Too much cost cutting
Or more accurately, too much cutting away from the areas that we flyers perceive as being important. ie products that we deliver to our customers, & the people involved, be it crew, IBFT's or pilots.
VS & BA both seem to have issues in these areas. Lets face it, the airline industry is one hell of a tough place to be in at present. Tough decisions have had to be made by many airlines, & many others have gone to the wall, or are just about to.
It appears that our senior managers seem to be using the tough climate we are in to hammer the front line staff, be it SRB telling his c.crew to go elsewhere if they feel undervalued (& this from a master of P.R!!), or WW & his lot seemingly reneging on last years c.crew deal &/or bringing the pilots to the brink of a strike.
The product that we deliver to our customers is constantly being looked at by the bean-counters to see if it can be cheapened any further, & we as cabin crew want to deliver a product that we can be proud of. This is becoming more & more difficult.
I remember when I started flying, being told that I had missed the "golden age" of flying, & its all going downhill now. That was a long time ago, & now it seems that I am in danger of saying the same thing to my juniors!
Happy flying, whoever you work for,
Matt.