American loses clubs, costs golfer shot at U.S. Open qualifying

Screaming_Emu said:
No. The airline absolutely should be liable. BUT no airline is perfect, every airline loses bags occasionally, if what you're doing is that important, make contingency plans.
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What exactly is the contingency plan for getting the only set of clubs you have to the same location you're traveling to? And then why is it the consensus of airline pilots on this board to blame the customer for not expecting the service he paid extra for to be carried out?
 
averettpilot said:
What exactly is the contingency plan for getting the only set of clubs you have to the same location you're traveling to? And then why is it the consensus of airline pilots on this board to blame the customer for not expecting the service he paid extra for to be carried out?
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Re-read what I have previously posted in this thread.

Cliffs notes: Yes, the clubs should have made it. It is the airlines fault they didn't. HOWEVER these things happen on every airline in the world. As I said previously, maybe split your clubs up into two bags/FedEx shipments, or if this really is your one big chance, plan to arrive with enough time to either wait for them to be found or execute a plan B.

I know golf is an individual sport, but if I was a hockey coach and a players gear didn't show up, and he chose to sit it out vs at least TRY with some loaner gear, it would tell me everything I needed to know about that player.
 
Screaming_Emu said:
Re-read what I have previously posted in this thread.

Cliffs notes: Yes, the clubs should have made it. It is the airlines fault they didn't. HOWEVER these things happen on every airline in the world. As I said previously, maybe split your clubs up into two bags/FedEx shipments, or if this really is your one big chance, plan to arrive with enough time to either wait for them to be found or execute a plan B.

I know golf is an individual sport, but if I was a hockey coach and a players gear didn't show up, and he chose to sit it out vs at least TRY with some loaner gear, it would tell me everything I needed to know about that player.
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Yeah, I saw that. That's not really a contingency, that's paying 2x extra for the opportunity of potentially losing some or all of your gear. Literally, the only contingency is to drive to the tournament, which isn't really a glowing review in terms of confidence in the airlines' ability to do their jobs. I'd think pilots in a customer driven industry would take the route of empathy towards a customer who got screwed in an effort to not lose the driving force behind their pay checks.

I really have no beef with you, you agree it's the airlines fault, but that's period end of sentence. Coming back with he should have had a contingency is immaterial to the fact that the airline screwed up.
 
averettpilot said:
Yeah, I saw that. That's not really a contingency, that's paying 2x extra for the opportunity of potentially losing some or all of your gear. Literally, the only contingency is to drive to the tournament, which isn't really a glowing review in terms of confidence in the airlines' ability to do their jobs. I'd think pilots in a customer driven industry would take the route of empathy towards a customer who got screwed in an effort to not lose the driving force behind their pay checks.

I really have no beef with you, you agree it's the airlines fault, but that's period end of sentence. Coming back with he should have had a contingency is immaterial to the fact that the airline screwed up.
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Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. The best airline on the planet has service failures. My point isn't that the airline should be absolved from blame, but rather that the world isn't perfect and that "well they should have been there" doesn't do that guy a whole lot of good. There is nothing that AA can do to right the level of screwed this guy was. They don't have vouchers that get you into the tournament. Really the only productive deconstruction is to figure out how something like this could be avoided.
 
Screaming_Emu said:
It's the airlines fault, but like maintenance, weather, ATC, crew issues, etc it's a very real possibility.

I don't think it would be a terrible idea to divide your clubs into two separate but useable groups. Either check them both or FedEx one.

Threat and error management has real world application.
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Agreed. It's always good to recognize the current reality and take all available measures to ensure a successful outcome given those realities.

But notwithstanding the fact that poop happens, lets consider for a moment, those realities.

By and large, we seem to be really defensive about passengers' expectations that their bags should arrive with them. I really don't understand our typically vehement industry-insider push back on this issue. Aren't airlines supposed to deliver luggage to the same geographic and temporal coordinates as the Pax who checked that luggage? Isn't doing precisely that supposed to be transportation providers' core competency??

By and large, we seem to look at these reported events as quirky aberrations and blame the victims. The musicians and athletes are not the effete, whiney outliers here. They are not the only ones losing bags. They are just the ones we generally hear about because the loss of their bags has such amplified impact on their livelihoods. They are not the outliers, but rather the canaries.

The implication of all this push back is that the industry believes Pax should have no expectation that their bags should show up with them at their destination, undamaged. Is that really the level of quality expectation we as an industry want to foster?

The suggestion of Fed Ex makes the point. We expect Fed Ex to get things to their intended destination a timely, secure fashion. It's doable. Fed Ex does it. We expect them to do it. So, instead of passing the buck, why not ask a few questions: Why Fed Ex? What does Fed Ex know about putting bags into planes and moving those bags timely and accurately that the Pax airlines do not?? Instead of blaming victims and messengers of our own industry's incompetence, why don't we look in the mirror, admit there's a problem, try to improve what we are doing, and do what we do as well as possible? ...with, of course, the sure and certain knowledge that poop will occasionally still happen.
 
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If you're going to play the game he should just FedEx them.....why not just DRIVE or WALK?! Must not want it bad enough, I guess.
 
I just read his wiki. The dude is from Florida!! The match was in Florida. He literally could have run home to Miami to grab another set or have someone bring them to him. This is the US Open for crap sake. He lives in Miami Beach which is about 50 miles away from where this match was happening.:bang:
 
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If I had a concert and my violin snapped apart I guess I could get a borrowed violin to play.. I could get the job done of course, but the comfort level would be off and my musicianship "game" would be off. For the high level of golf this guy probably needed to play, I'm sure he could have played an okay game with borrowed, but he wouldn't be at the competitive level he needs to be at for the US Open. It's the airline's fault of course, but things happen... baggage gets lost, this is nothing new at all. What is new, is that we're in the age of social media where every tiny debacle in life gets documented and publicized; the news orgs, looking for click-material, eat it right up, and quickly, without making their story "fair and balanced"*

*which FOX was never.
 
For those unfamiliar with mini tours or don't know anyone who's pursued a career as a pro golfer.

"Unfortunately, there was very little in the way of predictability to his first three seasons on tour. Jensen made the cut just twice in 14 events in 2008, making $870. He earned another $3,100 on the tour in 2010-11 and watched his confidence fade as debts rose."

http://www.golfwrx.com/95020/the-harsh-realities-of-golfs-mini-tours/


So far the top guy in the PGA Latinoamerica Tour (the Tour the guy in the article plays on) has made $57k. The bottom guy has made $586.

Michael Buttacavoli has made $4,403 this year.
 
SeanD said:
I just read his wiki. The dude is from Florida!! The match was in Florida. He literally could have run home to Miami to grab another set or have someone bring them to him. This is the US Open for crap sake. He lives in Miami Beach which is about 50 miles away from where this match was happening.:bang:
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Dude, give it a rest. Your guys desperation to attack this guy is disturbing. Seriously.

He had a tournament last weekend in Ecuador. He was flying home for the qualifier this week= no clubs at home. Seriously, this thread is ridiculous.
 
Dexter said:
For those unfamiliar with mini tours or don't know anyone who's pursued a career as a pro golfer.

"Unfortunately, there was very little in the way of predictability to his first three seasons on tour. Jensen made the cut just twice in 14 events in 2008, making $870. He earned another $3,100 on the tour in 2010-11 and watched his confidence fade as debts rose."

http://www.golfwrx.com/95020/the-harsh-realities-of-golfs-mini-tours/


So far the top guy in the PGA Latinoamerica Tour (the Tour the guy in the article plays on) has made $57k. The bottom guy has made $586.

Michael Buttacavoli has made $4,403 this year.
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Yeah, I don't think aa cost him qualifying, if anything they gave him a good excuse as to why he didn't make it.
 
averettpilot said:
And then why is it the consensus of airline pilots on this board to blame the customer for not expecting the service he paid extra for to be carried out?
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Because we're airline pilots. These lowly peon pax we are forced to haul around exist for us and should be thankful that we are wasting our precious time on them, we don't exist for them. What are you nuts?


;)
 
You're a broke regional FO who got your dream chance at an interview with UAL/AA/DAL. They fly you in the evening before the interview, while deplaning you walk to the front and the FA has accidentally given your suit bag to a first class passenger who's nowhere to be found. You spent some decent coin on the suit and had it tailored for the interview. The local mall JC Penney closes at 8. Your credit card is maxed out and you have $130 in your checking account.

Discuss.
 
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