Sole priority is shareholder dividends creating toxic profit-centric culture that sends a torrent of bullying and bureaucracy downwards. End result passengers are treated like cattle and only dysfunctional individuals who love drama tend to stay on. Decent crew face a bewildering network of obstacles if they attempt to do a good job. The few good people they have literally hold up the company like the Greek God Atlas used to hold up the earth.
When you attempt to report a safety issue at LGW you are treated like the sole cause of the problem and are then placed under microscopic scrutiny and fired for the most trivial breach of the labyrinthine network of rules. A cynic might speculate the rules are made complex to facilitate this process. At some points I considered going directly to the Civil Aviation Authority with my concerns but the realisation that I would probably end up in court defeated my resolve to do the right thing.
To give an example of managements incompetence: There was an ongoing issue with batteries in the hand held sales terminals going flat due to age. Three years went by and this wasn’t resolved. A phone call to the manufacturer revealed that I could have, personally, with my own credit card, sorted out half the aircraft at my base in about 7 days. Yet, the company would rather convene committees and sub-committees to scratch their heads, draft reports, find blame and create bureaucratic quick sand everywhere than actually just buy some new damn batteries. One time they had crew bringing toilet rolls from home because a dispute with a supplier was leaving their aircraft with no toilet paper and cabin crew were sick of the unhygienic conditions it created and the generally {censored} working environment.
There is a book by economics professor David Graeber (title of which I cannot say, google it) that explains the flaws of companies like easyJet perfectly and would have helped me avoid this hell on earth company if I’d have read it earlier.
