Interesting article this morning that reports UA will be laying off 47 employees at Indianapolis in June (ticketing, check-in, and gate agents) and replacing them with employees from a third-party vendor.

Is this a new strategy to reduce costs? I just can't imagine something like this happening at ORD or SFO. Any other smaller stations at risk? Wonder how the unions feel about this (outsourcing to a domestic company versus a foreign company)? Has this happened at any other U.S. stations?

http://www.indystar.com/article/2009.../1003/BUSINESS

Without knowing more details, my initial guess would be this is because of the switch of more or all flights to Express carriers.

IND is going all UX.

Therefore UA can layoff all the mainline UA ground staff.

Similar things will occur at all the other stations which have recently lost mainline service (ie TUS).

Let's see...at ORD alone, foodservice/fueling/cabin cleaning/checking bags have all been outsourced, not to mention the outsourcing to the chicken. There are strong rumors that the subcontracting at ORD isn't done yet. Let's not forget the handing over of routes from UA to UAX and codeshare partners as well.

That's really sad. UA has some very knowledgeable and customer-oriented
staff at IND.

FT's Jana one of them, at least at some point.

This happened about 2 years ago at COS when UA stopped flying mainline flights there and it became an all-UX station. I believe that SkyWest, one of the UX carriers that serves COS, also provides the ground staff.

Service was downright awful for a couple of months...I recall one especially painful IRROPS about a month after SkyWest took over when it seemed nobody that had been there more than a week was working...but eventually the staff figured out what they were doing and now there is no noticeable difference (to me, anyway) in service vs. what I get at a UA operated station.

I walked up to the F counter at IND a few months back, no line, 3 UA agents chatting away -- and they refused to check me in and print my BP and bagtag, insisting I use the machine. I kinda protested and they held firm. Not atypical in my experience there.

Of course I've had variations of this at other stations -- and I gather that there are other motivations for this than lazy-ness (i.e. that they get measured by management on the % of self-checkins during their shifts) -- but still, in a half dozen trips over the last few years I guess I haven't experienced the UA/IND warmth that others have.

Tracer,
Many have pointed this out in the past. It isn't the AGENTS who get measured (scored positivly) by refusing to help and forcing the machine, it is management. Do you have any idea how many agents have lost their jobs due to "attrition" (that is UA mgmt talk to the union for "being replaced with the chicken" over the past decade? We all know it, but "the man" has his policy in place.....force them to use the machine, make it difficult to talk to a human, and eventualy, they will learn to use and love the machine.

So by UA's management standards, they are a STELLAR station. They have followed the rules to the point that they have achieved UA's goal. 100% outsource.


Now my posts have gone both ways in the past, but of late have been anti-mgmt. I try to remain neutral, but the point of the chicken isn't to make it easier on the customer. I mean come on, 10 years ago, the CSR could do everything the chicken can do, and with a smile. Now the agents aren't trained nearly as long or as well, their supply dwindels, and the chicken replaces them.

Isn't it a shame you can't yell "Agent, agent, agent" to the chicken to get a human?

I use Easy Check-in quite frequently (especially to get my bag tags after checking in online). What is irritating is when there is a problem with the machine and I (an experienced traveler) seek the assistance of a real human being only to be greeted with utter surliness.

This happened to me recently at IAD when I was re-routed (and overnighted) due to an IRROP. Online check-in failed, as did using the machine. The 1P CSR responded to my request for assistance with extreme disdain. When she checked my record and discovered that UA had failed to re-book me properly, she completed the BP work, but offered no sort of apology. She simply slapped my BP down on the counter.

CSRs are going the route of toll collectors. With E-Z Pass and other electronic means, the number of employed toll collectors is shrinking rapidly. I can empathize with a CSR standing there watching while machines slowly, but surely, eliminate their livelihood. However, that is not a legitimate reason for a surly attitude toward customers.

+1. It is so smooth, that last July contractors (not SkyWest employees) were working the check in counters to up to speed on running the new YXE station. SkyWest's GAs even handle the Mesa flights at COS (not sure about the mechanical stuff).

In January I even did same day ticketing (had a dollars off voucher) at COS.

Join the choir. We lost UA at BUR a couple months ago. Skywest staff still have a lot to learn...

Since I check in using the Chicken, the only time I deal with the COS counter staff is when I am ticketing, and I am still experiencing a number of UX agents that really struggle when trying to apply a credit voucher, even the CS$25s. However, in fairness, the length of these "struggle times" has shortened from the full hour that I first encountered after the mainline staff had departed.

Indeed.

One of UA's absolute best. It was she who cemented my loyalty to UA early on by some over-and-above help in a complex situation.

Sad to see how this once great UA station has fallen. The long-gone RCC was also a nice oasis in otherwise depressing terminal.

Agree with cblaisd.
IND has been my home airport for the last 15 years, and while there have been highs and lows, this really hits the bottom.
With a small station like IND, many of the staff greet me by name, and I've gotten more than a few "operation" upgrades (just to ORD) when the loads were lite. Most of the time I get asked, "Are you going somewhere interesting or just doing one of 'those' trips?" Mrs JJ and I also miss the small RCC in the old terminal -- it was not staffed and you had to ask for the "passcode" at the check-in desk to enter on the doorlock.
Maybe UAX will bring back service to Bloomington IN .