Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Undercover Boss - Frontier Airlines, 10172010

The featured undercover boss on this episode is Bryan Bedford, Chairman, President and CEO of Frontier Airlines. Bedford came to Frontier in 2009 when 3 airlines merged - Frontier, Midwest and Republic. The employees took a 6 - 10 % paycut which were a part of the bankruptcy proceedings from the previous management. Bedford was able to save the company and turned it around to be profitable again!

Did you see Bedford's mansion? Wow!!! It was really huge! He is a very religious person. When I saw that, I said to myself...no wonder God gave him a good life! He is really a very devout Catholic, and I wished I can be more like him! I commend him for that, because usually when people is up there, they forget about God who gave them the good fortune! Am I right??? Any comments???

His first stop was in Denver, Colorado with Sue who clean flights in between takeoffs. Can you believe that she has to clean the seats, seat pockets, bathroom and floor in 7 minutes!!! Are you kidding me??? So, next time you board a plane, be sure not to leave any garbage on the plane!!! Yikes!!! A mere 7 minutes!!!! That is sooo crazy!! When Bedford saw this, he thought that Sue and others should get more help! As usual, Sue gave him her life story. As a result, Bedford will name a plane in honor of Sue's son, and he sent her on a cruise with her 19 year old granddaughter!

Next stop was Oklahoma City, which has a smaller maket, only 4 or 5 flights a day! He met with Valerie, a cross utilization agent who unloads the luggage, marshals or direct the planes to their assigned gate and checks the passengers for boarding. Wow!!! That is what I call jack of all trades or really multi-tasking!!! I hope she gets paid really good!!! Bedford was so impressed with Valerie's religious devotion and charity with the homeless that he gave her $10,000 to give to her charity of choice and he will work with her on the streets to help the needy! At first, I thought the $10,000 was for her for all her work! He should have given her some money or a big, fat raise!!!

The next thing Bedford did was to be a flight attendant. Tui was his trainer who was very patient with him! Bedford sure is a talker...he slowed the boarding process with his nonstop chat with the passengers that the flight was delayed! Tui has 8 kids, and Tui is also a DJ and do luaus to make ends meet. Tui also mentioned to Bedford about their 10% paycut. As a result, Bedford made Tui the chairman of a new branding committee and gave him $20,000 for his kid's education. His eldest son is going to college and Tui was so grateful!!!!

The last thing he did was to be with Hector in Denver to do lavatory service. Oh, oh! This will not be a good job! Hector taught him how to hook up the disposal tubing and stayed 50 feet away from him! True enough, Bedford got sprayed with some junk coming out from the plane!!! Yuck!!!!! No wonder they only serve bland food on the airplane so the lavatory service will not be too bad!!! Ha! Hector got a new training position and a paid vacation for him and his wife who have not gone on vacation for 7 years! Good for him!!!

As a result of being undercover, Bedford decided to give back the 10% paycut to the employees for 3 years!! I thought it will be a lump sum for the employees! It is not! The wage cuts will be reimbursed over the next 3 years! Well, I guess, it is better than nothing, is it not? What is their pay cut? If the employees are making $17.90, it was cut to $15.90! The starting pay was cut from $10.28 to $9.50!! Are you kidding me??? All that work, and you get paid only $9.50?? Is that enough for a person with a family??? No wonder some people have 2 or 3 jobs!!!

I am always amazed about how the CEO'S give some sort of compensation to the chosen few that he comes in contact with. How about the other employees that work as hard as these chosen few... what do they get??? Tough!!! They did not get to work or train with the CEO!! That is not fair!!! Is there anything fair in this crazy world of ours??? Comments, anyone????

Posted by vs at 10/19/2010 2:59 PM | Add Comment

No comments:

Post a Comment