Worst Contract Carrier

[Light Years]

Some of the previous topics have made me curious as to which carrier customers and employees would most like to see gone. Remember, just one vote but you can put second choices below.

 

[Hope777]

I don't know much about the TSA RJ operation, but they are taking over the ERJ flying out of our Station. When we had their J41's, that was VERY BAD.

 

[Harry Callahan]

Mesa is the one I am most familar with & they are a total joke. Just look at the flight monitors & see what's delayed ! & I will not talk about behind the scenes on a public board.............

 

[Light Years]

I'm wondering should I have counted Air Midwest as part of Mesa, or seperately? Same group of people, right?


WOW... if anyone gets the chance, go to www.flightinfo.com's regional airline message board and check out the maturity level of some of these airline's pilots!

 

[robbedagain]

i picked mesa only because we had them for 8 months and it was a nightmare as folks watched half their bags get left behind and arrive on other airline flights but as for trans states, with the erjs, they have helped us out with getting some extra weight added on we have two shuttle america junkers saab 340A and it is the worst piece of crap that i have worked. only 33 bags and 23 pax the other day and it was an oversold flight from my station to pit at both the 930a and the 6p flights

 

[exagony]

Posted on Feb 11 2004, 07:38 PM
I'm wondering should I have counted Air Midwest as part of Mesa, or seperately? Same group of people, right?


WOW... if anyone gets the chance, go to www.flightinfo.com's regional airline message board and check out the maturity level of some of these airline's pilots!



Just as mature as most of the posters on this board. Oh I forgot you are ML and automatically better than everyone else. Enjoy unemployment.

 

[Light Years]

:blink:

I am most certainly not on unemployment, believe me. I guess I was able to get by on those "Dunkin Donut level job skills" you said flight attendants had in another post.



But thank you for asking. 🙂

 

[Furloughedagain]

Its funny to hear people call the Saab's "junkers". It wasn't that long ago -- just 7 or 8 years when PIT was overrun with Chautauqa J-31s and the cities served by the J31 (AOO, JST, LNS, HGR, YHM, YXU etc..) were all courting the airline to begin Saab 340 service.

When the first Saab in the new US Airways paint showed up in JST for the first time the newspaper was even there to celebrate the event!

Of course Chautauqua, at the time, offered free alcohol onboard all Saab flights, leather seats, and only 30 seats (so the last several rows had quite a bit of legroom).

The Dash's and Dorniers were in another league of course, but for those cities that hadn't seen anything with more than 19 seats in so long the Saab was a luxury liner.

The Saab, by the way, is hardly a "junker". The 340 is still the corporate aircraft of choice for Goodyear (based in Akron), Vee Neal Aviation, and Melon Bank (I believe...)

Its bigger brother, the Saab 2000 is used for the corporate shuttle for GE based in Detroit.

During a period of time when the Shorts 330 and 360 were the only cabin-class airplanes around (the Dash 7 was, of course, in another class) the Saab was a breath of fresh air. It meant an end to the era of the Banderante, the Metroliner, the Twin-Otter, and the Beech 99 -- and an introduction to (relatively) high-speed, pressurized, cabin-class comfort with in-flight service and a lavatory!

I remain convinced that had Saab built an RJ it would be far superior to any other regional-jet product on the market. Those guys built one HECK of an airplane!

 

[diogenes]

We have Chau, Mesa, PI and AL.

In our experience, Chau, far and away, blows the worst. They make Mesa look like a walk in the park.

 

[DorkDriver]

I avoid MESA at all costs when traveling nonrev. At first I didn't care, but now it bothers me to see mesa fa's trashing the uniform and pilot wearing IDs backwards trying to hide for whom they work. On more than one occasion, I've seen mesa fa's stand either in the galley or in the aisle during landing. What happens if a tire gives out and we have to do an emergency evac, but the fa is lying knocked out on floor from hitting her head because they weren't in their jumpseat. There are other stories, but its probably best to not share them on a public message board. For the jet operators TSA would be next, then CHQ. Never flown on SA or Colgan, but both are non-ALPA for what its worth. If you hate the Saabs, you'll really love the TSA J-41's!

 

[boeingdriver213]

I have friends that are flying for Mesa and they cannot believe this airline remains in business. If you think U morale is low, you haven't seen low morale until you work for Mesa. Their CEO, repotedly told a group of J4J pilots that as long as pilots were signing up to fly with Mesa, he was paying them too much and not working them hard enough. I assume that goes for the rest of the Mesa employees also.....

 

[rayjr]

Its funny to hear people call the Saab's "junkers". It wasn't that long ago -- just 7 or 8 years when PIT was overrun with Chautauqa J-31s and the cities served by the J31 (AOO, JST, LNS, HGR, YHM, YXU etc..) were all courting the airline to begin Saab 340 service.

When the first Saab in the new US Airways paint showed up in JST for the first time the newspaper was even there to celebrate the event!

Of course Chautauqua, at the time, offered free alcohol onboard all Saab flights, leather seats, and only 30 seats (so the last several rows had quite a bit of legroom).

The Dash's and Dorniers were in another league of course, but for those cities that hadn't seen anything with more than 19 seats in so long the Saab was a luxury liner.

Part of the reason PIT was overrun with the J31 is because US Air moved Allegheny flying elsewhere. Several of these cities (AOO, JST, IPT) were former Pennsylvania Airlines cities. Penn served AOO and JST with BE-1900 and DHC-8 aircraft.

Example: When Chautauqua took over JST, Allegheny was running 4 of 7 round trips with a DHC-8 and the remaining 3 with the BE-1900. This city HAD seen something with more than 19 seats "in so long".

The load restrictions the J31 experienced in JST compared to the BE-1900 and the DHC-8 made the Saab seem like a luxury liner.

You are right though, the Dash's were in another league of their own.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

In terms of its relative size, SA may be be the worst (going by the results of this poll; I have no direct experience with them) But because so much of UAIRS flying is now on Mesa, they do far more damage! I could tell you the stories, but they have been told on this board many times.

 

[Light Years]

Good points Bob and Shirley.

Mesa is also systemwide and in mainline markets, whereas Shuttle America is mostly in very small markets out of PIT. Bob, you're right that for them to be in second place considering thier size is remarkable.

Lots of votes, not many opinions. The results so far are not surprising. It's interesting to note that both employees and customers seem to be in sync. It's also interesting to note that some carriers, big and small (mesa, ShuttAm) are known by name, while some seem to blend in and not attract attention (Trans States, Chautauqua?- which means they are doing thier jobs better?)

Does anyone have the stats of what percentage of the system each carrier (including ML and W/Os) operates, and how many aircraft and seats each has on the US system?

 

[crj579]

lower costs=contract carriers=you get to keep yourobvious superior appearance and attitudes. Afterall, you make twice as much and their f/a's and fo's are probably on food stamps.