The last several years I have done a lot of flying around the country. I have had the chance to fly on most airlines operating domestically and can say without question that some are better than others. I have stayed away from the cheapies - Allegiant, Spirit, Frontier. There are enough published horror stories from travelers on those carriers to avoid them like the plague. On traditional carriers, though, the bottom dwellers are American and United.
American used to be a good airline. Under Bob Crandall in the 1990s, it billed itself as the "On Time Machine" and it was. Although it could be a little coldly efficient at times, American always did a good job of getting you where you needed to go. Not so much anymore.
American was bought by Doug Parker and the America West gang who have consistently tried to turn American into one of the cheapies while camouflaging it with American's historic reputation. How do the employees think it's going? Recently, they were asked just that in a Facebook post: “What three words would you use to describe the culture at American?” Probably not a good question:
"Responses on the private thread included repeated uses of the word “toxic” and “sad,” with one survey response simply featuring the latter word three times. Others replied that AA is “stressful, cheap, uncaring” and “punitive, chaotic, dysfunctional.” “Greed” showed up in another answer, and one flight attendant cynically changed American’s internal messaging about “going for great” to 'going for crAAp."
Did I mention that American also reduced the size of its lavatories to sardine size (see picture) to squeeze in more seats and also reduced the room between seats to a knee-busting, cramp-inducing 30 inches?
Then there's United. You know, the company that mugs its passengers and drags them off airplanes. United has been a deeply unhappy company for a long time and it shows. On a flight from Baltimore to PDX last year I was given a serious stink eye from a gate agent because I asked a question about a departure delay that might affect my connecting flight to PDX. My sin? She was talking to the other gate agent about her personal issues. Well, EXCUUUSE me!
Oscar Munoz is United's CEO and he says things like this:
"... the recent increase of bag fees will help to improve the passenger experience, noting that majority of the company’s revenue is reinvested in the airline. He insisted at least a portion of the money put in the company’s coffers through pricey checked bag fees will be used to develop technology and communication systems which will in turn help achieve the goal a making air travel less stressful."
Sure. You know, if you would simply fire any employee who thumps on passengers, things would start to be less stressful.
Right now, Alaska, Delta and Southwest are the airlines to fly. They consistently deliver good service and on-time performance and their people seem to enjoy their jobs. What a novel management concept - taking care of your passengers and employees!
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