Originally Posted by
dcpatti
I tend to agree. I know some people do make their decisions based on amenities like this, but US has such a bad reputation that I don't see JUST improved meal service or glassware erasing that. Over time, possibly. I still don't understand why US is so hated over what's in the grand scheme minor (no IFE, the failed attempts to charge for soda and water in Y) when other carriers are almost immediately forgiven for what I see in the grand scheme as major failures (CO not even putting people on hold any more during the first couple of snowstorms 2010/2011 but rather giving callers a message that they were not accepting incoming calls any more). Whatever the reason, US still has a long way to go to overcome its negative reputation. I think these changes are just a part of the overall process. I do appreciate them, and I don't doubt that SOME passengers will be more likely to pay for F on US because of them, but I don't think it's going to be a noticeable number for a long time.
To be fair though, US Airways' negative reputation has been the direct result of its highly controversial management team, including, but not limited to:
- A CEO who was caught driving under the influence and who has attempted hostile takeovers of other airlines even when it was beyond evident that the America West-US Airways merger was a nasty mess and even today, the seniority issue has not been resolved
- US Airways' management has consistently mistreated frequent flyers up to a point that many (including yours truly who became a CP member when he was 17.5 and stayed at that level for many years) asked other airlines for status matches
- Under the same management, US Airways has been fined numerous times for issues such as not compensating passengers adequately
- Some US Airways executives have publicly admitted that the carrier does not have "customer-friendly" policies
- The current management was also responsible for creating a section on the US Airways web site titled "fall enhancements" which mentioned several upgrades including the return of glassware to F and then secretly removing it and now, many years later, it's when glassware is actually coming back
There are many others that most people would not know about, such as how despite all the claims that Doug Parker is an approachable CEO, he actually secludes himself on the top floor of US Airways' headquarters.