Ual Bunch Of Crybabies?

[Imagolfer]

Ok, so I live in Chicago. 2 stories in the local papers today about the whining at UAL.

1. UA is crying about AA getting China routes. They are so afraid of competition of their prized routes they can't stand it

2. The pilots are whining about how much water they can take off the catering carts..


Wahhhh Wahhhhh Wahhhhh

Sorry to see such a legacy carrier go down the tubes :down:

 

[Borescope]

How much could a bottle of water cost? Surely the company can afford to give up a 10 cent bottle of water.

 

[DCT JVL]

So we all know what the BMW golfing dude is talking about, here's the story from Crain's Chicago Business (chicagobusiness.com):

How petty can it get at United?
Pilots, management clash over water rights

March 14, 2005
By Julie Johnsson

As if massive layoffs, wage concessions and the prospect of losing billions of dollars in pension benefits were not quite enough, United Airlines is now reminding pilots to take it easy on the bottled water.

A dryly worded Feb. 23 memo told pilots to ask flight attendants for a glass of water instead of taking bottled water into the cockpit, except on international flights (excluding Canada), trips to Hawaii and domestic flights exceeding 2,100 miles.

United says other employees complained that pilots were nabbing water bottles from drink carts, leaving passengers high and dry. "In many instances, we've run short of bottled water on shorter flights," adds a United spokesman.

Dubbed the "water letter," the memo reiterates a seldom-enforced policy in place for years before United's bankruptcy. Its timing, more than its content, angered pilots. "It didn't change anything, just emphasized something that made everybody mad," says one pilot who asked not to be named.

BLADDER-BUSTING LITER BOTTLES

The spat centers on bladder-busting liter bottles, more water than a pilot would typically need on a short trip. For more than five years, the airline's policy has been to stock bottles in the cockpit only on trips longer than four hours.

Pilots can take any unfinished portion off the aircraft, but not any unopened bottles, Captain Mark Sebby, United's manager for line operations, wrote in the memo.

On shorter trips, pilots must summon flight attendants to provide them with a glass of water. Nowadays, that's cumbersome while airborne, requiring two flight attendants to secure the cockpit safety door.

So why not just provide more water for pilots? "To board additional bottles on every flight would be a fairly significant expense," the United spokesman says.

At least one council of the union representing pilots based in Chicago urged members to file safety reports for dehydration.

"It certainly shows the real difficult problems that are at United," says labor expert Joshua Javits, former chairman of the National Mediation Board. "There's an enormous amount of discouragement, and morale issues."

Not to mention thirsty pilots.

©2005 by Crain Communications Inc.


Linkety Link. I posted the whole article becuase Crain's inists on registration. The mods can delete if they see fit.

 

[Segue]

UA has enjoyed making money on an underserved, oligopoly market for quite some time now. These are the only type of markets were UA could consistently be profitable. With the new players, AA and CO, there will be new competition and more capacity.

 

[Winglet]

Flying with a cabin altitude of 5000-6000 feet and VERY dry air, people get dehydrated. You need to drink a fair amount of water. This "water policy" from management is pathetically petty and demonstrates the ignorant and malicious nature of United management.

Just pathetic. Tilton and his fat clowns are well on their way to wrecking UAL.

 

[gatemech]

Since UA loves to spend money reconfiguring aircraft (3 class 757) maybe they should have the cockpit door moved back. That would make space for a lav & galley. Food service can put a fully stocked cart with water, food, & alcohol (for deadheading pilots of course). No more asking the F/A for a glass and no more having the F/A's put the security gate in place. Just joking.

The pilot has to fly the thing. If he/she wants a bottle of water I would thing UA should give it to them. I for one don't want the pilot of a flight I'm on to be thirsty or pissed off.

If UA got rid of just 2 of the way too many maintenance supervisors that would pay for the water and then some. Just a suggestion.

 

[herkav8r]

Or think outside the box and get two cans of La Croix and quit bitching. It's water and throw a lime in there and you think you are drinking a Gin and Tonic.

 

[jimntx]

The water for the cockpit is an ongoing issue at AA also. The catering papers state quite clearly that the .5 liter bottle in F/C catering is for the cockpit. That is for 2 crew members! Also, they seem to have reduced by 1 the number liter bottles catered for the F/C customers.

The company's own recommendation to the f/as is to drink 8 oz. of water for every hour aloft. a .5 liter bottle is approximately 2 cups which would be sufficient water for 2 crew members for 1 hour. A large percentage of AA trip segments are over 1 hour in length. I've suggested to many of the cockpit crews that their union needs to fight this battle with the company.

Running out of bottled water for the revenue passengers is not an option. Particularly, since the report of the amount of bacteria found in the a/c potable water systems was ade public. Most passengers specify that they want bottled water now.

 

[Winglet]

I guess pilots can bring their own water, but this is the kind of thing that creates huge disincentives to do anything above and beyond the letter of the contract . . . or even smile at the passengers.

This is an example of the kind of dimwit jerks that are running this industry.

 

[FWAAA]

The supermarkets here in SoCal routinely sell cases of 24 half-liters of water for $4. Yesterday I bought a few. That's less than $0.17 each. I realize that airline caterers will charge significantly more than that, so here's the deal: I'll gladly pay a buck each. Even in F or J, if airlines insist on it.

Why? Because I don't relish the thought of having to lug around water on my trips. It's awfully heavy, and airlines already possess the infrastructure to cater it for me. On a long trip to LHR or NRT, I might drink a few of them, as well as several cans of soda. Plus some wine with dinner. I shouldn't have to buy several bottles of water at the airport newstand for $3.29 each, and I shouldn't have to lug my own from home (for which I paid 17 cents each). I simply want someone to bring me bottled water from the galley. And I'll even buy them when sitting up front if money is the stumbling block.

PeoplExpress had some really bad ideas, but it had a couple of good ones, including the sale of beverages for $0.50 each.

 

[spacewaitress]

God forbid pilots should have to buy their own water. Flight attendants can be fired for taking water (or anything) off the plane. Nothing ever matters unless it happens to a pilot. Talk about a bunch of babies!

 

[Busdrvr]

God forbid pilots should have to buy their own water. Flight attendants can be fired for taking water (or anything) off the plane. Nothing ever matters unless it happens to a pilot. Talk about a bunch of babies!

[post="256302"][/post]​

Hmmm, let's think, if a pilot gets too dehydrated, people can die. If space waitress gets dehydrated, a Vogue doesn't get read 🙄 . Do you REALLY want to disincentivize pilots from doing something that will make them safer and more alert by charging them for it? Do you think we drink all that water because we like to pee? 🙄

 

[Fly]

But they aren't talking about taking it off the plane Space. Just like us, they get thirsty! We can just pour ourselves a glass whenever we want. It's a much bigger production to give them a 'cup' of water. I say, give them the bottles of water!!!!

 

[The Gopher]

Time to pour some pilfered water on the flames! The idea is not to drink less water, but the "personal stash" of bottles that crews throw in their flight bags. I have seen crews do it all the time when I used to OMC.

If a bartender nurses a drink while working, no foul. But if he takes home an unopened bottle of Glenfiddich at 2am, well that's called stealing.

On the plane, drink all you want. Once you leave, though, leave the unopened bottles for the next crew or pax. What is so inflammatory about that?

 

[laura62]

quote from Busdriver:
Hmmm, let's think, if a pilot gets too dehydrated, people can die.

Yes, Busriver,
If a pilot showed up for work having not had a drink of water for the 3 or 4 days before his trip, and was not provided with a drink of water I suppose the airplane could crash and we all could die. (My God and the flight attendants are called "dramatic".)
But for most pilots not being provided a bottle of water on a two hour flight would not result in something so drastic.

quote from Busdriver:
If space waitress gets dehydrated, a Vogue doesn't get read .

Nice comment. Real professional to a fellow employee. No wonder flight attendants have no respect for the pilots.

quote from busdriver:
Do you REALLY want to disincentivize pilots

What the hell is disincentivize? Is that English? 😉