PITbull
Veteran
- Dec 29, 2002
- 7,784
- 456
So for clarity, are you saying the interpretation that U took was that there would be more rain than sleet???
Rain turning to snow means temp drops; TRANSLATION: Ice.
So for clarity, are you saying the interpretation that U took was that there would be more rain than sleet???
Rain turning to snow means temp drops; TRANSLATION: Ice.
The arrogance that goes on here is amazing. If you don't like something, stop bitching and write your congressman.
singh4us
Senior
US Airways Passengers Grounded and in the Dark
55 Cancellations, and Ire, at National
By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 19, 2007; B01
Washington photographer Heidi Fisher was ready to leave for Guatemala yesterday to celebrate the spring equinox amid the Mayan ruins at Tikal. But the last tremors of winter, and problems at US Airways, kept her in the far less transcendent setting of Reagan National Airport.
"This is insane," said Fisher, one of hundreds of travelers thwarted by the airline's continued problems caused by bad weather across the Northeast.
Carriers at the region's three major airports delayed or canceled scores of flights because of snow and ice this weekend, but most airlines had returned to close-to-normal operations by yesterday. A combination of factors, however, conspired to plague US Airways.
Spokeswoman Valerie Wunder said an ice storm at the airline's Philadelphia hub, combined with heavy spring break travel and ripple effects from two days of cancellations, played havoc with operations. The airline canceled 55 flights at National yesterday -- 12 on its main line and 43 on its express service.
"We're trying to accommodate more than 100,000 passengers systemwide," Wunder said.
Many of the unaccommodated were in US Airways check-in lines that stretched deep into Terminal C at National early yesterday afternoon. At 12:45 p.m., numerous passengers who had arrived about 7 a.m. for 10 a.m. flights said they had hardly advanced.
"We've moved maybe six feet for every hour-and-a-half," said Glen Davis of Schenectady, N.Y., who had missed his 8:30 flight to West Palm Beach, Fla.
Most irritating, passengers said, were the airline's apparent short-handedness and its inability to convey any information about their situation.
Douglas Taranow, a New York physician, held up his cellphone and said he'd been on hold for an hour and 45 minutes trying to speak to an airline representative.
Fisher, who said her charter flight was to leave from Guatemala City early this morning, tried to check before she left home.
"They don't pick up the phone. They don't put anything on their Web site," she said.
It wasn't much better in the terminal.
"They've announced prayer in the chapel five times, but nothing about what's happening," said Carol Bardenstein, associate professor of Arabic literature and culture at the University of Michigan.
At Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, several would-be US Airways passengers left the concourse in frustration and were trying to rent cars, a witness said.
Wunder said the carrier was doing the best it could under challenging conditions. "We're fully staffed and doing everything we can," she said. Asked when service at National would be back to normal, she said she wasn't sure. She recommended that those planning to fly today remain "a little flexible" with their plans.
Meanwhile, other carriers at National reported few problems. "We seem to be operating at 100 percent," a Delta spokesman said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7031801224.html
55 Cancellations, and Ire, at National
By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 19, 2007; B01
Washington photographer Heidi Fisher was ready to leave for Guatemala yesterday to celebrate the spring equinox amid the Mayan ruins at Tikal. But the last tremors of winter, and problems at US Airways, kept her in the far less transcendent setting of Reagan National Airport.
"This is insane," said Fisher, one of hundreds of travelers thwarted by the airline's continued problems caused by bad weather across the Northeast.
Carriers at the region's three major airports delayed or canceled scores of flights because of snow and ice this weekend, but most airlines had returned to close-to-normal operations by yesterday. A combination of factors, however, conspired to plague US Airways.
Spokeswoman Valerie Wunder said an ice storm at the airline's Philadelphia hub, combined with heavy spring break travel and ripple effects from two days of cancellations, played havoc with operations. The airline canceled 55 flights at National yesterday -- 12 on its main line and 43 on its express service.
"We're trying to accommodate more than 100,000 passengers systemwide," Wunder said.
Many of the unaccommodated were in US Airways check-in lines that stretched deep into Terminal C at National early yesterday afternoon. At 12:45 p.m., numerous passengers who had arrived about 7 a.m. for 10 a.m. flights said they had hardly advanced.
"We've moved maybe six feet for every hour-and-a-half," said Glen Davis of Schenectady, N.Y., who had missed his 8:30 flight to West Palm Beach, Fla.
Most irritating, passengers said, were the airline's apparent short-handedness and its inability to convey any information about their situation.
Douglas Taranow, a New York physician, held up his cellphone and said he'd been on hold for an hour and 45 minutes trying to speak to an airline representative.
Fisher, who said her charter flight was to leave from Guatemala City early this morning, tried to check before she left home.
"They don't pick up the phone. They don't put anything on their Web site," she said.
It wasn't much better in the terminal.
"They've announced prayer in the chapel five times, but nothing about what's happening," said Carol Bardenstein, associate professor of Arabic literature and culture at the University of Michigan.
At Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, several would-be US Airways passengers left the concourse in frustration and were trying to rent cars, a witness said.
Wunder said the carrier was doing the best it could under challenging conditions. "We're fully staffed and doing everything we can," she said. Asked when service at National would be back to normal, she said she wasn't sure. She recommended that those planning to fly today remain "a little flexible" with their plans.
Meanwhile, other carriers at National reported few problems. "We seem to be operating at 100 percent," a Delta spokesman said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7031801224.html
yvrusfa
Advanced
O.K......I think the beating up of US on this board is getting overdone frankly. 
Certainly SHARES migration issues did'nt help and some staffing issues also contributed, but it happens and weather and full flights at spring-break (last I checked) cannot be controlled.
US is not the only carrier encountering difficulties from the storms on Friday and Saturday as the following article states....
Airlines work to recover from heavy storm
PrintE-mailDisable live quotesRSSDigg itDel.icio.usBy Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch
Last Update: 1:20 PM ET Mar 18, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Airlines were scrambling to get back on track in the Northeast this weekend after a brutal late-season storm led to the cancellation of more than 3,600 flights across the U.S. from Friday to Saturday morning.
While still cold and windy throughout much of the region, the weather on Sunday didn't pose immediate risk of significant problems at most major airports, according to the National Weather Service. Flights began to resume their normal schedule Saturday.
But there were still some pockets of trouble.
Continental Airlines (CAL : Continental Airlines Inc , for instance, said that the average delay on Sunday morning at Newark Liberty International was 95 minutes due to the gusty winds.
JetBlue Airways
JBLU11.69, -0.21, -1.8%) , under intense scrutiny for how it handled the last heavy storm to slam the East, said its operations were back to normal.
Still, the New York-based discount carrier is working to accommodate passengers who were part of the 400 cancelled flights from a schedule of about 550 departures.
Last month, an ice storm forced JetBlue to cancel more than 1,000 flights over the course of several days. Customers and critics blasted the company for keeping passengers cooped up for more than 10 hours in some cases on fully-boarded flights.
Chief Executive David Neeleman issued a public apology to current and former customers and offered a bulked-up refund and voucher program to disgruntled travelers.
In New York on Sunday, the drier weather is a welcomed relief after five inches of snow blanketed the area and led to hundreds of passengers being stranded on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport for hours.
Some travelers, like those planning to fly to Morocco on Royal Air Maroc, were kept on the tarmac for almost 14 hours, the Associated Press reported. One Virgin Atlantic flight from London was diverted to JFK and sat on the taxiway for about six hours.
Pilots and officials at JFK blamed part of the problems on a lack of sufficient deicing fluid used to prep the planes for flight and a new federal regulation that gives the pilots a narrow window to get off the ground after workers applied the chemical.
Aside from New York, delays or cancellations were also reported at major airports in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Boston.
Shawn Langlois is a reporter for MarketWatch, and the editor of its community message boards.
12:02a.m. 03/19/2007
So...lets try and focus on the situation at hand and stop blaming Doug and Scott and trying, it seems to drag the company down in the press and elsewhere.
They apologized to all of us, thanked us and are paying a $100 bonus due to the res. problems and are fixing them as best they can.
Does anyone think they are sitting back just sitting on their hands while this black-eye just festers??? Come-on!!! :blink:
If they resign...maybe we can get some really terrific airline executive on board like......Glen Tilton or Doug Steenland????
If Doug had not happened along to propose and take a risk to do this merger ( which was lambasted at the time, BTW...) 20K US/east and probably 13K AWA employees as well, would have been out of a job!!! Would that have been better???
Next time if you have a problem with a policy or whatever, email or write senior mgmt. with your critique, I can assure you they read them and will respond and maybe if enough complain about something, then they will rethink the issue or correct the problem.
Sorry to sound preachy and I am sure some will come back with the "kool-aid" critique, but what I say is true and we can either fix it and work together to make our airline better and be constructive or maybe it is time for some to find a job where they might be happier. Or, we can all just sit around and complain and watch the whole thing disintegrate.
Your choice.
Certainly SHARES migration issues did'nt help and some staffing issues also contributed, but it happens and weather and full flights at spring-break (last I checked) cannot be controlled.
US is not the only carrier encountering difficulties from the storms on Friday and Saturday as the following article states....
Airlines work to recover from heavy storm
PrintE-mailDisable live quotesRSSDigg itDel.icio.usBy Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch
Last Update: 1:20 PM ET Mar 18, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Airlines were scrambling to get back on track in the Northeast this weekend after a brutal late-season storm led to the cancellation of more than 3,600 flights across the U.S. from Friday to Saturday morning.
While still cold and windy throughout much of the region, the weather on Sunday didn't pose immediate risk of significant problems at most major airports, according to the National Weather Service. Flights began to resume their normal schedule Saturday.
But there were still some pockets of trouble.
Continental Airlines (CAL : Continental Airlines Inc , for instance, said that the average delay on Sunday morning at Newark Liberty International was 95 minutes due to the gusty winds.
JetBlue Airways
JBLU11.69, -0.21, -1.8%) , under intense scrutiny for how it handled the last heavy storm to slam the East, said its operations were back to normal.
Still, the New York-based discount carrier is working to accommodate passengers who were part of the 400 cancelled flights from a schedule of about 550 departures.
Last month, an ice storm forced JetBlue to cancel more than 1,000 flights over the course of several days. Customers and critics blasted the company for keeping passengers cooped up for more than 10 hours in some cases on fully-boarded flights.
Chief Executive David Neeleman issued a public apology to current and former customers and offered a bulked-up refund and voucher program to disgruntled travelers.
In New York on Sunday, the drier weather is a welcomed relief after five inches of snow blanketed the area and led to hundreds of passengers being stranded on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport for hours.
Some travelers, like those planning to fly to Morocco on Royal Air Maroc, were kept on the tarmac for almost 14 hours, the Associated Press reported. One Virgin Atlantic flight from London was diverted to JFK and sat on the taxiway for about six hours.
Pilots and officials at JFK blamed part of the problems on a lack of sufficient deicing fluid used to prep the planes for flight and a new federal regulation that gives the pilots a narrow window to get off the ground after workers applied the chemical.
Aside from New York, delays or cancellations were also reported at major airports in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Boston.
Shawn Langlois is a reporter for MarketWatch, and the editor of its community message boards.
12:02a.m. 03/19/2007
So...lets try and focus on the situation at hand and stop blaming Doug and Scott and trying, it seems to drag the company down in the press and elsewhere.
They apologized to all of us, thanked us and are paying a $100 bonus due to the res. problems and are fixing them as best they can.
Does anyone think they are sitting back just sitting on their hands while this black-eye just festers??? Come-on!!! :blink:
If they resign...maybe we can get some really terrific airline executive on board like......Glen Tilton or Doug Steenland????
If Doug had not happened along to propose and take a risk to do this merger ( which was lambasted at the time, BTW...) 20K US/east and probably 13K AWA employees as well, would have been out of a job!!! Would that have been better???
Next time if you have a problem with a policy or whatever, email or write senior mgmt. with your critique, I can assure you they read them and will respond and maybe if enough complain about something, then they will rethink the issue or correct the problem.
Sorry to sound preachy and I am sure some will come back with the "kool-aid" critique, but what I say is true and we can either fix it and work together to make our airline better and be constructive or maybe it is time for some to find a job where they might be happier. Or, we can all just sit around and complain and watch the whole thing disintegrate.
Your choice.
SHARES does not allow you to book off line with a immediate response of being confirmed. Therefore SHARES will not allow the ticket to be reissue if not holding confirm you have to call the other carrier and get confirmed. I did this and the other carriers hold time was very long. I even went a far as going over to by buddies at AA and used saber and book passengers in real time immediate responses saber. I even went down to DL and talk to buddies there and got a quick booking for a passenger and came back and and printed the tickets in SHARES knowing they were confirm on DL. I did this with several passengers and carriers, but I have to say this. MY FAVOR BANK IS RUNNING OUT.. If I can get you there any GD way you better believe I will do it. Just give me the GD tools
Just give the agents that are dealing directly with the customers the tools to take care of the customers without interruption. Let the agents give the customers what they want (to get to there destination) this calls for creative minds and thinking out of the box. If you allow the front line agents dealing directly with the customer do this without interruption LCC would be better off with less complaints. Most agents are not of the mine set of if you don't like it write a letter. Some in upper management don't understand that the agents in the field or like a M.A.S.H. unit they patch them up ASAP get the out of here. most seasoned east agent were trained and coach to do every thing possible to avoid a complaint. Good sound policy if management gives you the tools and backs you up..
Dog Wonder
Veteran
Two weeks ago was the resounding success of SHARES integration. Lines out the door in CLT, PHL, DCA and LAS. Customers disserviced, apologies issued and media attention. Still feeling the impact of the new system working sporadically in kiosks and agents struggling with SHARES limitations.
This past weekend the weather goes bad for one day. Friday the news was about cancellations on all airlines. By Sunday it was all US Airways. Lines out the door in CLT, PHL, DCA, and PIT.
An efficient operation attracts no undue attention. US Airways has been a media villian twice in a two week span.
These are real customers in those lines out the door, not media creations.
All of you corporate apologists need to consider customers more important than the thin skins of our struggling upper management.
This past weekend the weather goes bad for one day. Friday the news was about cancellations on all airlines. By Sunday it was all US Airways. Lines out the door in CLT, PHL, DCA, and PIT.
An efficient operation attracts no undue attention. US Airways has been a media villian twice in a two week span.
These are real customers in those lines out the door, not media creations.
All of you corporate apologists need to consider customers more important than the thin skins of our struggling upper management.
Which is another good reason for you to bail out and quit the public bashing. Leave already, your precious dollars are not that valuable, since your criticism drives others away.
BuffaloJoe
Veteran
- Aug 17, 2005
- 2,873
- 18
Piney's criticism does not drive customer's away, Sandcastle is doing a bang up job of doing it on their own, even before the merger.
Dog Wonder
Veteran
Bob's influence is limited.
I think the service and multiple meltdowns are driving customers away.
Have you suggested any one responsible for those leave.
- Banned
- #86
Hundreds left stranded at Charlotte/Douglas
STEVE LYTTLE
[email protected]
Lines are shorter, but air travelers are experiencing delays again this morning at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, in wake of a weekend in which thousands of flights were canceled across the East Coast.
Monday always is a busy day at the airport, but the problem is a bit worse this morning.
Airport officials said about 200 to 300 passengers spent the night stranded in Charlotte.
USAirways officials told CBS News this morning that they expect most stranded passengers to reach their destinations today.
The peak of the problem took place Saturday night, when about 3,000 would-be fliers were trapped in the Charlotte area after a snowstorm Friday in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast triggered a series of flight cancellations.
Charlotte appeared to be the hardest-hit by the flight cancellations and changes, as a number of flights were diverted to the Queen City from snowed-in airports.
Bad weather forced USAirways, JetBlue and several other airlines to cancel more than 3,600 flights Friday and Saturday.
When airlines officials tried to find new flights for passengers, they ran into other problems:
Flights already were nearly booked, because many people were traveling on spring break and for other reasons over the weekend.
USAirways already was recovering from problems earlier this month caused by conversion to a new computer system.
Airlines called in off-duty crews and scrambled to find extra planes to handle the problem, but for many passengers, it was a lost weekend.
By early Monday morning, US Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader said the problem was lessening.
“The lines are down to what is normal for a holiday weekend,†Rader told the Associated Press in Philadelphia.
STEVE LYTTLE
[email protected]
Lines are shorter, but air travelers are experiencing delays again this morning at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, in wake of a weekend in which thousands of flights were canceled across the East Coast.
Monday always is a busy day at the airport, but the problem is a bit worse this morning.
Airport officials said about 200 to 300 passengers spent the night stranded in Charlotte.
USAirways officials told CBS News this morning that they expect most stranded passengers to reach their destinations today.
The peak of the problem took place Saturday night, when about 3,000 would-be fliers were trapped in the Charlotte area after a snowstorm Friday in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast triggered a series of flight cancellations.
Charlotte appeared to be the hardest-hit by the flight cancellations and changes, as a number of flights were diverted to the Queen City from snowed-in airports.
Bad weather forced USAirways, JetBlue and several other airlines to cancel more than 3,600 flights Friday and Saturday.
When airlines officials tried to find new flights for passengers, they ran into other problems:
Flights already were nearly booked, because many people were traveling on spring break and for other reasons over the weekend.
USAirways already was recovering from problems earlier this month caused by conversion to a new computer system.
Airlines called in off-duty crews and scrambled to find extra planes to handle the problem, but for many passengers, it was a lost weekend.
By early Monday morning, US Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader said the problem was lessening.
“The lines are down to what is normal for a holiday weekend,†Rader told the Associated Press in Philadelphia.
Art at ISP
Veteran
Yes, and when people like Bob and I go, we have the potential to take 100-300 more high level fliers with us, and those are JUST the ones we've heard from to date.
The potential revenue loss is in the millions, and I can promise you other airlines are smelling blood.
Bob is more emotional and more vocal, but we have alot going on behind the scenes, and time will tell how it works out.
To be frank, UW, Bob's dollars are more meaningful than you think....and your post is part of the problem....disdain for customers appears to be rampant at the Sand Castle....so you may have the chance to see how it will be without us, since it is becoming clear that we mean so little to you---
Be careful what you ask for.
Listen, Bob can't stand US...but he continues to fly US and then bashes the airline in a public forum. I hate certain grocery stores, so I don't shop there, I pay more money and shop at Safeway or AJ's. I hate Walmart, so I don't shop there. Bob and others that can't stand the airline do more harm by bad mouthing the airline on a consistent basis. A good experience rarely gets shared, but a bad experience is expressed to others time and time again, the negative bashing reaches much further than his mighty dollar.
Another negative consequence of low fares. Planes too full on cheap fares, then when #### happens more people have to be reaccomodated. Raise that average fare, get rid of the junk fares, and the operational stress will be so much lower, plus recovery times from events like this will be much faster.
DesertFA66
Advanced
- Nov 12, 2006
- 145
- 19
I have reading these posts since yesterday and I just had to say something about this. Some of you may not like this, but when i first heard we were merging with US Airways, I was shocked. US Airways had a horrible reputation and most of my peers felt the same way. US Airways was always in the news and I remember watching on my overnights and shaking my head. I don't understand why everyone on here makes this a new problem. If you ask me, US Airways was in bad shape before the merger and this seems like a lot of the same stuff. Maybe its' just the fact of operating out of Philidelphia, I don't know, just my two cents worth.
I would like to work for an airline that I am proud of, right now it doesn't seem to be that way, but I hope it changes. I think profit sharing for this year is in jeopardy and I liked the check I got. I will do everything I can to please my passengers (in my zipper dress)!
but when i first heard we were merging with US Airways, I was shocked. US Airways had a horrible reputation and most of my peers felt the same way. US Airways was always in the news and I remember watching on my overnights and shaking my head. I don't understand why everyone on here makes this a new problem. If you ask me, US Airways was in bad shape before the merger and this seems like a lot of the same stuff. Maybe its' just the fact of operating out of Philidelphia, I don't know, just my two cents worth. I would like to work for an airline that I am proud of, right now it doesn't seem to be that way, but I hope it changes. I think profit sharing for this year is in jeopardy and I liked the check I got. I will do everything I can to please my passengers (in my zipper dress)!
