United Express: Not Owned By UAL
Written: Jan 31 '01 (Updated Jan 31 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Many Short-Term Flights Available
Cons: Service Is Lousy, Rude Flight Attendants
The Bottom Line: Lousy service, disgruntled employees...make for a bad trip.
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| ClaireKS's Full Review: United Airlines |
United Express aircraft carry the UAL logo in name only; it is actually owned and operated by a group called "ACA". ACA takes the off-shoots of other companies (express lines, for example) and runs them for the originating company. The employees and maintenance crews are all ACA personnel. By agreement, the originating company's logo remains on the aircraft, which to me, in all circumstances is a huge mistake. But the aircraft are bought by the originating company (ACA runs on a very "scroogish" budget...they would never purchase their own equipment), and so must display that company's logo. Companies such as UAL end up with a black eye from the poor service that ACA provides; the public has no idea that the line is not actually run by UAL (or whatever the originating company may be).
Unlike nearly every other airline, ACA employees are not represented by any labor union, so their pay and benefits are the worst in the business. Without having good pay and benefits to attract high-grade employees, they instead attract the people who cannot get hired by the other major airlines. In other words, they hire from the bottom of the barrel. Turn-over is a constant problem, with employees coming and going on a daily basis. Maintenance is carried out by often-inexperienced crews, and planes are often grounded for longer periods of time because of this.
The in-flight service is horrendous, of course...flight attendants are often rude and look disheveled; they are not being paid anywhere near the level of other airline flight attendants, and so have the "who cares" attitude when dealing with the public. They are not reimbursed for uniforms of any sort, and therefore usually wear street clothing while on duty.
Flight delays and cancellations often occur because of maintenance problems or simply because too many employees didn't show up for work.
The old addage "you get what you pay for" rings ever true in a situation such as this; if you treat an employee poorly, they will never be inclined to give their all in their work.
Unfortunately, we the public get the bad end of the deal.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
ClaireKS
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Member: Claire (Nickname: LadyWolf)
Location: Northern Virginia
Reviews written: 62
Trusted by: 80 members
About Me:
Avid nature conservationist and friend to all living things.
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