Thu, Aug 21, 2008
You KNEW This Was Coming...
In an announcement likely to surprise absolutely no one, pilots
for United Airlines are against the carrier's latest, desperate
move to raise cash.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the pilots say they "strongly
oppose" the airline's plans to drastically change its onboard meal
service by raising prices for food and drink on most flights and by
discontinuing complimentary meal service on many flights to and
from Europe, affecting both economy and business class
passengers.
As ANN reported, United claims rising fuel
costs require these changes... but the pilots say the real reason
may be to enable the airline to further reduce flight attendant
staffing, which would make onboard service noticeably worse. By any
measure, the pilots believe, the proposed changes are a disastrous
business strategy that would only drive away customers and
encourage them to choose other airlines.
"Rather than taking the fundamental steps necessary to put our
airline back on course, such as rationalizing the flight schedule
or eliminating excessive perks and bonuses for executives, United's
leadership is penalizing the one constituency that is critical to
our airline's success: its loyal passengers," said Captain Steve
Wallach, Chairman of the United Chapter of the Air Line Pilots
Association. "Instead of nickel-and-diming our passengers, United
Airlines management should be demonstrating that despite today's
challenges, our passengers still come first."
Captain Wallach said the proposed changes are just the latest of
bad decisions made by embattled United CEO Glenn Tilton.
"Glenn Tilton and his executives can be counted upon to select
the path that inflicts the most misery on our passengers," he said.
"We condemn this latest price scheme and we call for its immediate
rollback."
United pilots recently set up a petition on its new Web site for
United passengers to demand the airline to rollback these
changes.
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