American Airlines doing all it can to cut costs as fuel prices rise

[frontline]

Well if the gear pits and docks are all busted up AA wouln't get much would they? I think what we have here would be akin to getting your car washed every week but never changing or checking the oil.

Am I misreading you Bob or is that a threat??

I hope I read that wrong but if not... totally disgusted with that idea.

 

[Kev3188]

Bob will certainly answer on his own, but I didn't get that impression from his post at all. He's likening the superficial improvements at AFW (new TV's while the docks fall into disrepair) to a car that looks nice, but is operationally unsound.

 

[Boomer]

Ok, so don`t lsten to a guy that has been at AFW sine 1994. Denial of problems and issues does not make it go away as we are constantly reminded. Flat panel televisions? Yep, the company bought a bunch of them and mounted them thru out the hangar. No it was not so we could keep up with news and sports scores. They are there to display charts and graphs from DWMS on each airplanes status. There are not many AMTs that care about these charts and fewrer that even understand them.
I point out these issues here in my little corner to balance the "productivity" issue. When a landing gear pit, that was a known problem, breaks down in the middle of a gear change that impacts my productivity. When some knuckehead decides to send ALL safety harness out for recertification at the same time, that impacts my productivity. Leaving work last night we just shook our heads when we got to the turnstiles. Why? It was because 50% of the turnstiles were taped off, broken, unusable out of service.
So feel free to dismiss my examples as one disgruntled mechanic. I see these examples as an indicator of a much larger problem.,,,

dvlhog212,

Brother,
You are spot on. We have flat panel screens everywhere displaying crap.

Meanwhile, the lift-a-loft trucks are OTS with no RTS because automotive reports to Marketing, while aircraft maintenance reports to Maintenance & Engineering. We need to use it but they refuse to pay for them to be fixed.

Over the last two years, Aircraft Maintenance has been forced to report, on more than two occasions, that our ability to perform our essential job function was becoming compromised due to the lack of support equipment.

In the last two weeks, aircraft have been OTS in the hangar because the required support equipment was OTS with no work or troubleshooting having been performed.

The automotive guys tell us that their manager spends his budget on ramp equipment first and then tells them that when the budget is blown for the month: let the rest of the stuff go until our budget allows us to get to it.

 

[chris perry]

I have to agree our equipment is in disrepair to say the least....

 

[iluvaa]

Same at TUL everything is broken and or crappy

 

[eolesen]

Meanwhile, the lift-a-loft trucks are OTS with no RTS because automotive reports to Marketing, while aircraft maintenance reports to Maintenance & Engineering. We need to use it but they refuse to pay for them to be fixed.
...
The automotive guys tell us that their manager spends his budget on ramp equipment first and then tells them that when the budget is blown for the month: let the rest of the stuff go until our budget allows us to get to it.

For the bases, I'm pretty certain that GSE is still budgeted and accountable to M&E.

For line stations, GSE reports to airports, not marketing. I sat in staff meetings with the GSE manager for years, and had my office next to their area...

But the underlying issue is still valid -- since ramp & cabin service delays are part of the local GM's report card (maintenance delays aren't), keeping their equipment in working order is probably no doubt being given priority. Not fixing something that's OTS because it blows the budget is a BS excuse, however.

Budgets are a forecast, not an absolute. As long as you have reasonable variance explanations & justification, nobody in management gets fired for being over-budget. You might not even be penalized for it on your report card...