First Eastern Winter Storm of Season

[SparrowHawk]

Let me explain this to you: the ex-East dispatchers in PIT know their stuff. However, even Michael Jordan did not win playing for the Wizards. And he can't shoot a basketball with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Tempe can't run an operation, lacks any operational acumen, and generally can't deal with tactical operational concerns unless it can be recovered by the Excel autosave feature.

Keep deluding yourself into thinking there is talent in the desert.

Now Now Clue,

I'm pretty certain there is talent in the desert! The problem none of the talent reports to 1111 Rio Salada Drive, Tempe, AZ

So sayeth the SparrowHawk

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

Heh heh....just checked status for a AM originator from an outstation. Flightstats.com shows CXLD....the US website show the flight running. Who wants to make a bet?

 

[SpinDoc]

If anyone is working that flight tomorrow just remember on the A330-200 between PIT-PHL it's a hot breakfast gurl. On a serious note I sure hope they let pax on that plane. I'm sure we have stranded passengers all over. I just hope the company has taken care of them.

Ok it's 79114. LOL

Let's take a look at what transpired in the past 48 hours with PIT OCC. It was a given fact on Friday that PHL would have at least 12 inches of snow from this storm by mid-day Saturday, so why did the PIT OCC dispatchers allow flights from Europe to depart for PHL?

Four of these International inbound flights ended up diverting to PIT, and all of them were A330's, including 2 333's and 2 332's. PIT no longer has either the staffing or equipment such as K-loaders and tow bars to handle these types of diversions, yet OCC still sent them to PIT. Who was responsible to give the order to dispatch these flights to the U.S., with the foreknowledge that they would most likely be unable to land in PHL as planned?

In PIT alone, we added more than 60 hours of overtime on the ramp, plus we paid United Parcel Service a significant premium for 2 days of use of their K-Loader with a loader operator, not to mention the IAM contracted bypass wages for the 16 hours that were worked by the UPS agent. Add to that the cost of hotels, meals, and Rule 240 tickets on other carriers, and this little exercise by OCC will probably be a very significant expense for the company. And that is only for 4 flights and just under 1000 pissed off customers.

If I were Doogie and Scooter, I would be demanding the head of the person who made the call to send these 4 flights from Europe to the U.S. knowing that conditions in PHL would most likely require diversions and outrageous expense. But alas, it is likely that no one will learn from this and the company will chalk it up to an unforeseen weather event, even though it was foreseen.

This will be a very expensive winter storm event for US, and most of it could have been prevented if flights would have been cancelled early on in the forecast range.

 

[ClueByFour]

So Clue last year it was the wonderful job of PIT this year it is the fools in Tempe?

The problem has been the fools in Tempe since they took over.

Your nothing more than an internet troll!

How many beers have you had at the Sea Shell Lounge, the Stardust, Fredricks (RIP), the Glass Tower (RIP), Bullheads, Patriks, or 3dubs (nor b-dubs)? I know a helluva lot more people familiar with the operation (particularly the former East operation) than you do.

Corporate shills of the world, unite!

Carrry on...

 

[VAflyGal]

Children, CHILDREN!!!!! Please take your fighting back to the Pilot Labor Thread where it belongs.

*waits for it*

 

[SparrowHawk]

The root cause for the operational challenges is IMO not the level of talent employed at US Airways.

The attitude at the top is the root cause. Others have referred to it as "The high cost of cheap". Because US is no longer highly skilled operationally due to the attitude displayed from the top what ends up happening is the game plan for a major weather event is prepared with little or no margin for error. During a weather event Murphy's law reigns supreme and with the attitude coming from the top decisions are made that don't work in reality but look good on a spread sheet.

Of course with the mindset in place, Customers and Employees never enter into the equation. A fact that should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with US Airways.

The trip over a dollar to save a dime approach has been witnessed time and again. Einstein said that the definition of insanity was Performing the experiment over and over and expecting a different outcome. If you believe Einstein then by definition US Airways management is insane!

For me it goes back to the Christmas Meltdown. Same Shite, Different Day. And so it goes.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

Holiday joy in short supply at DCA. I wonder if the employees who who couldn't to work on Saturday will get ding with attendance points? (VA was under a declaration of emergency; US managers in many stations (don't know about DCA) maintain thatg it doesn't matter: "points are points, no matter what".

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...9122100740.html

Lines to check in at National were glacially slow and snaked far beyond the counters, winding around corners. Would-be passengers were irritable, snapping at each other and at airline personnel. At the same time, the security lines at some terminals were virtually empty, suggesting that relatively few passengers so far had been able to secure flights.


And across the Atlantic: Say what you will about the French, but they are taking care of stranded Eurostar passengers:
Passengers were told to take a train to Calais, where they could get a ferry to Dover. But they were left to frantically attempt to organise their own travel and soon found there were no trains to Calais left, and no more space on ferries. Others phoned friends and family, asking them to help find alternative ways to get home.

Baskets of croissants, macaroons and sweets were handed out, but did little to lift the mood.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/dec/...rs-gare-du-nord

 

[MCORORES]

The debate here is who dropped the ball here. Was it the employees.....no. But as the old saying goes we know what slides downward. In Res for the first time the company has put manditory overtime for all offices including INT. Guess they think that we had little impact due to the snowstorm/blizzard and I guess the 7 inches of snow/sleet/freezing rain that still stands is nothing more than an picture of fantasy. And why does it take so long to reaccom the stranded passengers???? One word SHARES!!!!! It takes forever to get creative with this system and that is if it is working correctly. Imagine how quickly we in res would be able to service the stranded passengers if we had a computer system that would work correctly and would become an EMPLOYER OF CHOICE that we would retain some very talented customer services agents that have the knowledge to be creative when needed to be. But that is going to be a pipe dream as we all know on the Customer Service side Management still belives ANYONE can do this job and lets keep the turnover going. The bottom line is management dropped the ball and it is the employees that put up the crap associated with it.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

One word SHARES!!!!! It takes forever to get creative with this system and that is if it is working correctly. Imagine how quickly we in res would be able to service the stranded passengers if we had a computer system that would work correctly and would become an

While it has been improved a bit, reroutes is one of the many areas where QIK/SHARES is far less capable that Sabre. But don't forget, it's cheaper. And Tempe dearly, dearly believes that cheaper = better.

 

[ClueByFour]

Holiday joy in short supply at DCA. I wonder if the employees who who couldn't to work on Saturday will get ding with attendance points? (VA was under a declaration of emergency; US managers in many stations (don't know about DCA) maintain thatg it doesn't matter: "points are points, no matter what".

That's a grievance waiting to be won. US asks you to break the law (travel during a state of emergency with closed roads) to get to work?

 

[Travelpro72]

SpinDoc what a great post. It is crystal clear what happened and what could have been avoided. The company is absolutely 100% responsible for dropping the ball. It wasn't like the storm took a sudden turn towards the eastern seaboard catching all off guard. They have no idea how to run the airline many times on a good day so this comes as no shock really. What is funny is those that call them out on it here are negative, bashers, disgruntled employees etc., blah, blah, blah, blah. This management team is so inexperienced out of their league. Ok may I ask why at least one tow bar for widebody a/c and a loader isn't left in PIT since it's a prime airport for US to divert a/c? 🙄

 

[BoeingBoy]

And the government speaks....

WASHINGTON — The Transportation Department responds to tarmac horror stories by ordering airlines to let passengers stuck in stranded airplanes to deplane after three hours.

U.S. imposes 3-hour limit on tarmac delays

Jim

 

[Richard]

The original namecalling post and the response to it have been deleted, and someone is spending his Christmas holiday in the cornfield.

As a reminder, PLEASE RE READ THE RULES OF THE BOARD AT THE TOP OF THE FORUM.

 

[SS255]

And the government speaks....

WASHINGTON — The Transportation Department responds to tarmac horror stories by ordering airlines to let passengers stuck in stranded airplanes to deplane after three hours.

U.S. imposes 3-hour limit on tarmac delays

Jim

While this will certainly not solve the problem, it will hopefully encourage airlines to act responsibly so that they do not come close to the 3-hour tarmac limit.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

"Numerous requests to speak to top-level US Airways executives for this story were denied".

What a surprise!

"The airline now has some of the highest baggage check-in and in-flight service fees and its employees are some of the lowest paid in the industry," (sigh)

Axe the PHX Biz Journal's reporters not able to track down Doug and Scooter somewhere?