Originally Posted by Sink r8

WRT culture, I think it's pretty simple.

1) You can't deny that Delta had a very good company culture, nor that good employee relations was part of the foundation of this culture. Employees were treated well, and they treated the customers well. You can't deny that between Ron Allen and Mullen, a lot was done to trample that culture.

2) You can't deny that there were fundamental approaches in employee relations at Delta and Northwest, which resulted in different cultures. Stating this does not imply that any employee group is better than the other.

3) You can't deny that the industry has been beaten down, and that most airlines today are a shadow of their former self.

4) You can't deny we would all benefit from transitioning to a culture that treats all employees as valuable assets, and rewards them as such. It wouldn't be particularly important at that point to describe what the basis for that culture is, i.e whether it's "Delta culture" revived, or something else.

As more subjective points, I have seen in over a decade, much better employee relations, and a much more pleasant culture. I can't compare it to what it was a decade or two prior, and I don't really care anyway. I believe strongly in the proposition that we will live or die based on the service we provide, and that one cannot provide good service when one is not treated like a (high-value) customer by the company, secure in the knowledge that they are properly appreciated, treated, and compensated. One consequence of this approach is that employees treat each other with the utmost respect and courtesy as if we were family (or better), and in turn treat the customers as we would our own family.

Let me kick the agonizing horse one more time on the way out: "utmost courtesy and respect" doesn't mean I will hurt myself because another employee chooses not to pack light, or chooses to pack heavy with the mistaken expectation I will compensate for their poor planning. I'll pull them out of a burning airplane if needed, but I won't carry their:
-(3) Delta wines,
-assorted Delta silverware plates, and napkins,
-nuts, steaks, salads,
-their 6-volume "Mr. Scrappy and Me: a brief History of a Loved Cat and a Lonely Heart", their autographed "Men are From Mars, and They're Hartless Bastards Besides, so Send Them Back to Mars",
-their (lightly used) Thigmasters, their (2) water barbells and (2) bottles of Evian for the water barbells,
-their Weightwatchers entrees (because the food isn't good in Europe),
-the thermos of hot chocolate from the Hotel,
-the 2 Euro bottle of insipid cheap wine,
-the (3) bottles of olive oil that costs 17 cents less,
-the Chinese-made water bowl they found in Milan for Mr. Scrappy,
-(6) pairs of shoes (3 high-heels depending on the gauge of cobblestone they need to get stuck in, one pair of furry slippers to wear above ten thousand feet, on pair of tiny high-heeled boots to stuff one's leg into between the airplane and the van, and something from Sketchers to wear in the van).

And that's just the guys.