We're at BAT again , time for the triple play

[SS255]

Tadjr - This is EXACTLY what we used to do from East Consumer Affairs. Remember the Weekly Quality Review? Every month, when the report came out, DOT complaints got their own segment flashed up there for the whole world to see. Rakesh grilled people on their performance...made them squirm in front of God and everybody...and expected answers. Behind the scenes, those letters you're referencing were sent to VPs -- without names blocked -- and the situations were reviewed down the line all the way to the individual employees and then back up the line with the results. Monthly, quarterly and annually, the information was summarized and presented to leadership in the executive offices and every other applicable department.

Failing to react to what was being said by the customer was NOT an option if the employee, supervisor, manager, director or VP wanted to keep his or her job.

Gosh, NCFL, what you have described sounds an awful lot like "accountability." Not blame. Not finger-pointing. Not excuses. Not spin. Accountability. What a concept!

 

[freedom]

Well first of all i agree with those of you who suggest we should be able to read some of the complaints so that we can refine our operation ..it would be nice to know the areas that we can improve in order to better please our customers .…(and reading it from the customers themselves would go a lot further than vague wording from the top ) i've assumed for a long while now that our last place ranking has been due to bitter pilots and FA's but that may no longer be the case .....

I also want to take a moment to once again praise our companies management for doing a great job , not just Doug Parker but alot of the senior executives have been doing an outstanding job this last year ... i know some of you bitterly complain that we have "inept" management , but these guys have been industry leaders in introducing the new fee structures .... we need money , and every which way we can get more helps our bottom line ... we've weathered the oil run up , and now we're facing an even greater challeng with these horrible economic times ...

To you Mr bunt 3 dunk ….

My reasons for wanting to motivate the workers are quite simple and two fold ….

1 . First and most importantly , Hey what can I say , I like money , and that 100 dollars was nice , I want more ..

2.. Keeping an eye on the future , every time we rank in the top , come in first , show great results ,it improves our bottom line and public image . You complain about making less money , but you fail to appreciate the fact that you have a job . We all want to keep our jobs , and the vast majority of us need our job . Going forward the economy is going to get worse , why just look at GM , their sales are down by almost 50% from last year …. There was talk about them going under half way through 2010 , now that time table has been moved up to the end of next year … as for the smallest of the big three
(not ford , I forget their name ) unless this merger with GM goes through , their DEAD … as in shut down , all those jobs lost and employee’s out on the street .. It’s one economic catastrophe after another , in quick succession . The more people who end up unemployed the less people there are who can afford to fly … right now we have too many airlines … some of them are going to have to go away … either through mergers , or perhaps more likely through liquidation … I’m not feeling comfortable with our long term survivability yet and therefore I’m on the side advocating further gains … what we have achieved isn’t enough … we have to fight harder , gotta make sure more bags arrive with their pax , planes go out on time and customers are treated in a dignified polite manner … the harder we fight this holiday season the more likely we will be to survive … it’s critical that we all do the very best we can …. Not for our CEO’s making outsized paychecks or getting lavish stock options , but for ourselves … we have to fight for our own future , because if we don’t no one else will . I know that there are a lot of management imposed obstacles in our way to providing customer service , but we must overcome those issues and truly reach out to our pax …

 

[NCFL]

I think that Doug is probably putting a good spin on it....

Flight problems - cancellations/delays - gets the most complaints for the airlines included in the monthly report and US is no exception. No fees in this category.

The three areas that hurt US the most, and where US gets more complaints than the average, are...

Res/Ticketing/Boarding - agents make mistakes ticketing, busy telephone lines or waiting in line, problems boarding the aircraft. Again, fees wouldn't affect this category.

Customer Service - Finally somewhere where fees might make a difference. Includes rude/unhelpful employees, inadequate meals/cabin service, treatment of delayed passengers.

Fares - Incorrect or incomplete information about fares, discount fare conditions and availability, overcharges, fare increases and level of fares in general.

Those four categories make up more than 75% of the complaints that US receives.

Jim

The DOT coding method - specifically the breakout between customer service (not the department, the general concept) and Res/Ticketing/Boarding is very confusing, and it's nearly impossible to distinguish between the two categories without having access to individual letters or the exact codes the DOT used.

Honestly, the DOT's broad definitions don't paint an accurate description of what actually winds up in RTB. Especially when one of the categories the DOT agents can use in RTB is the catch-all "Failure To Provide Assistance/Other/Other."

Historically, about 1/4 of the complaints in the "RTB" category are about Reservations Department issues. 3/4 are about the Customer Service Department. But it's safe to say that virtually all of them - historically - concern customer service (the concept, not the department...notice the lower case letters). The exceptions might be TBM not received (who uses those anymore?) and "other."

See what I mean about confusion?

I'll say this differently:

Virtually all RTB are about customer interaction and therefore are contributors to poor customer service. They fall outside the "Rudeness" category, which comprises the majority of "Customer Service" category complaints.

Clear as mud? We used to have to pick this nit apart for Rakesh, Siegel, etc up until the time the WQR ended. It's very labor intensive and involves more than just looking at the # of complaints in the report from the DOT.

 

[NCFL]

i've assumed for a long while now that our last place ranking has been due to bitter pilots and FA's but that may no longer be the case

In the 14 or 15 years I was directly involved with DOT complaint analysis, "bitter pilots and FAs" were never once even so much as a blip on the radar screen of our complaint ranking.

I also want to take a moment to once again praise our companies management for doing a great job

Hey Int'lShannon, I just snarfed Frosty out of my nose from laughing so hard. Can you holler to the back room and get someone to bring the mop?

 

[aredeeyou22]

I think that Doug is probably putting a good spin on it....

Flight problems - cancellations/delays - gets the most complaints for the airlines included in the monthly report and US is no exception. No fees in this category.

The three areas that hurt US the most, and where US gets more complaints than the average, are...

Res/Ticketing/Boarding - agents make mistakes ticketing, busy telephone lines or waiting in line, problems boarding the aircraft. Again, fees wouldn't affect this category.

Customer Service - Finally somewhere where fees might make a difference. Includes rude/unhelpful employees, inadequate meals/cabin service, treatment of delayed passengers.

Fares - Incorrect or incomplete information about fares, discount fare conditions and availability, overcharges, fare increases and level of fares in general.

Those four categories make up more than 75% of the complaints that US receives.

Jim

So, with my limited understanding, am I to assume that the majority of the complaints that US receives have nothing to do with the implementation of the A la Carte pricing (fees)?

 

[aredeeyou22]

i've assumed for a long while now that our last place ranking has been due to bitter pilots and FA's but that may no longer be the case .....

Yes, I believe they file these complaints under then new "Need to get laid" category that we "bitter pilots and FA's" fall into.....
:mf_boff:

You do laugh at your own posts after you type them, right? Maybe just a little?

 

[N965VJ]

<SNIP> I also want to take a moment to once again praise our companies management for doing a great job , not just Doug Parker but alot of the senior executives have been doing an outstanding job

 

[BoeingBoy]

As NCFL said, it's impossible to tell for sure without the actual complaints but just from the broad categories it would seem that way. BOB meals/paying for beverages could be in the customer service category, the fee to book through a res agent or at the airport and other fees associated with tickets (change fees, etc) could be in the fares category.

Of course, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the fees added this year, particularly spring/summer/fall, wouldn't be a big factor in the last place results - US was at/near the bottom before ala carte existed.

Jim

 

[freedom]

Yes, I believe they file these complaints under then new "Need to get laid" category that we "bitter pilots and FA's" fall into.....
:mf_boff:

You do laugh at your own posts after you type them, right? Maybe just a little?

You do realize there was a reason we were last in the MBR up until we got a new contract for fleet right ? i've only assumed that you all would drag your feet the same way that some of us did .. also after reading the pilots threads and listening to the reserves ... i just came to that conclusion ...

But as to defending our companies mangment .... you still can't deny the fact that it was brilliant on parkers part to push for the us airways , america west merger ... without it we'd all be out of a job .... here's to having a job! and also , don't forget we were profitable for like an entire year! ... not to mention that our company has had alot of sucesses with the new fee's we've added! here's to the new fee's ! and our mangment just recently got us some increased liquidity ! hurra! here's to increased liquidity !

 

[aredeeyou22]

You do realize there was a reason we were last in the MBR up until we got a new contract for fleet right ? i've only assumed that you all would drag your feet the same way that some of us did .. also after reading the pilots threads and listening to the reserves ... i just came to that conclusion ...

Really? You better inform Doug that the reason the MBR have improved is because you received a contract. In every public forum, Doug has stated that THE reason for the improved baggage handling is the implementation of baggage fees, resulting in far fewer bags being checked. In fact, he gives no mention of your new contract anywhere...

And with regards to the "hurray new fees" comment, you unfortunately are not onboard, listening to the US 1/2/3/'s in the galleys talk about how they are here now simply to burn miles. I can just look at the FC manifest in the last few months: certain routes were all CHPR, now Silver/ Divmile.....

I agree there need to be fees, but FF's should be exempt from many, just as they are now at every other "fee charging" airline.

 

[tadjr]

You do realize there was a reason we were last in the MBR up until we got a new contract for fleet right ? i've only assumed that you all would drag your feet the same way that some of us did ..

So, you're admitting that YOU were not doing the job you were getting paid to do, until the company agreed to give you MORE than you had signed up and agreed to do the job for in the first place? And you think everyone else working ramp was doing the same thing? Says a lot about character there. :down: :down:
I think the drop in MBR has to do with the fewer number of people checking bags. Now those on the ramp that just show up to collect a paycheck dont have to move as many bags and can do so on their original pace and catch them all instead of missing every third bag. 😛h34r: (Does not apply to every ramp agent I know, but a few. :blink: :blink: )

 

[freedom]

Eh , those were different times , let’s not get into recriminations from the past …


But rather let us focus on our future , and what a bleak future it is …

That’s why we have to come out on top!

 

[BoeingBoy]

Eh , those were different times , let’s not get into recriminations from the past …

Yet you were perfectly happy to blame the complaints on pilots and F/A.....

Jim

 

[NCFL]

I am going to try and find out where the DOT codes complaints about these fees. We won't be able to cull "fees" out of the other things lumped into the broad categories, but at least we'll know some component of category X is about that issue.

I'm not certain I can get that, but I'll try and I'll let you all know one way or the other. It'll be at least tomorrow afternoon before I can get that because the source I'd use has an important deadline today and I'm not going to ask him in the midst of all of his other hullabaloo.

 

[tadjr]

Eh , those were different times , let’s not get into recriminations from the past …
That’s why we have to come out on top!

I'm just curious if you're bipolar? If it affects you badly, its ok to not do the right thing. If it affects others badly, they should suck it up and do their jobs like they're supposed to because we're all of a sudden at the bottom? What about all those bags that didnt make the flights back when the ramp was negotiating. Maybe we could have pulled out of last place way back when and have already been on an upward trend instead of still struggling to get out of the bottom with MBRs and complaints. You cant have it both ways here. And now that you got your raise, should we expect 0 MBRs because now you're getting what you agreed to work for? I eagerly await the 0 MBR month and 0 baggage complaints associated with it!