Travis Christ in PHL for Q&A

[tadjr]

MARKETING Q&A IN PHL WEDNESDAY
VP of sales and marketing Travis Christ will be on hand in PHL Wednesday, Feb. 13 from 4 - 5 p.m. in B6
Crew Annex room to answer your questions about marketing initiatives (including advertising, the
Dividend Miles program and usairways.com, just to name a few), inflight products and service and other
items of interest to airport employees and crewmembers. Be sure to stop in!


Get that list together EMB and start practicing!
Seriously though if anyone can attend, please ask some of the questions being discussed here and let us know his answers.
(FFOCUS, Florida liquor, onboard service, etc)

 

[EMBFA]

A-ha!

 

[flyingcat]

Well in reality Sherri gets all of her approvals from him.

So he is higher up the totem pole. Pehaps you can ask him how the project to bring glassware to the east is going?

 

[Travelpro72]

Are they going to get the HUB up and working again so we can watch the crew news sessions? Since the dude who worked the hub left we have NO video updates. The last one was from 11/28 in PHX. I hope we get answers to a lot of questions.

 

[bigbusboy]

Folks please come with respectful, intelligent questions for Travis. I've only ever had an e-mail dialogue with him, however I've found him to be a bit more direct if the questions are intelligently posed and not from an emotional perspective..

While there is much to whine and complain about, if presented properly Travis can help you. I encourage you to give him your full attention.

Words of wisdom folks. Questions that are well thought out and without anger and emotion are impressive and demand serious answers.

 

[N965VJ]

If I may…

I'm not a moron, I'm not going to stand up and announce myself. If I don't get called I'll likely be there. These questions will be asked (unless they are dumb) whether they are divided by attendees before she shows or handed to her as a script.

If you are planning to go, understand who she is, and what types of questions should be asked. I'm not being a smartass, but please don't waste what little time we have with her on stupidity. I'm offering some tips that should be helpful.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Do not ask contract/ETB/reserve or any contract specific questions, aside from demanding to know why it's taking so long. Same goes for scheduling questions. Wrong forum. Save those questions for the union or head of crew scheduling.

* If you have a complaint, make it specific, and make it a question. Save the storytelling or comments for the OPR table or galley. Keep it short, to the point, and rehearsed if at all possible. She is "on stage", you are not.

* Similarly, if you have a suggestion, turn it into a question so she has to address it, rather than just acknowlege it.

* Avoid turning it into a group discussion. For example, don't waste time listing all of our catering woes, or everything that our customers hate about our product. She'd like nothing more than to have the hour wile away as F/As compare horror stories. Demand to know what has been done and what will be done to rectify the situation, and if not, why not.

* Keep your life story to yourself. No one cares how long you've been around or what went on here or there. She's not going to be impressed with what you've "been through", and frankly neither are we because we've been through same or worse. Ask a question that is current and applies to the future, not the past.

* Ask open-ended questions. Her answers should acknowlege the problem or inquiry, address it, and have a conclusion/solution.

* When asking questions about positions or aircraft specific, don't explain things to her. She is the Vice President of Inflight Services and therefore should know every position on every a/c from the E190 to the A330 and the related duties in her sleep. She should know all services and galley packouts like the back of her hand. It's entirely unnaceptable if she does not. She is VP of Inflight Services for all of US Airways, not just the west A320/737/757 operation. Her responsibilities include the entire, larger East operation, including international and the Shuttle.

* Keep marketing and product questions specific to onboard the aircraft. Cite customer feedback as well as F/A feedback when discussing cabin reconfigurations, inflight service etc.

* Dining and Cabin falls under Inflight now, so she is the last word. However, do not spend the entire hour talking about ice and trash bags.

* As VP of Inflight for a major international carrier, she should be aware of the products offered by our American and foriegn competition. She should also have a working knowlege of differing staffing models, policies etc. Despite her only industry experience being with America West and US Airways by default, someone in her position should have industry awareness.

* She should understand the long-term effects of poor morale at a company, and be aware of the all-time low morale of the group she oversees. Do not allow her to place responsibility on the employees themselves. Also, do not let her compare the two flight attendant groups as until there is one contract they are not one.

* If she claims US Airways is a low cost carrier, point out that it has one of the highest costs per seat mile in the industry. Ask her to provide examples outside of the employee and customer experience that are indicative of US Airways 'low cost carrier' status.

* Please ask her to back up vague claims about "the industry" or "surveys" if she cites them. Company designed surveys are slanted to their objectives, and without specific references, statements like "closets are disappearing industry-wide" have no merit.

* Forget about the uniform, there are several different channels to talk about that.

* Directly challenging or dismissing someone's qualifications or knowlege is poor form. If there is a lack of either, it will be clear enough in the answers to well placed questions.

* Hold her accountable for her position, but do not attack her personally. All credibility is lost when someone comments about horses etc. Save that for the internet if you need to. Please present yourself as a professional flight attendant in a corporate setting, not as a homeless flying shrew at a cage match.

* Getting emotional just makes you look crazy, i.e. the guy having a breakdown about not having ice in BOS on that one Crew News. Take all of your prescribed meds, and keep it both professional and in perspective.

* If she says she'll get back to you, ask for a time frame and hold her to it. Ask that when she does have the answer it's communicated to the entire group via company communication rather than to you personally. If she passes the buck to another department, make her direct you to the person who can answer it.

* Demand a timeline and deadline for promised improvements. In the corporate world, one is expected to make good on their word in an alotted amount of time.

* Demand final, authoritive answers on the spot for riduiculous issues that have taken on more mystery and intrigue than a Nancy Drew novel, e.g. The Case of the Missing Glassware, The Differing East/West Service Flow, and The Phantom Cheap But Usable Trash Bag. Enough. No excuse for these silly items anymore.

* Finally, DO NOT b*tch about base closures or your commute. Do not complain about flight frequencies, aircraft types, or routes that were "Always Full!" but have been dropped. It makes our whole group look childish and unintelligent.

An hour is nothing, especially since she'll likely have a peppy prepared speech about Envoy and money spent on painting swooshes before she even takes questions. My reasoning for this post and thread is to get an idea of what kinds of questions to ask in our very limited time with the leader of our department.

 

[vantheman63]

Folks please come with respectful, intelligent questions for Travis. I've only ever had an e-mail dialogue with him, however I've found him to be a bit more direct if the questions are intelligently posed and not from an emotional perspective..

While there is much to whine and complain about, if presented properly Travis can help you. I encourage you to give him your full attention.

As a customer who loves this airline and it's people, I want to second (or third or fourth or whatever) Piney's comments here....

My hope is that whoever can go to the meeting, leave the emotion out, ask questions....and listen with a critical ear...be ready to follow up with more logic (as opposed to emotion) when someone hears something that just doesn't quite seem right.

I really, really, really would like to see this blatant missrepresentation of the facts (potentially) be an inflection point where things change....

Best of luck for a great meeting!

SUGGESTION CONVERSATION FLOW EXAMPLE

Q for Travis: In recent company docs, we were told that the Company "meets with FFOCUS on a regular basis. We now know this is not correct. Can you explain your thoughts and comments toward FFOCUS?"

A from Travis: Well, we have met them, they are some customers who fly us a lot...we listen to them.

Follow up Q For Travis: How many times did you meet them?

Answer: 2

Follow up Q: Does that really constitute "a lot?"

Or.....

Q for T: We're told we want to become The Airline Of Choice, do we ever take time to really listen to what our customers say? Have we ever had a true panel of our Elite travelers come to Temp or have we met them out to listen to them?

etc....

My advice is to not hit them with "everyone's pissed and we hear bad comments all the time." Instead, ask questions that lead you to where you want to go.

Google "Socratic Selling" and practice it in the meeting....

Good luck!

 

[HP_JACK]

OMG!! Why the heck is inflight so under the skirt of marketing? We are frickin' flight attendants not marketing majors! I wonder if I take marketing classes if they will be reimbursed under tuition reimbursement.... it directly relates to my job now right?

 

[EMBFA]

When is he flying in? Nothing's coming in or out of PHL right now...

 

[Non Rev]

MARKETING Q&A IN PHL WEDNESDAY
VP of sales and marketing Travis Christ will be on hand in PHL Wednesday, Feb. 13 from 4 - 5 p.m. in B6

Wow......a whole hour!!!!!! Guess it's better than none at all.

 

[UWCactus]

I think it would be beneificial to find out what Travis Christs area of responsibility is and keep the questions on that area. Often times, people waste time with him asking about "there's never a marshaller when we need one" or "whats going on with our crew rooms?" He doesn't deal with that stuff. Keep it on the Marketing level.

 

[beachboy]

Travis: If US Airways were to merge with any other "Legacy" as you call them. Pick one it doesn't matter. How do you envision your "business casual" brand surviving or even fitting in? Would you conisder instituting your failed plan of the THE HIGH COST OF CHEAP onto the merger partner or isn't it in fact your only hope that someone buys us; scraps your failed plan, pays you millions to POOF BE GONE and act like you saved face? Can you elaborate on how that may work?

 

[YVINTERN]

FOLLKKKSSS.....

Looks like US700 from PHX to PHL has been canceled for today...*coughs* perhaps Mr Christ didn't want to come or it's just too icy in PHL for him.

 

[InternationalShannon]

FOLLKKKSSS.....

Looks like US700 from PHX to PHL has been canceled for today...*coughs* perhaps Mr Christ didn't want to come or it's just too icy in PHL for him.

that's too bad. I wanted some of the good Word. haha.

 

[USstew23]

OMG!! Why the heck is inflight so under the skirt of marketing? We are frickin' flight attendants not marketing majors! I wonder if I take marketing classes if they will be reimbursed under tuition reimbursement.... it directly relates to my job now right?

Well if this is true about inflight answering to marketing then that might be what the biggest problem is. Remember they're the ones who had a hand in the reconfig's