AA to go back to "banked" hubs

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Sounds lovely, but I will need to reserve judgement until I see the execution of the plan.  If they are going to bank flights, then there are some obstacles to overcome.  Such as,
 
1.  Last Friday night when after we landed we were reassigned to gate C-11.  Fine, except there was a problem.  There was an empty airplane at that gate that needed to be towed to the pad.  There was no tow crew to tow the a/c to the pad.  When they got a tow crew, there was no gate agent to move the jetbridge (and evidently no one in the vicinity who was able/qualified to operate the jetbridge).  We landed 10 minutes early.  Finally got to the gate over 30 minutes late.
2.  Random boarding which results in front rows of coach boarding late after the passengers in the back of the plane who boarded early have filled up the front bins with their rollaboards.  Which means that the passengers in the front of the a/c have to swim upstream against the traffic or wait until the passengers in the back have gotten off so they can go back to where their carryons are stored.  Fine if they don't have a connection.  Not fine if they do.
3.  Wheelchair passengers having to wait up to 20 minutes (after all other passengers are off the a/c) for a wheelchair and pusher.  Saturday night had 3 w/c pax.  Airserv sent one pusher with one wheelchair.  The theory is that he would push each one up the jetbridge and transfer them to a cart or other wheelchair then come back and get the next passenger.  However, he simply left with the first wheelchair passenger and never returned.
4.  American needs to stop skimping on gate agents.  The agent who met that flight in item number 1 told me that she had called and told the supervisor..."I've never thought of walking off the job in 27 years as a gate agent.  If you don't get me some help down on this concourse, I'm walking off the job."  She was effectively the only agent for 3 active gates.  After her call, all of a sudden she had more help than she could handle.  Where were these people before?
 
I'm sure others have similar stories and other ideas about making it possible for passengers to make their connections.  A banked hub doesn't work unless a/c can leave on time with the passengers that were supposed to be on it aboard.
 
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US does the flex flying now. We run a late PHX bank on Thur and Sun only and it only runs part of the year. On Monday and Tues, the last CLT bank is earlier in the day. PHL late flight doesn't run on Mon-Wed part of the time and during the holidays they add an extra early morning flight. This is also the first year on Thanksgiving and Christmas week they had a midnight bank out of CLT and the flights were full! Only 2 days out of the week, but the scheduling department seems to know when to add and delete flights. Each city pair is different and it also varies by weeks. They don't run flights just to run them. You can come in every day of the week and the flight schedule may be different.
 
Welcome to my world! Great from a revenue standpoint, but it makes it, um, "interesting" when it comes to staffing, gate plotting, etc. at the station level...
 
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US does the flex flying now. We run a late PHX bank on Thur and Sun only and it only runs part of the year. On Monday and Tues, the last CLT bank is earlier in the day. PHL late flight doesn't run on Mon-Wed part of the time and during the holidays they add an extra early morning flight. This is also the first year on Thanksgiving and Christmas week they had a midnight bank out of CLT and the flights were full! Only 2 days out of the week, but the scheduling department seems to know when to add and delete flights. Each city pair is different and it also varies by weeks. They don't run flights just to run them. You can come in every day of the week and the flight schedule may be different.
Click to expand...
It is the ability to fly when the demand is there and not fly when it is not that has allowed some airlines to obtain RASM premium to the industry, US included.

The cost of fuel means it makes more sense to have an overstaffed station operation on a few occasions than to fly planes - which also entails crew costs - when the demand is not there.

The days of consistent day/week-in and day/week-out flight schedules are over.
 
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We have 2 or 3 times a week a night dept phx flight and it does real good as the return trip it does is a redeye is also real good
 
The other thing about US scheduling and operations I have observed is they have a late night bank of flights leaving CLT and PHL to many cities after 10pm. Not fun to be traveling at that hour and arriving home after midnight but if the alternative is flying back the following morning its great. They also have a very early AM BOS-CLT right that leaves before another scheduled departure from BOS at least. Redeyes are no fun but I imagine once the adjustments are put in place at PHX you won't see nearly as many.

Josh
 
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Some years ago we were told why banking was such an advantage.  Then a few years back they decided to "unbank" and we got reams of mail and correspondence telling us all the advantages of unbanking.  Now we're banking again.  How long will this one last?
 
MK
 
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IS THIS TRUE?...............

As you read this remember in the American airlines employee manual (for all employees not just pilots) It states that you MAY NOT BE ON COMPANY property if you are not on duty or not being paid.
 
Another thing we need taken care of is the 20 minute diversion rule .
 
Can't believe this ever crept into their contract and agreement.
 
This is another bad deal at American.
 
If you are diverting to get more fuel or for a sick passenger or a security issue in  their (our) contract they deduct  20 minutes from your pay for the  diversion. WHY ?
 
Because American policy says  that during a diversion for during the 20 minutes you are being fueled ( they take off the 20 minutes even if  YOU DO NOT NEED ANY FUEL)  you are  not doing any work, so you should not be paid.
 
In the case of Sully's landing  on the Hudson the American pilot at the contract line told me he is  100%  sure the computer would have taken 20 minutes off his pay because he diverted for his amphibious landing if he had been under our current contract. So per the American contract Sully should have just stepped off the wing and done nothing for 20 minutes. he should have had  a hot chocolate and wrapped a blanket around his feet and rested in the  NY Fire Dept boat because he was not being paid for 20 minutes and per the HR handbook you cannot be on company property if you are not being paid.
 
THIS HAS TO GO. Especially during a diversion, you are working the entire time on the ground getting the ship back in the air.
 
What an American pilot told me is because of this  20 minutes of no pay rule; during a diversion  they divert and pull into the gate.
 
Once the door is open : they  do not review the new flight plan, they do not talk to the dispatcher, they don't deal  with the medial issue, they don't deal with the security issue .  They simple get up and go into the terminal to Starbucks. Instead of having a 20 min non-paid break they usually have a 30-40 minute break .
 
During a diversion this is the last time you want to be messing around with someone's pay or lack of.
 
It is in everyone's best interest to drop this rule so we get paid for the entire diversion AND the aircraft gets back in the air quickly .
 
Also when Tempe says they are working on these issues I will bet any of you a steak dinner that if we divert now that per the contract 20 minutes will be deducted from the flight. That they could and probably have put the 20 minute diversion rule in place instantly, but something that is a benefit due to us is something they need to   "....have a working group review the policy....."
 
Please get this dropped theft of 20 minutes dropped.
 
luvthe9 said:
 
IS THIS TRUE?...............

As you read this remember in the American airlines employee manual (for all employees not just pilots) It states that you MAY NOT BE ON COMPANY property if you are not on duty or not being paid.
 
Another thing we need taken care of is the 20 minute diversion rule .
 
Can't believe this ever crept into their contract and agreement.
 
This is another bad deal at American.
 
If you are diverting to get more fuel or for a sick passenger or a security issue in  their (our) contract they deduct  20 minutes from your pay for the  diversion. WHY ?
 
Because American policy says  that during a diversion for during the 20 minutes you are being fueled ( they take off the 20 minutes even if  YOU DO NOT NEED ANY FUEL)  you are  not doing any work, so you should not be paid.
 
In the case of Sully's landing  on the Hudson the American pilot at the contract line told me he is  100%  sure the computer would have taken 20 minutes off his pay because he diverted for his amphibious landing if he had been under our current contract. So per the American contract Sully should have just stepped off the wing and done nothing for 20 minutes. he should have had  a hot chocolate and wrapped a blanket around his feet and rested in the  NY Fire Dept boat because he was not being paid for 20 minutes and per the HR handbook you cannot be on company property if you are not being paid.
 
THIS HAS TO GO. Especially during a diversion, you are working the entire time on the ground getting the ship back in the air.
 
What an American pilot told me is because of this  20 minutes of no pay rule; during a diversion  they divert and pull into the gate.
 
Once the door is open : they  do not review the new flight plan, they do not talk to the dispatcher, they don't deal  with the medial issue, they don't deal with the security issue .  They simple get up and go into the terminal to Starbucks. Instead of having a 20 min non-paid break they usually have a 30-40 minute break .
 
During a diversion this is the last time you want to be messing around with someone's pay or lack of.
 
It is in everyone's best interest to drop this rule so we get paid for the entire diversion AND the aircraft gets back in the air quickly .
 
Also when Tempe says they are working on these issues I will bet any of you a steak dinner that if we divert now that per the contract 20 minutes will be deducted from the flight. That they could and probably have put the 20 minute diversion rule in place instantly, but something that is a benefit due to us is something they need to   "....have a working group review the policy....."
 
Please get this dropped theft of 20 minutes dropped.
 
Click to expand...
 
How about dumping the Medical Department?  That has to be a huge cost to AA, and it is a relic of a long bygone era.  It also opens the door to much abuse of labor at the hands of management.  
 
Will Parker see it as a waste of money (since AW and US managed to get along rather well without this huge cost)?  Or, will he decide to spend that company money to hang on to one more tool to pound labor?
 
WorldTraveler said:
It is the ability to fly when the demand is there and not fly when it is not that has allowed some airlines to obtain RASM premium to the industry, US included.
Click to expand...
US Airways has no RASM premium, compared to the industry.
 
For the first three quarters, even AA's mainline RASM exceeds that of US.    Same thing for the third quarter alone.
 
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