"New" Improved Galley Packouts

[beachboy]

The more I see from Council 66 the more impressed I am. We here on the East only wish we had this level of communication from AFA. Once again we get shafted with a galley packout THAT DOESN'T WORK! And powdered creamer? Now we have just hit a new level of GHETTO. :down:

Latest AFA Council 66 HotlineCatering Issues

On December 6, a new cart pack out procedure was rolled out for East and West Airbus aircraft that requires a substantial shuffling of drawers in order to restock the beverage carts. This new procedure poses a potentially significant increase in the risk of flight attendant injury.

In a report from the AFA Council 66 Air Safety Committee, (and forwarded in a letter to the Company), the enormity of the potential risks of injury to Flight Attendants are clearly demonstrated and defined.



"Second beverage or short haul return-to-base service requires 6 drawers to be replaced on the service cart (2 juice drawers, 2 soda drawers and 2 mixer drawers). These 6 drawers are replaced with 6 corresponding drawers out of the support cart. Flight Attendants are swapping out 12 drawers to complete this task. Handling 6 full drawers totals more than 120 lbs. On an individual test flight basis this might not seem like much but when the mechanics are factored in on a larger scale the numbers become quite significant.

Based on the number of double provisioned Airbus flights into/out of California to Phoenix, on a daily basis, West aircraft make approximately 38 round trips. For return-to-base service each flight will require 12 drawers to be handled in coach. That is 456 drawers that will be handled by Flight Attendants on a daily basis. Figuring that 6 drawers/flight are full with product, over 5,000 lbs will be handled. And figuring an approximate 50% depletion on the remaining 6 drawers, 2,500 lbs will also be handled. In total approximately 7,500 lbs of catering product must be handled to configure for return-to-base service every day. This is 456 drawers and 7,500 lbs more than what West Flight Attendants were required to handle previously. And this is only California to PHX flights."


In addition to the safety issues associated with this new pack out procedure, Flight Attendants are reporting at alarming numbers irregularities with double-provisioning and inadequate provisioning of flights throughout the system.



Last week I requested a meeting with catering and members of management to discuss and resolve these serious concerns (see letter below). This meeting has tentatively been set for the week after Christmas. In the mean time please forward to AFA via email ([email protected]) or fax 480-966-7374, copies of your irregularity and safety reports regarding any catering discrepancies.



The "new" Vice President of Inflight Services, while remaining relatively silent on these issues, must take all necessarily steps to have her department heads resolve these serious safety and service concerns.



Gary Richardson

MEC President

 

[Travelpro72]

Who thinks this stuff up? Putting a heavy bucket on top of the damn cart? Honestly. Let us not forget how clean it is as well. Some of them are muddy on the bottom from the perspiration mixing with our clean carts. I just can't believe all the resources being spent on trying to align a damn cart setup between east and west. We obviously have different carts which is making this task unnecessary. I know the way we previously set the carts up on the east side is not how the west did. Maybe a cure for cancer can be found sooner. Unbelievable. NO I take that back...BELIEVABLE! ! ! ! The other aircraft in our fleet are all catered different with different cart setups. Why all this fuss over the damn airbus?

 

[beachboy]

Who is going to tell 250 British nationals coming from MAN or LGW at 2pm in the afternoon that....no "milk" dear. But we do have this powered CRAP! Enjoy!
Boy, just like Virgin and BA!

 

[Zarah]

Who is going to tell 250 British nationals coming from MAN or LGW at 2pm in the afternoon that....no "milk" dear. But we do have this powered CRAP! Enjoy!
Boy, just like Virgin and BA!

I don't think the powdered creamer is for internatinal flights.

I haven't seen the "bucket", on the setup I seen it was just an atlas tray and a bag of ice.

I thought the carts were suppose to be identical and you just got a fresh cart.

Obviously, the person in the PHL crewroom who was showing off the new cart setup was clueless.

It amazes me the amount of time, energy, and resources that is being spent to create a new packout that they are testing, but when it gets out on the line --- doesn't work.

 

[Travelpro72]

These "people" that test it out before sending it on the line have no idea. Does anyone know who the EAST flight attendants are that are on this little committee? I would LOVE to know as would everyone else. If the person who is in charge of the decisions for inflight is reading this.....IT DOESN'T WORK! ! ! ! Stop trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Sweet jesus. It's like the mouse trying to find the cheese. What to do...what to do. Is THIS what they are paid to do? These kind of decisions.

 

[peterpjr]

These "people" that test it out before sending it on the line have no idea. Does anyone know who the EAST flight attendants are that are on this little committee? I would LOVE to know as would everyone else. If the person who is in charge of the decisions for inflight is reading this.....IT DOESN'T WORK! ! ! ! Stop trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Sweet jesus. It's like the mouse trying to find the cheese. What to do...what to do. Is THIS what they are paid to do? These kind of decisions.

Actually there were a number of us from the east and west that were brought together to design a cart that worked for both east and west. The problem being the East liked the way their carts were stocked and the West liked they way their carts were stocked and both were done totally different. There had to be a consistent way on both east and west. There were there or four teams put together of both East and West f/a's and were told to build a cart from scratch that we thought would work. Each team came up with their cart design and each team's cart was tested and feedback was gathered from the tests. Dining and Cabin took the feedback from each team's cart test and decided on which cart pack out to use. The one that is out there now is the cart pack out they thought had the best feedback. Before you start blaming me for the current pack out, this pack out was not the one that my team came up with.

 

[Travelpro72]

Thanks for that explanation Peter. I know these attempts at setups are crazy to us here at east but it just seems to make no sense. The back galley is a mess and still is. I know you said this was not your setup but what was the feedback compared to the rest. I just don't honestly see how flight attendants said "oh this way is great". It is not functional let alone tacky looking. Does the airbus a/c that the west operates have the exact same carts as us? Some carts are taller. Don't they have different configurations too? I guess any west f/a could answer that one. Thanks. This just seems a mess. Who wants to lift buckets and move all those drawers?

 

[iheartairbus]

Just like everything else thats changing and HAS changed and just like all they other US Air mergers it will smooth over... CAN WE WORRY ABOUT GETTING A FAIR CONTRACT INSTEAD OF A FAIR GALLEY PACK-OUT... WE CAN LIVE W/ A BUCKET OF ICE ON TOP, CAN'T LIVE ON 16.10 A FLT. HR.!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE NEED TO THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE F/A'S COMING INTO THE COMPANY AND THE ONES HERE THAT WILL TAKE YOUR PLACE AND OUR PLACE WE WANT TO LEAVE THEM IN DECENT HANDS AND A DECENT CONTRACT!!! ITS ALWAYS ME ME ME ME ME, WHAT CAN I GET, WHY DON'T WE DO THE CARTS MY WAY, SO SICK OF EVERYONE'S WHINING OVER STUPID STUFF, IF THE EAST & WEST WOULD DO THE AMOUNT OF B*TCHING ON THE CONTRACT AND FOCUS ON THE CONTRACT AS THEY DID ON THE CARTS AND GALLEY'S WE MIGHT ACTUALLY GET SOMEWHERE OR GAIN SOMETHING!!!!
"Who wants to lift buckets and move all those drawers?"
Gotta do something to work off those chicken garbageciabatta rolls your stuffin down your throat..lol

 

[Twicebaked]

ITS ALWAYS ME ME ME ME ME, WHAT CAN I GET, WHY DON'T WE DO THE CARTS MY WAY, SO SICK OF EVERYONE'S WHINING OVER STUPID STUFF, IF THE EAST & WEST WOULD DO THE AMOUNT OF B*TCHING ON THE CONTRACT AND FOCUS ON THE CONTRACT AS THEY DID ON THE CARTS AND GALLEY'S WE MIGHT ACTUALLY GET SOMEWHERE OR GAIN SOMETHING!!!!

I wouldn't say this is stupid stuff.

First, are you a f/a? If you aren't you haven't a clue. If you are...well hell, you still haven't a clue.

I agree with the contract, but isn't it bad enough that much was taken out of our contract only to add much much more work.

Is it not bad enough that we have to board the aircraft for FREE!

Is it not bad enough that we have to clean an entire 767 from CLT (or better yet MCO) for FREE! Not to mention it wiped out and entire work force!!! They paid out thousands, maybe millions a year to Utility workers to be replaced by us for..what's the word boys and girls?....FREE

Now,you want me to have to basically set up a cart for EVERY SINGLE FLIGHT that I do. Not to mention I have to reorganize the galley EVERY SINGLE TIME I step foot on another aircraft. We never had these problems before. Everything had it's place and everything ran like clockwork. Now you never know where, what, why , or how things are going to pan out.

They remove the sodas from the upper carriers as to avoid injuries....what a joke. We have to do more bending and lifting than ever before.

So, I don't think any of this can be thought of as "stupid stuff". Money is not the only thing to worry about. Your work environment, level of difficulty, and high risk of injury should be a priority to you.

And the last time I checked, I was not on the nego commitee nor is Travelpro. Infact, there are only a handfull on that commitee. So, aside from bit@#ing about the current contract, there is presently NOTHING we can do or say about it. Only when we have a tentative agreement can we say anything by voting it down or voting it in.

What are YOU presently doing to improve the contract besides bit@#ing too?

 

[iheartairbus]

I wouldn't say this is stupid stuff.

First, are you a f/a? If you aren't you haven't a clue. If you are...well hell, you still haven't a clue.

I agree with the contract, but isn't it bad enough that much was taken out of or contract only to add much much more work.

Is it not bad enough that we have to board the aircraft for FREE!

Is it not bad enough that we have to clean an entire 767 from CLT (or better yet MCO) for FREE! Not to mention it wiped out and entire work force!!! They paid out thousands, maybe millions a year to Utility workers to be replaced by us for..what's the word boys and girls?....FREE

Now,you want me to have to basically set up a cart for EVERY SINGLE FLIGHT that I do. Not to mention I have to reorganize the galley EVERY SINGLE TIME I step foot on another aircraft. We never had these problems before. Everything had it's place and everything ran like clockwork. Now you never know where, what, why , or how things are going to pan out.

They remove the sodas from the upper carriers as to avoid injuries....what a joke. We have to do more bending and lifting than ever before.

So, I don't think any of this can be thought of as "stupid stuff". Money is not the only thing to worry about. Your work environment, level of difficulty, and high risk of injury should be a priority to you.

YES... I'm an f/a and your RIGHT it's not stupid stuff at all!!!!! My point is THERE are more IMPORTANT things than ice on top of carts and such, I MOVE MY DRAWERS HONEY AND CLEAN MY PLANES ALL DAY LONG and to boot 100+ HRS A MONTH ON A HELL OF ALOT LESS MONEY THAN YOU HONEY!!! AND DO ALL MY "free" STUFF ALL DAY LONG AND STILL MANAGE TO LOVE MY JOB AND NO IM NOT NEW... SO HONEY I HAVE A VERY VERY VERY BIG CLUE, If you think this is bad doll... you better buckle up cuz the whole industries up for a shakin and you aint ready you better look-up the next buy-out if there is one.

 

[Twicebaked]

YES... I'm an f/a and your RIGHT it's not stupid stuff at all!!!!! My point is THERE are more IMPORTANT things than ice on top of carts and such, I MOVE MY DRAWERS HONEY AND CLEAN MY PLANES ALL DAY LONG and to boot 100+ HRS A MONTH ON A HELL OF ALOT LESS MONEY THAN YOU HONEY!!! AND DO ALL MY "free" STUFF ALL DAY LONG AND STILL MANAGE TO LOVE MY JOB AND NO IM NOT NEW... SO HONEY I HAVE A VERY VERY VERY BIG CLUE, If you think this is bad doll... you better buckle up cuz the whole industries up for a shakin and you aint ready you better look-up the next buy-out if there is one.

First of all, I am not your honey nor your doll.

Don't presume to know I make more money than you...unless you are from the West or express.

We have VERY experienced people working on our negos. The West hasn't a clue. So, if money is your concern you will get a raise if you are a westie.

I was not the one bit@#ing in the first place. I am just stating you the facts of the daily turns which you claim to have a clue about.

These issues may not be a big deal to you, but they obviously are to many many others as it has gotten the unions attention.

So, if you are ready to sell yourself short and make your job much harder for a few extra bucks in your pocket, becareful....you might just get it

 

[iheartairbus]

First of all, I am not your honey nor your doll.

Don't presume to know I make more money than you...unless you are from the West or express.

We have VERY experienced people working on our negos. The West hasn't a clue. So, if money is your concern you will get a raise if you are a westie.

I was not the one bit@#ing in the first place. I am just stating you the facts of the daily turns which you claim to have a clue about.

These issues may not be a big deal to you, but they obviously are to many many others as it has gotten the unions attention.

So, if you are ready to sell yourself short and make your job much harder for a few extra bucks in your pocket, becareful....you might just get it

Def. see your point twicebaked!! I wish we at the west were MORE aware of the effort that the nego commitee and there expretise.. are making daily.

Was good to see the MEC send off the letter about the carts and pack-outs... atleast the $$$ are going somewhere.

 

[USCREW]

... CAN WE WORRY ABOUT GETTING A FAIR CONTRACT INSTEAD OF A FAIR GALLEY PACK-OUT... WE CAN LIVE W/ A BUCKET OF ICE ON TOP, CAN'T LIVE ON 16.10 A FLT. HR.!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF THE EAST & WEST WOULD DO THE AMOUNT OF B*TCHING ON THE CONTRACT AND FOCUS ON THE CONTRACT AS THEY DID ON THE CARTS AND GALLEY'S WE MIGHT ACTUALLY GET SOMEWHERE OR GAIN SOMETHING!!!!

Who's getting $16.10 an hour? Express?
Anyway, you're right about us dragging our feet on less important issues. We're moving at a snail's pace.
The new cart that was presented in DCA was fine. Not perfect, but much better.
In DCA, we're definitely more concerned about the contractual issues, so we all glanced at the cart and said, "Uhh, nice cart...okay...nice job Steve, thanks"!
The new powdered creamers are disgusting. Who would choose that over mini-moos?
What do you think of the new coach biscotti? My first thought was "Wow!!! They're TINY!!!!!", They're about 1" x 2", single wrapped wafer. Pax seemed to like them and requested more, so we ended-up giving out several per pax. We realized while cleaning the plane afterwards that the biscotti wrappers were going to drive us nuts because they were absolutely everywhere.

 

[NAPAUS]

I think the reality is US is now, more then EVER a true LCC. Its evident in so many moves Tempe is making. Examples are removal of seats in Envoy, the tacky inflight magazine, seat pitch on the reconfigured airbuses, the list goes on and on. Tempe management is young, lots are very inexperienced, and are some of the lowest paid in the industry. They are follwing the HP model of NO frills, yet HIGH FARES- go figure. My question is why would anyone fly US anymore? I'm retired and I fly Jet Blue- great service, and lots of amenities are always being added. I am looking forward to the start of Virgin America- i hear they have some wonderful service plans in the works. Its really too bad, US had the opportunity to FINALLY rid itself of the horrible reputation and now all they are doing is making it WORSE!! Very Sad
I wish only the hest for US employees, they are some of the best in the industry. Here's to hoping the customers express their displeasure with management. Cockroaches where are u?!!!

 

[JAXPax]

I wish only the hest for US employees, they are some of the best in the industry. Here's to hoping the customers express their displeasure with management. Cockroaches where are u?!!!

I don't think management cares about the frequent flyers.

One thing many don't realize is that Southwest actually works to retain its very frequent flyers. It's Companion Pass is arguably one of the most valuable FF perks out there.... after 100 flight credits in a rolling 12 month period, you get to take somebody of your choosing with you free whenever you fly (no matter the fare), confirmed at the same time you make your reservation. And let me assure you that WN sucks up to its very frequent flyers. I have an uncle who flies the carrier one two round trips a week between Ontario and the Bay Area. Southwest actively works to keep his loyalty, and even at a good sized station like ONT, the local folks know who their most frequent travelers are.

Cockroaches are still here. I for one am still flying US primarily because of the people. It's also convenient for me.... mostly going from JAX up the east coast, with PHL primarily a final destination. I'm still passing out chocolate bars (and Starbucks gift cards at the holidays). The front-liners are listening to us. Those in Tempe are starting to.