Massive Psa Cancelations

[Dont call me Shirley]

79 cancellations/ 97 flight segments as of about 6pm today. I did notice that they have at least canx for two days out on some flights now. Thats a start, but, um, rez, anyone have the time to call the customers and reskd them now?

I'm not sure what is worse: this "charlie foxtrot" or the sneaking suspicion that no one, absolutely no one, will be held accountable.

I've also encountered customers whose PSA flights have been cancelled on both outbound and return journeys. Along with the PSA crew shortages, we have also been contending with aircraft that is to be the salvation the comppany:
The Embraer 170. Yes, it is a very comfy airplane. But, as a pilot told me, it should have been called the "EMB-180". Because of all the 180 degree turns they make when they go back to the gate for maintenence!

Does anyone have knowledge of how our Star Alliance partner LOT is doing with the beast from Brazil?

I know, I know, it's just teething problems as with any new A/C type. Or so they say.

Usually, I am not one to beat up the company like this. But I feel so very sorry for our loyal customers whose travel plans we are disupting.

 

[expressedndepressed]

Shirley,
Calm down, now don't forget even Amtrak had problems with Acela, which also was purchased to save the company.

 

[boeingdriver213]

PSA's cancellation problem is the result of trying to triple the size if this airline in less than 2 years. They had 28 Dorniers and 300 pilots, and now they have over 50 airplanes of three different types (the 700 does require additional training), new hire pilot and F/A classes are ongoing with many, many people in training,
some J4J guys are leaving for better paying jobs, as well as a few original PSA pilots, scheduling still is not properly staffed, and to top it all off, the weather this year on the U route system has sucked all year. What next?

 

[taylor01]

OK.....all together now,
can you say............."We Suck"

good luck....all.......

 

[diogenes]

I'm not sure what is worse: this "charlie foxtrot" or the sneaking suspicion that no one, absolutely no one, will be held accountable.

The Palace doesn't do accountability.

I'd bet large somebody gets a promotion out of this :down:

 

[dash8ter]

PSA's cancellation problem is the result of trying to triple the size if this airline in less than 2 years. They had 28 Dorniers and 300 pilots, and now they have over 50 airplanes of three different types (the 700 does require additional training), new hire pilot and F/A classes are ongoing with many, many people in training,
some J4J guys are leaving for better paying jobs, as well as a few original PSA pilots, scheduling still is not properly staffed, and to top it all off, the weather this year on the U route system has sucked all year. What next?

What blows my mind is that they had 2 other wholly owned carriers to use to introduce the aircraft... IMO using at least the resources of 2 carriers (instead of 1) would have helped with the introduction of such a large number of aircraft. This is not a slam on PSA - they were expected to handle way too much with too few resources.

 

[Arvada]

On the contrary.... it's usually the pilots who don't care if the customers gets screwed....

 

[mweiss]

*sniff* *sniff*

I think I smell a windup artist... <_<

 

[ClueByFour]

On the contrary.... it's usually the pilots who don't care if the customers gets screwed....

On a recent trip, I had one guy load everybody's butt onto an -170 going to PHL so another guy could hold an international flight. For me. CP desk had somehow gotten word to the guys up front, but the ass$*% agent in PHL wanted the flight pushed.

Now, there is the issue of why this happened, which is another tradgedy of operational insanity for another thread.

 

[tadjr]

About 100 more flights yesterday (Fri). We're doing a bangup job still.


Clue- did you mean the agent working the INTL flight in PHL wanted it pushed on time? The agents are told we dont wait, even though we often manage to find something to delay (printer breaks no paperwork until everyone shows up, etc) because we have to have ON TIME no matter what, even though you're walking down the hall. Of course, management given the directive isnt the one who has to deal with the customer then. :down:
I've had a few times where passenger coordination has agreed to a hold, but there has to be a large number of people involved. CLT is also very good on the last bank of the night if needed sometimes. PHL- forgetaboutit.

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

The agents are told we dont wait, even though we often manage to find something to delay (printer breaks no paperwork until everyone shows up, etc) because we have to have ON TIME no matter what, even though you're walking down the hall. Of course, management given the directive isnt the one who has to deal with the customer then. :down:

It's on time above eveything else in one of our foucus cities, too. Gate staff are told to close the door 10 minutes prior to departure. Although that city published a 30 minute minimum online connection time, this really become20 minutes! Sometimes, a captain will work with us if she/he know that we have connecting customers running to the gate. On a recent morning, the captain decided at the 10 minute door closure mark to "check the inspection tags on the life rafts". 12 customers who we were about to misconnect made the flight. And it only took a two minute delay.


Re the first line of you post, Tad. How many of the 100 express cancelations were PSA crew?

By point of comparison, on a recent day when express (all carriers) had 70 crew cancelations alone, mainline (not including MDA) had total of 6 cancelled flight (all reasons).

Somewhere in CCY, someone know (or should know) how much this is costing. Not that anyonr outside CCY will ever know.

 

[tadjr]

Re the first line of you post, Tad. How many of the 100 express cancelations were PSA crew?

The 100 (I think 97 by the time I checked at 5pm) were all Express Crew cancellations. I thik there might have been a couple from SA (4 or 5?) , but most I saw were PSA. There were more Express cancellations for the other reasons listed, weather, maint, atc, etc. The 100 was all CREW cancellations. Total Express cancellations were 150 or more flights I believe.

In the //XS section of DECS is separates the reasons just like in mainline, the only thing is, it lists ALL carriers in this section so you have to look at the aircraft type/flight numbers to see who actually did what to break it down more.

 

[Capecod]

I've also encountered customers whose PSA flights have been cancelled on both outbound and return journeys.

My sisters husband lives in MKE and usually flys Midwest but had a conference in Bangor Me and decided to try U. First flight MKE to PHL (Mesa) went fine but when he got to PHL his PHL-BGR flight on PSA had been CX'd. He was told that the only other flight to BGR was oversold and he would have to be rebooked in the morning. He had a speech to give the next morning so he ending up flying to Boston and driving the 4 hrs to BGR getting in after midnight. He was pissed but understood things happen.

On the way home he gets to the airport and again sees his flight (PSA) is Cx'ed again . Again they tell him that they can't get him out till the next day, maybe not until mid afternoon. He had to be back in MKE the next day as my sister was scheduled to leave on a business trip and someone had to look after the kids. He ended up driving to BHB to spend the night. Next day flying to Bos-Pit-Mke getting in around 11:00 pm EST.

He is a frequent flyer (weekly) and will NEVER fly U again. I won't even tell you what he said when I informed him why these flights CX'ed and how this is being handled. (not letting people know in advance even though PSA knows days before) I am often embarrassed how my company runs (Mesa) things but this PSA things is getting out of hand. -Cape

 

[tadjr]

Thats one reason I've been saying they just need to go in NOW and drop flights for the next month. We ALL (well everyone but those in charge), know these flights arent going to run unless some miracle happens. Rez doesnt have the time or agents to be calling these people on a daily basis to reskd and there arent many options to a lot of these cities that are taking the hits. It would be better CUSTOMER SERVICE (I know an oxymoron at US these days) to just take these flights out of the computer and NOT offer them at all instead of screwing up peoples lives. For every person we book now on a flight that wont run the rest of the month, we are doing nothing but creating bad PR and trust. We would just be better off NOT offering the service at all.
How can anyone in CCY or PSA at DAY sit there and think they are doing anyone, customer, employee or the company a good thing by letting this continue to run this way? I'd seriously love to hear an explanation from some of those "in the know" on here who are too busy whipping certain posters to actually run the company. Can anyone honestly give a viable explanation as to why this is allowed to continue?

I know if I tried a little harder, maybe it would just go away!

 

[WestCoastGuy]

Crystal Palace or Corp Hdqrs will do NOTHING. That is a given. They just throw the problem to the Customer Service Agents. The ones that are overpaid and underproductive. I keep copy's of Consumer Affairs address and the name and address of Bruce Lakefield and pass them out daily to irate customers with my apology for the mess corp. management as ALLOWED to happen. Do the same, and I assure you, maybe that will get the attention of all our "talented" exec's.