US Airways Closing Remaining Off Shore Reservations Centers

[rsmith6621]

MPE, Ariz. (TheStreet) -- US Airways(LCC_) said it will close its Manila call center this year, continuing a trend for airlines to close offshore reservations call centers, which often disappoint consumers.

The major U.S. carriers have always had most of their call centers in the U.S. Delta(DAL_), United(UAL_) and US Airways added off-shore centers in the early half of the last decade, when the industry lost about $40 billion and four major carriers sought to reduce costs in bankruptcy.

US Airways opened the Philippines center as a temporary measure under a 2004 agreement, negotiated during its bankruptcy, with the Communications Workers of America, which represents its agents. "We agreed in 2004 that they could temporarily outsource this work," said CWA spokeswoman Candace Johnson. "There were going to be layoffs and the company said there wouldn't be, in exchange for allowing this work to be done offshore

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