I was at a meeting where the guy that used to run the marketing dept at P&G that came to Untidy a few years back, fielded some questions regarding customer feedback on passengers. He basically said that customer comments pointed out they actually preferred the express carriers on routes shorter than 1.5 hours because they felt that the express carriers treated them so much better.
I decided to become more vigilant and sure enough my commute changed to where I was riding a .8 hour flight into ORD for about a years time. The mainline flights made an announcement almost every time that it would be to turbulent to provide inflight service, of course most of those flights were smooth in terms of turbulance. The F/A's also exhibited attitudes that I noticed several passengers commenting about. The express flights always provided inflight service and truely made me feel welcome. ( also noticed by other passengers and commented upon )
Here is one that I know this crowd will hate, I rode on a Go-jets flight departing at 6:00 AM and try as I may because I am a coffee hound, I could not empty my cup. Several other passengers noticed how attentive this individual was and wanted to know the F/A's name so they could send a note to United.
The reality is that we at Untidy have created a product that everybody notices is below standard, even our service providers have not fallen to our level. If we do not fix this problem immediately we are gone. Our lack of basic ethics in the work environment has become apparent to the marketplace. The blame game started years ago, and the end of the game is approaching. If we all do not start looking in the mirror with a change in our hearts, the product just will not survive. In the end we will find ourselves " banging our hearts against some mad buggers wall ".