The Wrong People Take The Blame
by Paul McGoldrick
It was sad to see the photo and read the main story in the business section of my local newspaper today. The three service representatives of a downtown ticketing office of American Airlines were being fired ("laid off" is not applicable here) and the office closed.
The three representatives have 17, 20 and 27 years of service with the airline behind them. What does the company reward them with? Three days notice, no severance, no payment for unused sick leave, no extension of their flying benefits -- the latter being an industry sacred cow up until now. They will receive 90 days of medical benefits; how very generous. "Just drop the office keys in FedEx on Friday night, will you?" was the message.
American is closing 107 of its 114 downtown ticketing offices in 37 cities. The most senior of their agents tend to be at those offices as it is (was) a more sought-after work location: Repeat customers, better working conditions, better hours. Airport work tends to mean facing a more harried day, poorer work conditions, and the daily threat of having to face the angry passengers when operational problems occur. These displaced downtown employees are not being offered airport employment, where they would logically replace more junior employees, setting the airline up to accusations of kicking the higher-paid employees out first. They are being offered a chance of employment at some reservation hub centers, but with no relocation expenses.
No doubt United Airlines will follow suit.
It is not, directly, these airlines' fault that it was their planes which were used as weapons on that infamous day of 9-11-01, but they are certainly responsible for the terrible cash situations that their companies are in. The CEO of AMR (American Airlines' parent company) is reported as saying that he is forfeiting his pay for the remainder of 2001 (he was paid "only" $9.6 million in 2000) and that he is asking other non-union employees to take pay cuts. But the company is so over-leveraged that even the massive government bail-out (that's our money, remember) may not keep all these airlines operational.
I am therefore doubly impressed with my own primary local carrier, Alaska Airlines, whose cash position is extremely strong; it has been able to advise its employees that it will do everything it can to maintain all its employees. This airline was a class act after AS261 went down off the California coast (with so many Alaska and sister company, Horizon, employees on board), it is a class act in its on-board service, it is a class act in its promotions, and it is a class act in its web site.
Airlines like United, however, have not seemed to notice that you are there as a customer. Its arrogance has always been very high. For many years I was a 1K/100K customer; when I stopped using United on a regular basis you might have thought that the airline would wonder why it had lost a $100k a year customer. Nope, not a worry.
The larger airlines have grown because they have expanded to this something's-gotta-give point without, as they say, "sweating the details." I remember on a consulting job going into a company where they could not understand why they had lost money even though they had more than doubled the size of the business. The books clearly showed that the growth was only fueling the sins of the past, a business pyramid. Instead of fixing the flaws, the flaws are hidden.
With an airline like American the primary flaw is right at the top. But
I bet his board will not be able to let him go with just 90 days medical
insurance. Although -- in respect to those downtown office employees --
it should.