650 Jobs Sent To India

Bankrupt United Airlines, in an effort to conserve funds on its way out of Chapter 11, is firing reservation phone operators because their jobs are going overseas -- to India.

In a letter to its reservation employees, United executives said the move will "help make United more responsive to customers seeking competitive fares in an industry being pressured by record fuel prices, increased competition and lower yields," according to the Rocky Mountain News in Denver (CO).

The outsourcing will allow United to close its call center in Bloomington (IN), which employs 83 people. United says the move will also allow it to cut back on the staff at its other call centers around the country.

"Having this work performed by strategic suppliers is one way we can reduce costs and provide quality customer service," United spokeswoman Jean Medina told the Rocky Mountain News.

But critics of the move say it could mean a drop in the quality of customer service.

It is a bad idea," said Mike Boyd, an airline consultant based in Evergreen (CO). "The challenge you have with this is you are turning your sales function to people who have no vested interest in whether you fly on United or get on a duck and take off. If someone calls up and says, 'I need to get to Flint, Michigan,' a trained United employee will say, 'Well, I can get you to Detroit or Lansing.' What the person in New Delhi or Mumbai is going to say is, 'We don't fly there.'"

FMI: www.united.com