Quoting ILOVEA340 (Reply 44):
The only this that comes to mind is that we should perhaps have authorized our flight to run below capacity for a day or two but then again, that doesn;t really make much economic sense. |
No, it makes perfect sense. Given the
PR problems that US already has... from the nearly universal "US Scareways" to the lingering memories of pilot walkouts, baggage meltdowns, and generally indifferent customer service limiting capacity reduces the load on the system (and the staff) for the first day(s) of operation... If everything goes as planned you've lost a little bit of money but you aren't going to have people talking about how crappy of an operation you're running for the next 10 years.
Parker should know this -- there are probably still legions of people who refer to "America Worst" -- at one of my mom's former jobs she was a travel coordinator, and people would pay fare differences out of their own pocket to avoid flying
HP. I know their reputaiton improved significantly, but once you loose a customer, it's very difficult to get them back, and anyone really blame the customer? (At least I hope not, customer service SNAFUs are the reason I'll never do business with Delta or Avis again)
I'm neck deep in a project for the Commonwealth of Virginia right now realted to the Capitol restoration -- I'm in Richmond all week and I'll be back for another week in about two weeks. In reality, I probably could have flown home tonight based on where we think the project is but everyone involved -- the client, my employer, and myself realize the importance of getting it 100% right the first time. "Will this work" shouldn't cross the user's mind- it should be as far as they're concerned a light switch. When they hit the button, the system works. The user shouldn't be wondering "when I hit the button, will it work?" Yeah, it costs a little bit more but reliability is more important.
Lincoln
[Edited 2007-03-07 13:31:57]