Northwest Airlines has decided to put outsourcing Pilots and Flight Attendants on the table in their labor negotiations. There is one lesson when outsourcing that is being learned by large companies. Outsource manufacturing and distribution. Do Not Outsouce CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Dell and many other vendors are learning this lesson the hard way. Even airlines such as Delta have learned that customer service is a function that needs to be kept in house.

Can you imagine a flight with people who do not understand English to save my family in a crisis.

Well, the Wall Street Journal has an article on this up, and Jared Blank for the the Online Travel review has this to say.

The airline is seeking to replace American flight attendants on 75% of its trans-Atlantic routes, eliminate them entirely on its Indian routes, and drop them by half on intra-Asia flights.  The flight attendants would be replaced by locally-based workers who are, you have already guessed, paid much less.  If this move is made, it would put competitors at a significant disadvantage, and it would just be a matter of time before others make similar moves.  You can probably expect foreign pilots in the cockpit in a few years as well…