Hello, this is Sherry Poetsche, director -- Domicile Operations. I'm pleased to provide you with an Update for Friday, June 16, 2006.

Hello, this is Sherry Poetsche, director – Domicile Operations. I'm pleased to provide you with an Update for Friday, June 16, 2006 .

Once every quarter, Onboard Service directors, managers and operating managers from the field and headquarters – gather at WHQ for two days of leadership meetings. During these meetings, senior officers and directors from different areas of the company present what their teams are doing around our corporate strategies, which helps us develop our division plan and define how Onboard employees support the corporate goals and objectives.

We invited a number of qualified pursers and purser supervisors to our most recent meeting to discuss the challenges of delivering excellent customer service onboard the airplane. This also gave our division team an opportunity to talk with our front-line leaders about important customer and flight attendant perspectives.

We listened as pursers from O'Hare and Dulles talked candidly about some of the obstacles that get in the way of service consistency. For example, they explained how inconsistency from our caterers sometimes impacts their ability to deliver service components to our customers.

They also responded candidly when asked if flight attendant training would improve consistency. They all agreed that more training was not the “magic bullet”. They believe flight attendants know well the proper procedures to deliver the service experience our customers expect. However, for a variety of reasons, they don't always deliver the elements of service consistently. We do, however, need to find ways to do that.

Pursers stressed the importance of good communication. They believe that improving communication between flight attendants, pilots and customer service representatives will help us provide a better travel experience for our customers. And they believe that flight attendants can deliver the level of service our best customers expect when they fully understand the rationale behind the changes we make.

The pursers also suggested that it may be helpful for management to have an increased presence in the flight attendant workplace – in briefings, at planeside and on the airplane – so they can see first hand the job flight attendants are doing and the obstacles they sometimes face.

Overall, we had a meaningful exchange of information and ideas for improvement. And though we learn many things about our customers through surveys and research, these pursers provided a unique perspective of the customer experience.

This was the first of what we hope to be many more opportunities to hear from you and your colleagues. The group concluded that we must continue focusing on the basic service deliverables our customers expect and on those things within our control. And we agreed that we have a shared responsibility to work together to provide the very best service experience. That is what we must do if we are going to distinguish ourselves from the competition and attract and retain premium customers.

Thank you for listening and fly safely.