Guest Posted December 30, 2001 Report Share Posted December 30, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Old hippie: Sadly, we in the states don't put the same emphasis on manners as they do in other countries. . Hi Old hippie I really find it ironic and amusing that a guy calling himself "Old hippie" is starting to sound like Dear Abby! Maybe Abbie Hoffman Sorry, just taking a piss here Really! I don't venture into Haight area anymore so the only hippies I see nowadays are reruns of old "Cheech & Chong" movies. Oh yeah, about a year ago I ran into a hotshot junior exec at the then stellar Silicon Valley company (now almost worthless) with a Dead decal on his M series BMW! Ciao! micsnee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted December 30, 2001 Report Share Posted December 30, 2001 reminds me of that Glen Fry song (Boys of summer maybe?) "...I saw a deadhead sticker on a Cadillac..." well, Jerry drove a BMW and so does Phil, so...what the hell.............! Dear Abbey Hoffman, now that would be a fun parady to do/see! Happy new year to you! P.S. I met Abbey Hoffman and Jerry Rubin after a lecture at my college, boy could that guy whine!!! And Jerry Rubin, what a yuppie sellout he turned into... [ December 30, 2001: Message edited by: Old hippie ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 31, 2001 Report Share Posted December 31, 2001 Old Hippie, I understand your claim that top management at airlines is poor and I agree with you. A more complete truth would be that airline managers and employees never stop fighting and the customer pays for this. Airline service is so bad that no passengers want to listen to airline managers or other employees complain. One would think that sooner or later the jumbo airlines would follow the fine customer satisfaction model which EVA Airlines is setting. (brief laugh) No! I don't work for EVA or any other airline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 31, 2001 Report Share Posted December 31, 2001 Hippie-- Forgot to mention, that article that sent to me was very interesting.. was it from the SF Chronicle?? I'm down in EZE right now and will be in MIA on Monday evening.. I have a good friend who is a shop steward in our aircraft operations division and he should know all about this.. From what I can tell (which is only asking around) our mechanics seem pleased with what the package looks like... For you guys at UA it's on hold until Feb 18th??? right?? --UPSer PS: Added up my final mileage for 2001.. Just over 971,000! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 31, 2001 Report Share Posted December 31, 2001 A new message board for angered passengers would be more appropriate. Passengers are no longer a concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 31, 2001 Report Share Posted December 31, 2001 buy_drink-- My god... could you imagine the size of the server that you'd need to service that boards traffic??? --UPSer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 31, 2001 Report Share Posted December 31, 2001 You either missed or are ignoring my message which is: What is so damned special about airline employees? If anyone has a legitimate gripe it's paying customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted December 31, 2001 Report Share Posted December 31, 2001 I have to agree with you here. The customer is the final victum here. I remember "back in the old days" when I first started in the biz, as a customer service agent. We received 6 weeks of training. A large part of that training dealt with proper manners, approriate gesture and attire etc...all the airlines did it. But then, a few cut it off as part of a cost saving measure, the customer suffered tremendously! A few of the airlines are thinking of bringing it back. As for the labor-managment fights, you are right, they are nothing new. The issue of course is always the bottom line, money. Right now, everyone was starting to work through the problems, salaries were up, standards were up, training improving etc...now, after 911, UA is the only carier left with out all it's contracts in place. Should they win consessions, then every other airline is going to have to fight to get concessions as well, to level the cost structure. I think if they just left things alone for awhile, the industry would settle down a bit, it did before. But in the end, you are right, nobody likes a whinner! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 31, 2001 Report Share Posted December 31, 2001 Old Hippie and UPser, To move slightly away from the current discussion: From my experience UA and NW are absolute crap compared to both CX and SQ in customer service and technology on board flight.... Can either of you give a decent explanation as to why this could be? (needle in a hay stack question but love to hear some theories) Sanukboot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 31, 2001 Report Share Posted December 31, 2001 Hippie/drink-- Sure, at the end it's always the end user [read=customer] who gets 'screwed'... As far as bad service goes... I agree with Hippie.. The airlines in the past spent time and money in training their front-line employees in the ART (yes, good service is an art) of providing excellent customer service.. the cost cutting came into the picture and **WHAM** out went the training and dwon came the standards.. I also tend to think that the deregualtion of the airline business has played a pivotal role in where we are now... Today (IMHO) we have way to much capacity for the exsisting market share.. and as simple ecomonics follows.. excess capacity drives down the revenue per unit.. add this to a time when hard costs (aircraft) and soft costs (labor) have steadily risen (understandibly and generally inline with the overall rate of inflation) BUT airfares have actually DECREASED (again, using an inflation adjusted dollar)... You just can't hope to continue to operate in such a condition... I also think that the large airlines make this worse by (knowingly) practicing so-called predatory pricing practices in selected markets.. Case in point.. look at Frontier Airlines.. a scrappy up start that works out of DIA.. UA has a regional hub at DIA and (according to Frontier) UA prices seats on flights from DIA to markets that Frontier serves at levels that are un-profitable (this comes close to product dumping, selling below cost).. and since, by realtive standards, UA has a war chest of cash, they can withstand the short-term losses incurred longer than Frontier.. once they are gone (bankrupt or raises fares) then UA will return to their "normal" pricing practice.. Again, this is IMHO.. But look around at all the places where up starts have opened and then look at what the majors did at those airports.. you'll see a clear trend... I agree with Hippie.. Due to some poor decision making (by senior airline mgt) and compounded by the fustration of the front-line employees and with the added impact of lower revenue per flight we are ALL stuck in the mess that we have today.. What's the answer... I hate to say it, but I do think that airfares are not exactly in line with the costs necessary to provide the product AND the service levels that people desire. Unless people are willing to pay the (more) true market rate for their travels, this may be what we're stuck with for a while.. IMHO --UPSer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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