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CrankyFlier: Blaming United's problems on Continental (and v.v.) is the problem

CrankyFlier: Blaming United's problems on Continental (and v.v.) is the problem

Old Jul 10, 2014, 2:11 pm
  #46  
 
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Originally Posted by JOSECONLSCREW28
Let me give you a little history lesson. The FA group is still separated. sCO FAs can only work sCO aircraft and sUA FAs can only work sUA aircraft. That's why FAs still refer to it as sCO/sUA. And where in any thread have I mentioned I haven't gotten over that the Continental name went away?
I'll give you that much of the UA fleet was looking slightly tattered, although the IPTE J/F was nice. United had launched broader plans to address this though before the take over, including new A/C Orders.

But I think you have to give the pmUA elites that TOD upgrades and downgraded service quality came with the merger, and we lost our "special handling."

Re employees, its just Sad that Jeff did not focus on getting an agreement done. DAL and AAL could go it, but Jeff was too smug that if he just sat pat, he would get a better deal. Now there is bad blood. It was not there in 2010-11, and only started with the 3/2/12 change over.
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 2:12 pm
  #47  
 
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Originally Posted by channa
Not sure how it's calculated, but it should be calcualted fairly.




Of course not. I pegged a crossover FA on a CO flight recently (before door close, it was easy, you can tell by how they serve you). When I mentioned it, he was very discrete about saying anything, because the rest of the crew were COers and he feared they would not necessarily agree with his perspective.

It seems these folks may not be comfortable speaking with their CO counterparts.

Yet another problem in the organization's culture, which this article refers to.
The ones I've talked to and worked with said they actually enjoy working on the CO side and haven't said anything negative or try to keep anything to themselves.
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 2:14 pm
  #48  
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Originally Posted by JOSECONLSCREW28
The ones I've talked to and worked with said they actually enjoy working on the CO side and haven't said anything negative or try to keep anything to themselves.
Of course that's what they tell a CO person.

What are they supposed to say? They work us like dogs, but I need the paycheck? That's not going to be received well. Though that's what this one told me.
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 2:15 pm
  #49  
 
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Originally Posted by JOSECONLSCREW28
So should a crossover FA who was hired on the UA side in 2006 have more seniority then a CO FA hired in 2005? And for the record I have yet to hear anything negative from the crossover FAs working on the CO side.
Jose, a pmCO flyer here - and a proud one at that - the point is that years after the merger, there should not be such thing as 'crossover FA,' or pmCO and pmUA. That hurts everyone - and poisons the future. This management will be gone - the sooner the better - but you guys will be stuck working with each other.

As for not hearing anything negative, of course you will not - it is safe to assume they do not feel comfortable sharing... Would you, if the roles were reversed?
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 2:27 pm
  #50  
 
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I hope someone is forwarding Brett's blog post to as many execs within UA as possible...
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 2:30 pm
  #51  
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This was a very interesting, well thought out, and well written article. I flew Continental and United a few times in the 90s and 2000s and the merged airline one time since then, but have always been a loyal AA and DL (up until last year) flier.

With a few CO flights in the mid to late 2000s I noticed a huge difference in the quality of the airline between early 2008 and 2010. From about the time CO left Skyteam for *A it began a downward spiral and by the time it merged with UA was a shadow of the industry leading airline it had been.

Like many have said, UA on the other had was almost irrelevant after 9/11. There was no innovation, investment in product, or expansion into new markets and the whole demeanor of the airline seemed stagnant and unconcerned. From what I can see, the only three things United brought into this merger were a Pacific network, international First class, and the United name. I'm still left unsure of why CO went into this merger at all.
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 2:33 pm
  #52  
 
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Probably the only 2 things I don't much care for from the UA side is unnecessarily long layovers on certain trips and barebones staffing on certain aircraft. Example rather then taking the 12th FA from the CO 777s the company could've added a 12th FA to the UA 777s even adding at least 2 or 3 FAs to the 747s would be great too.
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 2:40 pm
  #53  
 
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Originally Posted by denCSA
I hope someone is forwarding Brett's blog post to as many execs within UA as possible...
They're all going to point fingers and cover their asses!

Do you think Brett is the first person to figure this out?

F/a's (even some on here), posters on FT, and even the truck loads of illegals coming over the boarder every day are disillusioned with this airline. Nothings gonna change until things change, if ya know what I mean?

I say we send all the "suits" to Mexico in a foreign exchange program! @:-)
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 2:43 pm
  #54  
 
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Originally Posted by blueman2
While not perfect, this is the very best article I have seen written on what ails United. Better than any industry writer, better than any Wall Street analyst report, better than any single post I have seen here on FT. Balanced, avoids hyperbole, and gets to the main issues. Well done.
Absolutely agreed.
And a lot of the comments are pretty good too under that article.
I'm flying UA to burn up my last pile of miles in August.....and I'm already nervous!
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 3:14 pm
  #55  
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Originally Posted by united4
It's become even more apparent that they should've done every effort to erase "Continental" quick and fast. All the CO planes should be in tulip livery and the name of the company should still be UAL Corporation.
The Cranky quote upthread in post #13 explains why this is wrong. I agreed with putting the tulip out of its misery at the time because it represented so much bad juju, but did not foresee the debacle to come. If and when UA gets past this nadir it will need another rebranding to signal the rebound, which will be... let's see... United's sixth discrete livery / brand treatment since the 1970s.

Tulip lovers forget that United, uniquely among US carriers, dumps and changes its livery more often than some of us trade in our cars.

Originally Posted by jlivengo
Just looking at the arguments on this board prove this article is spot on.
Yeah, we have more than our share of culture warriors right here. It's like two high school football rivals merged into one campus. This sniping is the very thing that's strangling the airline itself.
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 3:29 pm
  #56  
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Originally Posted by BearX220
Tulip lovers forget that United, uniquely among US carriers, dumps and changes its livery more often than some of us trade in our cars.
To be fair, Delta went through 4 liveries in a decade as well.
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 3:33 pm
  #57  
 
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"Anyone who thinks United was a truly great airline is smoking something. It hadn’t been great since the last century."

accurate.
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 3:44 pm
  #58  
 
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No Leadership

deleted

Last edited by cyborg; Jun 2, 2018 at 5:32 am Reason: Moving on from Flyertalk
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 3:48 pm
  #59  
 
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Originally Posted by JOSECONLSCREW28
Were supposed to have a joint contract by July next year so hopefully all this bickering and pointing fingers will end. I actually look forward to working with FAs from the sUA side and having the chance to work a 747 and 763.
So another FULL YEAR! Wow!
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Old Jul 10, 2014, 4:00 pm
  #60  
 
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Originally Posted by JOSECONLSCREW28
The ones I've talked to and worked with said they actually enjoy working on the CO side and haven't said anything negative or try to keep anything to themselves.
How about the crossover FA the other day that was crying because 3 CO FA's were yelling at her and only stopped when a passenger was watching. That passenger than bought a Starbucks for the crying FA. That doesn't sound so friendly to me.
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