flyinbob

Especially in a service industry it is important for a program of this type. A properly run, professional program, not just random passengers giving their opinions, would do wonders for UA.

aluminumdriver

Sorry, I just don't see this as helping much. The main problem is not the one or two bad service employees, but instead the horrible working conditions the employees are dealing under. It is, like putting bactine on a cut while ignoring the whole wound going on around it.

Things will not improve until Glenn Tilton and his ilk get rich. Whether that is merging and moving on, or selling off United in pieces, nothing will change until he is gone. Your undercover SWAT team means nothing because those letters fall on deaf ears up at WHQ. Think about it, instead of spending $500 million to either upgrade aircraft, buy parts, or give employees some of their 60% paycuts back, they dole it out to stockholders, who have done what???

So, while I agree that service can be spotty, it is A) the same at most other major airlines and B) won't improve until the working conditions of those serviing you get better. Your idea bypasses the real way to fix issues in a service industry, make it better for those who are serving you so they are happy and go the extra mile. Pretty simple really, they just don't get it up on Mt HQ.

UCBeau

The stockholders have shown faith in UA and taken a risk in purchasing partial ownership of the company.

What they haven't done is give inconsistent service to the customers of United.

flyinryan

Wow. Just a big huge enormous wow.

DenverBrian

But UA continues to see itself in the transportation industry, not the service industry. This is the root cause of most of their current service problems.

Mountain Trader

As I said at the time, UA should have made the bankruptcy process more than a financial rebirth. They should have kept the planes, MP and the routes and started over on just about everything else. A new name, a new plan for a culture of customer service, new management, especially where it counts-line positions where employees interact with customers.

This should have included telling all employees that the old UA is gone but they are welcome to apply for work with the new company, accepting only those who were truly ready to build a great company through top-notch customer service. Maybe this would have eliminated a lot of people but it would have also left the much larger majority who do their jobs well. Instead we now have to weed the problems out, one thread at a time.

civicmon

Mystery shopping is better to show where general inconsistancies lie versus as a diciplinary action.

I'd be peev'd too if I was fired due to a mystery shopper. However, they should be used to identify trends and problem areas over the entire CS spectrum.

goalie

you sum it all up quite quite well (tho neosporine works better than bactine ).

in order for things to change, there needs to be change at the top (so let it happen already). now as someone who as been on the "shopped side" of myster shoppers (it runs amok in banking), there is one big down side.....instead of pax playing "spot the fam", you will have crews playing "spot the mystery shopper" and once done, the name and any other info will be circulated so future crews are now made aware (after all, the pax name is on the mani, right?). then what do you have-even bad employees doing a good job and skewing the results. it would happen all the time when i managed a branch...one of my employees would get a call from another branch saying "we just got shopped and here's who they are, what they look like, etc, etc, etc). i for one do not like the mystery shopper program as it's a dog and pony show" for the marketing & sales folks (and please don't get me started on that) so they can report "numbers" (good number or bad numbers, they need to report numbers as that's what it's all about (oh, wait, i started in where i said i wouldn't )

das

I think there's more upside from creating a culture that trains for, rewards, and recognizes exceptional service than creating a culture of fear or indifference. Sadly, the $25 Restaurant.com coupons (which you can buy for $4) that employees go in a drawing for from GTEMs doesn't seem like much of an incentive at all.

I agree there needs to be a more robust feedback loop and review process for onboard employees, but I'm not sure having random customers (yes, even 1Ks) doing mystery shops is really going to be the most consistent way to approach it.

Personally, I think it would work better if pursers had more of a role in providing feedback to management on their colleagues, or better yet, actually had a supervisory role. I know the union would be against it, but maybe it can play a role in providing career upside to high performing flight attendants.

I also think that most flight attendants actually want poor performers to be let go, as long as it is accomplished in a fair way. Another possible way (as suggested by one of the F/As on another thread) would be to offer a buy out. That way, those F/As who hate their job have an incentive to move on, and UA benefits by replacing them with a lower cost new-hire.

I think it's wrong to assume that UA management doesn't care, they probably are just struggling with the constraints of working with a unionized workforce.

Explore

I can't imagine ualsurvey.com generates more than generalized stats that can be sliced and diced to advance someone's management career. Certainly no info, or virtually none on individual employees by name.

Explore

I surely understand, but I made the suggestion anyway, possibly against my best interests.

Explore

My recommendation: it takes 3 reports by 3 different mystery shoppers, and management followup, to cause termination.

Explore

Good points.....I really dislike the restaurant.com coupons as a customer, and would never select them as an elite reward.

Buyout sounds good, but there are many cases in other professions where the star performers are the ones that move on, since they're the most employable elsewhere. They then earn double salary for awhile.....

aluminumdriver

Very astute observation, and I agree. Want to know how United uses your comments you send in and why the mystery shopper wouldn't do anything? At United they have goals (ridiculously low ones at that) that management gets bonuses off of. For example, they get bonuses if they get 30% of the passengers to say they intend to fly us again. That means management gets bonuses if 2 out of 3 passengers never want to fly us again. Guess what, they couldn't even reach that metric. Think management went out to figure out how to raise the numbers and make passengers happier so they would fly us more? Nope, they came out and lowered all the metrics for this year. From on-time statistics to repurchase intent, they lowered them all so they could hit their marks....maybe.

So, I'll ask again, how would a mystery shopper program help United under that management? They've proven they don't care. So, while folks are again blaming the workers and saying the union prevents this from happening, you're missing where the forest fire is while putting out the burning ember.

Explore

Yes, transportation has traditionally been a macho industry. But airlines started out a real cut above, say, railroads. Sadly, things have deteriorated in the U.S., while remaining on a higher plane overseas.