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Remember PEOPLExpress?
I got my start working in the flying industry while attending
Ramapo College of New Jersey in the early 1980s. At that school,
they had posted an opportunity to work as a "co-op" student for
an airline based at EWR. PEOPLExpress Airlines was the name and
they needed students to handle reservations at their Haynes
Avenue facility, which was really the UAL building.
For $5.00 per hour I took the bait and worked from February to
August 1984. The job was tedious, the phone system antiquated,
the company was a calamity. Still, it was fun and I enjoyed my
occassional trips over to the old hangar to watch aircraft take
off.
The reservations department was manned by other college students
just like me from schools all over New Jersey and New York City.
There was even a team of girls who came down from Canada to
staff the phones as part of their school's program. I would have
loved to see what they wrote on their reports!
A group of reservations would often take the first flight of the
day to Boston, have breakfast, and return to Newark. I think
they did this on a weekly basis and "Breakfast in Boston" was
the thing to do. With 19 flights daily, including some leaving
every half hour, the chance of snagging a flight to Boston was
almost a guarantee.
I learned about some of the "tricks" of the airline industry too
while with PEOPLExpress. For example, if bad weather was
happening in Maine, the final flight from EWR would mysteriously
be canceled due to a mechanical. Supposedly, the company didn't
want to risk a problem with their notorious "hub and spoke"
system and find that one of their aircraft was stuck in a
snowstorm. We weren't told by our supervisors that this was what
the airline was doing, but we pretty much figured it out. It was
simply
great handling those irate calls!
While at PEOPLExpress, I witnessed some phenomenal growth on the
airline's part. We added San Francisco, Los Angeles, and London
while I was there. Other smaller cities too.
During one month I was named "associate of the month" for my
team because of my terrific customer service skills combined
with my ability to process customers fast. Okay, so I like to
remember it that way! Still, it was a nice thing to add to my
resume and it also enabled me to gain "favor" in the site of
management. My supervisor, Judith, was one of the nicest of the
lot too...some CSMs were real bears!
Although it wasn't common, some students upon graduation got to
work for PEOPLExpress as a Customer Service Manager [CSM]. This
was a fancy name for a "flight attendant" who, when not flying,
was expected to pull administrative duty too. Their starting pay
was $17,000. per year, but the stock options were what really
made the job. I am not sure how employees made out when the
carrier came to an end in 1987, but I seem to recall some fairly
well off "twenty somethings" working for that carrier.
After leaving PEOPLExpress I pursued other opportunities and did
not return to aviation until 1992 when I started working for
Executive Air Fleet, Inc. Yes, that is another story...for
another time!
About the author:
Copyright 2006 -- Matthew Keegan is The Article Writer who
writes on a variety of topics including: advocacy, automobiles,
aviation, business, Christian themes, family, news, product
reviews, travel, writing, and more. Please visit Matt's blog for
absolutely stunning and informative writings from the master
himself!
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