Carry ons

[PlayTheOdds]

Princess I really do wish you could come and work with me for one day. Then at least you could make some post and know what you are talking about.

Hey Kev, for the past couple of nights there has been a large number of bags out in front of the terminal, I guess this is around eleven o'clock. They are laid out in dress right dress fashion and have an orange “Tâ€￾ painted on the side of them. Do you know what that is all about?

 

[robbedagain]

ot sure is hard to jump into a cargo bin when it is pretty high up off the ground. I can see if it is a DC9 or MD80. but remember SAFETY comes first regardless of whether or not the cargo door is open. I know you dont know mucha bout safety because youre pencil whippin them logbooks as other have said!

 

[Red Tail Bear]

Yes they do have wheel chairs available at the customers discretion. I guess the guy just wanted his own walker.

There were four or five grown people there assisting this man. Or maybe they were just marking time waiting for the ramp to do their jobs. The rampers know they are to bring strollers, wheel chairs and walkers onto the jet bridge as soon as possible. That’s pretty much as soon as the cargo doors are open. They do not do this because it pisses passengers off when they have to wait ignorant amounts of time for their belongings. Its like when they don't marshal an aircraft and let it sit out on the ramp for twenty minutes. I do not understand why the company puts up with it. I would be firing people left and right. It would be very bad for ignorant or disgruntled people here if I were in charge. I would put a bag out on the roadway and every ramper that drove by it without reporting it would get fired right then and there. I would fire everyone that should have been at the gate that wasn't there to meet the aircraft and marshal it in. Let the union even attempt to arbitrate anything concerning these terminations, then I would lay everyone off and out source the whole thing.

PTO,
You should be writing fiction books instead of pencil whipping NWA's log books.Your really good at it.What an imagination!!!

 

[FWAAA]

I thought we should have some facts added to this discussion. I know, they get in the way of a good rant but ya'know. I have to try.

So, FWAAA, please get your facts straight before you go spouting off.

Don't much care about USAir's statistics of bag complaints filed with the DOT. Not sure how the checked bag complaints of USAir for the first three quarters of 2005 has anything to do with the industry's general failure to reliably deliver checked bags over the past 20+ years, but you know what they say about liars and figures.

I've had plenty of checked bag problems on AA and have copies of checks AA has had to write me to cover AA's failures. Remarkably, I have never filed any complaints with the DOT, and wouldn't attempt to extrapolate the broad conclusions you do from those figures.

But keep digging for those "facts." B)

SuperScab wants to limit customers to a carryon briefcase. He ought to instead focus his energies on keeping those NW airplanes as safe as he and the other scabs can manage. And leave decisions about carryon bags to others.

 

[Kev3188]

Yes they do have wheel chairs available at the customers discretion. I guess the guy just wanted his own walker.

There were four or five grown people there assisting this man. Or maybe they were just marking time waiting for the ramp to do their jobs. The rampers know they are to bring strollers, wheel chairs and walkers onto the jet bridge as soon as possible. That’s pretty much as soon as the cargo doors are open.

Which is not until the engines are shut down, belts pulled up, etc. Lots of people can deplane in that time.

They do not do this because it pisses passengers off when they have to wait ignorant amounts of time for their belongings.

Quite possibly the most ignorant post you've made yet.

Its like when they don't marshal an aircraft and let it sit out on the ramp for twenty minutes. I do not understand why the company puts up with it. I would be firing people left and right.

Then you'd be even shorter on the ramp, and the planes would wait even longer.

It would be very bad for ignorant or disgruntled people here if I were in charge. I would put a bag out on the roadway and every ramper that drove by it without reporting it would get fired right then and there.

Are you aware that at a lot of airports, that if a bag is out on the ramp, that you're not allowed to just pick it up? Yes, I know it sounds silly, but it is one of the fallouts from 9/11.

I would fire everyone that should have been at the gate that wasn't there to meet the aircraft and marshal it in. Let the union even attempt to arbitrate anything concerning these terminations, then I would lay everyone off and out source the whole thing.

Yeah? Let 'er rip.....

 

[flygirl74]

Here is my take on the bag situation....when the agent brings down 15 wheelchaired pax and they each have the biggest bag in the world-and we are to "assist"...
(my sister is 23 and is wheelchair bound, she always checks)....when I see a pax with 50 bags-to argue is pointless, I wait til they can't fight with it any longer then check it - or - throw it out 2R door.

 

[AstroLounge]

Here is my take on the bag situation....when the agent brings down 15 wheelchaired pax and they each have the biggest bag in the world-and we are to "assist"...
(my sister is 23 and is wheelchair bound, she always checks)....when I see a pax with 50 bags-to argue is pointless, I wait til they can't fight with it any longer then check it - or - throw it out 2R door.

You can always say "I'm Pregnant", "I just had a lumpectomy" (always good for a sympathy vote) Hernia/hemorrhoids/fibroids (or ALL of the above) and the best is still L.O.I <Lack of Interest>

 

[Garfield1966]

Don't much care about USAir's statistics of bag complaints filed with the DOT. Not sure how the checked bag complaints of USAir for the first three quarters of 2005 has anything to do with the industry's general failure to reliably deliver checked bags over the past 20+ years, but you know what they say about liars and figures.

I've had plenty of checked bag problems on AA and have copies of checks AA has had to write me to cover AA's failures. Remarkably, I have never filed any complaints with the DOT, and wouldn't attempt to extrapolate the broad conclusions you do from those figures.

I prefer to base statements on some sort of verifiable statistics. Even if the DOT is off by 100% that still amounts to approximately 2% at the bottom end.

I am assuming that you are a frequent flyer so the more you fly, the higher the odds of some sort of mishap occurring. I am curious of what the ratio of lost / mishandled / damaged bags to number of flights is. Some folks have bad luck some do not. I have been flying quite often in my nearly 20 years with AA (though not as much as you I am guessing) and I have not had a lost / damaged bag yet. I have been traveling to Europe with my parents since I was a toddler and I cannot remember a lost bag yet. My folks have been going 2 times a year for the past 20 with out incidence. AA did screw up my sisters bag one time (looked like it was run over) and they cut her a check as I recall.

I still hold that statically given the shear volume of passengers that travel every day of every year, even if it were 5% I would still say that it was pretty damn good. Yes I know that a DOT complaint is not filed on every occurrence but I doubt that would raise the percentage by more than 1 or 2 points at best.

To try and compare baggage reliability over the last 20 years I think is a bit unfair. The technology 20 years ago is a far cry from what we have now. Airlines are run far different and they are substantially larger than they were back then. Improvements are made on a yearly, if not daily basis. I can track a box sent via Fed Ex on the internet now and know exactly where it is at any given time. I can go on line, put a flight number in and see where that plane is. My car has a GPS that can locate my position with i a few feet.

To me you sound like a spoil CEO who wants every thing done yesterday and wants it all perfect. Humans are involved and mistakes will happen. I am sorry for the inconvenience that AA has caused you, but most of the time, at least 95% (I'll give you 4.5%which is over 400% more than reported) we get it right and I am damn proud of that fact. So while you base you opinion off of your personal experience, I'll go by what ever statistics I can find until I find something that proves what I thought to be wrong.

 

[Kev3188]

Hey Kev, for the past couple of nights there has been a large number of bags out in front of the terminal, I guess this is around eleven o'clock. They are laid out in dress right dress fashion and have an orange “Tâ€￾ painted on the side of them. Do you know what that is all about?

I have no idea what that's about....

 

[PlayTheOdds]

SuperScab wants to limit customers to a carryon briefcase. He ought to instead focus his energies on keeping those NW airplanes as safe as he and the other scabs can manage. And leave decisions about carryon bags to others.

Any airline could save a lot of money and tremendous amounts of time getting rid of carry-ons and the overhead bins for that matter. It is a system that is being grossly abused. Do you have any suggestions to bring such abuse to an end?

Today a woman tried to carry on a guitar in a case. Do you really believe this is acceptable?

 

[Kev3188]

Any airline could save a lot of money and tremendous amounts of time getting rid of carry-ons and the overhead bins for that matter. It is a system that is being grossly abused. Do you have any suggestions to bring such abuse to an end?

Yes. Enforce the regulations at the ticket counter, then the security checkpoint, and as a last line of "defense," the gate podium.

Today a woman tried to carry on a guitar in a case. Do you really believe this is acceptable?

No, I don't. The only exception would be if she there was an understanding that she herself would bring it to the gate herself to be gate checked (this actually happens quite often; musicians tend to hate checking their instruments ).

 

[PlayTheOdds]

Speaking of security checkpoints where do they get some of these people from? Also why did they build so many checkpoints if they are only going to man a few at a time?

 

[robbedagain]

it could be at peak times that all of the check points are manned. that may be only at peak times or for select flights or select passengers who need further screening

 

[Kev3188]

Speaking of security checkpoints where do they get some of these people from? Also why did they build so many checkpoints if they are only going to man a few at a time?

Most of the agents were already in place at their respective airports as employees of the private firms that were then doing security screening. Most of these firms (Globe, Huntleigh, eg.) barely paid over minimum wage, and had colossal (sp?) turnover rates....

 

[PlayTheOdds]

I MEL'd two broken bin doors today. It was so much fun, I just smiled to myself as the oversized bags were carried off the aircraft to be CHECKED AT THE GATE. The Pax that broke it was so embarrassed as the other Paxs' bags were toted off with his. I really do love this job.