Continental Airlines Makes the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For List

Gordon Werner · 01-22-2002, 05:23 PM

Tuesday January 22, 11:29 am Eastern Time

Press Release

SOURCE: Continental Airlines

Continental Airlines Makes the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For List For Fourth Year in a Row

Continental Ranks No. 55

HOUSTON, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- For the fourth consecutive year, Continental Airlines has been named one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" by FORTUNE magazine in a study conducted in conjunction with the Great Place to Work Institute of San Francisco. Continental, the only passenger airline on the list, ranked No. 55.

"It says a lot about Continental and our employees that we continue to rank as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For during the most turbulent year in the history of the airline industry," said Gordon Bethune, Continental chairman and chief executive officer. "When the market improves and our company recovers, we look forward to recalling our employees who were displaced by the events of September 11. The best is yet to come for Continental."

The study selects the nation's best companies to work for by evaluating work environment and company culture, compensation and benefits, and other measures of job satisfaction.

In addition to company-provided information, a survey sent to randomly selected employees determines the company's ranking on the list. FORTUNE and the Great Place to Work Institute created the random selection process and the survey, which asks employees to evaluate trust in management, pride in work and relationships with co-workers.

The rankings will appear in the Feb. 4, 2002, issue of FORTUNE magazine.

"This award shows the consistency and strength of Continental despite tough times," said San Francisco Airport Sales Agent Diana Erhard. "It makes me proud to work for an airline that treats its employees with fairness and dignity and respect."

Some of Continental's workplace and benefits enhancements over the past year include the following:

Continental doubled the company-provided life insurance for employees while absorbing all of the costs.
Continental awarded 18 more employees with new Eddie Bauer Edition Ford Explorers in 2001. The company awarded two additional vehicles in 2001 for employees of Continental Express and Continental Micronesia. To date, the company has given 93 Explorers worth $3.7 million to employees who have perfect attendance during a six-month time period.
Enhancements to both the Continental Retirement Plan (CARP) and 401(k) Savings Plan added benefits for longer-tenured employees. The 401(k) program improved for all employees by making the company cash match quarterly rather than annually and adding even more mutual funds to the selection. In addition to "purchasing" an additional week of vacation or receiving cash, the newly revised Flexible Benefit (Flex) program added the opportunity for employees to deposit two percent of their annual wages into the 401(k) account. In 2001, the company provided mPower, a web-based retirement modeling and advice tool, to all employees.
Continental introduced ePass in 2001 to simplify employee pass travel for employees using the latest technology. Employee travel now is completely electronic rather than using paper passes. ePass not only eliminates the need to keep track of paper passes, it also provides ready access online to an employee's travel account and has removed the need to redeem paper vacation certificates or conduct other in-person transactions at an airport or ticket office.
To celebrate the company's many awards, including Airline of the Year by Air Transport World, the company encouraged employees systemwide to "Take a Break and Celebrate" in summer 2001 with lemonade, soft pretzels and caramel apples.

Continental Airlines is the fifth largest airline in the U.S., offering more than 2,000 departures daily to 126 domestic and 89 international destinations. Operating hubs in New York, Houston, Cleveland and Guam, Continental serves more international cities than any other U.S. carrier, including extensive service throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.continental.com.

Continental was named the 2001 Airline of the Year by Air Transport World, as well as the 1996 Airline of the Year, making it the only carrier to receive this honor twice in five years. Continental is ranked the nation's No. 1 airline in customer satisfaction for long and short-haul flights by Frequent Flyer Magazine and J.D. Power and Associates. Continental has received numerous awards for its BusinessFirst premium cabin (Conde Nast Traveler, OAG, Entrepreneur and SmartMoney magazines), OnePass frequent flyer program (InsideFlyer's Freddie Awards) and overall operations and management (Fortune magazine).

SOURCE: Continental Airlines

Wingman · 01-23-2002, 11:53 AM

The only passenger airline on the list?

What happened to Southwest? Is Southwest starting to lose some of its luster?

hernan · 01-23-2002, 12:12 PM

Wingman,
You know there is no way in this world that Continental is the 'best' airline.right now there is no airline in america in a better position than Southwest. if they [continental] said theyre the best,well, let them believe in that fantasy.even the people there dont believe that! Southwest been making profitt for the last 29 years. never had a single lay off.and even after 9/11 made a lot of money. continental in the other hand fired a lot of people,store a lot of planes and didnt made as much money as Southwest. how come Continental is the best airline? Pleaseeeeeeeee

Wingman · 01-23-2002, 05:14 PM

I still think that Continental has come a long ways and I am willing to bet that the employees at CO do just as good a job, if not better, than those at Southwest.

hernan · 01-23-2002, 06:07 PM

May be good, NEVER Better!

me737 · 01-23-2002, 11:18 PM

Well some of that is definatly bull. My mum went to England after her father passed away and a CO employee treated her terrably, but the 777 had only about 8 people on it!

me737 · 01-24-2002, 10:50 AM

Hey, Gordan, somebody replied to one of your posts

Stanman · 01-24-2002, 12:34 PM

First I don't think anybody said that CO was the "best" airline but rather that it had been rated No. 1 as Airline of the Year by Air Transport World. What factors went into determining that status is not easily apparent but more than likely they had a number of different categories which you could get a number score that was either high or low.

SWA is a very good airline and employee morale is probably much higher than almost any other airline. Furthermore they are probably listed even higher in Fortune magazines Top 100 places to work. However, in the Airline of the Year category SWA would suffer because compared to CO they do not have long-haul flights, international flights, a first/business cabin, and meals of any substance to compare to name a few. They would score a ZERO in these categories and thus Continental compared to most other US airlines including SWA would shine. Next year who knows.

I've flown on CO many times and the thing that amazes me most is how often they're on time despite my expectations to the contrary.

01-22-2002, 05:23 PM	#1
Gordon Werner Insane Collector Join Date: Jun 1998 Location: Somewhere else Age: 37 Posts: 2,059	Continental Airlines Makes the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For List Tuesday January 22, 11:29 am Eastern Time Press Release SOURCE: Continental Airlines Continental Airlines Makes the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For List For Fourth Year in a Row Continental Ranks No. 55 HOUSTON, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- For the fourth consecutive year, Continental Airlines has been named one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" by FORTUNE magazine in a study conducted in conjunction with the Great Place to Work Institute of San Francisco. Continental, the only passenger airline on the list, ranked No. 55. "It says a lot about Continental and our employees that we continue to rank as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For during the most turbulent year in the history of the airline industry," said Gordon Bethune, Continental chairman and chief executive officer. "When the market improves and our company recovers, we look forward to recalling our employees who were displaced by the events of September 11. The best is yet to come for Continental." The study selects the nation's best companies to work for by evaluating work environment and company culture, compensation and benefits, and other measures of job satisfaction. In addition to company-provided information, a survey sent to randomly selected employees determines the company's ranking on the list. FORTUNE and the Great Place to Work Institute created the random selection process and the survey, which asks employees to evaluate trust in management, pride in work and relationships with co-workers. The rankings will appear in the Feb. 4, 2002, issue of FORTUNE magazine. "This award shows the consistency and strength of Continental despite tough times," said San Francisco Airport Sales Agent Diana Erhard. "It makes me proud to work for an airline that treats its employees with fairness and dignity and respect." Some of Continental's workplace and benefits enhancements over the past year include the following: Continental doubled the company-provided life insurance for employees while absorbing all of the costs. Continental awarded 18 more employees with new Eddie Bauer Edition Ford Explorers in 2001. The company awarded two additional vehicles in 2001 for employees of Continental Express and Continental Micronesia. To date, the company has given 93 Explorers worth $3.7 million to employees who have perfect attendance during a six-month time period. Enhancements to both the Continental Retirement Plan (CARP) and 401(k) Savings Plan added benefits for longer-tenured employees. The 401(k) program improved for all employees by making the company cash match quarterly rather than annually and adding even more mutual funds to the selection. In addition to "purchasing" an additional week of vacation or receiving cash, the newly revised Flexible Benefit (Flex) program added the opportunity for employees to deposit two percent of their annual wages into the 401(k) account. In 2001, the company provided mPower, a web-based retirement modeling and advice tool, to all employees. Continental introduced ePass in 2001 to simplify employee pass travel for employees using the latest technology. Employee travel now is completely electronic rather than using paper passes. ePass not only eliminates the need to keep track of paper passes, it also provides ready access online to an employee's travel account and has removed the need to redeem paper vacation certificates or conduct other in-person transactions at an airport or ticket office. To celebrate the company's many awards, including Airline of the Year by Air Transport World, the company encouraged employees systemwide to "Take a Break and Celebrate" in summer 2001 with lemonade, soft pretzels and caramel apples. Continental Airlines is the fifth largest airline in the U.S., offering more than 2,000 departures daily to 126 domestic and 89 international destinations. Operating hubs in New York, Houston, Cleveland and Guam, Continental serves more international cities than any other U.S. carrier, including extensive service throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.continental.com. Continental was named the 2001 Airline of the Year by Air Transport World, as well as the 1996 Airline of the Year, making it the only carrier to receive this honor twice in five years. Continental is ranked the nation's No. 1 airline in customer satisfaction for long and short-haul flights by Frequent Flyer Magazine and J.D. Power and Associates. Continental has received numerous awards for its BusinessFirst premium cabin (Conde Nast Traveler, OAG, Entrepreneur and SmartMoney magazines), OnePass frequent flyer program (InsideFlyer's Freddie Awards) and overall operations and management (Fortune magazine). SOURCE: Continental Airlines

01-23-2002, 12:12 PM	#3
hernan Senior Collector Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: CAROLINA,PUERTO RICO Age: 42 Posts: 426	Wingman, You know there is no way in this world that Continental is the 'best' airline.right now there is no airline in america in a better position than Southwest. if they [continental] said theyre the best,well, let them believe in that fantasy.even the people there dont believe that! Southwest been making profitt for the last 29 years. never had a single lay off.and even after 9/11 made a lot of money. continental in the other hand fired a lot of people,store a lot of planes and didnt made as much money as Southwest. how come Continental is the best airline? Pleaseeeeeeeee __________________ FLY SOUTHWEST. THE ONLY WAY TO FLY ! COLLECT STAR JETS. THE BEST MODELS!

01-23-2002, 05:14 PM	#4
Wingman Registered User Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Bangor, ME Age: 34 Posts: 429	I still think that Continental has come a long ways and I am willing to bet that the employees at CO do just as good a job, if not better, than those at Southwest. Last edited by Wingman; 01-23-2002 at 05:17 PM.

01-23-2002, 06:07 PM	#5
hernan Senior Collector Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: CAROLINA,PUERTO RICO Age: 42 Posts: 426	May be good, NEVER Better! __________________ FLY SOUTHWEST. THE ONLY WAY TO FLY ! COLLECT STAR JETS. THE BEST MODELS!

01-23-2002, 11:18 PM	#6
me737 Insane Collector Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Albuquerque New Mexico, Green Chili Cheeseburger capitol of the world! Posts: 1,002	Well some of that is definatly bull. My mum went to England after her father passed away and a CO employee treated her terrably, but the 777 had only about 8 people on it! __________________ Instant message me if you want. If you don't then okay, it doesn't hurt me. AOL& MSN handle Jetsetter737. I want more planes. No, more than that. I still want more.

01-23-2002, 11:53 AM	#2
Wingman Registered User Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Bangor, ME Age: 34 Posts: 429	The only passenger airline on the list? What happened to Southwest? Is Southwest starting to lose some of its luster?

01-24-2002, 10:50 AM	#7
me737 Insane Collector Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Albuquerque New Mexico, Green Chili Cheeseburger capitol of the world! Posts: 1,002	Hey, Gordan, somebody replied to one of your posts __________________ Instant message me if you want. If you don't then okay, it doesn't hurt me. AOL& MSN handle Jetsetter737. I want more planes. No, more than that. I still want more.

01-24-2002, 12:34 PM	#8
Stanman Senior Collector Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: Waxahachie, Texas, USA Posts: 426	First I don't think anybody said that CO was the "best" airline but rather that it had been rated No. 1 as Airline of the Year by Air Transport World. What factors went into determining that status is not easily apparent but more than likely they had a number of different categories which you could get a number score that was either high or low. SWA is a very good airline and employee morale is probably much higher than almost any other airline. Furthermore they are probably listed even higher in Fortune magazines Top 100 places to work. However, in the Airline of the Year category SWA would suffer because compared to CO they do not have long-haul flights, international flights, a first/business cabin, and meals of any substance to compare to name a few. They would score a ZERO in these categories and thus Continental compared to most other US airlines including SWA would shine. Next year who knows. I've flown on CO many times and the thing that amazes me most is how often they're on time despite my expectations to the contrary.

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