And also, I believe airlines exist to garner enough money to pay off the loans on airplanes. If airlines didn't exist, Boeing and Airbus would have had to invent them. /S
When you deal with a stressed United employee, they will inevitably separate themselves from the company. You will get lines like. “Well, the rules are.” Or, “I don’t know why they have us do it this way.” Or the one I really hate, “We are here for safety first.” Which is to say, being nice is not my job.
The employees act like storms are rare or flights are rarely late. Its like a daycare person complaining that a baby pooped. The reality is that storms and maintenance problems are common. Employees should excel at these times. They should be trained for them. This is when they can make a difference. Southwest does excel in hard times. They play with passengers, entertaining them and putting them in a better mood, all while being very professional.
The sad thing is, that Continental was a great service airline. They lost their President and executive staff. And the United union was able to control the rules of their staff. And United’s terrible service tradition was able to infect Continental rather than Continental’s good service setting the standard.