Flew from PHL to BDL yesterday afternoon and it was pretty funny to watch the operations of this airline. Have not flown on US in many months - but it is about the only way to get from PHL to BDL without going to Chicago first. Anyway - this was Republic - not mainline - so that could be some of the problem.
At the gate at 3:00PM - two agents there madly working on their computer terminals. Who knows what they were doing - but they were certainly busy practicing their typing skills!
Two guys walk up and want to move from a later flight to this flight. Agent tells them that they first have to go all the way down to the end of terminal C to the Special Services desk and pay $25.00 - then come back. That sure is customer friendly! So off they go.
It is now 3:15 - boarding time - but nothing happens - no boarding - no announcements. Time keeps ticking - 3:20 - 3:25 - 3:30 - nothing happens. So a passenger asks the agent what is going on - whose response is that there is a flight attendant missing. Pretty funny - how do you lose a flight attendant? Did they just notice that someone was missing? Shouldn't they know where they are coming from - IE from a connecting flight?
Now - the pilot comes off the plane - tells the agent they are going to go to the crew room to see if they can round up a FA to work the flight. Is that in the Union Contract - Pilots are also crew scheduling? Pretty funny!
So a few mintues later the pilot comes down the hall with a flight attendant behind him.
In the meantime the two guys come back from Special Services - and tell the agent they need a boarding pass because Special Services doesn't do that - they only collect the $25.00 stand by fee. Go figure - sounds like a union at work to me! So the agents print them boarding passes.
We start to board the plane. I was at the top of the ramp - one agent starts making boarding announcements - other agent takes my boarding pass and I start down the ramp. The agent making announcements yells at me that "we arent' boarding yet" - where upon I respond that the other agent took my boarding pass and told me to board. So now the agents get into a tiff with each other!
Finally board and get off the gate. And - thanks to schedule padding still arrive at BDL on time.
And I guess from the stories on this board this was a positivie US experience! It was pretty funny to watch - I will say that!
At the gate at 3:00PM - two agents there madly working on their computer terminals. Who knows what they were doing - but they were certainly busy practicing their typing skills!
Two guys walk up and want to move from a later flight to this flight. Agent tells them that they first have to go all the way down to the end of terminal C to the Special Services desk and pay $25.00 - then come back. That sure is customer friendly! So off they go.
It is now 3:15 - boarding time - but nothing happens - no boarding - no announcements. Time keeps ticking - 3:20 - 3:25 - 3:30 - nothing happens. So a passenger asks the agent what is going on - whose response is that there is a flight attendant missing. Pretty funny - how do you lose a flight attendant? Did they just notice that someone was missing? Shouldn't they know where they are coming from - IE from a connecting flight?
Now - the pilot comes off the plane - tells the agent they are going to go to the crew room to see if they can round up a FA to work the flight. Is that in the Union Contract - Pilots are also crew scheduling? Pretty funny!
So a few mintues later the pilot comes down the hall with a flight attendant behind him.
In the meantime the two guys come back from Special Services - and tell the agent they need a boarding pass because Special Services doesn't do that - they only collect the $25.00 stand by fee. Go figure - sounds like a union at work to me! So the agents print them boarding passes.
We start to board the plane. I was at the top of the ramp - one agent starts making boarding announcements - other agent takes my boarding pass and I start down the ramp. The agent making announcements yells at me that "we arent' boarding yet" - where upon I respond that the other agent took my boarding pass and told me to board. So now the agents get into a tiff with each other!
Finally board and get off the gate. And - thanks to schedule padding still arrive at BDL on time.
And I guess from the stories on this board this was a positivie US experience! It was pretty funny to watch - I will say that!
