Of all the things to march for or against -- a brand? The marchers carried balloons and signs demanding that the Frontier Airlines brand and cutesy-critters advertising campaign be retained. I wish I'd gotten a picture, but I swear, the signs actually used the word "brand."
If these were workers, what real (that is, financial) stake could they possibly have had in retaining the brand following Frontier's merger into Republic? Brands don't pay the bills. The whole point of a merger is to be able to save money by letting people go. It's not that I'm completely unmoved by the Frontier brand myself. Frontier is actually a small part of the reason we moved to Denver. When we boarded at LaGuardia, it was like entering a different world, one where common courtesy was, well, common. Frontier represented a flying slice of Colorado. Their coffee was good too.
Over the years, I admit, we didn't always fly Frontier; their pricing was sometimes so completely out of sync with the competition that it looked like a spreadsheet error. Then Southwest arrived, and their staff managed to out-nice Frontier's. But hey, every time we headed for a Southwest flight at DIA, we took a moment to comment on how cute the Frontier tails were.
Whether Republic maintains the Frontier brand or not couldn't matter less. Whatever was good about Frontier management will be gone; whatever was bad about Frontier management will be gone. Because Frontier management will be gone, and with it, much of Frontier's workforce. Maintaining the brand won't reverse the reality that a once-hopeful local company failed.
Frontier workers, don't let the bulkhead hit you on the tail on the way out. And don't be so sentimental. It's time to say buh-bye now.
No comments:
Post a Comment