Originally Posted by
cjermain
I'm curious why anyone thinks that firing would not be an appropriate action for someone who was proven to have upgraded a friend instead of a paying passenger.
There are errors due to carelessness or inexperience... go ahead and give an employee a dozen second chances for those (especially inexperience!). But deliberately giving away the company's product to your friend? How is that any different than letting your buddy walk out of a retail store without paying? Surely an employee should be fired for that. Such actions display aspects of one's character that a second chance is unlikely to change---aspects I personally would not want in an employee.
I'm not pointing fingers or singling out CO here - but there is a certain 'entitlement' culture that permeates the airline industry worldwide. Airline employment has always been a trade-off - you accept low wages, career uncertainty and limited promotional opportunities in exchange for free or deeply discounted worldwide travel.
Some airlines (i.e. UA) have this problem more deeply rooted than others - but every airline suffers from it. Another culture that exists in the industry - much like cops, airline employees take care of their own - again, UA is an example of this culture gone wild.
Some of it makes little sense - there are FAs out there that take home more money than half the pax on their flight if not more, and most of the mainline cockpit crews take home more than what 90% of their customers are earning.
It is very hard to root it out. Your example of a store clerk giving a free product to a friend is perfectly germane to the comparison of a GA giving a F seat to a friend who is otherwise not entitled to it. Firing such a person would be a given at virtually any other type of business - it's called employee theft or unethical behavior.
There is still tension between some front-line staff (at all carriers) and customers, especially frequent fliers - the staff feel they are getting the short end of the stick (compensation wise), while they perceive the elite customer as someone always demanding something for free.
I don't have the answers, and I am averse to suggesting people lose their jobs over a seat - but there must be some sort of discipline and penalty for an employee who willfully disregards company procedures. There is certainly one at my company - it's called getting fired. It isn't the seat - it's the procedure being ignored.
CO agents are still pretty tame in the shenanigans department - even with GDS screens right at the gate, DL agents in ATL have elevated upgrade shenanigans to a new level and DL management appears completely uninterested in doing anything about it.