My supervisor has to call their supervisor then he calls. . .

[hp_fa]

Bob, one broken aisle seat back can down four seats by itself. If the seat will not stay up in the upright position and encroaches on the row behind, that seat must be fixed or all four seats are unusable because there is not an assurred exit path for the folks sitting behind the one broken seat. It is also quite possible it wasn't discovered until either deplaning or the crew doing their preflight. So this scenario potentially has nothing to do with the high price of cheap. It probably has to do with a seat that broke inflight and rather than fix it in CLT they decided to take it to PHL on it's normal flight and fix it there.

If the seat outage was known ahead of time the agents could have pre-planned for the outage and taken the correct amount before boarding. Since that didn't happen I am inclined to believe the seat broke on the inbound flight.

 

[sharktooth]

Bob, one broken aisle seat back can down four seats by itself. If the seat will not stay up in the upright position and encroaches on the row behind, that seat must be fixed or all four seats are unusable because there is not an assurred exit path for the folks sitting behind the one broken seat. It is also quite possible it wasn't discovered until either deplaning or the crew doing their preflight. So this scenario potentially has nothing to do with the high price of cheap. It probably has to do with a seat that broke inflight and rather than fix it in CLT they decided to take it to PHL on it's normal flight and fix it there.

If the seat outage was known ahead of time the agents could have pre-planned for the outage and taken the correct amount before boarding. Since that didn't happen I am inclined to believe the seat broke on the inbound flight.

I am certain things like that happened pre-merger as one-off maintenance items. However it is apparent you have not flown in quite a while.

The same broken seats for days on end. Inop lavs for weeks. Broken meal carts shuttled from one airplane to another, broken for weeks. Two week MELs waived twice by alleged FAA signatures (that means six week MELs). Five inch holes in engine intakes taken across the NA. If they have to ditch, think Titanic.

It is not the line mechanic that is the problem. It is Tempe. Corporate management by negligence. Pathetic that employees put up with it.

 

[hp_fa]

I was pointing out that such an occurance as Bob described can happen without it being a case of not planning ahead.

 

[sharktooth]

I was pointing out that such an occurance as Bob described can happen without it being a case of not planning ahead.

That was really not Bob's point.

FARs dealing with maintenance define cleanliness as a maintenance duty. I am a little fuzzy as to what defines "cleanliness" but would imagine that dirt, lint and spores would at least constitute potential FOD situations, depending on location and manner. There are health issues also, exacerbated by length of exposure, not limited to specialized allergies or one-of situations, but real issues.

For instance, unless Tempe has written it out of their manuals, on a mini-bus pedestal, if any liquid is spilled anywhere on the pedestal, regulations demand(ed) the entire pedestal is to be taken apart and cleaned. Ever had that happen?

Were I the pilot, I would feel no desire to help the executives achieve a bonus by cutting corners, much less by violating FARs.

 

[hp_fa]

Bob's point that I was addressing was:

"Step Four - G/A informs her colleague that there are FIVE broken seats. So now we wait for more volunteers and all that goes along with getting that cleared up."

 

[sharktooth]

Bob's point that I was addressing was:

"Step Four - G/A informs her colleague that there are FIVE broken seats. So now we wait for more volunteers and all that goes along with getting that cleared up."

Okay.

How does one get five broken seats on one aircraft? Do they all break at once or is one flying around with broken seats for a while, accumulating breakages until you get five?

For an airline that stashed seats where I've never thought to look, tossing coat closets willy-nilly and loading overhead compartments with things normally in closets just to get one or two more seats on board, it would seem they might profit a few bucks keeping spare seats in the hubs. That might be "planning ahead", right?

 

[tadjr]

The seats were folded down and duct taped so no one would decide to move and use the inop seats. Nasty as it looks, the other option is to take them out, which isnt going to happen until the plane sits overnight or takes a major delay.
We occasionally do have planes appear that have seats taken out of service that we are unaware of. When OCC/Maint control is advised that a seat is broken on a particular plane, they should block it on the seatmap for all lines of flight until they are told its repaired, advise inventory to adjust the capacity and booking levels for the line of flight and document the flight remarks so people are aware something is going on. Very often though, one or more of the "notices" arent done downline for whatever reason and you dont find out until the FA says "You do know we have 5 seats broken, dont you?", usually at boarding or when someone shows up and finds their seat taped off.

 

[BeenThereDoneThat]

It's NO secret to the company about this parts issue. I hear mechanics say time and time again that the parts we need are in PHX. WHY is this happening when there isn't ONE single A330 or 767 on the west coast. WHY do we keep everything in PHX?

Seems East and West have the same problems; no parts where you need them. PHX routinely has items NIS because they are located in PIT or CLT. That is the 319/320 parts; we have no need for 330/767 parts in PHX.

 

[BeenThereDoneThat]

You couldnt be more far off base, it is a federal legal requirement, FARs are federal air regulations.

Call the FAA if you dont believe me.

Don't have to call the FAA. The FARs state that you can change minor hardware such as nuts/bolts/screws/lights without documentation.
The kicker would be just how far something has to be dismantled to change a light bulb; that might violate the minor part. Any pilot or mechanic can make a log book entry - not just safety of flight items. If parts are not available, then planning and/or stores might be the problem.

 

[hp_fa]

How does one get five broken seats on one aircraft? Do they all break at once or is one flying around with broken seats for a while, accumulating breakages until you get five?

I have been under the impression that you were a pilot. Because of that, and the assumption that you have a fair amount of experience, I figured you would understand how a number of seats could go out of service without having been flown that way for days on end, being spead around the plane, etc.

Pardon me if I was wrong.