Hacker15e
Who am I? Where are my pants?
Maybe they could have just overnight freighted their kids to the destination instead.
FlyersRights Calls on DOT To Investigate and Fine Airlines Associated With Tarmac Delays
- Thread starter derg
- Start date
Maybe they could have just overnight freighted their kids to the destination instead.
A couple different things at play. Generally, when "crap" happens in on the operation's side, it cascades for hours, sometimes days.
The big lesson to be learned is that every level of operations have personalities, egos, type-A's and indifference. I've learned that most other divisions really don't respect pilots so if you want to get anything done, you have to "give" someone the idea.
Like I was scheduled to fly to CDG several months ago and our Lavatory system was inop. They got a couple working but we're flat-out not going to fly a 8-1/2 flight with 226 occupants with two lavatories. I can't go into details publicly but it would have been an operational nightmare.
The mechanics said, "It's legal"
Dispatch said, "It's legal"
Meanwhile the plane had sat on the ground for 9 hours after returning from Accra and absolutely no one took the opportunity to fix the problem. "Wasn't their job"/"You fly the jet, I fix the jet"
So we have a full crew, and now one of the flights to Spain doesn't have a cockpit crew.
The captain calls crew scheduling and says, "Well, how about you put the cockpit crew (with our agreement) onto the Spain flight and when the super late reserve crew gets in, they can replace us on the Paris flight".
It was like he had asked operations for a bite of their cheeseburger.
A couple more hours goes by, various people with various colored coats come on the aircraft and want to board it so when (if?) the lavatories are fixed, we can push back. The aircraft reeks of fecal material because the packs are off, there is equipment all over the aisles and you're not goign to put 200-plus people on a jet where you can't use the lavatories or really run much of a drink service because we're going to have them on the jet for 10-plus hours at this point just because the agents want the passengers out of their hair.
Now we're abou 15 minutes from timing out, operations calls and says, "Hey! I've got an idea. We'll put the pilots on the Spain flight and have the inbound reserve crew fly Paris".
That's the airline business. Spain customers were delayed extra time because it wasn't "operation's idea" quite yet.
Boris Badenov
This is no laughing matter.
Maybe they could have just overnight freighted their kids to the destination instead.
How it should be. Children should be seen and not heard. Preferably, neither. If I brought a yammering monkey on to a flight full of putatively civilized people, you can be sure I'd be kicked off in short order. But for some reason it's acceptable to make me sit next to some squalling infant that can't control its sinus cavities (or its sphincter) and so is in excruciating pain for the entire ride. All for the convenience of its so-called "parents". If you have a baby, how boutz you drive or take a boat, you selfish jerks?
Murdoughnut
Well sized member
Maybe they could have just overnight freighted their kids to the destination instead.
Or you know, a car. The way he made it sound it was one adult and three kids under six (correct me if I'm wrong). I'd rather flog myself like that guy in the DaVinci Code.
CirrusMonkey
No Real Usefulness
The airlines pay good money for the sun glasses that government entities wear.
Hacker15e
Who am I? Where are my pants?
Yeah, because a long road trip of a single adult with three kids -- which takes three to four times as long, and with all the logistical issues associated with being in a car and on the road that long (bathrooms and food?), and the price of petrol these days -- is just so much of an easier option.
Vector4Food
This job would be easier without all the airplanes
Are these the same breed of folks who demand ATC never ever ever give their flights direct because their flight plan they built 15 hours ago is going to be the most efficient? Despite what ATC/flight crews have live in the cockpit?
Yes!
I had a weird discussion with a check airman once. Gander gave us direct to the oceanic entry fix, but the check airman said we couldn't accept it because Gander needed us on the NAR and dispatch expected us to be on the NAR.
Sometimes, you just wait until it's time for some people to go on break.
Autothrust Blue
"Well, on the Brasilia..."
My getting cranky in the right seat of the Mighty Brazilian Buzzsaw is pointless, because no amount of crankiness on my part will make flow control better (or just go away), make certain stations suck less, or make it so the airplane can legally land below RVR 18.
In fact, being cranky period is pretty useless.
But I dislike sitting on the ramp just as much as the next guy. Most Captains I fly with will hold off boarding if we have a mechanical (like Derg describes) or for flow too, so that we can avoid sitting on the ramp. And I don't hesitate to ask for a lav dump, even if it means we're gonna be late, because flying with a full crapper is
"Hello, I'm a British person..."
rframe
pǝʇɹǝʌuı
I'll suggest she drive three kids for three days cross country vs take a 2 hour flight next time, brilliant, wonder why we never thought of that.
Vector4Food
This job would be easier without all the airplanes
Funny, ATC is exactly the same.
markmogel
Member
A very similar topic in regard to Kate Hanni occurred recently on the FlyerTalk forum. In fact, the "Xanax" photograph included earlier here, is part of a video that can be seen here where Kate Hanni awarded Delta with a pail of dirt.
For more of the story, see here -- you won't be disappointed:
http://marksmogel.com/flyertalkflyersrightsthread.htm
It's a breaking story -- just being revealed now.
For more of the story, see here -- you won't be disappointed:
http://marksmogel.com/flyertalkflyersrightsthread.htm
It's a breaking story -- just being revealed now.
markmogel
Member
If you look closely at this press release, you may notice some strange things about it. There are many grammatical and punctuation errors.So perhaps they could put down the wine in Napa and realize that without infrastructure investments, there will be "tarmac confinements" and perhaps the organization can find another victim to enrichen themselves with.
After all, it's election season. Plenty of low-hanging fruit to make a few dollars off of!
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NAPA, CALIF., SEPT. 19, 2012 — NAPA, Calif., Sept. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- FlyersRights.org today called on The Department of Transportation to investigate and fine airlines $27,500 per customer stuck on grounded planes in July. The DOT announced there were 18 domestic flights stuck on the ground for longer than the tarmac rule allowed in July, making it the second-worst month since the policy took effect in April 2010, according to Transportation Department records.
"It's outrageous that any airline, in face of the fines imposed by DOT, would violate the 3-hour tarmac rule" said Kate Hanni, Executive Director FlyersRights.org. "But for the DOT to avoid fining these air carriers would truly be a tragedy in the face of July's tarmac confinements," continued Kate. "No other organization fought harder than FlyersRights.org to stop tarmac delays, and we will not stay silent if these events again become a part of the US air travel experience. There have been several large scale tarmac events for which no fines have been imposed, i.e. October 2011's Snowmageddon at Bradley International, and clearly the airlines will continue holding poor, unsuspecting people hostage on the tarmac unless the DOT enforces the tarmac rule."
"Weather does not keep a plane out on the tarmac; tarmac strandings are entirely the fault of the airlines and until every airline CEO has been stuck in a hot, sweaty, metal tube without food or water and shrieking babies indefinitely, the tarmac incidents will continue." Continued Hanni.
Domestic flights with longest tarmac delays exceeding three hours were: Shuttle America flight 3512 from Chicago O'Hare to Atlanta, 7/13/12, delayed on tarmac 257 minutes; ExpressJet Airlines flight 6180 from Rapid City, S.D. to Chicago O'Hare, 7/13/12, delayed on tarmac 249 minutes; ExpressJet Airlines flight 5918 from Richmond, Va. to Chicago O'Hare, 7/13/12, delayed on tarmac 242 minutes; SkyWest Airlines flight 5211 from Cleveland to Chicago O'Hare, 7/13/12, delayed on tarmac 221 minutes; ExpressJet Airlines flight 5875 from Harrisburg, Pa. to Chicago O'Hare, 7/13/12, delayed on tarmac 219 minutes. There was only one international flights with a tarmac delay exceeding four hours: Caribbean Airlines flight 526 from Georgetown, Guyana to New York JFK, 7/7/12, delayed on tarmac 243 minutes.
FlyersRights.org is the largest Airline Passengers Rights Organization in the World with 50,000 members and a toll free hotline manned 24/7 for airline passengers in distress: 1-877-359-3776
SOURCE FlyersRights.org
I know Hanni's writing style well enough (I worked with her for three years) to know that she wrote and edited this release herself -- neither of which happen to be her strong suits.
One might ask why the "Executive Director" of an organization with "50,000 members" would have to write her own press release, and also why no one was available to apply basic English syntax to it. Why indeed? Wasn't there one person on the board of directors, or a single volunteer who can pass an eighth-grade English test? Do a Google search on "kate hanni paper tigers" to find the answer to these questions and more.
Bumblebee
Commodore
After learning my lesson a couple of times (SFO), if I needed a bug wash or a lav service, I would tell them not to board. Because it was my only lever in trying to get the overworked (or lazy) ground folks to handle their job.
