*sigh* here we go again. It's pretty sad to see yet again some FT posters (not to mention pax in general, as per
Basenji's story) don't have many manners, or choose to discard them at times when it all gets too much. I don't want to single anyone out because it's also interesting to notice some other posters who have had questionable judgement/interactions on this board in the past suddenly become the voice of reason.
I'm also alarmed by the anti-employee bent the board has been taking for the past little while. I'm not a UA employee. I got rejected when I applied (what does that say?
). However, some good friends of mine _are_ employees - some of whom read this board, some who even post from time to time, and others that don't. I would vouch for each one of those people personally in terms of their quality and caliber and dedication to the job - even when some of them work in the "back room" of UA in areas such as management, IT, whatever and are never seen by the paying customer. Every airline and industry has rotten apples - UA's workforce of 80,000+ is going to have some. UA's passenger load is also going to have their fair share. It reminds me of the old airline joke of the businessman screaming to an agent "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" with the pithy response of the agent to page the gate saying "This passenger doesn't know who he is. Can anyone help?" - just because I am a 1K doesn't mean I deserve bow scraping from employees. It means I should get treated according to the advertised rules/procedures, and with respect and a polite manner(unless I do something to not warrant such). The same goes for the first time flyer.
I've witnessed so called "employee class" and NON employee class. I've seen rude agents, but far more rude passengers, and strangely enough I've always had excellent dealings with agents, crews, f/a's, even the 1K room at Dulles (!) staff with a friendly hello or manners (for example, that means saying "Thank You" when passed a tray). It doesn't mean going out of my way to be a gentleman to everyone I come across, but to treat everyone the same way.
I'm sorry to read that some posters here have had bad days - we all do - but some of the comments/attitudes expressed above go beyond what is really acceptable. Flights are not perfect. Problems happen. Somee of the "premium" food on UA has left a lot to be desired, etc etc. So I accept it and move on.
Personally I don't blame folks like Bear and Basenji for feeling defensive because so often people make such generalised statements about employees that it's hard to take it personally (eg: the post the other day titled "It's the PILOTS fault!" - I'm sure someone like
Mark Rogers would have been happy to read that).
Finally, it's human nature to forget/ignore the good things that happen/occur and focus on the negative. How many people here have had the odd mileage screw up in their favour, or a SWU not collected, or an op upgrade, or simply an early flight with a friendly crew? It's always easier to remember the 2 hour delay, the surly agent, the unexpected downgrade, or whatever. It would be nice if more people could try and think about all the good things, or at least those experiences that have not been negative in some way before jumping on the "this airline sucks" bandwagon.
Last but not least, let's not forget that everyone here - your fellow posters - are humans too with feelings such as pride - be they million mile flyers, employees or
Randy himself. Let's try and remember that.
Thanks for reading...
(edited to correct poor grammar)
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RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.
[This message has been edited by RichardMEL (edited 06-23-2002).]