If you won't do your job, inconvenience and our passengers you are going to be written up. Remember that next time you are on board. You are not going to play games with our airline and get away with it. It is not going to be business as usual like it was at the old US Air. We are not going to put up with this type of non-sense.
I applaud this crew member for sending in a report. I hope few people will get to retire early after they get called in to explain their actions.
I'm getting tired of this "on board" non-sense.
Our inbound aircraft was delayed due to thunderstorms in the Charlotte area and eventually diverted. Our departure time kept getting delayed further and further.
After waiting around the terminal for over 2 hours, our aircraft was finally reported to be on the ground in CLT.
In an effort to expedite the turn of our aircraft and avoid further inconveniencing our 120+ passengers I proceeded down the jetway and on to the ramp to meet the plane as it arrived and get started on my pre-flight walk around.
Almost immediately upon setting foot on the ramp, a ramp agent (whom I assume was the ramp lead for that gate) approached me in what I interpreted as a hostile manner asking me what I was doing on the ramp. I informed him that I was there to meet the incoming plane and do my preflight duties.
As the aircraft approached the terminal area, he again approached me and asked me to leave "his" ramp. I was somewhat taken aback by this request and asked him to repeat. He informed me that he didn't want me in the way.
I offered to stand next to the terminal, some 40 feet away from the aircraft parking area to which he told me that he wanted me in the jetway and off the ramp so that I "would not be in the way of any of his crew" as they parked the aircraft.
I retreated back to the terminal. As a result, I was not able to re-gain access to the ramp until the onslaught of deplaning passengers were off the aircraft and out of the jetway. This caused a further delay of accomplishing my duties of pre-flight checking the aircraft.
Due to observing this behavior and the fact that my encounters with him had a borderline harassing and confrontational tone, I elected to report the incident to a supervisor.
In 12 years of working at America West/US Airways, I have never been asked to leave the ramp by a ramp agent.
In 12 years, any time I am present at the gate when the inbound aircraft approaches, I go down to the ramp to begin my walk around as soon as the engines are shut down in an effort to expedite the turn of the aircraft. There has NEVER been of question or problem of me proceeding in this fashion prior to this incident.
If there is a new policy in place that prohibits pilots from being on the ramp when an aircraft approaches the gate, it has not been brought to my attention. I request confirmation as to whether such a policy exists or is forthcoming.
Also, in both of my exchanges with this person, I felt that his behavior was aggressive, confrontational and borderline harassment and believe that further investigation might be warranted.
---------------------------------------------
Event report:
Due to a non-full flight, early departure and favorable winds, we arrived in Charlotte ahead of schedule in the early morning of June 7th.
We touched down in CLT 23 minutes ahead of schedule at 5:39 AM.
As we approached gate B4 we found the area to be blocked by cones. Inspection of ALL the other gates we could see revealed no cones blocking aircraft access to the J-line.
No rampers were present so we stopped short and waited. Eventually, rampers began moving around the gate area (very slowly) and none of them acknowledged that we were there. No hand signals were given.
At any given time there were 2 to 6 rampers present with no effort being made to move or communicate with us. At one point they all stood with their backs turned toward us and it looked like hands in pockets.
When one ramper removed the cones that were blocking us, another drove a tug and baggage carts across the J-line further blocking our progress.
We called operations to ask what was going on to which a voice replied "They are on board." We asked "What does that mean?" and the voice replied "They are on board for safety."
We do not know if the origin of the voice was from operations or another location.
In the end, we spent 9 minutes burning fuel while the rampers milled around, blocked, and stood with their backs toward us.
With all the flight information/tracking we employ in our operations and ACARS in-range communications I have no doubt that EVERYONE on the ground in CLT knew exactly when we would be there and were still not prepared when we arrived. In addition, they appeared to be intentionally delaying our arrival.
The behavior of the ramp personnel, operations personnel and potentially others on the radio was totally unprofessional and embarrassing. In addition, it caused the unnecessary waste of fuel.
Poor work ethics were exhibited by all ground personnel involved.
---------------------------------------------
