Phl Again

[tadjr]

Considering that many planes in the system fly thru PHL (also that day BOS/LGA/EWR/BWI/DCA/IAD/CLT/TPA/MCO were thrown into the mix of delays for some length of time), it's a miracle that ANY flights were on time. TPA was closed for over an hour because of lightning and storms and I know of one of our PIT flights outbound diverted to CLT for maint in the middle of all of this.
But then again, nothing ever runs irregular when planning for staffing or flight ops!

 

[Hello Newman]

Piney Bob,
I have no problem with technology. But trying to "PUSH" psgrs into using the kiosk
is not the answer. In time there will be more usage, but why force this down people's throats? You're only telling your psgrs "USE THE KIOSK OR TAKE YOUR BUSINESS
ELSEWHERE" ....AND U can't afford to lose any more market share!!!!!!
Dave, do you care? :down:

 

[Art at ISP]

Piney Bob,
I have no problem with technology. But trying to "PUSH" psgrs into using the kiosk
is not the answer. In time there will be more usage, but why force this down people's throats? You're only telling your psgrs "USE THE KIOSK OR TAKE YOUR BUSINESS
ELSEWHERE" ....AND U can't afford to lose any more market share!!!!!!
Dave, do you care? :down:

Hello Newman,

I have stated in another post that I refuse to use kiosks for the specific reason that I won't do anything that will support the elimination of jobs. On the rare occasion that I have used them they usually work, but nothing beats a smile, some personal contact, and the thank you that comes from a person.

I was once asked why I chose to wait on a preferred line rather than use a kiosk which had no wait-when I told the agent my policy, he smiled and really appreciated that.

Piney, it has nothing to do with technology. The people at U are the best, and I just want to help them stay that way.

 

[Hope777]

Well as far as PIT ON-Time, That's BULL. My 6:10pm departure was loaded and ready to depart with 119 souls on board when ATC told us of a Gate Hold due to PIT weather. Just an FYI, that flight finally departed the gate at 8:44pm. So please PIT is not perfect.

 

[wings396]

As I had stated in another post, our manager's biggest concern is the friggen
KIOSK usage. There are notes plastered on the walls with our daily percentage of their use. Now there is an agent assigned to cram these stupid ticketing robots down the passengers throats. Who cares where the passengers buy their tickets or check in, as long as they do period. We should focus more on filling seats instead of this crap. This company is living by the numbers and has lost touch of common sense. GET THE PASSENGER TO BUY A TICKET ANYWAY YOU CAN!!!!!
If a FQTV want's to use them instead of an agent, that is fine. Trying to force everone to is a joke.

 

[OldGuyinPA]

See...........Al Crellin is trying to save his job. He's told Dave that we don't need agents just kiosk machines.
Dave......Al says.. we can get usage up to 60% or will fire them. Then 65%, then 70% and so on and so on. He blames local management for not being able to coerce psgrs to use them.

This airline is in worse shape than anyone knows. Obviously they don't. We are leaderless and lacking of vision. Oh well....At least our people at CCY are well paid. :angry: :angry:

 

[Seatacus]

Ever hear of the race between John Henry and the steam drill? Years from now folklore will tell of the race between the agent and the kiosk. Where the agent raced the kiosk and then died from exhaustion. They'll probably do a song about it and maybe a mini-series or something on the histroy channel. Try as hard as we can I think our days are numbered . Too bad for our customers because there are a lot of really good agents out there, unfortunately there are some slugs too.

 

[Seatacus]

hey Piney
Your right, everybody knows who the slugs are(I am not perfect either but at least I try). But those who can do something about it won't. For what reason I don't know. I spoke with a supervisor once about a certain person and was told that the standards USAirways has for someone to keep their job are pretty low. There is very little skills testing or accountability. I think that the bosses would rather rely on the good agents to carry the station and hope that the "slugs" won't hamper their effort.

 

[lindy]

"PHL ATC seems to be the worst with Washington Center running a close second."

Mark,

Having spent a fair amount of time in the ATC environment, allow me to shed some light on the PHL ATC situation. PHL lies on the border between New York Center and Washington Center. As such, a tremendous amount of coordination needs to take place between these two centers when PHL flights are departing via the southwest departure fix (Modena) to J75/J6 or the southeast departure fix
(Woodstown) to J121.

Prior to PHL becoming a major hub for US Airways, this airport was treated as the bastard step-child within the ATC system. Whenever New York Center departures to J75 were getting delayed, PHL ATC would often be given departure holds on their traffic. If Washington Center traffic was in delays, that facility would not accept any traffic departing PHL.

With the expansion of PHL by US Airways, PHL ATC and US Airways have worked tirelessly to change this perception within the ATC community. Tremendous progress has been made, but more needs to be done.

lindy

The airport layout is horrible. It adds to the problems of traffic being moved efficiently. Unfortunately, the geographical constraints to change the airport are monumental: the Delaware River to the south, I-95 to the north, the shipyard to the east, and the township of Tinnecum to the west. Numerous ideas have been discussed and some are being pursued.

I can say this about the PHL ATC personnel. They work real hard to get the traffic moving. I have seen and heard them on the phone, demanding New York Center hold LGA/EWR traffic so that PHL traffic can depart. I have witnessed them coordinate creative departure routes with Washington Center to allow flights to depart Tower Enroute via DCA/BWI/IAD tracons (which is now Potomac.)

I am no apologist for ATC. However, what PHL ATC does, with limited resources, is quite impressive.

 

[Hello Newman]

As I had stated in another post, our manager's biggest concern is the friggen
KIOSK usage. There are notes plastered on the walls with our daily percentage of their use. Now there is an agent assigned to cram these stupid ticketing robots down the passengers throats. Who cares where the passengers buy their tickets or check in, as long as they do period. We should focus more on filling seats instead of this crap. This company is living by the numbers and has lost touch of common sense. GET THE PASSENGER TO BUY A TICKET ANYWAY YOU CAN!!!!!
If a FQTV want's to use them instead of an agent, that is fine. Trying to force everone to is a joke.

Interestingly enough I almost never use the kiosks either, I am doing web check in when possible especially for trips from PHL. If they do this technology thing right (which would be a first) they could use it to leverage the strengths of the agents they have now to provide BETTER customer service at the same or less then they pay now. That give you a competitive advantage that you can SELL. Somebody said they need passengers in the seats whether they use kiosks or not hit the nail on the head.

When Metrojet was in business, the one advantage we had over Southwest is advance
seat assignments, yet this was never marketed. Our res agents are so @#$% &* scared of not making their timers, that they hardly ever seat assigned unless the caller
asked. So much for providing Customer Service, no matter what advantage we may
have over the competition, our management doesn't have the brains to use it :angry:

 

[Finish or Ignore]

In regard to the kiosks...I have been quizzed by several Chairman Preferred customers about the big push by agents to direct passengers to the kiosks.
We do not like forcing folks to use them but the heavy handed tactics behind that is reminisent of the WolfGang regime.