Thanks for your reply. Let me address your paragraphs individually.
I am a staunch supporter of those on the front lines. However, I also support those in the management office, especially those who don't have a VP title next to their names and have less job security than those under what little protection a union contract affords these days. Also being in the business world, I understand the need for executive compensation as it is. But that won't stop me from supporting those on the front lines.
Excellent! I applaud you for having a set of principles and standing by them unequivocally. Thank you for voicing your support for the front-liners.
I am cutting my Thanksgiving trip to a short two days so that I can be at work the rest of the time, allowing some of my management employees to have time with their families. I just have to travel 800 miles to see mine. If an airline messes with that, it'll just happen one time. I won't go back for seconds. I've put up with a lot from US... lost bags, cancelled flights, occasional rude employees, dirty planes, and the like, but have always thought the positives and the good people outweighed the negatives. The previous Christmas meltdown didn't impact me, even though I flew over a dozen segments on US during that period. But mess with my limited family time and you won't see me again. I've got 400K left in my FF account, and I wouldn't even bother burning it.
Again, I'm glad to see that you are serious and willing to take the good with the bad. But I'm curious: If an airline "messes" with your family time, who exactly at the airline would incur your wrath? The airline as a whole, or some select group?
The company I'm at is a 24/7/365 operation. I tell new hire employees coming in that a.) we are 24/7/365, b.) holidays are regular working days, albeit with slightly reduced staffing, and c.) scheduling is seniority based. This year we're so understaffed that I approved 6 out of 52 leave requests for the entire day of Thanksgiving off. That's the nature of working somewhere that operates every day. Airlines are the same. If you don't want to work holidays, don't work for an airline.
In my case, as it has been since I began with US, I will be working the holidays this year barring a possible, but legal, work action. I have no issue with your denial of 46 employee day-off requests. That's just how it goes sometimes.
If you want to use it as an opportunity to grandstand and make it so others can't spend time with their families, so be it. But you'll lose this loyal customer who has spent his own time and money showing appreciation to the people of US, and last year spent $500 out of his own pocket buying gift certificates for all of his flight attendants, pilots, and gate agents last Christmas.
Okay. So this is the point where we see things quite differently.
If the "grandstanding" you are referring to includes a possible employee strike, then I cannot agree with your previous statement that you support the frontline employees. Legal job actions are not meant to inconvenience customers for their sake alone. They are a way to deal with a company by the employees until an agreement can be made to solve the problem that caused the job action in the first place, which you should well understand in your position within your company. It is unfortunate that it affects customers, but if the marketplace can support the migration of employment, it most certainly can do the same for flyers (e.g. other airline choices).
If you are referring to calling off for scheduled shifts only to show displeasure and not for legitimate reasons, then I can agree with most of what you said in your previous paragraphs, with the sole exception again being your support of the frontline employees. Here's why: Remember when I asked who would incur your wrath? In all of your statements, my opinion is that there are simply too many inferences to hourly, front-line employees to ignore. The same employees who might "mess" with your family time and "grandstand" by calling off work.
Now, I have a hard time trying to see you apply the same standards above to the management and non-titled salary employees you seem to have respect and empathy for at the airline. It's not because I believe those people would be unable to arbitrarily call off for illegitimate reasons, because quite frankly it happens more often than many would like to think. I would rather submit that those in the salaried positions, who tend to be in administrative roles that don't directly deal with passengers and immediate operations, only affect the outcome of the operation through
prolonged absence, not the short term type that happens when an employee (pilot, f/a, ramper, gate agent) calls off from work. Perhaps an exception to this assumption could be the work of crew schedulers, but as I am unsure of their salaried or hourly status, I can only speculate.
My post is only to argue the merits of what constitutes "grandstanding" and who it applies to in your statements. It's not meant to belittle your post, only to encourage you to clarify who it was directed toward. I personally appreciate your loyalty to US Airways, but I do hope you can see where I come from as a loyal, yet skeptical employee.
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