John Mckorkles newsletter

[Jimmy Neutron]

Hello Everyone,

How ya been? Yes, it has been a long time since I've written a newsletter.
I've been busy. I've gotten many emails over the past couple of months, like:
"Where are you?" "Are you still writing your newsletters?" "I think I dropped
off of your list." No, you're still on the list and yes, I will still be writing
the newsletters.

Instead of writing one really long newsletter, I thought I would try and send
out three shorter versions. Oh yeah, have you seen the new T-shirt that reads
"My Daddy went to a Fight and a Union Meeting broke out." Gotta love some
members of the IAM. See:
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/200...ion-fight_x.htm

So, when last I wrote to you, we looked at the Department of Transportation's
monthly Air Travel Consumer Report. That last newsletter contained data for
September, 2005 and as I'm sure you recall, US Airways ranked above average in
the On-Time category but below average in the Mishandled Baggage department and
was the worst in Consumer Complaints. Was October any better? Let's find out:

OCTOBER 2005:
ON-TIME:
1- Hawaiian Airlines ... 96.8%
2- Skywest Airlines ... 86.3
3- Frontier Airlines ... 86.2
4- Comair ... 84.9
5- AMERICA WEST AIRLINES ... 84.1
6- United Airlines ... 83.0
7- American Eagle Airlines ... 82.7
8- ATA Airlines ... 82.5
9- Independence Air ... 82.5
10- American Airlines ... 82.1
AVERAGE ... 81.3%
11- Southwest Airlines ... 80.8
12- Northwest Airlines ... 80.6
13- Alaska Airlines ... 80.5
14- Delta Air Lines ... 80.1
15- US AIRWAYS ... 79.8
16- Continental Airlines ... 78.1
17- Atlantic Southeast Airlines ... 77.4
18- ExpressJet Airlines ... 76.8
19- JetBlue Airways ... 75.1
20- AirTran Airways ... 74.6

US AIRWAYS' ON-TIME PERCENTAGE AT THEIR HUBS AND FOCUS CITIES:
HUBS:
1- CLT ...85.0%
2- PHL ... 71.4

FOCUS CITIES:
1- DCA ... 86.5
2- PIT ... 84.5
3- BOS ... 73.3
4- LGA ... 69.5

FYI: America West at PHX: 89.1% and at LAS: 83.1%

PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT:
Of the 33 major U.S. airports covered in the DOT's monthly report, PHL recorded
an on-time (if you can call it that) arrival percentage of 69.7, ranking it
29th, just ahead of BOS, MIA, LGA and EWR.

For on-time departures, PHL ranked 31st, (72.1%) which was only slightly better
than FLL and EWR.

WORST FLIGHTS OF THE MONTH:
For October, neither US Airways nor America West had any of the Top Ten worst
flights, but boy did ExpressJet really suck. ExpressJet recorded the top three
worst flights for October and, in fact, out of the 23 most delayed flights, 13
belonged to ExpressJet. Take the bus.

OVERALL NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS BY CARRIER:
(worst to best)
20- JetBlue cancelled 294 flights, or 3.1% of their operations.
19- Delta cancelled 1,576 flights, or 3.1% of their operations.
18- Atlantic Southeast cancelled 649 flights, or 2.5% of their operations.
17- ExpressJet (of course) cancelled 832 flights, or 2.4% of their operations.
16- American cancelled 1,297 flights, or 2.4% of their operations.
15- American Eagle cancelled 1,000 flights, or 2.2% of their operations.
14- US AIRWAYS cancelled 675 flights, or 2.0% of their operations.
13- Comair cancelled 641 flights, or 1.9% of their operations.
12- ATA cancelled 61 flights, or 1.8% of their operations.
AVERAGE: 1.8% of operations cancelled in October
11- AirTran cancelled 267 flights, or 1.6% of their operations.
10- Alaska cancelled 193 flights, or 1.5% of their operations.
9- Continental cancelled 363 flights, or 1.5% of their operations.
8- Northwest cancelled 473 flights, or 1.3% of their operations.
7- AMERICA WEST cancelled 214 flights, or 1.3% of their operations.
6- Independence Air cancelled 111 flights, or 1.1% of their operations.
5- Skywest cancelled 496 flights, or 1.1% of their operations.
4- Southwest cancelled 874 flights, or 1.0% of their operations.
3- United cancelled 400 flights, or 1.0% of their operations.
2- Frontier cancelled 59 flights, or 0.9% of their operations.
1- Hawaiian did not cancel any flights in October.
(These 20 airlines cancelled a total of 10,475 flights in October.
Additionally, there were 724 diversions)

MISHANDLED BAGGAGE:
(reports per 1,000 passengers - best to worst)
1- Independence Air ... 2.57
2- JetBlue ... 2.68
3- Hawaiian ... 2.81
4- AirTran ... 2.96
5- United ... 3.41
6- Alaska ... 3.48
7- ATA ... 3.70
8- Continental ... 3.80
9- AMERICA WEST ... 3.87
10- Northwest ... 3.88
11- Frontier ... 4.07
12- American ... 4.48
13- Southwest ... 4.48
AVERAGE: 4.90
14- Delta ... 5.04
15- ExpressJet ... 6.25
16- Skywest ... 6.89
17- US AIRWAYS ... 7.85
18- Comair ... 8.37
19- American Eagle ... 9.13
20- Atlantic Southeast ... 12.25

CONSUMER COMPLAINTS:
(Complaints per 100,000 enplanements - best to worst)
1- ExpressJet ... 0.00 (this defies logic)
2- Hawaiian ... 0.00
3- Comair ... 0.18
4- Southwest ... 0.24
5- Skywest ... 0.27
6- JetBlue ... 0.29
7- Alaska ... 0.38
8- Atlantic Southeast ... 0.58
9- American Eagle ... 0.64
10- AMERICA WEST ... 0.72
11- United ... 0.72
AVERAGE: 0.72
12- Northwest ... 0.73
13- Frontier ... 0.73
14- American ... 0.79
15- AirTran ... 0.90
16- ATA ... 0.96
17- Delta ... 0.99
18- Continental ... 1.03
19- Independence Air ... 1.70
20- who else? US AIRWAYS ... 1.71

So, to recap here, it's the same old song and dance. America West was
above-average in all four categories and, in typical fashion, US Airways ranked
below-average.

During his Winter town-hall meetings, US Airways CEO Doug Parker was asked why
he retained Al Crellin, EVP of Operations from US Airways. As you know, since
Mr. Crellin took over as head of Operations for US Airways, the operational
numbers have simply tanked. Mr. Parker responded that he thought Mr. Crellin
was a good executive. I'm not sure what criteria was used to make that
assessment, but the numbers speak for themselves.

You may recall that in early December, 2005, US Airways appointed Ross Bonanno
as VP, airport operations - eastern division. Heck, if one guy can't get the
job done, hire another. On the one hand, it's unfortunate that an additional
person must be hired to achieve something that the person currently in charge of
can't. On the other hand, give Doug Parker credit for realizing that there is a
serious problem and trying to do something about it -- unlike Bruce Lakefield,
who would just stand around and blame the industry or Dave Siegel, who would
have outsourced the job.

DON'T FORGET:
US Airways is still taking feedback regarding the boarding policy. Board by
date of hire or first come, first serve? Better make your opinion heard by
emailing it to: [email protected]

Also, the company is taking feedback from all uniformed employees. Have a
suggestion about what you want your new uniform to look like? Email your
suggestion to: [email protected]

PHILADELPHIA STORY:
It's funny, the old slogan for Philadelphia was "The City of Brotherly Love."
That was changed a few years back to "The City that Loves you Back." Well,
they're both crap as far as I'm concerned and I'm guessing there is one recently
retired flight attendant who will agree with me. Good luck, Leslie.
See: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/13834527.htm

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?
Have you noticed the news recently regarding US Airways lowering fares? Gee,
who was it that said, for the past several years, that the airline needed to
lower fares and become more proactive rather than reactive? Who used to say
that all the time? I'll tell you who the idiot was who wouldn't listen: Dave
"I'm not going to take the money and run" Siegel.

Okay folks, like I said, short and sweet. I'll have the next newsletter, with
November's DOT data, to you within 48 hours and of course, there's more news to
discuss.


Regards,

John McCorkle
Wilmington, NC

 

[Travels2mch]

US AIRWAYS' ON-TIME PERCENTAGE AT THEIR HUBS AND FOCUS CITIES:
HUBS:
1- CLT ...85.0%
2- PHL ... 71.4

FOCUS CITIES:
1- DCA ... 86.5
2- PIT ... 84.5
3- BOS ... 73.3
4- LGA ... 69.5

FYI: America West at PHX: 89.1% and at LAS: 83.1%

PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT:
Of the 33 major U.S. airports covered in the DOT's monthly report, PHL recorded
an on-time (if you can call it that) arrival percentage of 69.7, ranking it
29th, just ahead of BOS, MIA, LGA and EWR.

For on-time departures, PHL ranked 31st, (72.1%) which was only slightly better
than FLL and EWR.

Impressive stats for PHL......and they wonder why nobody wants to connect through there!! And I wonder how much of the mishandled baggage hit was also at the hands of PHL??

 

[Jimmy Neutron]

Impressive stats for PHL......and they wonder why nobody wants to connect through there!! And I wonder how much of the mishandled baggage hit was also at the hands of PHL??

Great Huh!

 

[EricLv2Fish]

That was before the new equipment arrived wasn't it? Christmas Meltdown 2005 didn't happen. That was a victory in and of itself don't ya think? The real test will be to continue to monitor these stats over the next 12-24 months and see if there is progress. The first couple of months one could expect them to go down before going up with all the confusion a merger of this magnitude creates. That didn't happen so we did better than one could expect.

 

[Jimmy Neutron]

That was before the new equipment arrived wasn't it? Christmas Meltdown 2005 didn't happen. That was a victory in and of itself don't ya think? The real test will be to continue to monitor these stats over the next 12-24 months and see if there is progress. The first couple of months one could expect them to go down before going up with all the confusion a merger of this magnitude creates. That didn't happen so we did better than one could expect.

Give me a break, we all hear the horror stories from employees and customers about PHL.

The truth is most of our bad numbers and lost customers are created out of the PHL debacle.

It is what it is and always will be, sorry!

 

[john john]

That was before the new equipment arrived wasn't it? Christmas Meltdown 2005 didn't happen. That was a victory in and of itself don't ya think? The real test will be to continue to monitor these stats over the next 12-24 months and see if there is progress. The first couple of months one could expect them to go down before going up with all the confusion a merger of this magnitude creates. That didn't happen so we did better than one could expect.

You sure have blinders on I just worked a RJ to CLT that took PHL 2hr to do the turn around

 

[usflyguy]

:down: have noticed a few rampers lying on tables asleep in the gate areas over on the f concourse....maybe constant walk thrus by some supervisors is in order....and when did the whole, "i'm gonna talk on my cell phone while i'm working" become the norm?

 

[john john]

The real test will be to continue to monitor these stats over the next 12-24 months and see if there is progress. The first couple of months one could expect them to go down before going up with all the confusion a merger of this magnitude creates. That didn't happen so we did better than one could expect.

Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."
- Autobiography of Mark Twain

 

[SKY HIGH]

:down: have noticed a few rampers lying on tables asleep in the gate areas over on the f concourse....maybe constant walk thrus by some supervisors is in order....and when did the whole, "i'm gonna talk on my cell phone while i'm working" become the norm?

sky high states: Rampers?....I've SEEN "Gate Agents" asleep at the gate and some sitting down watching the television monitors. Someone's gonna say, they were on their break. I'm gonna say, then take your break in the breakroom! When you have passengers standing at the podium, WAITING FOR ASSISTANCE, and the gate agents are watching TV..........it doesnt LOOK GOOD.

 

[Travelpro72]

Yeah, well yesterday I was getting money out of the atm machine outside of the Philly crew room and a group of whatevers were beatboxing and banging on the radiator loud as hell. All they needed was a big metal trash can with a fire to stand around. Ghetto as all hell. Ya get what ya pay for...soooooooo

 

[barbeetantrums]

Yeah, well yesterday I was getting money out of the atm machine outside of the Philly crew room and a group of whatevers were beatboxing and banging on the radiator loud as hell. All they needed was a big metal trash can with a fire to stand around. Ghetto as all hell. Ya get what ya pay for...soooooooo

We have a guy from Philadelphia on the PHX ramp that does the beatbox thing. We say, "Hey, T, do that beatbox thing!" He starts with that "pish pish boom boom pish whack whack" with spit flying everywhere. Everybody loves him. He's a gentle giant.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/beatbox.html

 

[Travelpro72]

Honestly I think it's really cool. It is hardly the place for it though. It could be heard all the way into the crewroom. The banging on the radiator thing though. I'm gonna start doing that on the plane when the service is done. LOL

 

[legacy-to-LCC]

does the DOT (or any other free service) offer on-time performance stats searchable by airline and flight number?