To ï¬￾nd proï¬￾t, carrier plans to lose more Vegas flights

[EastUS]

Managment has change many, many times the employees attitudes have not!

That's pure BS, or, as kindly as I can state it = completely incorrect. Each time a major switch in management occurred... a window of opportunity opened, via employee optimism and even actual hope. I doubt you were around for many of the change-outs, or you would know that. That the optimism (and even honest hopes) were usually shredded within fairly little time can't be assigned to the employees' lack of faith or hope. Heck!..I even had actual hopes for enhanced operational efficiency..all the way up until the infamous "Res Migration" :blink:

The opportunities for wholesale cultural changes, within ANY organization, occur with every "change of command". The pathetic sidestepping of any "management" in addressing their own responsibilities therein, versus providing even any semblance of actual Leadership, is a very tired little trail of tears indeed.

Among the advice given me by my late father, as to how to command, was the following: "Provide an example. Always Lead from the front. Do it decently and honorably. Believe in those you command...and they will follow you."

PS: On Leadership; What'd impress me would be to see the little cache of already multimillionaires at the top, during these trying times, take but a dollar a year honorarium, and base their future compensation purely upon company successes....and I can almost immediately see the look of utter incredulity instantly result

 

[luvn737s]

Parker obviously understands the problem of staffing at the top of scale, yet he chooses to do nothing about it. Delta has offered two buyouts of senior people so that they can pare their average labor rate down. This costs money up front, but if you wait, you don't have the cash and then you're stuck like Parker apparently feels he is. Even when he had 3 billion in the bank, he always felt short of cash.

 

[dash8roa]

At the low end of the scale is piedmont.I am nearing retirement and have worked for many companies over the last 40 years.I have never worked in such a negative atmosphere as this one.management is always gunning for employees,never noticing or commenting on the 99 things that go right,but watch out when some goes wrong,even when it is out of the employees control.The plan of promoting from within is not always the way to go.Fresh blood from outside is needed at times.They have no clue as to how to hire.Some of the employees are brain dead and lazy. More high end comat parts have lost in the philly black hole.

I tire of hearing this "is the way we have always done it" mantra.Old line thinking and not open to new ideas.
Our fleet is shrinking and we will lose 7 more a/c at years end along with the 4 leaving now.

The basic plan is deeply flawed.

 

[ussnark]

I didn't take it as such.

My point is that Southwest is not trying to shrink their entire airline. They may tweak with city pairs, but they aren't shrinking so that is the difference I was trying to make. The following shows their fleet size for 2005-2008.

Southwest Airlines Company (LUV) 445 481 520 537

Shrinkage depends on your optics.

SWA almost completely shutdown their anything-SFO for almost ten years, now, with UAL weakened, they are increasing their presence. This represented a reduction, overall, of their total presence.

I suggest, in a good way, that your optics are somewhat dated and possibly reflect the fetus-like myopia infecting tempe.

 

[flybynite]

The above IMO is poopie Ka Ka of the first order.

Employee Productivity comes from two primary areas.

Actual Hourly wage and benefits

&

Business Process.

WN gets better productivity through higher wages with a much much higher level of productivity due to business process. Quick Turns, Point to point flying and their willingness to admit mistakes, come up with a solution and move forward.

Leadership is another critical area. Employees are much more receptive to change if they trust their management team.

So one thing you have to then ask is "How did the attitudes get sooo bad"?

Do you really think people come to work with the goal of being miserable and unproductive?

If the answer to the above is no, then you have to ask what or who is responsible for the current attitudes?

Bill Franke? Steven Wolf? Bruce Lakefield? Seth Scholfield? Ed Colodny, Tom Davis? Doug Parker? The IAM? ALPA? AFA? Who's fault is it?

Maybe it was Santa Claus, however the generally accepted notion is that a Management Team for better or worse sets the tone for the entire organization. If Management has lost the trust of the majority of its employees and by default their credibility can anyone blame the average worker?

If a company ties the front liners hands when it comes to special circumstances making it impossible for them to help customers, what attitude could one reasonably expect?

If you're a TOS employee and are targeted for elimination through the discipline process how is that employee supposed to consistently smile at customers all the while knowing that even the slightest slip will put them on a level? Don't tell me this doesn't happen, I know for a fact it happens all the time.

When I spoke to the Executive Office on a service level issue the VERY FIRST question I was asked was if I recalled the F/A's first name. No apology, nothing, just get the name of the F/A. I told them, "I won't participate in a witch hunt" and refused to provide a name.

So UPNAWAY try harder next time.

Piney,

You just hit the nail on the head....again!

 

[SolidCactus]

I think people should stop comparing US with WN. These two companies are extremely different.

This is very true. Someone needs to explain this to the leadership at US because it seems as if they believe there isnt much of a difference between US and WN. US has the biggest identity crisis of any US airline. US has morphed into a hybrid product that doesn't fit any particular demographic of customer.

 

[NCFL]

At the low end of the scale is piedmont...I have never worked in such a negative atmosphere as this one.management is always gunning for employees,never noticing or commenting on the 99 things that go right,but watch out when some goes wrong,even when it is out of the employees control.

"At the low end of the scale is Piedmont." You can say that again! I read M/L folks griping about pay issues and half chuckle and half yell at my computer screen because they have no idea, in a lot of cases, just how poorly Express employees are paid -- and we're talking about Express employees who are part of US Airways Group, who in most cases do the exact same job as their M/L counterparts, with marginally functioning hand me down equipment, etc. It's challenging work at best, poorly rewarded/compensated, and gets no respect from fellow employees at M/L.

Unlike you, DH8, I found Piedmont management to be wonderfully supportive and great to work for. In spite of my difficulties at the end, my management team was 100% supportive of me throughout. No exceptions.

Lastly, that "never noticing or commenting on the 99 things that go right" business isn't unique to Piedmont. That, sadly, is the way of the world. It's the same thing with customer service. People take time to complain about the bad stuff, but don't take time to recognize the good.

As for this Vegas thing, everybody likes to point fingers and flip out when stuff gets cut. Fact is, the rules of engagement have changed. The economy is in the tank nationally and in LAS. If the flying is unprofitable, then Parker et al are doing the right think to get rid of it. This isn't an "East West" thing or another "PSA-gate." It's simple business, and I'd be more concerned if DP wasn't reacting at all and keeping his head in the Arizona sand.

 

[Travelpro72]

The way some people think just astounds me. Yep, it's the employees fault. Until this management team decides to respect their employees and not continue on the same path as today you'll never have a different outcome. Management/employee relations in basically ALL groups is severely broken and strained. You CANNOT and WILL NOT change a thing with the way you treat and care for your employees. Just not gonna happen. You can open/close bases, shift assets from here to there, pull out from here and start service there....doesn't matter. It all comes down to happy employees = happy customer = a well run company that blows the competition away. US finds itself wondering, "what are we, WHO are we and where on earth are we going"? MANAGEMENT created 99.9% of the mess we have today. NOT the employees. Just ONCE I'd like to hear the words, WE made a mistake. Think that will ever happen? I believe that as employees from all groups we just want a management team you can trust and be able to stand behind. We WANT to be proud of our company and see it succeed. Help US help YOU.

 

[NCFL]

Just ONCE I'd like to hear the words, WE made a mistake. Think that will ever happen? I believe that as employees from all groups we just want a management team you can trust and be able to stand behind. We WANT to be proud of our company and see it succeed. Help US help YOU.

I agree with what you're saying. Management has made a ton of errors and hasn't seemed to own up to any of them.

That said -- and I hesitate to say this in a bully pulpit such as USAV -- there's a flip side.
I'll bet management would like (some) employees to say things like...

- We admit we abuse FMLA
- We admit we hide behind our unions to avoid consequences of poor performance
- We admit we aren't as nice to customers as we should be
- We admit we sit in the galley reading magazines and playing Sudoku

Think that will ever happen?

 

[Travelpro72]

You have a point. That said, I don't believe those issues are what makes USAirways profitable or unprofitable. Some issues that management has struggled with certainly DO make or break this place. Whether US is profitable and successful is the responsibility of ALL of us collectively but it is management who we look for to lead. How's THAT been working out?

 

[nycbusdriver]

I agree with what you're saying. Management has made a ton of errors and hasn't seemed to own up to any of them.

That said -- and I hesitate to say this in a bully pulpit such as USAV -- there's a flip side.
I'll bet management would like (some) employees to say things like...

- We admit we abuse FMLA
- We admit we hide behind our unions to avoid consequences of poor performance
- We admit we aren't as nice to customers as we should be
- We admit we sit in the galley reading magazines and playing Sudoku

Think that will ever happen?

We are simply following the example of the leaders. If they show everyone that "it's all about them," and "we want to get all we can from this pig before it dies," then the followers will be doing the exact same thing.

 

[Travelpro72]

Bringing this baby back to topic before it gets closed, what do we think will be the ultimate future for US operations in LAS? Do we see LAS as only seeing limited service from the hubs only? Curious. hmmmm

 

[NCFL]

You have a point. That said, I don't believe those issues are what makes USAirways profitable or unprofitable. Some issues that management has struggled with certainly DO make or break this place. Whether US is profitable and successful is the responsibility of ALL of us collectively but it is management who we look for to lead. How's THAT been working out?

When I was at M/L, we had to overstaff by 30% on any given day to account for FMLA absence and still maintain acceptable levels of customer service. A lot of them were bogus, but our hands were tied. That has an effect on the bottom line if you ask me, especially if you multiply it across the system.

But back to LAS, hopefully the company can maintain enough presence there that the entire city doesn't get handed to WN, so when the economy rebounds US can have some sort of business. Time will tell.

 

[2clippedwings]

One thing that is not easy to pull out of this cost is worker productivity. I guarantee that SW gets more work out of their employees on a per person basis then US does. And that has almost everything to do with attitude. Nothing is going to change those attitudes. Not pointing blame just stating a fact and SW is unique (among airlines) in the happy productive employee required. US employees are much closer to all the other big airline work groups in terms of attitude. I still think a massive buy out is the only long term hope of changing things followed by a big influx of younger workers.

Productivity? Flight attendants now work with 1 less per plane. With one less f/a per plane and stuck at FAA minimums, we have to problem solve many issues normally corrected by a gate agent.
Flight attendants clean airplanes, and continuously trawl the cabin collecting trash, tasks paid to utility not so many years ago.
Flight attendants are expected to inventory, a task usually done by a caterer.
I'd say this company has wrung plenty of productivity out of this f/a group.


Younger??? Might you mean "more junior"?

 

[SpinDoc]

When I was at M/L, we had to overstaff by 30% on any given day to account for FMLA absence and still maintain acceptable levels of customer service. A lot of them were bogus, but our hands were tied. That has an effect on the bottom line if you ask me, especially if you multiply it across the system.

But back to LAS, hopefully the company can maintain enough presence there that the entire city doesn't get handed to WN, so when the economy rebounds US can have some sort of business. Time will tell.

Off the LAS topic, but relevant to the first half of this post:

US Airport staffing is done based on some kind of witchcraft formula that involves the total number of flights versus man hours, or some other crap. The problem in the stations is that management is required to count long term OJI personnel as part of their ACTIVE head count. This precludes having staffing to meet the actual needs of the station and adds to the overall cost of overtime. If Tempe got their heads out of their butts and allowed TEMPORARY staffing increases to cover the injured personnel, then things may run a lot better.

There is no contract provision for the IAM or CWA that precludes the company from recalling furloughed agents on a TEMPORARY basis (until the injured employee either returns or leaves for good) to make sure staffing is adequate to handle the workload on a given day, yet Tempe refuses to even entertain this idea as a way to improve customer service and reduce customer complaints.

It is things like this that reinforce the "trip over a dollar to pick up a nickle" theory.