LATEST USAirways political correctness

[freedom]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami

 

[singh4us]

I've checked the BAPS website, and US is not mentioned:

Airline Discounts
The following airlines are offering discounted rates to Jacksonville for the National Convention:

American Airlines (http://www.aa.com)
Group Name: BAPS NC
Authorization Number: A6377AS

Continental Airlines (http://www.continental.com, or call Continental MeetingWorks at 800-468-7022)
Valid for travel from July 3 to July 17
Offer Code: ZBG1B9YNEY

Frontier Airlines (http://www.frontierairlines.com)
Frontier Airlines will begin service to Jacksonville on June 15, and they have special deals going from selected cities.

AirTran Airways (http://www.airtran.com)
All AirTran destinations are currently on sale
The sale ends on April 10

BAPS CONVENTION HOMEPAGE:

http://www.swaminarayan.org/news/usa/2007/...ville/index.htm



http://www.baps100years.org/nc2007/bal/?p=28

 

[flybynite]

I can only hope that their pilots are women.
...or an all gay male flight crew!
B) It would also violate every aspect of our seniority based contract. Would you pay protect the senior female flight attendants who could hold this trip so that the flight could only be staffed by males? Hmmm... let's see how the sand castle feels about that one?

I didn't say I had all the answers to this situation.

They don't care if it's an all female crew. They just don't want to be touched by any female whether is a crew member or not. That's why they have asked us to stay out of the aisles while they are boarding. That's so we don't inadvertantly touch them. They get on board, take their seats and don't bother anyone. They will not speak to you. Sounds almost like the perfect passenger. Hmmm?

This is about them having taken very,very strict vows of chasity and modesty not unlike preists or nuns. I wouldn't want to touch them anyway. Of course, I'm not into pawing the passengers.

My biggest concern was and still is conveying safety information. On that one issue, female f/a's have to be listened to. They haven't asked for an all male crew.
I just threw that out there as a possible idea.

 

[HP_JACK]

Get used to this East step sisters and brothers .. this is how it has been for us for years. They never think before they open their mouths!!

 

[EyeInTheSky]

TWA and Pan Am briefed and trained their flight attendants for years on these sorts of things.

Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is. It's better to be briefed than not? Not cutting Tempe slack here (they have bigger fish to fry than Swami) Let the flight attendants working the flights decide what's best for them. If they don't follow the guidelines that's fine; if they do that's their choice as long as they do their job that's all anyone can ask for.

Later,

Eye

 

[HP_JACK]

The problem with me is the way they did it. They gave instructions on what we HAVE to do if they are on our flight. They could have "briefed us" in a whole different manner without being offensive. Plus Inflight is so discipline happy these days what if we didn't follow the instructions given... then what. Where does it end?

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Hi HP Jack -
I read it as a briefing; not an order. Unless they come up with a new manual revision on "Dealing with Swami" it's just a "suggestion" not an order. Like I said, all anyone has to do is their job -- nuff said.

Later,
Eye

The problem with me is the way they did it. They gave instructions on what we HAVE to do if they are on our flight. They could have "briefed us" in a whole different manner without being offensive. Plus Inflight is so discipline happy these days what if we didn't follow the instructions given... then what. Where does it end?

 

[BoeingBoy]

TWA and Pan Am briefed and trained their flight attendants for years on these sorts of things.

I would only point out one difference - both those airlines flew into countries where the local beliefs/customs were very different than is the norm here. Advising their crews of those local differences is common sense when those crews will be interacting with those of different beliefs/customs in those folks home country.

Would these same people expect females to give them adequate space if they were walking down the street in any city, riding a subway/train/bus, standing in line, shopping in a busy store, etc, in this country? If not, why should an airplane be any different?

Jim

 

[MCD]

Post 1 of 2

Hello Everyone,

Morgan Durrant from US Airways Corporate Communications here. You guys are right. We owe our great employees an apology and clarification over the way this one came down. In this post, find an apology letter sent from Vice President, InFlight Servies Sherri Shamblin to Mike Flores and Gary Richardson.

In my next post, find a clarification letter sent from our Customer Relations Director Henri Dawes to the BAPS group.

Best regards,
Morgan



Dear Mike and Gary,

Thanks for providing feedback regarding the Must Read, dated July 03, 2007 regarding the Company’s communication of the BAPS (Bochasanwasi Shree Akshar Purushottam) Convention in Jacksonville, FL. I want to clarify that memo as well as the Company’s position on this matter.

First, in hindsight, that Must Read could have and should have communicated this unique situation much better. I am sorry that it offended our team and can understand how it did. Please know that when this information came into our company, we simply felt that communicating to our flight attendants and educating them about this group was the right thing to do. In no way did we intend to communicate this as instruction to our flight attendants; nor as an endorsement of BAPS’ views. We only intended to educate our people so that if they encountered someone with this belief who acted in a way contrary to our culture, they might have a better understanding of their rationale. What we didn’t want to happen was have a misunderstanding during boarding or during a flight with a crew who deserved to have information that we had not given them.

I also fear that the wording of our Must Read may have unduly characterized these individuals and their views. There are a select few individuals who have taken a vow of celibacy that includes refraining from speaking to or making physical contact with women. These individuals travel with male escorts that help them to keep this vow and they humbly requested that we inform our airline personnel of those vows. Groups such as the TSA were considering staffing certain security lines with all male agents – we simply chose to inform our employees of their presence and their request, but made no commitment to abide by their request.

Earlier today we sent a note to BAPS informing them that we cannot guarantee that their attendees will be able to avoid contact with our female employees in the manner that they have requested. We offered to refund their tickets if that was not acceptable to them. A copy of that note is attached.

In summary, I am very sorry that we communicated this matter in a way that offended our flight attendants or made them feel less than respected. Flight attendants should continue to do their job as they are trained to do and as they see fit and we never meant to imply anything different than that. I hope this explains the situation better. We promise to do a better job of communicating on issues like these when they arise in the future.

Sincerely,

Sherri





Post 2 of 2.

Everyone,

This is post 2 of 2 containing the clarification letter sent by our Customer Relations Director to the BAPS group.

Best,
Morgan

Mr. Kanu Patel

Chief Executive Officer

BAPS Swaminarayan Santha, Inc.

81 Suttons Lane

Piscataway, NJ 00854-5723

Dear Mr. Patel:

A few days before the start of the BAPS National Convention in Jacksonville, Florida, US Airways received information about the convention and a series of special passenger handling procedures requested by your organization on behalf of some of the attendees.

We carefully reviewed the requests out of respect for the religious views of these attendees, and sought to find ways to accommodate them to the extent possible. I am sure you can appreciate, however, that your requests concerning how our female employees should interact with some attendees runs counter to American cultural norms.

Also, your requests would require US Airways to deviate from its policies concerning equal treatment for all of its employees. As such, we cannot guarantee that the these attendees will be able to avoid contact with our female employees in the manner in which you have requested. If any of the impacted attendees wish not to fly US Airways under these circumstances, we will refund their tickets.

Respectfully,

Henri Dawes

 

[EastUS]

Post 1 of 2

Hello Everyone,

Morgan Durrant from US Airways Corporate Communications here. You guys are right. We owe our great employees an apology and clarification over the way this one came down. In this post, find an apology letter sent from Vice President, InFlight Servies Sherri Shamblin to Mike Flores and Gary Richardson.

In my next post, find a clarification letter sent from our Customer Relations Director Henri Dawes to the BAPS group.

Best regards,
Morgan
Dear Mike and Gary,

Thanks for providing feedback regarding the Must Read, dated July 03, 2007 regarding the Company’s communication of the BAPS (Bochasanwasi Shree Akshar Purushottam) Convention in Jacksonville, FL. I want to clarify that memo as well as the Company’s position on this matter.

First, in hindsight, that Must Read could have and should have communicated this unique situation much better. I am sorry that it offended our team and can understand how it did. Please know that when this information came into our company, we simply felt that communicating to our flight attendants and educating them about this group was the right thing to do. In no way did we intend to communicate this as instruction to our flight attendants; nor as an endorsement of BAPS’ views. We only intended to educate our people so that if they encountered someone with this belief who acted in a way contrary to our culture, they might have a better understanding of their rationale. What we didn’t want to happen was have a misunderstanding during boarding or during a flight with a crew who deserved to have information that we had not given them.

I also fear that the wording of our Must Read may have unduly characterized these individuals and their views. There are a select few individuals who have taken a vow of celibacy that includes refraining from speaking to or making physical contact with women. These individuals travel with male escorts that help them to keep this vow and they humbly requested that we inform our airline personnel of those vows. Groups such as the TSA were considering staffing certain security lines with all male agents – we simply chose to inform our employees of their presence and their request, but made no commitment to abide by their request.

Earlier today we sent a note to BAPS informing them that we cannot guarantee that their attendees will be able to avoid contact with our female employees in the manner that they have requested. We offered to refund their tickets if that was not acceptable to them. A copy of that note is attached.

In summary, I am very sorry that we communicated this matter in a way that offended our flight attendants or made them feel less than respected. Flight attendants should continue to do their job as they are trained to do and as they see fit and we never meant to imply anything different than that. I hope this explains the situation better. We promise to do a better job of communicating on issues like these when they arise in the future.

Sincerely,

Sherri
Post 2 of 2.

Everyone,

This is post 2 of 2 containing the clarification letter sent by our Customer Relations Director to the BAPS group.

Best,
Morgan

Mr. Kanu Patel

Chief Executive Officer

BAPS Swaminarayan Santha, Inc.

81 Suttons Lane

Piscataway, NJ 00854-5723

Dear Mr. Patel:

A few days before the start of the BAPS National Convention in Jacksonville, Florida, US Airways received information about the convention and a series of special passenger handling procedures requested by your organization on behalf of some of the attendees.

We carefully reviewed the requests out of respect for the religious views of these attendees, and sought to find ways to accommodate them to the extent possible. I am sure you can appreciate, however, that your requests concerning how our female employees should interact with some attendees runs counter to American cultural norms.

Also, your requests would require US Airways to deviate from its policies concerning equal treatment for all of its employees. As such, we cannot guarantee that the these attendees will be able to avoid contact with our female employees in the manner in which you have requested. If any of the impacted attendees wish not to fly US Airways under these circumstances, we will refund their tickets.

Respectfully,

Henri Dawes

"First, in hindsight, that Must Read could have and should have communicated this unique situation much better"

Why wasn't such done then?.."should" counts for little.

"Also, your requests would require US Airways to deviate from its policies concerning equal treatment for all of its employees."

Sounds good....A pity that nothing of that tone was evidently contained within the "Must Read" info for the employees.

This sad situation's a potential poster child for any lawyer's wall seeking a case for blatant sexual discrimination in the workplace/hostile work enviornment/etc. Let's hope that no extremely irritated FA's take up the opportunity.

 

[hp_fa]

Wow, long-winded for you. and so full of candid, intelligent nuggets of information. Really, honey, you outdo yourself.

After the post by MCD is appears that I had very succinctly responded to the situation. After all, those two words did fully describe the scenario.

 

[Harry Callahan]

Well Hooray for Henri and Morgan.

Polite applause for Ms Shamblin

+1 Way to go.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Hi Jim,
I understand but our world is much more connected now because of air travel. Everybody just has to learn to get along -- airlines are in the service business. The company's guidelines really shouldn't affect flight attendants one way or another. We still live in free country, right? Basically, no one has to deal with a situation they are uncomfortable with. This whole thread shows how spring loaded everyone is these days. What does that say about us?

Later,
Eye

I would only point out one difference - both those airlines flew into countries where the local beliefs/customs were very different than is the norm here. Advising their crews of those local differences is common sense when those crews will be interacting with those of different beliefs/customs in those folks home country.

Would these same people expect females to give them adequate space if they were walking down the street in any city, riding a subway/train/bus, standing in line, shopping in a busy store, etc, in this country? If not, why should an airplane be any different?

Jim

 

[PITbull]

IThey should have checked our on-time performance and held the conference in PHL or PHX, that's probably where most of them will get stuck anyway.

LOL...this is true!

 

[Happy_People]

Thats my beef. This should've never happened. Flight Attendants on the west have been enduring this stupidity and lack of common sense for years. Its normal day to day for us. We are tired and worn by this and it only continues to get worse. Last week it was reported that inflight acknowledged that morale is at an all time low, and then they send this BS out? How does it make us feel about our fearless leaders that continue to act in this manner. With everything that goes on here we could have our own page 6 published with new blunders that happen. We could fill a whole rag mag full of managements incompetance.

Morgan-

I'm glad to know that you read this. That was actually a refreshing response from our management team. I just don't understand how something like this could have happened. If someone handed me that hot sheet/must read I could've told you bad idea! It must be re-done in order not to offend. It was not educational one bit. I amongst many others could have advised you that and we don't get paid 6 figures. Thank you for acknowledging the mistake that was made.

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