Frontier Airlines

Undercover Boss tonight (10/17) followed Bryan Bedford, the CEO of Frontier Airlines. A deeply religious man, Bryan is ready to find out what’s really going on in the company. There was a recent merger and a 10% pay cut in the company so he thinks it’s the best time to get out there.
First up for Bryan was cleaning a plane in 7 minutes under the direction of Sue. She yelled at him constantly to keep up. Why is it these CEO’s can never hustle?
Next, he trained as a cross-utilization agent, and said he was anxious to find out if that is really an efficient way to do business. He was working with Valerie, and first they had to marshall a plane in. Then they unloaded the suitcases. Bryan forgot to count the bags, which apparently was a critical problem. From there they took their sweaty selves to the gate and checked people in. Bryan is thinking the cross-utilization thing isn’t so great after all. Valerie is a woman of faith also, and Bryan found her to be inspirational.
From there, Bryan went to Denver to be a flight attendant. Bryan talked to people too much and delayed the departure. Then he screwed up the safety demonstration. He was paired up with a flight attendant named Tui. I thought flight attendants had to be skinny? Tui had a little trouble with how much Bryan talked with the passengers, but he totally understood the way Frontier wants to be different from other airlines. But Tui works 6 days a week and barely is making it. The pay cut really hurt him.
Then Bryan had to clean out the lavatories with Hector. Naturally he screwed up, which Hector enjoyed but he made sure to stand well back. Hector clued him in how hard everyone has been working to save the airline. Hector straight up told him “thank you” is an important word.
Time for the big reveal. The employees are summoned to headquarters and Bryan meets with his senior management team. For Valerie, Bryan gave her $10,000 for a charity of her choice. For Hector, he created a forum for Hector to talk to new hires, to communicate his enthusiasm. Plus he sent Hector and his wife on a week-long vacation. For Sue, he dedicated an aircraft to the memory of her dead son, and he sent her on a cruise with her granddaughter. For Tui, he made him chairman of a branding committee, and contributed $20,000 toward his kids’ college educations.
For the company meeting, Bryan announced that the pay cuts would be recovered over the next three years.

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