United MileagePlus (Consolidated) - HR investment fee?

How many people would pay a ticket fee (surcharge) of $2-$5 per ticket, if you could be guaranteed that the entire amount collected by that fee would be invested in pay raises for pilots, FA and other UA employees? If the higher fee resulted in higher quality of service, what effect would this have on UA bookings?

So, it's a gratuity.

How many people would *say* they would pay the fee or how many people would pay optional higher fares that would be put into the tip/bonus pool equally split regardless of salary?

I think it depends on whether I'm allowed to tip after I take my flight. :)

Wouldn't this make more sense in a non-union shop? After all, I think the union is supposed to negotiate for how much their members are worth.

So, it's a gratuity.

No. A fee is not a gratuity. It is a way to ensure that proceeds raised from a fare increase are passed on directly to the employees in the form of pay raises instead of being merged into general revenues and distributed mostly to shareholders and management.

Smisek could go on TV and campaign for a slight fare increase but give his commitment (subject to independent audit) that the totality of the fare increase goes to employees in the form of pay raises. This could improve morale among UA employees. If they are happy, customers would be happier.

Nope, not me.....I don't see it as my added responsibility to help the line workers get a raise nor do I want to do it. The fares in general just keep going up and up, trips that used to cost me $300 are now $500 plus this fee and that fee.. nope, not me.

Nope, not me.....I don't see it as my added responsibility to help the line workers get a raise nor do I want to do it. The fares in general just keep going up and up, trips that used to cost me $300 are now $500 plus this fee and that fee.. nope, not me.

Well, I would pay another $2 per trip to get a happier FA instead of someone who goes back in the galley after dinner is served and does not come out until breakfast. So far, the response is mostly negative, and I understand how people feel. Let's wait and see how others think.

You can pick out any popular aspect of any business or government operation and levy extra fees/taxes/etc. in support.

That doesn't change the fact that it was an included service all along.

This won't get you anything if you cannot guarantee the other part of the employee's compensation. Even if you do that, employees will have a fixed compensation, independent of their performance and nothing will change. Combine that with the fact that how much the employees are paid is not even a factor when considering which airline to fly and you can guess the obvious answer to your question - NO!

OK. I am beginning to think this was a bad idea. But can you guys think of another way to improve employee morale without an increase in pay?

Increase in pay could improve the morale but that is not going to happen by some sort of fee tacked to the ticket price. If UAL can demonstrate some sort of value to its customers they should be able to charge higher fares and even increase compensation. Large route network and new comfortable airplanes are a possible way to do that but then they smear the whole experience with the current long list of problems, diminishing that value for most if not all passengers.

There is a lot more that can be done about morale but it is mostly related to their relations with management and how they are being treated. The attempts to pin the delays on the pilots by waiting them to refuse airplanes before fixing mechanical problems is just an example of a combative attitude that has been adopted between management and employees. I'm sure similar examples exist for just about any other employee group.

thing about any "fee" is it always goes up..make it work with what I already paid for a ticket. Heck, i look at my tax bill and already pay for far to many...especially my property tax. live on what you earn...the rest of us do. (well some...)

If UA could charge higher fares, they would, regardless of whether it was called a fee or something else. In the age of Kayak, it doesn't really matter how well-meaning a fare increase is if it causes your tickets to price higher than the competition.

Besides, the problems with employee morale are far too complex to be solved with a single pay increase.

OP, the airlines are not non-profit organizations. No one should have to pay a "fee" to support raises for the airline's employees. That is the type of ideology that corrupts these corporations. Just like the government, keep adding taxes (or fees) to support new causes without any tangible results. While I see your POV, I don't believe this is even a half-decent solution.

OP, the airlines are not non-profit organizations. No one should have to pay a "fee" to support raises for the airline's employees. That is the type of ideology that corrupts these corporations. Just like the government, keep adding taxes (or fees) to support new causes without any tangible results. While I see your POV, I don't believe this is even a half-decent solution.

I agree. I just floated a balloon out there, containing an out-of-the box solution to see the reaction. Please understand my perspective -- I don't want UA to go the way of PanAm. Unless employee morale is addressed in a timely manner, it could very well end up in Chapter 7.

This said, using "fees" in the pricing model is not reserved to non-profits. I have seen fuel surcharges charged by airlines. Even my landscape guy is charging a "fuel surcharge." He is assuring me that it all goes to gas purchases... :-)

Paying a fee to an airline and hoping it gets to the employee is like paying social security taxes to the government and hoping it actually doesn't get wasted on some spotted lizard in East Overshoe, Alaska.

However, I never understood why airlines prohibit flight attendants from receiving tips for good service which would be the most direct way to ensure their attentiveness and that it would end up in the employee's hand.

First, I don't think this industry is the same as other "tipping" businesses.

But I wouldn't support it anyway for the same reason it doesn't work in cabs, restaurants, or other service industries. Tipping does not remove bad actors from the system. It only (marginally, at best) rewards more to high performers, and low performers come to view it as expected even if they do no better.

I am all for labor getting a bigger slice of the pie, but it should come from overpaid management. The real problem with the idea of such a fee is that it would not go to labor. It would be absorbed into the general pie. And if labor was to get paid from this fee, rest assured that the airline would divert general funds otherwise intended workers to other functions. Its just like those "service" charges that hotels in the middle east charge; we all know that it is not the server getting that money.

I've never seen a happy union worker. For a union to survive they have to convince the rank and file that they are being abused and only the union can save them. Once convinced no amount of compensation will be enough because the union must continue the indoctrination that they are still fighting to get them what they are worth. How long do you think a union would survive if they said this is a generous contract, the company is rewarding you fairly for your services, but we still want to continue collecting dues.

OK. I am beginning to think this was a bad idea. But can you guys think of another way to improve employee morale without an increase in pay?

Get rid of Smisek. Get rid of Shares.

Get rid of union dues and contribute that amount to a 401K!

How many people would pay a ticket fee (surcharge) of $2-$5 per ticket, if you could be guaranteed that the entire amount collected by that fee would be invested in pay raises for pilots, FA and other UA employees? If the higher fee resulted in higher quality of service, what effect would this have on UA bookings?

I would if I can get rebates for not using my baggage allowance, being thin, not drinking soda, not asking for service while I fly :D ... and a share of the flight benefits the employees get :D

Ya know, by gosh, I think we're onto something here!

Grease the g/a and get moved up the upgrade ladder.

Just like getting into a show in Vegas. Ya want a front row seat, palm da guy a couple a twenty's!

Cool idea!!!^^^

A "C note" should qualify for a double upgrade, and it would certainly go the the folks that need it most! Wanna pre-departure pop, dangle a fiver from the f/a call button! Want the chick in 23J moved next to you in 2B a fifty to either the g/a or f/a should do the trick.

Hod-damn!!!

It's like the mandatory tipping on the cruise ships. If I am unhappy after my flight, can I request the mandatory tip be removed?

Nah. If UA wants me to pay extra to labor, they can encourage tipping. My bartenders know that I take care of those who take care of me.

Mandatory tips don't do anything for service. And eventually supervisors will start sticking their mitts in the jar and that just makes the rank and file unhappy again.

Ya know, by gosh, I think we're onto something here!

Grease the g/a and get moved up the upgrade ladder.

Just like getting into a show in Vegas. Ya want a front row seat, palm da guy a couple a twenty's!

Cool idea!!!^^^

A "C note" should qualify for a double upgrade, and it would certainly go the the folks that need it most! Wanna pre-departure pop, dangle a fiver from the f/a call button! Want the chick in 23J moved next to you in 2B a fifty to either the g/a or f/a should do the trick.

Hod-damn!!!

Actually, I did this once and it worked, PanAm flight JFK-JNB. Placed $20 in the ticket envelope (remember those?) and gave it to the GA. He opened the envelope, slipped the $20 into his pocket and upgraded me to Business on the spot. How I miss the good old days!

You mean like the Healthy San Francisco charge they slap on most restaurant tabs in SF? No thank you.

This seems like an OMNI thread.

so NO way in hell should they or any other part of the airline require additional fees lest demonstrate they can do their jobs. WOuld there be a $0.10 fee for clean lavatories? $.25 for undamaged luggage? maybe even a per viewing of a FA they get $.50?

Not me. Ever.

Unless employee morale is addressed in a timely manner, it could very well end up in Chapter 7.

Employee morale doesn't drive firms into Ch 7, running out of cash to meet obligations drives firms into Ch 7.

First, I don't think this industry is the same as other "tipping" businesses.

I'm not saying I'm a fan of the tipping idea, but one may look to the Amtrak first class service on the Acela routes as an extremely close comparable to flight attendants. Tipping of the FC Acela staff is commonplace and is accepted.

You are dealing with Unions here. If you impose a $3-5 fee now, it will be a $10-15 fee in 5 years then a $20-25 fee in 10 years. I'd say no way.

If they accepted tips, I think they would have to acknowledge that they are primarily here for our service, not for our safety...

OK. I am beginning to think this was a bad idea. But can you guys think of another way to improve employee morale without an increase in pay?

Yes I can. Fire them and find employees who would KILL to have their job and pay. Shouldn't be too difficult given the number of unemployed and underemployed folks in this country.

That's how this process works for all of us who are not unionized...