Another Phl Nightmare

Ladies and Gentleman,

It has become obvious to me that what I had originally viewed as an opportunity to discreetly address the legitimate frustrations of a loyal customer have been interpreted as something else entirely.
What I had attempted to do was answer Art's questions, while at the same time give him a glimpse into the challenges we as employees meet in order to deliver the type of service that the traveling public considers "normal". We have corresponded on past situations, and I have felt that we were successful in gaining a level of understanding.
The sensitive nature of the matter led me to use a PM in order not to subject the issue to undue public scutiny.
However, I made the mistake of providing too much information in the attempt, making it appear that I had some sort of agenda, or that I was trying to "rat" on a crew. Apparently this has been seen by some as a breach of the bond of trust that is to exist between dispatch and the crews, and that I deeply regret. I was simply trying to relate the facts of the incident in question, not provide ammunition against my own company. In that light, I respectfully request that Art utilize the information as a recounting of the facts, not the foundation for a formal complaint.
As to those who accuse me of an "us vs. them" mentality, I can assure that nothing could be further from the truth. Contrary to some opinion, we are not the "Evil Empire". Practically every friend I have is either a pilot for this or another airline, and that, plus over 37,000 hours in this chair, have given me a fair understanding of their concerns. I can assure you that I have ALWAYS supported the crews in their need for rest or food, even in cases where it may not have met the letter of legal or contractual criteria. I have sometimes gone so far as to find a legitimate alternative reason, such as questionable weather, to give them a needed break without drawing unwanted attention.
However, with over 100 crewmembers active at any given time, it is a practical impossibility to keep up the duty issues of each individual on a continuous basis, especially on bad weather/ATC days, and we must depend on the crews to inform us of problems. I will say that, it would go far to ease the impact of these events if the earliest notification can be given (such as the in-range call) to allow the station to adjust. Waiting until the inbound pax have deplaned, with the gate anxious to board a group of restless pax with tight connections to announce that you are now taking a break (even when perfectly within your rights), has caused several complaints from stations in recent days. The details of the situation to which Art was subjected have been forwarded to the Chief Pilot for several resons, and that is my last comment on the subject.
I post this simply to clear any misconceptions of my intent or my character. I realize it may not satisfy all readers, a possibility that grieves me greatly. I have tried to use this board as an intrument of communication rather than an outlet for any personal grudges, of which I hold none. But I doubt it is worth the effort, as the opportunity for misunderstanding is too high. I have bigger challenges to deal with, such as providing for my wife and children, and deciding whether to invest more time in a profession that was once a labor of love, and has nowadays become a test of my endurance.
Good luck to all, particularly those of us at Piedmont and Allegheny, as we wait to see what the future holds.

Thank you for your time.
 
A couple of questions for Art:

1) I thought you were going to drive to Rochester. Remember that discussion awhile back? ;)

2) In your post you said you missed your original flight (US3700, departing PHL at 5:45 PM, right?) You wrote that you arrived home four hours later, which would be US3641, departing PHL at 9:55 PM. But you wrote that the plane arrived at 7:38 PM. I can't find a 7-8PMish flight in the schedule, and that's two hours later, not four.

Too bad you didn't take the B1900 alternative. You would have avoided all this mess.

You wrote that the crew took a 45 minute crew rest, and you arrived home four hours late. The four hour delay was mainly due to your missing the original connection, not because of the crew rest. The 45 minute crew rest caused you to be late getting home an additional 45 minutes.

I'm sure no one wants to sit at the airport for an extra 45 minutes, but please -- is all this complaining really worth it? Surely you've spend at least that much time just making and responding to this topic.

45 minutes is not the end of the world! I'm a rabid anti-union person, but even I realize that crews are human, and sometimes they need to eat and/or go potty. Grow up!
 
The Customer is always right. We need to learn that, and we need to prove it to our customers.

Art, thank you for all your vocal support on this site and flying our airline. What we accomplish each day in our business is an amazing feat. Sometimes, as you know, there are glitches like misconnects and crew breaks which are needed especially during these trying times. Moral is low and the days are long. We take pride in what we do, and, as WO's, are watching our jobs disappear to other carriers. We hope things will improve and your service to ISP will only get better and hopefully more frequent.

I enjoy listening to your input; both good and bad. Keep 'em coming.

Thank you again,
JD from ISP
 
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JS said:
A couple of questions for Art:

1) I thought you were going to drive to Rochester. Remember that discussion awhile back? ;)

2) In your post you said you missed your original flight (US3700, departing PHL at 5:45 PM, right?) You wrote that you arrived home four hours later, which would be US3641, departing PHL at 9:55 PM. But you wrote that the plane arrived at 7:38 PM. I can't find a 7-8PMish flight in the schedule, and that's two hours later, not four.

Too bad you didn't take the B1900 alternative. You would have avoided all this mess.

You wrote that the crew took a 45 minute crew rest, and you arrived home four hours late. The four hour delay was mainly due to your missing the original connection, not because of the crew rest. The 45 minute crew rest caused you to be late getting home an additional 45 minutes.

I'm sure no one wants to sit at the airport for an extra 45 minutes, but please -- is all this complaining really worth it? Surely you've spend at least that much time just making and responding to this topic.

45 minutes is not the end of the world! I'm a rabid anti-union person, but even I realize that crews are human, and sometimes they need to eat and/or go potty. Grow up!
JS,

Let me straighten out a few things here.

1. I did drive to Rochester once before, due to inconvenient schedules and high fares. This trip it was necessary to fly for the same reasons.

2. My original flight was SCHEDULED for 5:45, but left late (6:15). We made up significant time on the originating flight, which would have allowed me to make the original connection. However, a number of factors caused the miss: the delay in taxi due to ramp congestion; the serious delay in getting the jetway up to the door; and most significantly the 15 minutes it took AFTER all that to get the carry ons. Had any of these things not occurred I would have made my flight.

I ran to the gate for the connection and SAW the aircraft in the final stages of being pushed back (at 6:15). So then I did go to the club and did what I had to do.

The whole thing about the crew got blown out of proportion here. I had no intent of making such a big deal over this except for the fact that it was the icing on the cake after the other problems. Regardless of what I later learned, the fact is that the captain had a bug up his bum, and his attitude clearly reflected it. Also I am relatively certain that I am not the only one who complained. I met another lady on my outbound flight on Sunday who had been on the same flight and she said she filed a complaint too. Also, the TRUE delay on this flight was over 1 hour, because we then got caught in the Philly Factor of being number 273 for departure.
This flight arrived at ISP around 11PM, which was over 1 hour late unto itself, and 4 hours after my original schedule.

Unfortunately, with all the bickering going on within the company, this thing has taken a life of its own on the one issue, which was NOT my intent. I have the utmost respect and admiration for 99.9% of the employees of US and Express, and you know that I am very vocal about my support-both here and to corporate. My point of posting the experience was to bring to light the operational deficiencies at PHL which caused the whole fiasco in the first place. I am sure that less informed customers who experience similar situations just won't come back, and we really don't want that either do we??

A final note of apology to Airbrush, who was only trying to be helpful in good faith. There was no intent to espouse this us vs. them nonsense. Its time to let it go people, and move on with trying to fix this thing. I know I'm trying from the outside but there is little more that I can do other than continue to be a good customer.

To the front line, thanks for all you do, and please keep it up.
 

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