Cactusbusdrvr – The only thing I can see wrong with running an airline like a bus service is if you advertise it as something else. At no stage does FR or some of the other LCC’s try and sell you anything other than a shuttle service from A to B. If you want it, buy a ticket if you don’t, feel free to go elsewhere. If you cant be arsed to feed yourself before you get on board for your typical one or two hour flight, then be prepared to pay silly money for food and drink when you get on board. Its interesting though that people are voting with their credit cards and not their feet. It’s the same for employees – FR is unashamedly a non-union multi national company the same as Dell and HP and if you go to work for them then you already know what to expect. That is not to say that you have no rights cause you have. Every employee is protected by local and European employment law and can use the courts if necessary to invoke them. Some might say that that’s precisely what’s going on at FR now. If the management at FR are abusing their authority, they will be dealt with and I hope they get everything they deserve.
I’m not bitter cause I’m far too young and also have a lot more to worry about like how to service my loans. I completely accept the points you make about how employees are treated, especially pilots who have forked out so much of their own dosh only to find that they have to do it on a continuous basis. They are prodded and poked every 12 months or more and, because of the high divorce rates in the industry, have to keep current on everything from a washing machine to a 737. But I don’t see many posts from this category of pilot complaining that the industry owes them a living. All I see are the same old whinges from the pampered brigade who are now trying to circle the wagons as their cartel is being endangered – the laugh is that they are now trying to fend off the challenge from the sector they helped create.
I also totally disagree that unions exist because of bad management. There are tons of examples where unions co exist with management and the results are usually good. Our own Celtic Tiger owes a huge amount to the cooperation of the unions. The turn around in Aer Lingus was brought about exclusively through the cooperation of the unions and it must pain them now to see they are given very little credit for it. You can have all the business plans in the world, copied from as many successful business models as you like, but without cooperation from the work force you may as well fill the paper dispensers in the loo with it. Which takes me neatly back to FR. To keep their costs down they must be able to project their fixed costs as far ahead as possible. Commercial airlines are kept in the air by the laws and principles of economics, NOT aerodynamics. The industry has given receivers enough work for the rest of their lives, mopping up after those who thought it was the other way around.
Your addition to your post on the morale and stress amongst employees can be attributed to almost any industry and not just an airline. But I think it is somewhat simplistic to categorise LCC’s as being part of the traditional Service Industry cause there not. Try telling the hostie that you will take your business across the street at 35000 feet. Or try telling the ticket agent that you will go elsewhere when there is only one carrier on the route you wish to travel on. Its not really the service industry is it, and in many ways that’s why they can get away with a lower lever of service than one might other wise expect . The article alludes to it briefly but I think the industry has ambushed 9/11 to justify this. Many many hotels have suffered terrorist attacks over the years resulting in the loss of life and hotels are in the service industry – when was the last time you had to walk through the front door scanner in your Y fronts. There was a time when you were asked at check in “....and where are you going today sir”. The sarcastic reply of “ … the same place as my luggage please”, used to solicit at least a fake smile (as if they haven’t heard that gag before). But now, the big red button is pushed and you are carted off for a free rectal exam. Don’t blame the LCC’s on this phenomenon. They big carriers are more than happy to use this to drive down their own standards that they know they cant maintain and remain competitive. You reap what you sow.