EWR764

The only way to couch it as "employee-friendly" (maybe just not employee-hostile?) is that it's not a straight layoff, and that those who wish to remain with the company will have the opportunity to do so.

I don't see the move as one of desperation, however, but rather a part of a continuing trend for the company to get out of non-core businesses, including real estate, away from the company's centers-of-gravity. Work-from-home technology, especially as it pertains to call centers, is pretty irresistible for the company, and certainly preferable to offshoring from a customer's point of view. We also aren't privy to the cost side of maintaining these res offices, either.

The truth is, while telephone res agents are certainly lifesavers for many of us when things go sour (as they tend to with some regularity these days), they are vestiges of a different era, when there were far fewer self-service options available to passengers, and so virtually any transaction, modification or otherwise required a call-in to an airline agent. There was a great deal more ticketing volume (revenue) being processed through phone agents, and this business more than justified the expense of the overhead to support such operations, coupled with a lack of alternatives due to technological limitations.

Now, the agents primarily meet a customer service/support need, and while still a crucial function for many travelers, it does not generate the same return on the investment in infrastructure to support the operation. So, the result is the consolidation of res centers to Houston and Chicago, augmented by home-based agents elsewhere in the system. In my view, an adequate, though unfortunate, compromise.

The aviation geek in me is sad to see another holdover from "the good old days" bite the dust, but that's the way it goes.