United''s on-time rank 6th Need More Brake Releases

wts54

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Sep 16, 2002
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www.usaviation.com
United's on-time rank 6th

By David Kesmodel, Rocky Mountain News
June 3, 2003

United Airlines ranked sixth in the industry in on-time performance
in April, down from No. 4 in March and No. 2 in February.

Utah-based SkyWest, a commuter affiliate of United, topped the list of 17 reporting
U.S. airlines with an on-time rate of 92.1 percent, the Department of Transportation
said. Southwest was next at 90.8 percent, with Delta third at 89.5 percent.

Chicago-based United posted a rate of 87.9 percent, up from 84 percent in March.
It ranked No. 5 among the 10 largest carriers in the April rankings.

Despite where we rank, we had a great on-time month and employees are still doing
an incredible job, United spokesman Jeff Green said.

United, Denver International Airport's dominant carrier, jumped to the top of the
industry in timely arrivals in 2002 and ranked No. 1 in January.

The industry's combined on-time arrival rate in April was 86.9 percent, beating
March's 82.6 percent rate.

Flights are listed as on time if they arrive within 15 minutes of schedule.
Denver-based Frontier does not provide statistics for the report.

DIA ranked No. 7 among 31 major U.S. airports in on-time arrivals and No. 8 in
on-time departures in April.

Separately, United said Monday it was introducing daily nonstop service between
San Francisco and Seoul, South Korea.
 
Nice title einstein. Of course "Brake release" has absolutely NOTHING to do with it. Have you been laid of yet? Maybe the title should read, "need mechanics to get off duff put down cards and park jets as they arrive".
 
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On 6/4/2003 12:53:28 AM Busdrvr wrote:

Nice title einstein. Of course "Brake release" has absolutely NOTHING to do with it. Have you been laid of yet? Maybe the title should read, "need mechanics to get off duff put down cards and park jets as they arrive".

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How about pilots showing up late and the mechanic sitting in the tug waiting to push. There is no reason the crew should be late for morning depatures. I see F/A''s showing up 1 hour before flight and sometimes pilots 20 minutes. Then they say their not done with the check list. When I see that I will not let them release brakes. When I get asked why the delay I just say talk to the pilots. When the weather is good and traffic is not an issue their is no reason the pilots should be late.

Busdrvr,
You can slam the mechanics all you want. None of us are perfect. Pilots included.

Very soon the mechanics will be out of the picture with R&D.
 
Why are mechanics involved in receipt and dispatch at UAL?! Practically every other carrier uses ramp personnel to park and push flights at the gates.
 
"Can''t we all just get along?"

Let''s quit our bickering, finger pointing, and move on.
We have more current issues to think about.

Are we prepared for the Fall Concessions required by exit BK DIP(ATSB) financing?

Me thinks not!!!

IMHO,
UT
 
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On 6/4/2003 10:37:16 AM gatemech wrote:

"How about pilots showing up late and the mechanic sitting in the tug waiting to push. There is no reason the crew should be late for morning depatures. I see F/A's showing up 1 hour before flight and sometimes pilots 20 minutes. Then they say their not done with the check list. When I see that I will not let them release brakes. When I get asked why the delay I just say talk to the pilots. When the weather is good and traffic is not an issue their is no reason the pilots should be late."


Oh really?! What time did they get to the hotel the night before? Were there "TSA ISSUES" that delayed them? Was the contract transportation on time?

"You can slam the mechanics all you want. None of us are perfect. Pilots included."

I have the utmost respect for apparently 99.9% of UALs mechanics. You guys are the best in the business. However when a mechanic REPEATEDLY spews a TOTALLY ridiculous line like WTS, one has to start wondering. He has been REPEATED told that "brake release" has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the DOT stats (read the explanation in the report), yet he still seems to think it does. He's either slow, or is intentionally trying to flame and defame. If he's that slow, he shouldn't be working on jets (but there prob a job waiting for him at Tramco), and if he's trying to flame, or otherwise sully the reputation of UAL, then IMHO, he should find another place to work.

"Very soon the mechanics will be out of the picture with R&D."

Yep, and poor old WTS will be safe from those evil brake releasing pilots.


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busdrvr,

Your point is well taken. F/A''s seem to be there early. I guess they stay in hotels closer the the airport. The TSA is a joke. Are they worried that pilots will take over the plane? You shouldn''t even have to go through a security check. Mechanics have to go through clean yet we have leathermans and pocket knives to do our job.

If releasing the brakes has nothing to do with on-time then why is management always telling us to have the crew release the brakes while a last minute DF, CF or even bags are being delt with?

Like I said. The R&D will be a thing of the past soon. We will have to find other things to argue about.

Fly Safe

gatemech
 
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On 6/5/2003 1:36:39 PM gatemech wrote:

"Your point is well taken. F/A''s seem to be there early. I guess they stay in hotels closer the the airport."

This actually a major bone of contention with the pilots. UAL has always tried to maximize efficientcy of the Jet''s, F/A''s and pilots all SEPERATELY. Sounds good in theory, but when you go through a hub and the pilots are changing jets and the F/A''s are comming in on a diff flight, you just TRIPLED your chances of an operational delay. If we were all together, and kept the same jet, then if our flight was late, we''d only affect OUR departure time. C2K limited the number of tail changes for pilots, and to the companies surprise, operational performance went up (and the change in work rules was shown to be the reason).


"If releasing the brakes has nothing to do with on-time then why is management always telling us to have the crew release the brakes while a last minute DF, CF or even bags are being delt with?"

So the STATION MANAGER gets a bonus. The company figures that if the jet gets out on time, the chance of getting in on time increase substantially. If a pilot were to say (of course he never would) "I''ll go ahead and give you the brakes, hold the push", he''s usually doing that as a courtesy to the station.


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On 6/4/2003 12:53:28 AM Busdrvr wrote:

Nice title einstein. Of course "Brake release" has absolutely NOTHING to do with it. Have you been laid of yet? Maybe the title should read, "need mechanics to get off duff put down cards and park jets as they arrive".

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Busdriver, while your target may have only been wts, you have attacked all of UAL''s mechanics. One of the things that I absolutely hate about UAL is the discord between labor groups.

To all UAL mechanics, I apologize on behalf of all UAL pilots for Busdriver''s comment. I have flown for the Air Force and a civilian carrier prior to being hired at UAL, and I can say that I have never flown better maintained equipment than at UAL. Keep up the great work.
 
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On 6/5/2003 5:10:21 PM iflyjetz wrote:

Busdriver, while your target may have only been wts, you have attacked all of UAL's mechanics. One of the things that I absolutely hate about UAL is the discord between labor groups.

To all UAL mechanics, I apologize on behalf of all UAL pilots for Busdriver's comment. I have flown for the Air Force and a civilian carrier prior to being hired at UAL, and I can say that I have never flown better maintained equipment than at UAL. Keep up the great work.

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While I do not work at UAL I would like to say that your post is refreshing. Perhaps if you would make the effort to take a leadership position in your union and work towards building a better relationship between airline workers, especially those who made a substantial investment, prior to even earning a penny, in the industry we will never find ourselves getting hosed like we all just did.​