PineyBob had some suggestions, here are some more. In some cases borrowed from other carriers.

1) Occassionally have the head person at a station come onboard before taking off and thank the frequent flyers

2) I mentioned on another thread getting good microbrewed beer which they can likely get cheap from places that want the publicity.

3) If there are empty seats in first fill them with people, frequent flyers, high fares, random, whatever. Doesnt cost much and people feel great about it (I have seen a UA supervisor at ORD do this for all 50K mile and above FFs. we loved it)

4) Actually pay attention to blocking seats next to FF or full fare passengers when possible, again, UA is much better at this in my opinion.

5) Have the purser, chief FA or pilot come through and thank passengers selected on FF status or fare base. I have even had LH pursers do this to me because of my UA FF level. It matters, it shows they are paying attention.

6) Have some people from Crystal City at the airports and clubs talking to passengers and explaining stuff, asking their opinions, etc. Heck, Tilton did this and Ben is too busy insulting me to do it?

I could go on and on but I grow weary. Someone in HQ needs to learn this is a competitive service business. In addition to making passengers happy things like this would, I suspect, really motivate the great US staff because they want to do a good job and get us to fly more. The front line people get it, its the pinheads at HQ that dont. Saying we're bankrupt, we cant make it better is showing a losing attitude and a lack of creativity. Argg.........

[This message has been edited by GadgetFreak (edited 01-20-2003).]

[This message has been edited by GadgetFreak (edited 01-20-2003).]