It is very sad.
I started to fly UA extensively in 2003 and in 2004 exclusively. I know many of the ladies in YYZ and when I moved to YVR some 9 years ago I have had the pleasure of knowing most of them.
Here is an example I saw of where a contract employees doesn't care at YVR. I believe CO in YVR was outsourced. (If not, then my example below shows how little CO employees care about customer service and standards). However at YVR I am almost certain they were contract employees as it was only flight a day to IAH.
After the acquisition and before CO took over UA I was at the gate flying to IAH. This is before the 1/2/3/4/5 boarding group ribbons were introduced.
This was when UA had the sign for boarding Premier Access with an arrow to one side, and Economy the other.
The MLL lounge was closed (this was something like 05h00) so I was at the gate. One lady comes to move the pole with the sign however can't roll it properly and stops and does not move it and starts typing away on her terminal.
Twenty minutes goes by and another person come. She sees that the gate is not properly set up. She moves the pole over except that the sign is backwards so what is facing the passengers is "thank you for flying United".
This is what happens when you use contract employees. They don't pay attention to details.
And yet ... we look at the other end of the spectrum, when I fly J class on SQ. I go to the lavatory and when I'm back at my seat, my blanket has been folded and waiting for me. Or the ground agent only allows PPS and Star Gold to pre-board and actively tells others to wait.
It's attention to details, customer service, plus a hard product that helps sells an airline in a competitive environment
IMO, outsourcing is not the way to go.
Last edited by sing-along; Feb 20, 2014 at 2:34 pm