100,000 LCC travelers stuck...

[Hula Girl]

USAir was the target on talk radio in Charlotte yesterday. Apparently a journalist was trying to get back home during this fiasco. She said that there were only four agents handling the several thousand passengers in line and that every now and then a 'management looking sort' would come out of the back with their hands on their hips, survey the lines, shake their heads and go back behind the doors behind the counters. Every one in line who witnessed this was absolutely furious. An agent (who did not know she was a journalist) spoke at length with her while she was in line for the 8 or 9 hours. She was told that there were more agents in AZ for a couple hundred less flights. While this was being broadcast, many many people were calling in and NO ONE had anything good to say about USAir.
Management, are you listening?

 

[BuffaloJoe]

Management, are you listening?

All management in Tempe worries about is who's hand is in the cash register. :down:

 

[john john]

Following this weekends performance during the recent winter storm I feel compelled to write this letter. As I watched news reports and answered phone calls from members on trips it became very obvious that there are many problems with US Airways. While watching news reports concerning flight delays and cancellations, the Company was placing all the blame on the winter storm. While the storm did present a challenge to the operations of the Company it was not the only reason for the meltdown. In fact it is insulting to the employees of US Airways and our passengers to blame it all on a winter storm. We have recovered from storms far worse and much quicker. It actually was a "perfect storm" that caused all the problems. The Company still continues to deal with hiccups following the switch over to the new reservation system according to management. Calling the problems a hiccup is an understatement. Waiting in line 4, 5 and 6 hours to be rebooked is more than a hiccup. When the kiosks don't work as well, the only way for passengers to check-in is dealing directly with a customer service agent, who is in short supply and extremely overworked. Their work since the move to SHARES is nothing short of amazing. The short supply of agents to deal with the volume of passengers affected by this storm is one of the reasons for the slow recovery.
The combination of kiosks not working, a reservation system switch, a moderate winter storm in the heart of our airline and not enough employees to deal with the workload created this meltdown. Hopefully when this is all over, management will take a long look at staffing models and make the needed changes in the respective departments. Adding insult to injury, as of this writing US Airways has not even issued a statement apologizing to our passengers and the employees.

On the plus side I heard first hand stories of DCA crew members assisting passengers during this difficult time. One DCA crew assisted a very elderly gentleman stranded in PHL. This crew helped him locate a hotel room and transportation to and from the hotel. They also made sure he was rebooked and he did make it to his final destination on Saturday. This is just one example of the front-line employees going above and beyond the call.

Please let your LEC officers know of any problems you have with scheduling and/or legality violations so that they can be resolved quickly.

In Solidarity,



Alin Boswell
alin@afausairways.org
LEC President, DCA
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
703.212.8090 Office

 

[john john]

If you are talking about what the gate agents in PHL say, you have it all wrong, it is more like this:

I'm going on break, OKAAAAAYYYYY????? I'm going on break....I'm on Break...o-kaaaayyyy?

I guess the agents should start wearing adult diapers so not to take a break.

 

[DrBeth]

You are right on the money. It was NOT just weather. This was my experience, as a Platinum Preferred flyer this weekend, and I was lucky.

My bad experience was MBJ-CLT-LGA on Friday. I arrived from MBJ to find out all flights to the NE were cancelled due to the snow, which I expected, as I had seen the forecasts on US TV in Jamaica. What I did not expect was the inability to access ANY reservations numbers, including all Preferred lines. Got busy signals or "all circuits are busy." I decided to wait in the FC/Preferred Line to rebook. I was in the line for FOUR HOURS. Think how long the lines were if you were not a frequent flyer! The reason the lines were long was because we were forced to rebook in person and we were in line with customers who were unable to use the kiosks to check in for regularly scheduled, not cancelled flights.

I was rebooked for Monday, but I stood by for three flights Saturday and finally got on the third one--I was lucky. I was told that standby is determined by your elite status, time of check in, etc. I checked my standby status for the three flights at the US Airways Club and was told for two of the standby flights I was first on the list. However, when they started calling for standbys, I was never called for the first flight (they took about 25 standbys), was never called for the second (they took about 10 standbys), and was finally called #2 for the third flight.

Following this weekends performance during the recent winter storm I feel compelled to write this letter. As I watched news reports and answered phone calls from members on trips it became very obvious that there are many problems with US Airways. While watching news reports concerning flight delays and cancellations, the Company was placing all the blame on the winter storm. While the storm did present a challenge to the operations of the Company it was not the only reason for the meltdown. In fact it is insulting to the employees of US Airways and our passengers to blame it all on a winter storm. We have recovered from storms far worse and much quicker. It actually was a "perfect storm" that caused all the problems. The Company still continues to deal with hiccups following the switch over to the new reservation system according to management. Calling the problems a hiccup is an understatement. Waiting in line 4, 5 and 6 hours to be rebooked is more than a hiccup. When the kiosks don't work as well, the only way for passengers to check-in is dealing directly with a customer service agent, who is in short supply and extremely overworked. Their work since the move to SHARES is nothing short of amazing. The short supply of agents to deal with the volume of passengers affected by this storm is one of the reasons for the slow recovery.
The combination of kiosks not working, a reservation system switch, a moderate winter storm in the heart of our airline and not enough employees to deal with the workload created this meltdown. Hopefully when this is all over, management will take a long look at staffing models and make the needed changes in the respective departments. Adding insult to injury, as of this writing US Airways has not even issued a statement apologizing to our passengers and the employees.

On the plus side I heard first hand stories of DCA crew members assisting passengers during this difficult time. One DCA crew assisted a very elderly gentleman stranded in PHL. This crew helped him locate a hotel room and transportation to and from the hotel. They also made sure he was rebooked and he did make it to his final destination on Saturday. This is just one example of the front-line employees going above and beyond the call.

Please let your LEC officers know of any problems you have with scheduling and/or legality violations so that they can be resolved quickly.

In Solidarity,
Alin Boswell
alin@afausairways.org
LEC President, DCA
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
703.212.8090 Office

 

[ClueByFour]

Based on my experience in CLT this weekend, I am positive that the agents are not clearly the standby lists in status order as they are (or were) supposed to.

 

[l8rd8r]

[ You do what you can with what you have available.

Hopefully this was a lesson learned by all.

Respectfully....
[/quote]

And we had nothing available. My flight from Paris to Phl was diverted to Richmond sat for 2.5 hours with no word from the ground that the computer system could not handle rebooking these stranded people. We then diverted to CLT where we were greeted with an agent that said to the full A330 "everything is cancelled, call the reservation number tomorrow your on your own." Then after customs an agent was passing out a letter with 800 numbers and local hotels numbers (in english only. I asked the agent "is this because the shares system cannot handle this overload?" He said it would take 55 steps per person to take care of each pax. There are thousands and we can't handle it".

My beef is that we had 2.5 hours on the ground in Richmond. People had cell phones they could of made plans for CLT.

My crew was finally shipped to So. Carolina to a run down hotel 30 min. from CLT ariport. We had 24 crewmembers being shuttled by one van that could only carry 7 squished crewmembers at a time. That's a 40 min r/t to pick up crewmembers it took 3 hours. Keep in mind we had already spent 2 hr waiting for the cab in the first place and that's after the 16 hour duty day.

This had nothing to do with a learning curve and everything to do with a piece of s--- system antiqated and unable to run this large of an operation.

.Non rev system inop. My passes come up with other people names and flight records. And if I'm not listed (which I did) I'm told they can't help me.

.A/C's leaving the gate and holding for paperwork that comes via acrars and not at the gate. Because the system can't handle it.

.No manafest to tell us where the 50 special meals go, why because HP didn't serve special meals.

.PAX getting other peoples names and boarding passes. Then being told to go back to the ticket counter because they can't fix it at the gate.

.Agent saying you have 31 open seats when 18 people are standing in the isles without a seat.

.Crewmembers being released out of base and told to fend for themselves. Yeah unlike the PAX they are lucky...they had an airplane to sleep on.

This is an inadequate system that has uppr Management as the f..up. Cheap f...up that has cost us dearly. My business pAX had been dealing with this itt mess for two weeks prior to that ice storm. They are done with US for good reason. The ground and front line employees were given nothing they were given. nothing. To aide anyone in this mess. YOU Doug Parker F..d up big time.

 

[SKY HIGH]

I was in the line for FOUR HOURS. Think how long the lines were if you were not a frequent flyer!

sky high states: I will NEVER get the image of seeing hundreds and hundreds of passengers lined up OUTSIDE THE TERMINAL in Philly IN THE COLD out of my mind. People were freezing out there!!!!! I watched woman huddle together to stay warm. OLD and YOUNG people, both suffering in the elements. The terminal INSIDE was too crowded for additional people.

WHERE WAS THE ADDITIONAL STAFF? WHERE WAS THE INCENTIVE FOR EMPLOYEES TO COME IN AND HELP OUT ($$)ON THEIR DAYS OFF? :down: :down: :down:

DOUG, remember how long you spent in that JAIL CELL? Your customers did the same, in line, on the aircraft, on the floor sleeping in the airport OVERNIGHT. You think THEY ever want a repeat of that experience? They'll be emailing you. I hope you are humbled by now.


only stating opinions.

 

[BuffaloJoe]

sky high states: I will NEVER get the image of seeing hundreds and hundreds of passengers lined up OUTSIDE THE TERMINAL in Philly IN THE COLD out of my mind. People were freezing out there!!!!! I watched woman huddle together to stay warm. OLD and YOUNG people, both suffering in the elements. The terminal INSIDE was too crowded for additional people.

WHERE WAS THE ADDITIONAL STAFF? WHERE WAS THE INCENTIVE FOR EMPLOYEES TO COME IN AND HELP OUT ($$)ON THEIR DAYS OFF? :down: :down: :down:

DOUG, remember how long you spent in that JAIL CELL? Your customers did the same, in line, on the aircraft, on the floor sleeping in the airport OVERNIGHT. You think THEY ever want a repeat of that experience? They'll be emailing you. I hope you are humbled by now.
only stating opinions.

DoUgIe had a mattress on his cot. He didn't even dress in prison garb. Probably had his "Bud Lite Pajamas with him and his bunny slippers. 😱

 

[Dog Wonder]

DoUgIe had a mattress on his cot. He didn't even dress in prison garb. Probably had his "Bud Lite Pajamas with him and his bunny slippers. 😱

and he was locked up in the girl's dorm

 

[tadjr]

I checked my standby status for the three flights at the US Airways Club and was told for two of the standby flights I was first on the list. However, when they started calling for standbys, I was never called for the first flight (they took about 25 standbys), was never called for the second (they took about 10 standbys), and was finally called #2 for the third flight.

The "standby" list also includes customers who are confirmed on the flight and dont have a seat (oversales). Many times customers hear them being called and think they are being bypassed on the standby list. Not sure exactly what happened, but I do know that the flights were oversold and this is a possibility of all the "standbys" that were called ahead of you.

 

[MarkMyWords]

MMY,

But do you suppose that management will at least look at the annual winter horror shows in PHL, and maybe consider flying more non-stops to vacationland next winter, in an effort to take the pressure off of the hubs?

In the recent past, there were 'hub trackers' at each crew domicile and major hub. They could put together airplanes and crews, and keep things moving; or, they could find hotels for stranded crews, many times as a result of local knowledge.

I am not sure we will see a lot of flying that "by-passes" the hub. While there was always a high demand for travel from the north to the south, the fares and competition just didn't make it profitable. Now, that said, with the fare structure trending higher and capacity being adjusted downward, never say never. At this point I honestly feel that the push will lean more toward syncronizing schedules and flight patterns between the east and west.

I like your idea of having some link between the station and OCC during irregular events like this. Having some type of hotline connection to help reschedule crews and assist with things at a station level are crucial.

Correct me if I am wrong, but towards the end, when there were Hub Trackers, weren't they forbidden from making pages and calls in the crew rooms? The theory was that the crew room was a place for crew members to rest and relax and the constant pages on a "bad day" were an annoyance. This prohibited hub trackers from doing what they were supposed to be doing.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Correct me if I am wrong, but towards the end, when there were Hub Trackers, weren't they forbidden from making pages and calls in the crew rooms? The theory was that the crew room was a place for crew members to rest and relax and the constant pages on a "bad day" were an annoyance. This prohibited hub trackers from doing what they were supposed to be doing.

I can only say for sure about CLT, where the pages in the crew room continued till November - the last time I was there. Of course, it wasn't hub trackers doing the paging since they'd been long gone.

Jim

 

[aredeeyou22]

Correct me if I am wrong, but towards the end, when there were Hub Trackers, weren't they forbidden from making pages and calls in the crew rooms? The theory was that the crew room was a place for crew members to rest and relax and the constant pages on a "bad day" were an annoyance. This prohibited hub trackers from doing what they were supposed to be doing.

You are wrong. Pages in the crew room continued until the Trackers were laid off. Rest and relaxation was never a factor. Running the operation was the only factor.

 

[MarkMyWords]

I swear I remember hearing that they couldn't page, but maybe it was soliciting volunteers to board airplanes or something like that.