+1 to both comments above.

I really do get that it is human nature to complain, and I'm not saying their employees don't deserve better.

But, always know your audience. Sure, I don't love every little thing about my employer either, but the customer I work for should never see that from me. If they do, then I'd not be proud at all that I slipped.

Now, if a customer asks me how it is going, that is a little different. It isn't time to pull out the soap box and the kleenexes . . . but an honest answer is always more appreciated than a dishonest one.

And finally . . . it could be MUCH worse. In everyone's life, we've had a job that wasn't ideal. Yet somehow we are here today . . . most of us, wiser for the experience.

There is a distinction between giving bad service and being upset.

As stated earlier, if they are upset because of the decade of abuse they have endured under waves of greedy leadership raping the company to line their pockets, there is no need for them to be fake and hide that from me. On the other hand, they should do their jobs. Failing to perform the tasks they are being paid to perform is not acceptable, even if they are unhappy. But, expecting them to "hide" how they feel is distinct from doing what they are paid to do.

And, anyway, any seasoned traveller will learn to expect nothing these days from an airline. If the plane shows up and gets you to your destination, on time and alive, you've gotten what you paid for. Expecting anything more than that from a company like UA is just silly at this point.

Dysfunctionality leads to employee dissatisfaction, and dissatisfied employees result in poor customer service. So we are all in it together in a certain sense.

I think this thread goes to show what a mammoth task it will be for management to create one cohesive culture at United with everyone pulling together.

I have a different view also and that is that they shut up and quit belly aching and bring me a predeparture gin and tonic! I bought a ticket to get somewhere and not to be a shrink!

I too have engaged with the crew several times because I am interested in how the integration is going.And I make it a point to say Good Morning, Afternoon or Evening to them when I board.

But this is a customer service business. If you were in a restaurant would you really want your server complaining to another server during your entire meal. A few minutes at the front end of the flight might be okay but 5 hours or more of it is not okay.

Especially on a red eye where I am trying to sleep, some flight attendants can get pretty animated and loud. I have asked them a couple of times to bring the volume down.

You have no clue how lucky you was to fly with UA, complain and be not sent to jail:D:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qatar...-disaster.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qatar...aff-noice.html

If anything, I'd say the workforce is about as cohesive as it can be.

The computer system was downgraded, the in-flight amenities were reduced in many cases, and the operational performance is the worst in the industry.

Practically everyone agrees on one thing -- the airline in its present state is a disaster. If that isn't cohesive, I don't know what is.

This is why I cut them some slack when I overhear stuff. They've been through a lot. Sure, they should put their chin up and fake a smile, but the reality is people are people, and external factors play a role in their behavior and attitude.

Sure the PMUA staff can non-rev to Stockholm, and the PMCO staff can non-rev to Singapore, but I don't think that makes up for what they have to deal with on a day to day basis.

Fish rot from the head-down
 

If it's a real issue, this bit about each group (PMUA & PMCO) vocalizing their displeasure while on duty, and within earshot of passengers, and it's been going on for months. It's absurd to believe that management is not aware of it, at the highest levels. The fact that it continues suggests that it's allowed, either tacitly or explicitly. The fact that we don't hear anything from FTers who are members of the relevant UA unions about this issue further suggests that this is not something on Jeff's radar.

I don't understand why this is allowed to continue. While you cannot (easily) change what someone thinks, you can make it clear that the work environment requires certain standards of behaviour and etiquette, and even that certain conversations are off-limits with passengers. Does it need to go that far? I'd hope not, but the window of opportunity for being reasonable, on both sides, has long passed.

Jeff needs to step up to the plate on this, acknowledge the problem exists, and solve that problem. Especially since Jeff is all about the wonderful people of the airline, the best in the business.
I don't have an issue with a bit of discontent over the current state of things. I appreciate some honesty. What I don't want to keep hearing is how much one side is better than the other. The time for that pettiness has come and gone. We need leadership that will pull the two sides together.

I am so tired of FA and pilot complaining.

If they hate their working conditions/jobs so much - just quit.

The unemployment rate is at least 8% - and, frankly, they need to get over it.

The jobs are not that bad...give us a break already.

That stopped being true when the CO regime took over. If you take the time to read what has been posted here for the last 5 months, it would become clear to you that customer service has essentially been abolished.

Without starting a flame war here, I am a pmCO passenger who flies over 200,000 miles a year and almost always had great customer service on Continental.

The flight attendants have been very professional when serving me. It's during their "down" time that the inappropriate conversations happen.

During my flights in March (post 3/3), I had a CO-crewed flight, and yeah, I guess you could think of it as "down time" when they were in their jump seats across from me in the exit row... but they weren't complaining, they were crowing. Talking about how much better CO was/is than the UA side of things, about how it was CO that took over UA, and how things are going to be so much better for everyone once they get rid of UA's ridiculous work rules and the UA people come to realize that CO is simply superior in every way. Is that an "appropriate" conversation? When you're basically trashing 50% of the company? Just sayin'...

It was amusing listening to it, but if I'd been a UA employee, I would have been looking for a roll of duct tape.

I have been hearing them talk about whatever is happening at that time...way back when they had the DC-10s to Hawaii and the 727s! I don't want to hear about labour issues, pay cuts, strikes, etc., it is SO tasteless and because the cabin is built the way it is conversations bounce off the walls and one can hear everything.

Down time meaning in the gallery preparing for meals? Or downtime during their breaks? I've experienced both, mostly during their downtime. But still very inappropriate. Imagine going to Nordstrom and hearing that when buying a suit, it would be unacceptable.

I have noticed times when I needed to catch a quick nap in whatever city i was and the maids are doing the same thing whilst making up the rooms during the late afternoon.

Any other service professional, be it waitress, sales clerk, or cashier, who constantly complained about their employer in front of the customers would be fired.

Why should FA's be treated differently?

I was recently on a TATL flight when the FA's started talking incredibly frankly to me about what was going on. For some reason, they thought I was a UA employee. I have no idea why. Maybe because I fly so much that I had a comfortable feeling. When I told them I wasn't a UA employee, their faces turned red. It was funny. I wasn't bothered by any of it. Given the horrific state of this company, I can't believe anyone here even has enough energy left to be offended by this. Isn't everyone burned out already from the endless phone time and irrops?

Because they have been through a level of abuse from their management that most of us cannot comprehend and would not survive.