Capitalism fail: airlines+cuts+profits=delays, exhaustion, overtime

Travelers calling to rebook flights earlier this week in huge numbers were put on hold for hours or told to call back later because the major airlines have fewer reservations agents to take their calls.

For example, Continental cut 600 call-center jobs -- nearly one-fourth of its 2,600 reservations workers -- in February. A few months before that, it closed a center in Florida and cut 500 jobs. American Airlines cut about 500 when it closed a center in Connecticut.

United Airlines has 10,000 customer-service and reservations employees, down from about 15,000 in the early 2000s, according to Rich Delaney, president of the machinists' union, which represents the workers. United once had 17 reservations offices; it now has three, he said.

The airlines cut staff because so many people now book tickets online. The airlines themselves encouraged the trend by charging customers a fee to book over the phone.

US Airways imposed mandatory overtime for customer-service workers to handle calls during the storm. American Airlines said it asked people to cut short vacations and extended the hours of part-time workers at call centers and airports.

via finance.yahoo.com