deelmakur

I regularly comment that many of the problems at USAirways seem to suggest the people who run it don't fly on it very much. The guy who runs JetBlue lives in the suburban NYC town I do, and one of the local papers happened to mention he would be appearing at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon soon. One of the lines from the story really stood out, particularly as you reflect on the tremendous success JetBlue has had in an environment that hasn't been good for the established carriers:

"Neeleman flies in one of JetBlue's airliners each week to mix with customers."

biggs

A long time ago and on an airline far removed from the present one, I got on a RDU-DCA flight as a mere hoi polloi DM member and saw in the empty FC cabin someone I recognized from somewhere.

It wasn't until the end of the flight that the pilot mentioned that the CEO Seth Schofield was on the flight. I also saw the Wolfman in Concourse C of DCA once.

Of course, I thought the present execs got permanent CP status so they should be the ultimate cockroaches and we should be bumping into them all the time. Maybe you are right, maybe they do not fly much. After all it's a job to them. We are flying to do our jobs with a little fun also.

TomBascom

I think I read somewhere that he also helps clean the planes from time to time.

Don't SWA execs do things like this too?

geo1005

I'm curious as to wether or not US's execs use a private jet to get around? Wasn't it Rakesh who was famous for flying around in the Hawker to attend roadshows?

AtlanticBeach

Has anyone actually seen a current member of this management team on-board a US flight? Were they working/ asking questions or not interested in the passenger's experiences?

TomBascom

Dave flew from DCA to LGA in Chip Munn's jumpseat once (according to Chip.)

DC to NY sounds like something they might be stuck doing on their own planes once in a while. And, of course, the quarterly family vacations to Europe and the Caribbean. But I'll bet you that the odds of catching any of them on, say, PIT to FWA are close to the proveriable snowball...

No customer has thusfar reported seeing him or any other senior official on a flight. (Even though we are cockroaches we are customers NOT passengers -- a point that cannot be made frequently enough nor with enough vigor!) Someone did sit next to someone who knows (and likes) our buddy BBB. But that's as close as it's come on this board.

biggs

Come on, FWA has the luxurious Saab on it. BBB would be on this wouldn't he? He would right? GOM with the masses. This is mainline compared to the Beech .

deelmakur

Wolf had a place in France (maybe still does). I am aware of one situation where someone I know needed to reach him on his way there, and he was on a private jet. My point has continually been that the people who run the company make decisions which seem to ignore many of the problems that exist within the system, and which regular customers know well. Two things come to mind. The execs have pass priveleges on other carriers. With all the rancor between management and the employee group, they may use these reciprocal benefits to avoid confrontation with angry union members, etc. Secondly, these "bigshots" tend to fly to major cities, most of which require a connection on USAirways, if you are starting from Washington,DC. For added convnenience, they may be flying directly, on competitors. I really think they are out of touch, and this has to be the reason.

goldstj2

I saw Deborah Thompson on a CLT-DCA flight last year, on the day that BBB backed off the no preferred miles policy.

Even if they do fly US occasionally, they likely don't have to buy tickets like normal people. They might notice the service level but they're missing an essential part of the cost-benefit equation that the rest of us tend to think about when booking our travel.

us2

The next airline bailout bill ought to include a provision requiring the top execs at any airline getting aid to take a few long trips in coach each month.

TomBascom

This is huge. The fact that they don't buy tickets like the rest of us is an even bigger problem than not flying their own airline. After all these are the guys who think that Y fares are "reasonable".

geo1005

Good point. Someone should call BBB and tell him he must go to a meeting in SFO next Tuesday and be back in the CCY Palace by Thursday afternoon and request that he:

a) Use his personal credit card for the purchase.

b) Book online.

c) Not travel as a VIP, Preferred member but just as a regular coach passenger.

Once he's booked, call him back and tell him the meeting's been changed to Wednesday and ask him to re-schedule his flights.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall as he tries to figure out the difference between the online mess and the US reservation agents (called thru the non-toll free number with a ten minute wait message from Dave).

And on the day of travel, of course the check-in kiosk won't recognize his reservation so he'll have to go stand in line. And when he does get to an agent, they'll say it was never booked. Then he'll get to wait 40 minutes while they call the re-issue desk.

Oh, the places we could go with BBB and we are not even on the plane yet!!!

[This message has been edited by geo1005 (edited 05-22-2003).]

TomBascom

Don't forget to tell him he has a budget of $500 to work with...

PineyBob

Now you guys are just mean! And I love it! what a great point. I would love to hear from Chris Chiames on this one as to what the rules are in CCY.

Do the saying "out of touch with reality" have any meaning to ya?

ClueByFour

None of those guys have to deal with any of this.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum51/HTML/002977.html

They probably all have gratis CP status (still/again/whichever).



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Saving the world, one clue at a time.