Hey,
I have read this topic with great interest over the last few weeks. There have been some very interesting points made, both from the side of the crew and the pax. I didn't want to get involved in it, but there are some rather distressing points that have been made and, in a free speech society, I want to excercise my right to reply...
Firstly, some background. I am crew for VS, and have been for 14 months. I did not work as crew before so have no experience from other airlines.
I have, however, worked in Customer Service roles for 10 years. And what did I learn? That the customer is the focus of any service driven industry. Yes, the staff need to be skilled, yes the product needs to be right, but both are pointless without the customer. Admittedly you won't get customers without the right staff and product, but it still ALWAYS comes back to the customer. It saddens me that some of the crew that I share the skies with don't see this. Why do some crew still have an air of superiority about them? Yes the customer is demanding, yes the customer can be moody sometimes, yes they ask for things that take you away from your routine... but we are there to provide a service. END OF! If you paid £5000 for a car you would expect the earth from the guy selling you the car... it works the same for a ticket for a journey that lasts hours. And of course the passengers who save to travel with us for years and years, choosing VS based on reputation... I am ashamed to say that in 14 months of flying, 60/70% of crew do not meet what I think is an acceptable level of Customer service. The world today demands good service, and if you accept the job you accept your role in that demand!
Ok, on to the pay deal. I'll be honest here, I voted no to the offers up until the last one. I thought the company were asking too much with the concessions they wanted us to make. I won't moan about my bank balance because you have heard it all before. All I will say is that I manage, and that is because I make choices that make me manage. I live within my means, and I find other ways to support myself if needed. The salary VS pays, for the 12/16 days a month I work is proportionally good. It was the conditions in the early pay deals that made me vote no. So when the last one came out I was split for a while... until I saw that by voting no I was pretty much sealing my fate, as well as the fate of the thousands of VS employees. So I said yes, and am so so so disappointed that it was rejected. I think the Union have failed the crew miserably, and I cannot wait to cancel my membership if the strike is planned after the next ballot. I refuse to hold VS in the way the 'militants' want to. Yes, a rise is nice, but crew need to be more realistic. If you don't like it, go elsewhere... and do not say you stay at VS because you love the Company. If you did, you would never dream of voting for a strike.
I am disappointed in the management team for challenging the crew, because I feel that this could have all been avoided. The union share the blame too. But the crew have made their bed, and will have to lie in it. I don't plan to stay at VS for long, so perhaps that taints my views. But those crew who refuse to leave need to think so so so carefully about what they are doing. Stop gossiping about this and that, stop scaring new crew, stop bad mouthing the company that saves you thousands on your holidays to places you would not get to visit earlier and THINK about what you are about to do! In the meantime, do the job you and I are meant to do. Serve the passengers and make them see why VS should be their carrier... I hate to say but I agree with the thought that the good will go and the weak will stay.
For those of you with flights, please try not to worry. Any action is purely speculative right now, and hopefully the mood will change. I for one am here to serve on any flight I work and that will not change.
