Dick Ginkowski

Seems every flight on YX has an issue for me these days. The latest is trying to get my NW WorldPerks number in my PNR.

Supposed to be able to do it at booking but it didn't work.

Contacted YX. On 11/17/09 they E-mailed back and said it was taken care of.

Got to LAS today. NW number is not in the PNR. They didn't know how to add it. One of their two counter computers crashed. When it came back up, one agent was able to delete the incorrect YX number and said she put in the correct NW number. Didn't print on boarding pass and still not in PNR.

Contacted YX and was told it was never entered.

What's with these morons?

blehman

Call it growing pains, but I went out on Midwest today to Pittsburgh, and the following occurred.

I got tagged $92.00 for checking a single bag that weighed 66 pounds. Was initially told that my Delta Skymiles number couldn't be entered because it wasn't valid(... does that mean?), and almost wasn't allowed to board because they had closed out the flight 45 minutes before it's departure time.

Still got cookies(BFD)that were stone cold

This coupled with a gate agent that said numerous times "I don't know what I'm doing" Not tremendously reassuring and where is the incentive to use Midwest again anytime in the future?

newsmanhoss

I had family in over the weekend who flew PIT-MKE and MKE-PIT. They reported that the cookies were cold and the gate ops did not appear to be moving smoothly, due to employees who don't get it. Resulted in a minor delay getting in to MKE from PIT.

Midworst, no. Growing pains, yes. Republic gets it, but the Chautauqua crews are probably still working on getting the hang of the Midwest culture. It will never be the same as it once was, though, I'm sorry to say.

Dick Ginkowski

So, here's the good and not so good. Most of it is actually somewhat promising.

The not so good. 20+ minutes on hold with the MKE call center utterly unacceptable. Slow LAS checkin: self service terminals down as was one of the two counter computers. The captain wanted to get out of LAS early (unusual headwinds today) and so boarding began about 15 minutes early but there was no announcement in the airport. Kind of a surprise to find that out coming out of the men's room. Baggage service upon deplaning at MKE was a little slow. I had to pay for checking a bag so I guess I expect better luggage service.
On board the service was pretty good and the Frontier crews tried hard to do the YX "thang" including one male FA having fun baking the cookies. He also asked me to explain cheese curds. The Denver catered food was acceptable. The A319 was in decent shape and there was IFE (seat back TV) -- for a fee.

I read in the Frontier magazine (which is kind of anemic -- maybe with the merger they can beef it up) Republic's CEO talking about how both Frontier and YX were good carriers with good cultures and he didn't think it appropriate to destroy them but rather to retain and enhance them. DL could learn some lessons from that.

Would I fly YX again? If I have to or they give me the best deal, yes...but with some "reservations."

See my separate post on WN out of MKE.

Dick Ginkowski

I had to fly WN Thanksgiving night (only carrier operating then) and was fairly impressed.

Checkin was efficient and courteous -- and no bag fee!

Boarding was quick and efficient but I don't like unassigned seating. I guess as a NW plat I am spoiled though I did get 2C.

Plane was very clean. Staff attitude was positive, service was good and we all even got WN can wraps and a free drink as Thanksgiving presents from WN. Again, ATTITUDE was great.

Baggage service at LAS was fairly quick and bags appeared to have been handled well.

Apart from the unassigned seating, I would say the WN experience from MKE was acceptable although YX has food service. I think the other carriers at MKE should consider WN a viable threat -- and I would say that head to head against AirTran, WN would probably prevail.

Oh, my WN flight was less than half the cost of the return on YX.

MostlyAir

With a lot of the things that are currently going on, there is probably a lot of turnover and change at many stations. This may be causing some confusion and growing pains at these stations as they learn.

As for the colder cookies on board the PIT flights, the E35's don't have ovens onboard, unsure about the 145s. The last thing that I heard, when I actually talked to BB awhile ago, is that they have to bake the cookies in the airport where ovens may be available. I'll look into the frozen cookies and see what I can find.

Currently Midwest is hiring alot more call center people, I can see large classrooms across the way in the other building where they're learning. This is an increase because of the Frontier operations that are being pulled in. These new people may help decrease the wait time on the phone for customer complaints, but it won't be for awhile as they get up to speed on many things. Also, the call center is dealing with alot of schedule change calls at the moment which is adding to the wait time. If you have the access, I would recommend the online chat, http://midwestairlines.custhelp.com/...duser/live.php . As it sounds they are more responsive. Only drawback is the hours they operate.

Hope this information helps!

tvnwz

I think it is a business decision. Same thing happened to me. Changed from the YX number to the NW number three times. Twice in MKE and once in LAS. Did not take anywhere. Called and was told the credit would be put through to the NW account. Still waiting.

I think they just don't want to move the miles to NW for whatever reason, Dick.

n735

Republic got rid of the experienced Midwest pilots and flight attendants to save $2-3 dollars per leg per seat.

Do you think Republic can save the same amount of money in customer service? How about maintenance?

hazelrah

FYI, You are probably aware that Delta and Northwest have a major merger going on. This ongoing merger entails a massive IT integration effort.

Not to say that Delta does not give a fig about your Midwest flying, but it has its own IT can of worms to deal with with Delta/Northwest.

It'll probably be got to eventually, but I would imagine this is a low priority until Delat Northwest is sorted out.

Straight talker

The drop in customer service shouldn't surprise anyone. The one thing Midwest excelled at was hiring employees. The human resource people did a great job of identifying people who understood customer service. The polar opposite is the Republic replacement workers who were chosen strictly on cost. The only advantage "Midwest" has left is the higher number of direct flights out of Milwaukee. If given a choice I will not fly "Midwest". I care about who I do business with. I can not support a company that has had such a negative impact on our local jobs. I also prefer being flown by career pilots not interns.

MikeFromMKE

You do know they are bringing in hundreds of new jobs right? It is not Republic's fault that the old Midwest got rid of the 717s (and the pilots that flew them). Republic is willing to hire those employees back but its in the hands of the unions now.

n735

Republic got rid of the Midwest pilots and Flight Attendants because it's cheaper to hire 1 year employees verses bring back 20-25 year employees.

It's all about saving money and getting rid of the more expensive (senior) labor. Forget about the operational safety a more experienced pilots brings, forget about passing on Midwests way of doing business to new flight attendants, forget about how long a customers is on hold... cheap is better. Republics corporate code.

MikeFromMKE

Again, Midwest is who got rid of the Midwest pilots. It is the old management of Midwest who decided to switch all flying over to regional because they knew they could not stay in business with their high costs. Republic would love to employ all of the old Midwest pilots but they would only do it if it is cost effective. Republic has been just as safe as any other airline or they wouldn't be flying. Republic is constantly improving their customer relations, but give them a chance. They just bought 2 whole airlines. You are very correct that it's all about saving money. If you haven't noticed the economy is still in shambles and people are looking for the cheapest tickets possible. The only way Republic can provide that while staying in business is keeping their costs under control.

Straight talker

Southwest and Airtran offer inexpensive tickets while still having career employees. Why does Republic have to cut corners in their hiring when they directly compete against airlines that don't?

lougord99

I read a lot of message boards on FlyerTalk. This seems to be the only board where anyone questions the hiring practices of management.

I don't work for Midwest. I have never worked for Midwest. Explain to me why I should care about the hiring practices of Midwest ( Republic ) management when I am choosing an airline.