What does PHL need to become a customer/employee friendly hub?

[Jimmy Neutron]

booing about Southwest's arrival and growth, the fact is that our flights are almost always FULL!

What you are forgetting is that when PIT was a hub all the flights were also full, and just about every flight that was cut at PIT were consistently full.....The flights at PIT now are full and oversold on a regular basis and all our PHL/CLT flights are jammed full of our own originating traffic being forced to connect elsewhere....That doesn't even include the thousands of ex-customers from PIT and the northeast corridor that simply will not fly US anymore and use other carriers.......

So just because the PHL flights are full, doesn't actually mean they are profitable now does it....especially if you listen to the company rhetoric about what works as a hub and what does'nt.....They consistently talk out of both sides of their mouth's....

 

[Happily Retired from PHL]

Well, I didn't say profitable.......I still can't understand how they can afford to fly someone PHL-PVD, for example, for under $50 when you can't walk, drive, Greyhound, and/or Amtrak PHL-PVD for under $50.......and the company (and the unions) have spoken with "forked tongue" for years.

God and USAirways work in mysterious ways........

 

[SoftLanding]

How about bigger planes and fewer flights?

If US Airways substituted some E190's for RJ's in the upcoming months (which probably will happen), and drop the TOTAL number of flights (probably will NOT happen), Southwest (or possible other airlines) would add incrementally more flights without reducing the TOTAL number of flights for the airport...The final outcome, no change...

That being said , US Airways will not give up tarmac for Southwest. So we'll add some bigger aircarft, but keep most RJ's, so expect the squeeze to continue...delays, and more dalays...and lost baggage...

Who cares about the customers? They keep coming back for more abuse, don't they ?


SoftLanding

 

[john john]

Q: What’s going on in PHL with our operations and an incentive program to get employees to report to work?
A: PHL has been operating under a triple whammy this summer of staff shortages made worse by unusually severe and frequent storms (a result of long and frequent ATC delays in the Northeast corridor) and high load factors. Facts are, we were overstaffed in the spring, and so held off new hiring until mid-May. Today, we’re working on putting up to 60 new employees into training every week. We expect to be at full staffing on the ramp, with adequate reserves
sometime in September; in the meantime, we’ve launched a short term program to reward attendance, for working extra shifts, and to slow down attrition.The program is a four-week raffle drawing for prizes like TV’s and MP3 players for ramp employees who schedule and work overtime on weekends. Some employees have suggested the raffle is too generous (giving a prize just for showing up?), but the facts are that these kinds of attendance programs aren’t unusual in the airline industry or any industry in general, and this program is already paying off in terms of improved staffing and attendance at PHL, which was the goal. We’ve also invested in more ground equipment, better-looking hold rooms, break rooms and gate areas, and otherwise putting a lot of effort into helping our employees be successful at PHL. Already, baggage performance has improved by 30 percent year over year and on-time is on the rise by 15 percent from this time last year. These investments help PHL run more smoothly a