EAST saves West's BUTT today!

[JetGirljustLoves2DISH]

Well I have heard that 150 reserves have quit this past few months because of the merger and went over to WN.
Someone told me that they don't want to be on reserve forever.

Any truth?

 

[IpourNotCan]

Well what the heck is the deal with AFA and the company??? If we are so short staff and the flights are being replaced by US East crews, then it is a violation isn't it? They need to get it together and finish the contract, so the routes can be integrated without grievances.
I've heard that the company is willing to give the F/As pay parity, but at the expense of senior US West F/As. They want to take the senior f/a's 5 week vacation and shortened it to 3. INSANE!!!!!

 

[USstew23]

That's a joke right? In the event of an aircraft/crew shortage, the right thing was done by substituting a US aircraft/crew. Since the crews can't cross fleets yet, it was only natural for an East crew to work the flight.

If the AFA is more concerned about who works the flight than whether or not they stranded passengers, then something's wrong.

Happy Holidays to ALL!

Nope, no joke, just read it straight from West AFA, they filed a scope grievance, which yes it sounds silly but I guess technically even though it was the right thing to do, it violates one of those contract things. Go figure.

 

[barbeetantrums]

So let me get this straight rather than allow passengers to actually make it to their destination on time and without hassle the union would rather they wait and be reaccomed on another airline :down: . Fast forward to eventual future and they could not make a case. We are merged maybe not in certificate but everyone knows its a formality. Accept it or quit. Note that the flight attendants are the first ones to squeal and not the pilots.

Truth is that a CBA (a legal contract) was violated. These are still two seperate workgroups operating at different payscales. Take it from me, the mentality of former America West management is that if given an inch, they will take a mile. God bless 'em and we wish them a Merry Christmas but everyone from Doug Parker to the lowliest supervisor loves to find just how much they can get away with. It starts with the small stuff and then they keep going until someone raises a terrible stink.

Again, the flight crews were not reponsible for a broken aircraft and a lack of spares. They did not fly and they were not paid.

And, yes, I too am happy that the pax made it to their destination.

 

[Tim Nelson]

So, West has WAAAAY too many planes out of service right now. I was trying to figure out a PHL flight out of my zone today and it took me a few minutes to realize that it wasn't one of ours...sure enough it's an East plane and crew working the flight. WOOHOO! Apparently there are a few planes and crews working the West side of things today. It may be controversial in the long run but frankly, as someone who deals with pax at the gate I have one thing to say...
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANKS EAST!

East and West. Kinda reminds me of the Piedmont/USair merger where it was South and North. so many different languages and cultures on the property that teamwork went out the door and Customer service took a hit.
If this merger ends up being a East and a West thing then I wouldn't see it as a good thing for your company or employees.

I'm sure your company got "Top" people working on this..."Top" people. MUST have one canopy, one language, one company because otherwise it may be early '90's all over again. Hopefully they won't stumble on the same template as other mergers did.

regards,

 

[MarkMyWords]

Let me ask those that feel that this is a violation of the AFA contract...

If there was a broken US West airplane in PHL and it was going to be out of service the entire day. US West cancels a PHL-PHX-PHL flight. US East has a spare airplane and spare crew available and decides to run an extra section PHL-PHX-PHL several hours after the original US West Flight.....how is this a violation of scope language? This isn't a US East crew flying a route that they don't normally fly, like PHX-SNA-PHX, but it is a route that US East normally flies, PHL-PHX-PHL. Where is the violation of scope? US East Metal flew with US East Crews on a US East route as an extra section, providing additional seats in a market that had a cancellation.

If US East equipment subs a revenue flight from a 757 to a 734 and MESA runs an extra section to support oversales, is that a violation of scope? If US Mainline runs an extra section to replace an Express carrier because of a cancellation, is that a violation of scope?

While I understand that it is a very tight line they are walking, there was no violation of your scope language. Lighten up and the company did what is right for the customers and did not violate any scope clause.

 

[etops1]

what segments were flown by east planes ?

 

[Philjr]

what segments were flown by east planes ?

It sounds like the crews should be paid for lost time.

 

[Flying Titan]

While it's clear to me that mgmt made the right decision here to make sure the customer comes first...they also made a mistake by not taking care of their employees (ultimately not an east or west thing).

Fact is, it's AWA/US responsibility to have necessary substitute aircraft available. If there is a problem, then it should contact the work group reps to work out some accomodation for extraordinary circumstances.

In this case, the most obvious fix to this problem would be to simply pay the crews that were left sitting idly by due to this mistake. I'm sure this would cost less than pushing this planeload of pax onto another carrier.

The AFA grievance is pretty disappointing, but may be a necessary step to come up with a better solution for similar probelms in the future.

 

[etops1]

i found out that the crews were working flts from phx-lax flt number was flt 9024

 

[SegmentKing]

Well I have heard that 150 reserves have quit this past few months because of the merger and went over to WN.
Someone told me that they don't want to be on reserve forever.

Any truth?

Maybe if the AFA-West leadership actually told the truth about what is going on, instead of scare tactics, people would realize their futures are *more* secure than before.

So let them go to WN and do their overnights in Lubbock. I don't see Southwest flying to Europe, Hawaii, or the Caribbean anytime soon...

-----------------------------------
speaking of "crossing the line" with aircraft subbing...

We had an MDA plane get stuck in my city. We had 50 some passengers stranded, and we couldn't put them on another airline. PSA had an overnighting aircraft in a city that was less than an hours flight away and was able to fly down and "rescue" some of our passengers. Granted this was a few hours after our departure time, it was great being able to take care of our customers, even though it wasn't with MDA metal, and everyone was happy (this was probably the FIRST cancellation we've ever had that we didn't get a complaint!)

I'm DAMN PROUD to work for a company that is willing to go ABOVE and BEYOND any means necessary to move our customers. I only wish that some of you on the WEST side would realize this, that we're not OUT to "steal" your jobs.. we want to share your passengers on our network and work on getting new passengers. I think your AFA-West leadership needs to take a chill pill, if we keep pissing off our customers they won't return, and you and I will BOTH be out of a job!

 

[etops1]

i think they should pay the west crews for this. if a viaolation was made,then pay both crews. plain and simple. if this had happened to an us/east crew . they would be totally griping the same thing. but we need to realize that we are a team now and that we need to work together.

 

[MarkMyWords]

Doing a little research online this is what I found:

We operated 7 extra sections today

9020..PHX-PHL
9021..PHL-PHX
9022..DCA-PHX
9023..PHX-LAX
9024..LAX-PHX
9025..PHX-PHL..DIVERTED OR FLAGSTOPPED PIT
9027..PIT-PHX

Tomorrow we are operating the following extra sections:

9020..PHL-PHX
9021..PHX-LAX
9022..LAX-PHX
9023..PHX-PIT
9024..PHX-PHL

My question would be, what is driving the need for these extra sections? If it is MTC, then paying the US West crews for the canceled flights. Ultimately it will be cheaper then if we had to reroute customers on OA. If it is a crew shortage and remaining crew members were reassigned to other flights, then pay guarantee them for the higher time of the trips sschedule vs worked. One way or another the company should do what is right for employee and customers alike.

 

[barbeetantrums]

i think they should pay the west crews for this. if a viaolation was made,then pay both crews. plain and simple. if this had happened to an us/east crew . they would be totally griping the same thing. but we need to realize that we are a team now and that we need to work together.

The "team" is still under two different CBAs and two different pay scales. SCOPE was violated. If there is no protest, former AWA management will do it all the time and more west crews will make no money as they will be sitting on the ground. It also applies to east crews. Would there be an outcry if an HP plane with HP crew in PHL was suddenly used to fly a US flight to LAX? -_-

 

[700UW]

You still have to make the company adhere to the CBAs, if you don't they will take advantage of them as much as they can.

The bottom line it is a legal and binding contract and they must follow it, like it or not.

It is called a wet lease and that is a scope violation.