Originally Posted by
fastair
/agreed. Let's look at it from another perspective. As a UA employee, I used to get NRSA F if it wasn't bought or paid for with cash, the finite miles, or finite certs earned at a rate that ensured people would use them judiciously. I heard no cry's of "Hey, UDU isn't fair to the truly LOYAL employees of UA who have not dedicated only some of their flying to UA, but their entire career. Why should UA give infinite upgrades to frequent flyers in exchange for the loyalty that they had before and nothing more, at the expense of their employees?"
Not once did I hear that. I did hear some sympathy, but no one felt it was wrong for UA to coax some potential incremental revenue from ticket sales over the loaylty of employees who are, almost by definition, more loyal to their career than a silver/gold flyer is to any particular airline.
But alas, they sold the loyalty you all tout (of the employees) out in exchange for potential revenue, and that, is OK and fine. Now CO does the same thing to you LOYAL flyers, selling out your free premium seats for some potential incremental revenue, and it isn't fair!
I smell a little hypocrisy in those that think potential revenue > loyalty on one hand, but when they are on the short end of that equation, feel that loyalty > potential revenue. Here is the cake, and here is a fork to eat it. Choose one, but one doesn't get to have the cake and eat it too all the time.
I see the situations as somewhat parallel, though with different channels for remedy.
It's not hypocrisy, rather it's different interests being represented. The customer isn't necessarily as vested in the employee perks/benefits side of things, and since this board is mostly made up of customers, it's the customer's voice that you primarily hear. It's really not my place as a customer to worry about (or even know about) what employees are getting paid, what perks they get, or whatever. That's between them and their employer, and if there's a problem, they need to work it out or leave.
When UDU came out, airline employee discussions were probably along the lines of what you said -- this is a perk/benefit of employment, and it's being eroded away. But it's up to the airline employees to negotiate that with their employer. In fact, you have professional representation to do just that. Next go-around with a contract, I'm sure it will be something that will be taken into consideration. If there were anything legal they could have done immediately, I'm sure the unions would have done that. You pay them to look for these things on your behalf.
As for customers, it's a bit easier for us to vote with our wallet and leave, but we also don't have professional representation, nor a contract to deal with. We have one-sided T&Cs that are sent from the airline to us, and we have to accept, deal, respond, and/or react.
At the same time, shame on you (and the union) for not negotiating ahead of time how the F cabin was to be protected if that was an important perk to you. UDU-style upgrades have been around for well over a decade at other airlines, so it's not like UA did anything revolutionary here. UA employees had even been posting here for years about how they had it so good compared to the CO's and DL's with UDU-style upgrades, and how UA crews ride more in F than their OAL counterparts. If that was so important, it could have been addressed years ago, well before UA even started UDU.