A call from the Chief Pilot's office

He ain't lying. I had that exact conversation with an ACP who wanted to know why I was logged in when I was supposed to be flying. Told them it was my wife booking a flight for my mother. Got the "Only the employee is supposed to be logged on speech," with a smarmy, I got you look. Told him I would be happy to give him my wife's employee number. Left with a mumbled, "Never mind about it," from him.

No offense, you need a better ACP. Bet you $5 the very guy who's giving that speech also has a wife that knows the password so she can list/travel on her own.

Lets be honest, do your wives really not have your own password for travel?
 
The idea here is the "big picture" that may not be available to the crew. You take a 2 min delay, and maybe get a few minutes on the other end, and next thing you know you have 80 miss connects looking for a hotel room. This militancy towards D-10 does get extreme. Also since AA banks its hubs, it's even more important to be on time.
 
No offense, you need a better ACP. Bet you $5 the very guy who's giving that speech also has a wife that knows the password so she can list/travel on her own.

Lets be honest, do your wives really not have your own password for travel?

That's all besides the point.
 
You know, if you empower people to do the right thing, they almost always do. If you measure people only against metrics that account for small portions of their job, well, they will choose to meet that goal regardless of customer service, cost or lost revenue.
I've been railing aga.. eh, nevermind. Too lazy.
 
Had a gate standing on the jetbridge trying to close the L1 door at D7 the other day. Another agent came running up the jetbridge trying to board a revenue pax. The guy by the plane told them no and turned them passenger around. I honked the horn and told him to board her. (Side note: Nothing I love more than using the horn.) He got very angry but went to get the pax and boarded her. Still pushed two minutes early. Some of these gate agents wouldn't know customer service if it hit them in the face.
 
It's nice my hardest decision is what flavored salt I'm going to put on my popcorn at the FBO.

Unfortunately as captain you're about the same as a low level manager that's just expected to get the job done safely in the allotted time. You can't make new rules or really do much to save the day because you could be inconveniencing passengers with short connects.
 
This is what drives me nuts. So much concentration on D:0. Everyone is going frantic. Employee groups are pitted against each other to make sure the delay is blamed on the other guys. But no one cares about the arrival time. Get there at A:+14 they even encourage. Us pilots have so little control over D:0, but if we have one minor issue, its our fault. It's the arrival time we actually have control over. Leave two minutes late and its the end of the world. Never mind the fact that I can taxi a bit faster. Maybe we'll cruise a little faster too. The stuff we actually have control over doesn't matter. We don't get a call if we're 20 minutes late, but closing the door 1 minute late, we have to answer to Congress or something.
 
A lifetime ago, traveling in uniform as an Airman going home on my very first leave, my weather-delayed flight from San Antonio dumped me late into Atlanta. I arrived out of breath at the gate of my connecting Eastern Airlines flight, dismayed to see the DC-9 pushing back from the gate. How the magic was done I haven't a clue, but the gate agent made a quick phone call, said "Follow me," and we trotted down the jetway, down some tiny outside stairs - nothing more than a ladder really - and some fifty feet across the ramp to the waiting aircraft. The 9's internal boarding stair was dropped, the door opened and I made that redeye flight to Boston. The other dozen passengers must surely have expected a far more important person than the eighteen year old kid with no hair who boarded in such an unusual way that long ago night in 1972.

The world was different then, for sure, but that experience will always be the high water mark of excellence in customer service for me; an unnecessary (possibly uneconomic) choice that said "You're important to us, despite the inconvenience. Welcome aboard."
 
This is what drives me nuts. So much concentration on D:0. Everyone is going frantic. Employee groups are pitted against each other to make sure the delay is blamed on the other guys. But no one cares about the arrival time. Get there at A:+14 they even encourage. Us pilots have so little control over D:0, but if we have one minor issue, its our fault. It's the arrival time we actually have control over. Leave two minutes late and its the end of the world. Never mind the fact that I can taxi a bit faster. Maybe we'll cruise a little faster too. The stuff we actually have control over doesn't matter. We don't get a call if we're 20 minutes late, but closing the door 1 minute late, we have to answer to Congress or something.

A+14 will only hurt the airline in the long run.

D:0 is something the airline can control. From aircraft and crew availability to agents, catering , fuelers, cleaners, etc. Everything in the countdown to departure is controllable. There is only one time that D:0 is unaffected by existing operations... early departures from a hub with the aircraft available and a crew not coming in from an overnight. That is why AA puts so much emphasis on their "Right Start" campaign. Getting the airline going in the morning with as few delays as possible is the key to keeping the airline running on time. Control what can be controlled, because as soon as the aircraft leaves the gate, there are a ton of factors that the airline no longer has direct control over.

We as pilots like to think that we can always make up that 2 minutes, but that is not always the case. How many times have we been turned for spacing, slowed down very early on the arrival, deviated for weather that popped up since departure, been stuck in a long taxi line when we were expecting to possibly get right out. All of that stuff is outside of the normal controllability the airline can and does exercise over the operation when the airplane is sitting still in the gate.

People in this thread point to A+14 as it not mattering. It does. More than you think. For example:

You have a scheduled turn to start your trip. Originates out of the hub and has a scheduled 30 minute turn in the outstation. Everything is ready to go at D:-10 with the agent upstairs and the jetbridge is starting to be pulled. As the Captain, you see a few passengers standing in the window waving frantically, so you have the jetbride reattached, the door opened and the passengers put on the airplane. You think you are providing great customer service, flight is full, and you are only going out 2 minutes late and you can taxi fast and fly fast to make up the time. What you don't see is that those two minutes have now blocked the alley and are keeping you from pushing on time. Also during the wait to push, a nice line has formed for the departure runway. The 7 minute taxiout that was planned for the flight now becomes 20 minutes. Because you took a 2 minute delay, the entire flight is now 13 minutes behind when your wheels finally lift off.

Center won't give shortcuts and assigns a speed for spacing on the departure. You end up flying your first leg in the scheduled wheels up to wheels down time and manage to taxi into the gate as normal, but 13 minutes behind schedule. You think things are great, you made A:+14 so the airline is on time. Buuuuuuuut... what was a scheduled 30 minute turn is now 17 minutes. To deplane, clean, cater, fuel, and put a full load of passengers on board. You depart 5 minutes after scheduled time. You've just turned a scheduled 30 minute turn into a 22 minute turn. High-fives all around, great job team! Except in those 5 minutes you missed your flow time back to the hub and have to sit for 40 minutes waiting for the next flow time. Subsequent arrival now exceeds A:+14 and connections are missed. Passengers end up sitting all day in the airport as Revenue Standbys with completely full flights. Not to mention that all the subsequent flights that airplane operates are now operated behind schedule and the delays and misconnects become a cascade effect for the rest of the day. Couple this to a FAR 117 minimum rest overnight and the next mornings departure is now delayed and the cascade continues.

tl;dr D:0 is extremely important, but not nearly as important as A:0. A:0 protects the time the airline has set aside to service the airplane and control what is very controllable within the operational day.
 
He ain't lying. I had that exact conversation with an ACP who wanted to know why I was logged in when I was supposed to be flying. Get caught using a bot with DeltaNet, crap will hit the fan, and no one, union included, will help you out. We've been warned.

Chia's right. No paranoia if they really are out to get you. He's giving good gouge. And stay off the social media.

But back to the point of the thread..."brake's set, you're move" sums it up beautifully.

You don't have to raise your voice in an argument you've already won.

The parking brake is the best safety device ever invented.

Richman
 
It's nice my hardest decision is what flavored salt I'm going to put on my popcorn at the FBO.

Unfortunately as captain you're about the same as a low level manager that's just expected to get the job done safely in the allotted time. You can't make new rules or really do much to save the day because you could be inconveniencing passengers with short connects.

Pentastar's popcorn is superior. Wilson Air has some good stuff too. And a free Golden Tee in MEM!

I think I've been doing too many NBA charters.
 
Chia's right. No paranoia if they really are out to get you. He's giving good gouge. And stay off the social media.

But back to the point of the thread..."brake's set, you're move" sums it up beautifully.

You don't have to raise your voice in an argument you've already won.

The parking brake is the best safety device ever invented.

Richman

That's right.

"But it's going to take 45 minutes to fix that magna-stick!"

*rolls tray table out*

*starts unwrapping bagel w/cream cheese*

"And plenty of time for my breakfast, I'll be right here. I'm not dropping this in the outbound captains lap in Nicaragua."

#TrueStoryFromIOE
 
" I have an autonomous log in system which re-authenticates itself every 10 minutes and ensures constant log in status, available only to my home computer at any time, and for security purposes alternates its IP address between various places including Montgomery, Alabama. "

Oh man, I would have a field day with you.

Actually, the best answer is "Yes, you are correct. I've refamiliarized myself with out policy and I promise it will not happen again, sir"

It's a company where you can admit you did something wrong, with humility, and be fine. We're all adults, we err, we do dumb things on occasion.

But if you lie, the gates of hell will creak open and then it's about to get really weird.
 
Another way to explain it, was what the DGS sim instructor told the new hire I went through training with one day. The NH was worried about messing up and the repercussions. The instructor told him, "If you mess up just tell the truth and apologize." Pointing at me, he continued, "The captain could bludgeon me to death right here, and as long as he apologized for it, SJI wouldn't have a problem with it and would most likely say, 'Don't do it again.'"
 
Another way to explain it, was what the DGS sim instructor told the new hire I went through training with one day. The NH was worried about messing up and the repercussions. The instructor told him, "If you mess up just tell the truth and apologize." Pointing at me, he continued, "The captain could bludgeon me to death right here, and as long as he apologized for it, SJI wouldn't have a problem with it and would most likely say, 'Don't do it again.'"

That sounds very consistent with my "Big Brown Desk" experience.

My presumption is that they always know the answer to the question they're about to ask you so just be frank and it will work out.

Lie, however, it's on like Donkey Kong.
 
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