Managers

[phlagent]

This is for our wonderful corporate office who monitors this web site
show this letter of complaining to the big guys.
You have hired many managers in phl making the so called big bucks,
but are they worth the big bucks or just a body...and taking money from the
working employee that actually run this company....and raising the salary of the ones that have no idea on how to handle an irate customer or have any managerial skills.

It's been a couple of months now since these managers have been in place and
we have seen no improvements, we have seen it get much worse.
how can a company survive if it does not have a foundation to support it!!!!!!!!

The problems that phl has can be fixed and are very easy to get fixed, you just have to know how to go about it.....and I get believe our high priced managers have not thought about the answer......hold on to your hats....there is no experience managers in this station....oops let me rephrase that.....90% of the managers do not know what they are doing...the other 10 percent know what to do but are intimated by top management that if they open there mouth with a suggestion...they go under the microscope...now these poor managers are left watching their backs....funny way to run a company and a MONEY MAKING STATION....

Instead of asking everyone for paycuts.....run the company more effecient and get rid of the dead wood.....you will never be a southwest, jetblue,america west
so stop trying to be like them....but we can actually be better.. if thats the direction
the company wants go....or is the company just making excuses.

THE BUCK STOPS HERE........
as the station turns.......stop by for the next chapter
wake up corporate....you have over 20,000 employees lively hoods in your hands.

 

[Prince of PAWOBs]

PHLAgent,

Personally, I feel your pain. I know what it's like to be in a company with management that seems clueless.

But believe it or not, there is something worse than that. Imagine a station that has management that has a clue, but the station is losing it's hub status, probably losing employees and flights later this year, and the fault is not their own, but even more senior management above themselves.

Guess which station I'm talking about.

 

[youngblood]

PHLagent,

I have probably worked with one or two of the people you're talking about feel your pain as well. The bottom line is this, if US dares to be different they need to start at the top and work their way down. They give us lip service and say they'll listen to our suggestions but they never do. Perfect example, Some of us have recently been pulled in for feed back about a new call system we have. It's horrible and not working. We have given our suggestions and feeback. Has anything changed? Nope! Go figure.

 

[youngblood]

PHLAgent,

Personally, I feel your pain. I know what it's like to be in a company with management that seems clueless.

But believe it or not, there is something worse than that. Imagine a station that has management that has a clue, but the station is losing it's hub status, probably losing employees and flights later this year, and the fault is not their own, but even more senior management above themselves.

Guess which station I'm talking about.

It's PIT! Do I get a prize?

Hey did you know that the reason why PIT will be worth nothing come Fall? Well..........according to some it's because all of us who work in PIT are the only ones crying "full pay to the last day" and our work ethic stinks. As a matter of fact, we are are the only portion of the company that are die hard union members. Didn't you know that unions are the demise of this country - not corporate pigs? Noooooooooo........... corporate greed has nothing to do with it. The big wigs are all angelic cherubs floating by on clouds made from a divine super power that appoints people who do no wrong.

 

[Reservation Agent]

If they can still give BONUSES and PAY INCREASES to Managers, while asking for the beleagered front line workers to give up more, the more I think the company going bankrupt and out of business is justified....

How can anybody in a postition as a leader, running a company with a conscious, do that ?

This is a service industry....People are the product....Southwest makes a profit...It is because of the respect between the company and the staff....Morale is important...Some people just don't get it...

 

[youngblood]

They will never get it. They don't give one rats ass about the customer or the employee.

 

[Smartest Loser]

Hey did you know that the reason why PIT will be worth nothing come Fall?

Its called Mid-Atlantic Airlines...!!!

As soon as the company announced where it would be HQ'ed, that was the death blow for PIT.

 

[robbedagain]

my question is this: why doesnt this group of mgmt team (if you want to call it that) just gave all of themselves a reduce paycut down to say about 11.90 an hr and use what was left of the big money to offer a buyout wouldnt this airline be in better shape?

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

my question is this: why doesnt this group of mgmt team (if you want to call it that) just gave all of themselves a reduce paycut down to say about 11.90 an hr and use what was left of the big money to offer a buyout wouldnt this airline be in better shape?

They will tell you that the wages for management are but a drop in the bucket, and doing as you suggest would have no impact on the bottom line.

The same reason they still headquarter in a pricey place instead of moving the General office to an abandoned strip mall outside Pittsburgh.

The same reason that golf club memberships, chauffered automobiles, and snazzy office furniture are the norm, none of that would impact the bottom line, the cost is insignificant.

Folks, when you are having trouble meeting the payroll, and even when you are flush...there is no such thing as an insignificant cost.

The problem with your company is you have had all sorts of managers when what you really needed was a leader.

I hate to batter you with a WN example but this one really fits.

Not many people remember Lamar Muse, he was something of an airline visionary....not to mention being one hard nosed son-of-a-gun, but he was the first president/CEO at WN from '71 to about '78 or '79. (He tried a power play to get his son on the BOD and didn't succeed, but that's a different story).

A year or two ago, when AA was in a world of hurt, and CAArty was forced to resign, Muse sent a letter to the Dallas Morning News editorial page inviting American's board of directors to hire him.

His offer weas to take over the job as president/CEO...with compensation consisting of (a) an apartment in Dallas, since he had sold his place there and lived out at a lake house 2 hrs from town (B) salary limited to the starting wages called for in the Flight Attendant's contract and © A basketload of stock options which, if he managed to rescue the airline from the dead, would make him filthy rich.

You would think that a manager/leader would have enough fath and confidence in their abilities to be willing to gamble like that. How many folks in CCY do you think would be willing to roll the dice and take junior FA wages and stock options to be president?

 

[hp_fa]

After the work force would get behind a guy like that and make him a butt load of money, I bet he would throw one hell of a party for his co-workers.

 

[Prince of PAWOBs]

This Larry Muse guy sounds like a leader I'd want to follow into battle against any competing airline.

Leaders. I guess this is what it's all about. Someone who can actually rally the troops and improve morale. At PIT Express, I've heard there are actually a few managers and supervisors who agents would actually throw themselves at a wall for if they thought their instructions would help get planes and passengers where they are going. These are the kinds of people we need at every station. These people don't make a ton of money, nor do they get perks like the people in Crystal City do. They show up for work, and they do what they have to do, and sometimes more than that when the conditions warrant.

For that matter, Express agents in PIT, for the most part, are INCREDIBLE in their capacity to accomplish the near-impossible. They are like an elite brigade. And I hear that they got offered, yet again, next to nothing during contract talks earlier this month.

And they still manage to get the job done. Maybe leadership and personal work ethic are symbiotic.

 

[Light Years]

His offer weas to take over the job as president/CEO...with compensation consisting of (a) an apartment in Dallas, since he had sold his place there and lived out at a lake house 2 hrs from town (B) salary limited to the starting wages called for in the Flight Attendant's contract and © A basketload of stock options which, if he managed to rescue the airline from the dead, would make him filthy rich.

Hired!

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

Lightyears (I like the new dancers, BTW) and PAWOBS:

I don't want to Southwest you folks to death but you ought to read Mr. Muse's book...it is sort of a personal history of him thru Trans-Texas Airways...American...Southern...Central....Universal....and finally Southwest. The focus is on Southwest but I think you might get a kick out of reading about the sort of things a leader in the airline industry does and the sort of results that once can achieve.

Mr. Muse is a fascinating guy...trained in finance....he was not blessed with unlimited charisma or people skills....he looked a bit like the millionaire in a Sandra Dee movie who marries the librarian before the last scene....had a very soft spoken voice which was occasionally difficult to hear....and used some language that would curl your hair. He did not mince words or pull punches with his employees, but it was always okay for his employees to disagree and argue with him on various issues.

His book is called "Southwest Passage"...it is in paperback....and I have no doubt but what you can find it online. If you can, get it. I wouldn't steer you wrong.

 

[Light Years]

I'll definately look for it. I love airline books. "Hard Landing" by Thomas Petzinger Jr is my favorite.

 

[Prince of PAWOBs]

Every airline has at least one thing it does better than all of its competition. Every airline has at least one visionary who can cut through the BS and create success. If we could put all of those people and ideas together at the same airline, that would be the end of the war. No OA could compete with it, period.

It won't happen anytime soon, of course, because this is reality, and airline utopia is something you can aspire to but never achieve.

I'll look for the book at the library and the local bookstore and see what Muse is all about. Sounds like a Silent Cal type, or perhaps Teddy Roosevelt.

If Lakefield really wanted to find a direction for the airline to go and be profitable, he would go to each station and ask employees one-on-one what should be done and implement the best ideas, from the most senior avionics mechanic to the lowliest ramper who just got hired. His legacy could be more like Peter the Great than Ivan the Terrible.

I'll give him some free ideas right now:

-No more wasting printing costs on napkins. It's overkill and makes US look desperate.

-No more GoFares parties. Advertise the GoFares without the donuts and the Humvees. Concentrate on getting the destinations and prices across to the passenger.

-Eliminate preferred travel classifications for passengers. Give them bonuses by way of points toward travel and hotels based on ticket prices and mileage travelled. When they get enough, and there is space available, then give an upgrade for travel.

-Inhouse maintenance, flight crews and aircraft. Stop wasting the cash on contract carriers and maintenance. US has people, facilities and planes. Let's use the strength of the employees to do the job.

-Take the gloves off. US is competing with other airlines for the same markets. Don't be the nice guys to them - be the nice guys to the passengers and be ruthless with the competition. This is how WN does business. I said earlier how every airline does something better than all the rest. This is one US really needs to do.

-Market dominance. Whether it's a hub, "focus city", or a little cinder block box at the end of a 3500 foot patch of grass, fly out of there to at least one destination. Use the appropriate sized aircraft for the job you are doing. If you need a 737 to do the job, don't substitute Saab 340's. If you need a Beech 1900, don't use an Airbus 319. Common sense rules!

-Keep management under control. They are employees, too, and like small children they tend to get into trouble sometimes when supervision is at a minimum. Bonuses are to be earned by hard work and success, not given away like an allowance to keep whining down to a minimum and the kids out of your hair and down at the shopping mall. No performance, no employment. Leave too soon and you get nothing. You would see a big productivity increase out of this group with new rules being applied to them.

That's enough for now. I have to take a break and play some UNO with my son. Oh, yeah! That's a good one!

-Treat your employees like they are your family. They can't be ignored, divorced, disinherited, treated like "black sheep" or sent off to military school. You have to listen to them, help them, support them, and if neccessary, love them. They take care of you - you take care of them.

See y'all after the card game.