I'm not in the know about United, but I jumpseat and dead head with NWA all the time. From a consumer stand point, the service there stinks--not just a little bit either. There's has been a noticable decline in services and employee attitudes over the past two years. I'm concerned about whether they will survive or not. You can't continue to treat your customers like crap and expect to survive.
The employee attitude (talking about flight crews here) has also had a very noticable change. You abuse people long enough, like management at NWA has it's own people, and it's going to be reflected in how your employees do thier jobs. These folks are not happy, it's obvious to the most casual observer that they are not having fun going to work. I just don't know if that's the kind of place you want to hang your hat right now. I hate to be that harsh, but it's how I feel. I hope they can turn things around and be successful. I live near MSP and depend on them to get me where I'm going, but unless management at NWA realize how much they have turned off customers and made the entire crew force unhappy---and then tries to turn that around with real change, not just words---I would really avoid considering employment there. Just my two cents.
Jolly
Originally Posted by
John Pennekamp
Given the choice which would you do?
NWA made 1.3 billion last year and plans to hire like crazy. With it's monopoly hubs, huge Asian presence, and shoestring budget, it will probably plod on until it merges with someone (Delta?) The DC-9s are going away, but huge attrition should make up for the airframe loss. All signs point to the Compass E-175s eventually being flown by mainline.
UAL: Undevoted management, huge labor trouble, losing money, moderate Asian presence, fierce competition in its largest hub. But great potential with the right management team. Great group of employees I fit in well with. Lots of great contacts. My hometown airline. Titanic watch, or hit rock bottom?
So what would you do? Please no "are you nuts, they both suck" comments, because we've already heard all of that here. If you had to choose one of the other, which would you choose and why?