Elise Eberwein statement on Sky Harbor Death

[jetmech01890]

Ah the power of cut and paste

 

[Edward]

This is a reminder to stay on the topic & not get personal. Personal attacks or threats will result in time off without warnings. We still have room in the cornfield.

 

[jetmech01890]

Ah the power of cut and paste

so when should I worry ha loser

 

[SKY HIGH]

Did you read the original article in the Washington Post? It was the most irresponsible piece of journalism I have ever witnessed. I wrote to the Washington Post asking how they could publish such a poorly written and poorly checked piece.

sky high states: Good comments, PHLyer. Another journalist agrees: http://www.crankyflier.com/

great article.

only stating opinions

 

[cactusflyer]

For some reason her statement just bugs me, it seems phony. It doesn't seem sympathetic to the family. If we have no place debating it.. why did she respond to the Washongton Post article? I definitley agree the family needs to take some respomsibility here as to why there was no escort.

One more thing that bothers me that Elise Eberwein calls us hard working employees of USAIRWAYS. I'm happy to see that she is defending the employees but it takes a tragic incident like this to get praise and recognition. I don't feel like we are treated like the hard working employees of US Airways, especially by her.

While I am no fan of Ms. Eberwein, I am glad she did respond. The op-ed published in the Washington Post was pretty bad and really couldn't go with out a rebuttal. I am positive had the company not responded there would be a thread on here bashing them for not
responding. Damned if you do and damned if you don't, but that is par for the course around here.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I have to say this..



If there is ANYTHING that can be called into question, it is this: "Why, when all checked in pax are not on the airplane, pull the gate 8 minutes early?"


The stupidity here is that an airplane pulls from the gate, 8 minutes early, when they KNEW there was another passenger in the airport. Amazingly, the same thing happened to my wife a month ago in CLT....only it was the last flight of the day.

That's the stupidity here.

Dear Mr. Stupid Van The Man,

If you weren't stupid you would have known the flight was booked full. Every seat was occupied. How stupid is it to sit at the gate for an extra five minutes when every seat on the plane is already filled? Stupid? How stupid are you for even posting something so stupid. Geez. I really can't believe what I am reading on this thread! I really can't believe the caliber of employees both east and west we have these days. It wasn't like this 5 years ago or 10. It really wasn't!

Van! GET A CLUE! Please. The plane was full! There were no open seats! She missed her check in time. Every gate advertises the door close time every day, all day, each day, day in and day out! She didn't show up on time. Someone else got her seat. The plane was full. No seats. Is it really that hard to understand? I don't care if she was drunk, drugged out, pimped out, whored out or up for sainthood by the pope. You check in on time. If not there is usually another flight leaving soon. Good lord in heaven people!

Bob

 

[vantheman63]

Dear Mr. Stupid Van The Man,

If you weren't stupid you would have known the flight was booked full. Every seat was occupied. How stupid is it to sit at the gate for an extra five minutes when every seat on the plane is already filled? Stupid? How stupid are you for even posting something so stupid. Geez. I really can't believe what I am reading on this thread! I really can't believe the caliber of employees both east and west we have these days. It wasn't like this 5 years ago or 10. It really wasn't!

Van! GET A CLUE! Please. The plane was full! There were no open seats! She missed her check in time. Every gate advertises the door close time every day, all day, each day, day in and day out! She didn't show up on time. Someone else got her seat. The plane was full. No seats. Is it really that hard to understand? I don't care if she was drunk, drugged out, pimped out, whored out or up for sainthood by the pope. You check in on time. If not there is usually another flight leaving soon. Good lord in heaven people!

Bob

Okay....completely aside from your genius, condescending, all knowing, lovely post here....

Let me ask you a VERY simple series of questions....and see where you come up with this here:

1.) You buy a ticket
2.) You check in at home, at the airport, whatever...and have a boarding pass
3.) You get ON your originating flight
4.) The computer SHOWS you as "in route," on the connecting aircraft

And they give your seat away? Without spending the "extra 10 minutes" to see if you show to the gate?

No wonder I don't fly US any more....

Now, you are more then welcome to call me stupid...that's all well and good. But I can tell you this....I've gotten into ORD, EWR, ATL and other airports LATE....and sprinted to the connecting gate....and not had my seat given up...not even had my first class seat given away.

I've been DEAD last on the airplane...I've been paged...at ORD coming in from SAT, UA LOOKED FOR ME before pushing. I was in C and heard them paging me....from B...and they KNEW I was somewhere in the airport...and they waited an extra few minutes. I got on, they closed the door and we left...

Happened to me in ATL about 3 weeks ago...DL, MCI-ATL-LGA....they KNEW I was on the way...door opened, I had about 12 minutes to scamper all the way to the T Gates....and I did so....I was the last one on the airplane...and we left.

So, feel free to hurl all the insults you want....but guess what?

REAL CUSTOMER SERVICE ORIENTED COMPANIES DON'T DO THAT TO THEIR CUSTOMERS REGARDLESS OF HOW "DRUNK, DRUGGED OUT, PIMPED OUT, WHORED OUT OR UP FOR SAINTHOOD BY THE POPE" THEY ARE!!!

And shame on you for using those words to describe a customer.

And one last question...are you on the US Airways Managment Team? Your intollerance coupled with a heavy dose of arrogance suggests it.

 

[EMBFA]

What do you do, meander about the airport until someone looks for you or you hear your name paged? Maybe you should travel with a companion too?

 

[vantheman63]

What do you do, meander about the airport until someone looks for you or you hear your name paged? Maybe you should travel with a companion too?

Good LORD!

Do you people EVER travel for real? And pay attention? LOL

I mean....is this a real post?

So, EVERY TIME you've ridden on your first leg, you've gotten in RIGHT on time, no holding on the tarmac...no traffic on the ground?

C'mon!

You are flying from SAT to ORD....due in at say, 13:15 with a connection to PVD at 14:15 (1 hour)...you push late in SAT and then have an ATC hold in ORD....get to the gate at 14:05....and have to get from the C terminal to the B terminal...at ORD...

Or let me put it in PHL terminology....

You land late coming from, say SAN to PHL....due in at 13:15 with a connection to BOS at 14:15....you get in and get stuck waiting for a gate....in the B concourse....at 14:05 yuo finally pull in and have to get to A....or C....or F.....

Yeah, the other airlines page you...they do...and they look for you...yeah, they do....they treat their "loyal" (some rocket scientist here said they don't like the term "elite" so we'll call pax like me "loyal") and high yield pax well.

By the tone and comments from these posts...I'm absolutely seeing a pattern here....

You people can't even BEGIN to understand your customers....you have NO CLUE what goes on out there....do you?

 

[hp_fa]

Per Elise's letter, the originating flight arrived at the gate at 12:18 pm. The gate was three gates away from the Tucson flight. Even allowing 20 minutes to deplane that makes it 12:38 pm and add five more minutes to travel three gates and that makes it 12:43 pm. That is giving every benefit of the doubt to the passenger.

What else was the airline supposed to do?

 

[vantheman63]

Per Elise's letter, the originating flight arrived at the gate at 12:18 pm. The gate was three gates away from the Tucson flight. Even allowing 20 minutes to deplane that makes it 12:38 pm and add five more minutes to travel three gates and that makes it 12:43 pm. That is giving every benefit of the doubt to the passenger.

What else was the airline supposed to do?

Okay....let me try this ONE more time....and then, you folx win....and I gain even more understanding....you be right, I'll just continue being dumber then a box of hammers....and taking my "stupid" money elsewhere.

There is a passenger....

WE KNOW HE OR SHE IS IN THE AIPORT....and HE OR SHE PAID FOR A TICKET.....

WHY DOES THE AIRLINE HAVE TO CLOSE THE FLIGHT OUT AND LEAVE 8 MINUTES EARLY.....5 MINUTES EARLY......1 MINUTE EARLY....

When there is someone who has a paid ticket who might be running late for whatever reason???

That's he disconnect here.

I agree with Elise' response.....I agree this person should not have been traveling alone....I agree it's just awful.....I agree US has absolutely ZERO responsibility for the horrible events that took her life.

I agree to ALL of that.

Where I disagree is this: Who KNOWS what the circumstances are when a paying pax doesn't show up 10 minutes prior...8 minutes prior...1 minute prior to departure. There could have been a phone call from a loved one that distracted the person. There could have been illness....a person could fall...hell, TSA can stop a person for almost ANYTHING and detain them.

The point is, "WHY GIVE THE SEAT AWAY AND LEAVE EARLY WHEN THE AIRLINE KNEW THE PERSON GOT ON THEIR ORIGINATING FLIGHT, ARRIVED ON TIME AND WAS IN THE AIRPORT, PERHAPS CLOSE BY?!?!?

I'm telling you, THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN AT OTHER CARRIERS!

Sure, at depature time, straight up...the pax hasn't shown....even though we know the person is in the airport...fine, then go.

And perhaps this whole questioning reveals why US is #1 in complaints....maybe the great people that make this company go, from the CEO down DO NOT GET IT.

What more could the airline have done you ask?

How about this....push from the gate 3 minutes late....no harm, no foul, no penalty...wait for the pax that has the ticket to show because, they were in the airport.

The charming and wonderful Bob Loblaw stated I'm "Mr. Stupid." And then the lovely EMBFA piled on and suggested I need a guide myself. Okay...fine....I'm not a genius, a rocket scientist like all you jet jockeys out there....but this, for the LIFE of me doesn't seem this complicated to me.

Then again, it speaks volumes to why I moved over to CO and UA I guess....this crap doesn't happen there...or at least, it's never happened to me. As I'm sitting here typing this, I remember being in MSP connecting to PVD with my wife....having come in from ABQ. I got a phone call...HAD to stay in MSP, an emergency. Flight was supposed to leave, my wife went to the gate where they were paging me...."he's not going to make the flight, go ahead and go" she tells them...at time of departure.

I just don't get how this is so damed complicated to US...I don't get it at all. Although the #1 ranking in complaints makes is a little easier to understand.

 

[hp_fa]

Okay....let me try this ONE more time....and then, you folx win....and I gain even more understanding....you be right, I'll just continue being dumber then a box of hammers....and taking my "stupid" money elsewhere.

There is a passenger....

OK

WE KNOW HE OR SHE IS IN THE AIPORT....and HE OR SHE PAID FOR A TICKET.....

We don't really know she is in the airport. She was in the airport but until she shows up at the gate you are simply asuming that she is in the airport. Maybe the flight was bad and she is renting a car for the last two hours of the trip. That isn't that unusual.

WHY DOES THE AIRLINE HAVE TO CLOSE THE FLIGHT OUT AND LEAVE 8 MINUTES EARLY.....5 MINUTES EARLY......1 MINUTE EARLY

Because the plane if full and she did not present herself to airline personnel in time to claim her seat. Her seat was given to a standby passenger and the full plane left.

When there is someone who has a paid ticket who might be running late for whatever reason???

That's he disconnect here.

What running late? The plane arrived at 12:18 pm. Allowing 20 minutes for the slowest deplaneing the avaiation industry has ever seen, it is now 12:38. She travels the three gates in five minutes, it is 12:43. Why didn't she check in or just sit there for the boarding, which is due to start anytime? Why did she leave the gate for at least 20-25 minutes?

The point is, "WHY GIVE THE SEAT AWAY AND LEAVE EARLY WHEN THE AIRLINE KNEW THE PERSON GOT ON THEIR ORIGINATING FLIGHT, ARRIVED ON TIME AND WAS IN THE AIRPORT, PERHAPS CLOSE BY?!?!?

I'm telling you, THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN AT OTHER CARRIERS!

Sure it does. Every stinking day it happens. People fail to get onto connecting flights because they are: sick; horny; thirsty; runninhg away; need a few drinks; hungry; shopping; and not paying attention.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Let me take a stab at this......

US' policy is that a passenger has to be in the boarding area or on the plane 15 minutes prior to departure or risk losing their seat.

So at 12:58, per the contract of carriage, a passenger only needs to be in the boarding area to retain their seat. Does anyone, including Ms. Eberwine, know for a fact that this passenger wasn't in the boarding area at 12:58? Does anyone, including Ms. Eberwine, know for a fact that an announcement was made to determine if any confirmed passengers were in the boarding area at 12:58?

Much has been made of this lady not presenting herself to the agent till 1:05. So what? She had no obligation to do so until she was ready to board, and per the contract of carriage had no obligation to board until the agent was ready to close the door. So until someone can present compelling evidence that an attempt was made to ensure that all confirmed passengers were present at 12:58, the 1:05 time is meaningless. Potential customer service failure #1.

Now let's look at this timeline from another angle.

At 12:58, the agent should have confirmed that there were no more confirmed passengers in the boarding area. Then the agent would process one or more standby passengers. The standby passenger(s) would board, stow any baggage, and settle into their seats. Upon confirmation that passengers/belongings were seated/stowed, the aircraft door could be closed and the jetway pulled back. All by 1:05. Could it be possible that the agent started clearing standby passengers prior to 12:58 to ensure getting the door closed by 1:08 - 5 minutes before scheduled departure - contrary to the contract of carriage? Potential customer service failure #2.

Like Van, I mean none of this to imply that US is responsible for this woman's unfortunate death. Strictly looking at it from a customer service perspective.

Jim

 

[jetmech01890]

Okay....completely aside from your genius, condescending, all knowing, lovely post here....

Let me ask you a VERY simple series of questions....and see where you come up with this here:

1.) You buy a ticket
2.) You check in at home, at the airport, whatever...and have a boarding pass
3.) You get ON your originating flight
4.) The computer SHOWS you as "in route," on the connecting aircraft

And they give your seat away? Without spending the "extra 10 minutes" to see if you show to the gate?

No wonder I don't fly US any more....

Now, you are more then welcome to call me stupid...that's all well and good. But I can tell you this....I've gotten into ORD, EWR, ATL and other airports LATE....and sprinted to the connecting gate....and not had my seat given up...not even had my first class seat given away.

I've been DEAD last on the airplane...I've been paged...at ORD coming in from SAT, UA LOOKED FOR ME before pushing. I was in C and heard them paging me....from B...and they KNEW I was somewhere in the airport...and they waited an extra few minutes. I got on, they closed the door and we left...

Happened to me in ATL about 3 weeks ago...DL, MCI-ATL-LGA....they KNEW I was on the way...door opened, I had about 12 minutes to scamper all the way to the T Gates....and I did so....I was the last one on the airplane...and we left.

So, feel free to hurl all the insults you want....but guess what?

REAL CUSTOMER SERVICE ORIENTED COMPANIES DON'T DO THAT TO THEIR CUSTOMERS REGARDLESS OF HOW "DRUNK, DRUGGED OUT, PIMPED OUT, WHORED OUT OR UP FOR SAINTHOOD BY THE POPE" THEY ARE!!!

And shame on you for using those words to describe a customer.

And one last question...are you on the US Airways Managment Team? Your intollerance coupled with a heavy dose of arrogance suggests it.

[/i I kinda agree with van you buy a tcket you get on the plane at your orgin airport you fly on said palne you deboard you get on your next plane seems simple enough, only thing you had some sort of issue and you cant get to the plane in enough time so captin bob can depart you get there your seat and the plane is gone UM how would you handle ok yep my bad I am sorry you can kick me to the curb , but wait this woman had some deep isssues and maybe she didnt have anyone who could fly with her some people do have lives , so bacsically she showed up her seat and the plane left and that is what pushed her over the edge sorry 8 min late you lose
what dont you understand thats what pushed her into a rampage and she took her own life for 8 minutes 8 crummy minutes how do you feel defend that one

 

[Itestwell]

How about this....push from the gate 3 minutes late....no harm, no foul, no penalty...wait for the pax that has the ticket to show because, they were in the airport.

The two things that frequent flyers have said, OVER AND OVER, is that they want:

1. ON TIME DEPARTURES

2. THEIR LUGGAGE ARRIVING WITH THEM.

Simply put, that is the reason that every airline shuts the door many minutes before scheduled departure. You wanted it, you got it.

Let's move on and discuss something more to the topic, please, such as WHY she was flying unaccompanied in the first place. Duh.