The AFA thread is becoming increasingly polarized with regard to he said, she said stuff and whether to wait or decide how one is going to vote. All well and good, but pretty unuseful. We ARE still in negotiations, and IMHO, probably will be for quite a while more. Aside from the proposed tentatives glaring flaws, I am also a bit concerned about the little stuff.
Yeah, the little stuff I have to live with every trip. See, if you hated your office chair year after year, you'd probably find a way to change it, whether you had to beg steal or borrow a new one, but I am at the mercy of mechanics, hotel negotiators that apparently have unhidden sadistic impulses toward crew and staffing parameters that no one else seems to care about.
What about the fact that we have an inordinate amount of Atlas carriers that refuse to let one pull out drawers? We have the cheapest galleys in the airline industry and umm, really shows, but these things are going to hurt somebody. The 767 has meal carts that are probably older than me, and routinely we have to serve meal trays where the salad is unrecognizeable because it's uh, been cooked, the butter's melted all over the silverware and you just try to avert your eyes from the confused customer as he/she shakes it off and then asks you for "butter that's not melted". Galley pull out shelves are actually supposed to pullout. Galley ice drawers are actually supposed to open. I love the Bucher carts without brakes. It's so fun to tag a cart with no brakes and then get it back on your next trip. Adds spice to the life!
That's all while they staff a 330 with 9 f/as. This a/c required 14 and the only difference in service was the addition of hot towels. I'll do hot towels again if you give me back the five people. Let's say we do get a new contract. You (company) think that will magically make us stronger? Ahh yes, I know you think that you're new Koolaider CSDs are going to fix everything. Amazing how the senior mamas don't seem to know that a company chosen CSD program is going to snatch that $4.50 away from them.
Push pull on an international flight is a crappy service, but those who opt for it are right about one thing, doing all of that service with 9 people just shows the company that they can understaff at will. This also goes for a domestic 737-400 where the genie trays are gone but now you get to SELL meals.
Who exactly is the company hotel person that apparently was wronged in a previous life by crew? It's getting so that the hotels that take US only just let us in the door anymore and strip down every single amenity until you're lucky you have a bed, nevermind a safe one. Did you know that a tub is a luxury item in Europe? So is a room with outlets for electronics.
So, this is little stuff yes? But it is the day to day reality of crew. At other companies, management usually has a reasonable view on things, figuring treating their crews well results in customers being treated well. Unfortunately we don't have that. I hope to high heaven that in the mess of this tentative somewhere they address minimum standards of staffing, hotels, and safe equipment.
Oh, and a vacation matrix where more than ten people get a vacation in August.
Yeah, the little stuff I have to live with every trip. See, if you hated your office chair year after year, you'd probably find a way to change it, whether you had to beg steal or borrow a new one, but I am at the mercy of mechanics, hotel negotiators that apparently have unhidden sadistic impulses toward crew and staffing parameters that no one else seems to care about.
What about the fact that we have an inordinate amount of Atlas carriers that refuse to let one pull out drawers? We have the cheapest galleys in the airline industry and umm, really shows, but these things are going to hurt somebody. The 767 has meal carts that are probably older than me, and routinely we have to serve meal trays where the salad is unrecognizeable because it's uh, been cooked, the butter's melted all over the silverware and you just try to avert your eyes from the confused customer as he/she shakes it off and then asks you for "butter that's not melted". Galley pull out shelves are actually supposed to pullout. Galley ice drawers are actually supposed to open. I love the Bucher carts without brakes. It's so fun to tag a cart with no brakes and then get it back on your next trip. Adds spice to the life!
That's all while they staff a 330 with 9 f/as. This a/c required 14 and the only difference in service was the addition of hot towels. I'll do hot towels again if you give me back the five people. Let's say we do get a new contract. You (company) think that will magically make us stronger? Ahh yes, I know you think that you're new Koolaider CSDs are going to fix everything. Amazing how the senior mamas don't seem to know that a company chosen CSD program is going to snatch that $4.50 away from them.
Push pull on an international flight is a crappy service, but those who opt for it are right about one thing, doing all of that service with 9 people just shows the company that they can understaff at will. This also goes for a domestic 737-400 where the genie trays are gone but now you get to SELL meals.
Who exactly is the company hotel person that apparently was wronged in a previous life by crew? It's getting so that the hotels that take US only just let us in the door anymore and strip down every single amenity until you're lucky you have a bed, nevermind a safe one. Did you know that a tub is a luxury item in Europe? So is a room with outlets for electronics.
So, this is little stuff yes? But it is the day to day reality of crew. At other companies, management usually has a reasonable view on things, figuring treating their crews well results in customers being treated well. Unfortunately we don't have that. I hope to high heaven that in the mess of this tentative somewhere they address minimum standards of staffing, hotels, and safe equipment.
Oh, and a vacation matrix where more than ten people get a vacation in August.
