USAirways Storm Advisory

[bofie]

so how are things this morning?

 

[Jonnyd]

so how are things this morning?

Just heard the director of PHL say that 60% of the flights up until 2 are cancelled. He also said American cancelled all their flights into/out of PHL for the entire day. It is getting somewhat better around here. The snow has stopped and the streets are starting to become somewhat clearer.

 

[tadjr]

Even the old gang never seemed to have more than a little link telling people about what cities could be affected and who could change. It needs to be big across the top somewhere instead of buried AND some kind of link/map to weather.com would be nice showing the current radar.
It would also be nice to have a way to change flights online without getting the charge to apply since rez is swamped. I got a couple of "rez wont answer or they hung up on me" complaints this am. Well, given the fact that the line at the airport stretches to the other concourse AND everything from DC north is practically closed and everyone trying to get thru to rebook, is it really that big a surprise?
They had anticipated DCA and PHL being open this am, but that wasnt the case. Not sure if it was a US thing (no one could get to work) or the airport thing (no one to clear the snow) or a combination. The 630am PHL flight left right on time and then diverted to CLT. The 8am flight finally left at 11am. The 7am DCA trip left the gate on time, sat out for about two hours came back and cancelled. IF DCA and PHL had been open this am, things would have been good because they had preplanned canx last night for this am. The closures this am is going to cause problems today, although they seemed to do quite a bit of ferrying to get planes set up for this afternoon to be on time.
Just before I left at 1pm, I had heard, but didnt verify or read it myself, that BOS had canx the rest of the day and it looks like BDL and PVD as well. We have already sent people to the hubs this am for some of these cities anticipating them to open after 1-3pm (BOS). I dont know if the storm didnt move as fast as predicted or they were being optimistic.
Things are now full for tomorrow and we were starting on rebooking for Tues flights baring any more delays/canx.
(This is all based on observations from one city and the flights operating from that station. Other stations stats may vary or be made up entirely by people who dont work there.)

 

[Harry Callahan]

I just hope they do not wait till the last minute to cancell like has been done in the past. Go ahead and cancell early so psgrs can be re routed.

Tadjr, this is exactly what I meant by this earlier post.

 

[tadjr]

Article

“They knew there was a storm,â€￾ Dunlap said. “It’s nothing like there was something brand new. They knew what was happing and yet they put us on the plane.â€￾

Passengers like Dunlap are angry and frustrated. They believe a wrong decision was made, and now they are in an unfamiliar city waiting to get home.



No way to win with this. Cancel and someone else flies and makes it in and you get "XXX can fly there, why cant you?", cancel and you get "You never should have sent us there". My choice, cancel and deal with it before hand. Do like a certain airline I am aware of did in this case, no reroutes to other carriers, no refunds, travel vouchers only and when the weather clears start back up again. That way you dont have people stranded enroute "hoping" that things will clear up by this afternoon. You might end up missing a couple flights here and there that MIGHT have made it in, but things would run so much smoother overall and customer service wise you could say you were giving better service than having to try to do service recovery with a mob of angry people somewhere they dont want to be.

 

[tadjr]

Actually everyone today being rerouted was pretty good. It is hard to explain to someone headed to CLT and MBJ that they are canx because their plane is stuck in snow up north when you knew it was going to be bad according to the weather guy. (Not that they are right all the time, but everyone I saw was predicting this one). They did a fairly good job yesterday with the preplanned canx, but they always seem to be a little too optimistic, especially with DC. Folks, when DC gets 2 inches of snow, everyone freaks and the place shuts down. DC is not Buffalo or Boston when it comes to handling snow. It would be nice if they could remember this next time DC is expecting snow. Also, just because US is ready and willing doesnt mean that the airport workers (snow guys) can make it in. I know it sucks having to cancel flights and there is a thin line of precanceling and jumping the gun, but these are the times we can really shine or really look like a bunch of idiots to those who dont fly all the time.
Kudos to OCC for at least having a plan for yesterday and trying to get this morning off on the right foot. Like I said, if DC and PHL had been open, it would have worked great.

 

[FCYTravis]

Irregular Opps is ONE thing dispite what you hear and read is one thing US Airways just Excells at. Primary reason for my loyalty.

Absolutely agreed. Perhaps it's because they have to do it so often but in the couple canx-reroute situations I've run into in the first couple months of this year, I've been taken care of expeditiously and satisfactorily.

 

[john john]

Folks,

Weather Happens! Get over yourself! God or his assistant Mother nature does not work for US Airways! Moses blew his load when he parted the Red Sea OK????

Also just in case you haven't noticed, It snows in winter!

Irregular Opps is ONE thing dispite what you hear and read is one thing US Airways just Excells at. Primary reason for my loyalty.

They're great but not miracle workers.

PineyBob you are scaring me you staring to sound more like an agent every day
I say this after two day of reroutes and cancellations. You know I can deal with weather problems because of what you mention but when it comes to ATC, crew, and lack of personnel, and poor planning, unreasonable weight and balance, I get jacked up.

 

[LD3]

Wow...and everyone thought it only snowed in BUF....

 

[PhxMama]

Folks,

Weather Happens! Get over yourself! God or his assistant Mother nature does not work for US Airways! Moses blew his load when he parted the Red Sea OK????

Also just in case you haven't noticed, It snows in winter!

Irregular Opps is ONE thing dispite what you hear and read is one thing US Airways just Excells at. Primary reason for my loyalty.

They're great but not miracle workers.

Thank you, Bob.

 

[MarkMyWords]

I'll take a crack at predicting events. In spite of dire warnings by local media in the affected areas, since last Wednesday, the US website, as of this morning, still only had a small link labelled something like "winter", which took you to a page telling you what cities could be rebooked without change fees. It looks to me like another example of Tempe not understanding the business they bought, and more to the point, thinking they know everything. If I am right, and they failed to anticipate this thing, they will have gotten significant assets and crews caught on the ground, which will disrupt the whole East division. Less motivated ground crews won't bust their rear ends to negotiate bad roads, so shortages will occur there. Judging from the rolling cancellations I am seeing, this may be exactly what is happening, in which case, swamped res centers, misplaced aircraft, heavily booked holiday flights, etc., will mean it takes 2 to 3 days to reset the system. Should be entertaining.

The system on the East side has recovered very nicely. While there are some delays while they reposition crews, all airports are operational again. LGA has a ground delay program, but that is expected.

Now THAT deserves an "Amen."
I hear from those who work at US that communication West to East is nonexistent. Decisions get made unilaterally and without vital input from departments that are most affected by changes or that have knowledge of past decisions on similar subjects. There's no respect for institutional knowledge or experience - only "newbie" hubris.

NCFL -

Your comments are completely incorrect. The talent pools from both sides of the company were consulted in order to come up with a combined carrier response. There was a lot of coordination between east and west. Each planned according to their expertise and past experience and offered their insight to each other.

 

[Pacemaker]

Let me add a perspective from a front row seat. I put in 17 years as a pilot at US Airways and now nearly a year and a half at America West. Comparisons with past PI/PS mergers are way off-base. I know - I was there on the front line. The current management team in Tempe is leaps and bounds ahead of where we were at USAir in 1988-90, or any time since for that matter. I saw more go wrong in one day operating at PHL than I've seen in a year at America West. Compared to what I saw at Airways in my last year, this airline kicks butt. Just a better airline and better product in nearly every way. Things get done right and people do their jobs the way it's supposed to be done.

We have our problems and there will be challenges no doubt, but I don't expect a repeat of the head-in-the-sand "my way or the highway" USAir merger mantra of the past.

As for the storm - what do people expect? I'm sorry, but if you had an airline ticket for travel this past weekend and any kind of brain at all you were all over the weather channel and the airline website; you didn't need a personal call from Doug Parker telling you it was snowing outside. It is February. It is winter. Snowstorms and airplanes aren't a good mix. One thing Southwest gets - the customer is not always right. We aren't reponsible for stupidity.

 

[PhxMama]

"We aren't responsbile for stupidity." Can I quote you? Would love to tell our pax this-the companies or theirs!

 

[NCFL]

NCFL -

Your comments are completely incorrect. The talent pools from both sides of the company were consulted in order to come up with a combined carrier response. There was a lot of coordination between east and west. Each planned according to their expertise and past experience and offered their insight to each other.

Perhaps both sides were consulted about this Winter storm. But I hear there are countless examples of poor communication on other fronts. Example: Peanuts. From what I understand, East had no idea peanuts were being reintroduced until they were already onboard.

Now, suddenly, they're on the aircraft and I'm hearing from someone who works at US that customers are going nuts - no pun intended. Transatlantic medical emergencies. Families to Disney. If only someone had TOLD people in East of this, they might have been able to advise parents correctly at the time of booking to save them, and US, the trouble. Tickets are being refunded willy nilly.

A leader at East specifically told West not to reintroduce peanuts and was apparently told to jump in the lake, only in less words and the first one started with an F. Past experience and insight? No. Newbie, know-it-all hubris? Yes.

There are other specifics, but they might blow my "friend's" cover.

 

[MarkMyWords]

NCFL

And exactly how does serving peanuts apply to our corporate response to a Severe Irregular Ops event?

Serving peanuts is a service issue. Exactly how does that relate to the topic at hand?