POOR PLANNING!
(The names and destinations have been changed to protect the innocent and incompetent.)
A SFO crew and a LAX crew are in London.
The earlier London - LAX flight cancels, but the crew has already checked out of the hotel and is at the airport.
So scheduling decides to have the LAX crew take the SFO flight, and call the SFO crew and tell them that will now be required to layover an extra day (no extra pay) and work the London - LAX flight the next day.
But wait - the planes are different, so one of the SFO crew members will get to stay on the trip home to SFO - and another will be sent to NYC - in the chaos after a major weather disruption.
Also, both crews will now be at the wrong base, so they will each have to be dead-headed back to their base after a 10-hour flight - on another airline.
Never mind that 3 of the SFO crew members have trips scheduled the day after they were supposed to get back to base, which now have to be dropped - meaning they must lose 20 hours or be placed on time-available.
Now, when the LAX crew arrives in SFO, there are NO AVAILABLE SEATS home to LAX, so they are over-nighted in SFO. (who knows if any of them had trips the next day that thus had to be dropped.)
The next day, when the SFO crew arrives in LAX, they arrive at the other airline to find that no reservations have been made for the 8 of them. Fortunately, they learn that by sheer LUCK, there are seats available on the other airline, which they can book using the reciprocal jumpseat over-flow policy. However, not wanting to deviate from their "schedule", they attempt to call scheduling (who they find out has no idea who the crew is, where they are, or what they doing!).
After FINALLY getting through, the scheduler asks them exactly what flight this SFO-based crew is trying to pick up once they get to SFO. (???? - no, we are just trying to get HOME to SFO!!!)
Then, after being transferred to no less than 4 different people, the SFO based flight attendants are at last offered a record locator (reservation) number for their flight home - do they want it? No - thank you. We are already ON the flight that we would have missed if we had waited - and are they are closing the door. Thank you - bye!
So - said crew makes it home! All is well - right? Well, here are just some of the consequences that were the result of this legendary planning.
8 crew members laid over an extra day - no extra pay.
16 crew members had to dead-head back to their respective bases on another airline - company expense.
8 Flight Attendants had to spend an extra night in a hotel - company expense.
3 Flight Attendants were flown into, and thus missed their trips the next day, resulting in at least two flights going out short-staffed. Legendary.
ALL could have been averted if the LAX was simply sent back to the hotel to scheduled to take their flight home the next day - instead of messing both their AND the SFO crew's trip's/ lives and costing the COMPANY - more money!