked to pose a conundrum: Which do you put first, your employees, your customers, or your shareholders? As if that were an unanswerable question. My answer was very easy: You put your employees first. If you truly treat your employees that way, they will treat your customers well, your customers will come back, and that’s what makes your shareholders happy. So there is no constituency at war with any other constituency. Ultimately, it’s shareholder value that you’re producing.

and this is why Continental has the "Work Hard, Fly Right" corporate culture. I am seriously impressed by Continental and would think they will stick around in hard times.