"we are the brand"
 

Flew ORD-EWR [in the last week] up front and was pleasantly surprised.

1. Pre-departure drinks (yes, important)
2. FAs closed overhead bins above first early to prevent late arriving passengers from not having overhead space
3. when in the galley, FAs talked about how “we are the brand”
4. over the top attentiveness

Not sure what prompted their resuscitation, but yes, they are the brand. The B.S. about how FAs are “here for your safety” is overstated. Do you know how many FAs have ever had to pull the rip cord on an inflatable slide? Let’s talk about odds. I’m much more likely to die in a car accident. And the folks driving the private car get it. They are the brand.

I hope the mentality of these UA folks spreads. I like their brand.

#2 is very useful. At times I felt that F cabin has more fighting for overhead space than say a group 1 Econ pax, which can pretty much walk up and down the aisle

I have to say I have not seen any problems with overhead space recently even on very full flights.

It seems that people have learned to 1. pack less, or 2. expect gate checking bags as a non-elite passenger, and thus are more willing to volunteer to tag bags at the gate before boarding.

Saw this on SFO-IAH last week ... ^

My ORD-EWR (originally LGA) that was delayed like 6.5 hours the FA couldn't have been in a better mood. Did PDBs, refills, brought around the basket, etc.
having to deal with all that at ORD and the one good FA leaves a better and more lasting impression than I would say does a normal, on-time flight with a decent crew.

"we are the brand"
 

I've never heard it said, but I've had mostly great experiences on United - especially upfront. I read so much negativity here, and then I'm always so pleasantly surprised! Especially bringing my GF along for the lie flat trips, we have had exemplary crews. Helpful, friendly, attentive and just all around nice to be around.

Our worst experience to date was the FA who had already poured us the Port for the cheese plate and we were too polite to refuse. Too many wine refills during dinner, and neither of us particularly enjoy the port.

I've had all sorts of experiences with UA cabin service: charming, indifferent, chirpy / friendly, explicitly hostile, omnipresent, virtually absent. That's what gets me about the "brand": it's a spin of the roulette wheel every time. You never know what's coming, and apparently management has no power to / interest in driving consistency.

For the record, both my FA teams on BOS-SFO and SFO-SEA this week were fine, as was the SFO GA who boosted me into an empty E+ row at no charge when I asked about a buyup. (A sort of a delay comp I think: the flight ran an hour late because of crew scheduling snafu and didn't arrive until 130am or so.)

I don't know if they're doing some sort of internal campaign with this, but the fact remains that there is a large chunk of the employee population that is a byproduct of nearly 20 years of being told how great they are. Telling them something like this falls on deaf ears, because after so many years of being patted on the back, many disregard these sorts of messages thinking they're not the problem, and they think this is meant for someone else.

They need to expend some serious effort to break this mentality. It will take very specific behavior identification and direct communication before many in this group realize that they need to improve as well.

Was one of the "Famous Flannigans" piloting? When an exceptional pilot is in charge, I've noticed the exceptional service filters down the pipeline to all the other crew.

There's also a large chunk of the employee population that hasn't give a rats *ss about good customer service in 20 years, focused instead on pathologically despising every leadership team and policy of their pre-merger employer. But the good news is that these folks are finally becoming well trained, or else being pushed out the door. :D

If somebody has been a 20-year saboteur I don't know how you suddenly "train" them to be positive.

I have a friend who works in a front line agent position for UA at one of their airports, and she has told me that all front line and customer services employees are apparently going through some extensive training sessions starting mid 2015 to provide "enhanced" customer servise experience.

And that's what I'm worried about. It's not so much the training as it is the awareness that one needs the training.

I can't imagine why. The pilots are locked in the cockpit and have no supervisory authority over the in-flight service.

Curious if the same level of training is being provided at the outsourced stations.