Originally Posted by
Sunvox
3 stories that highlight for me the unbelievable gap in pilot and company mentality between L-UAL and L-CAL
Story 1)
L-CAL gate agent comes into the cockpit in EWR on a 767 bound for Europe and says
CSR: "Captain, just so you know, we upgraded an angry premium customer to first class and used the crew rest seat."
UAL Captain: "Well, just so you know this plane isn't moving, until we have our rest seat open."
CSR: "You're serious?"
UAL Captain: "Yes."
CSR then went crying to his boss, but ultimately the passenger was moved, and 3 days later when they returned EWR Chief Pilot said to the Captain (and this is paraphrased):
Chief P: "At Continental we take care of our customers and that's not the way we do things."
L-UAL-Captain: "At United we follow the rules."
Story 2:
This one I was personally involved in. I overheard a L-CAL captain talking on the phone in ops in IAD. The issue was whether or not they needed a 3rd pilot to go IAD to Manchester, England since they had a 3rd pilot for the return leg. Now I may have my facts wrong here and if so I hope some CAL pilots will correct me, but it is my understanding that Section 5-I-6 should now be fully implemented. The L-CAL captain was told by the crew desk that the id had been constructed in February before the rules were in effect so it was legal. The CAL crew flew with only 2 pilots in direct violation of 5-I-6 because the crew desk said it was ok. At a minimum most UAL pilots would have gotten an order to fly, and more likely the majority of L-UAL pilots would have refused the trip until a 3rd pilot was added.
Story 3
The EWR Chief pilot has sent out an email that says in effect "I don't want my pilots to get in the middle of a contract dispute, and this is a blanket order to fly even if you believe the 757 rest seat should have an open seat next to it.
The contract says:
and, the EWR Chief pilot says this means the the adjacent seat shall be the last assigned seat in business-first only.
I agree there are details that need clarification regarding coach passengers not showing up, but if there are 30 unassigned seats in coach and business-first fills up that clearly does not give the company a right to fill the seat next to the rest seat, and I hope to heck CAL pilots are not flying with this situation.
Anyways, I just find the difference in culture to be surprising.
Find the 'cultural differences' thread entertaining.
Fact is that from the mid 90's through the late 2000's CAL was earning accolades and awards left and right. The company was well liked and respected and consequently profitable and growing! It reinforced the basic business concept that if you treat your customers right, your business will survive!
United? Well not so much!
United was a dying airline through much of the 2000's. Customer serice was ghastly and the airline withered. Even the government wouldn't approve the post 9/11 loans because the company was in such poor shape that it seemed unlikely to survive! Customers abandoned the company in droves.
I suspect that as the United culture permeates through the combined airline, passengers will continue abandoning us. I hope that the airline can stay in business long enough for me to retire because this baby is going to end up in bankruptcy,
And the pundits will no doubt blame the 'enormous cultural gap'!