CAL EWR LEC Magenta Line Sat, 10 3, 09 pt 3
10-03-2009, 11:36 AM
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CAL EWR LEC Magenta Line Sat, 10 3, 09 pt 3
CAL EWR LEC Magenta Line Sat, 10 3, 09 pt 3
Item 7: Sorry About That, Chief! or, Fred’s Cone of Silence
Many of you have probably noticed this and many of you are likely irritated by it as well: how many times have we logged into CCS only to find the words “No announcements available” under the “General Announcements” tab?
Now, by itself, this isn’t such a big thing but, um, wouldn’t this be the place to find things like an announcement of a system bid delay, or problems with the PBS award, or—Friday’s irritant—a problem with the availability of vacation weeks?
While the availability of vacation weeks was a problem quickly solved, the announcement of the problem was not. Instead, it was hidden on Fred’s desk under the Paper-Pusher™—the handy device Fred apparently uses to clear his desk of the information we, as pilots, would like to have but is never forthcoming from management.
We cannot know the motivation for being non-motivated. We can suspect that it comes from an “out of sight, out of mind” thinking, or maybe from “if I refuse to acknowledge a problem, maybe Mr. Smisek won’t find out about it, either”.
Whichever, it is strange for management to create a section for announcements that every pilot must read—and then put no relevant announcements therein. Unless they’re about gate readers. Or DirectTV policy.
Item 8: H*tler Blasts Continental Pilots!
You thought H*tler was just about world domination. Hah! He found time, outside of his plotting to invade Engl*nd and subjugate all of E*rope, to descend into the morass of Contin*ntal’s management/pilot relationship.
Check out this hidden-camera video from one of his ST*R Alliance planning sessions:
H*tler Hates Contin*ntal Pilots
Der Fuehrer looks a little drawn and haggard. It must be The M*genta Line.
Item 9: Request for Committee Volunteers
All of our committees need volunteers. If you are one of the many somewhat selfish and untested among us, if you are interested in committee work, if you have special artistic talents of any kind, or if you just like to chew the legs off your dining room table, we want you to help your fellow EWR pilots. If you are interested or have previously expressed interest via e-mail or a phone call, please confirm your continuing interest in an e-mail to Captain Kaye Riggs, Secretary-Treasurer, LEC 170 at [email protected]. Please put your name and the word “Volunteer” in the subject line.
Item 10: Next Meetings
Our next local council meeting has been scheduled for October 28th at the Newark Airport Renaissance Hotel. This is a change from our normal meeting place at the Marriott. There is an ongoing shuttle from the P-4 AirTrain stop. Those driving to the meeting will have their parking validated just as at the Marriott.
This meeting will be an excellent opportunity to hear our outgoing Alliance Committee Chairman Alfredo Suarez. Bring your questions on our impending STAR Alliance affiliation. Also, this meeting will be early enough to get your resolutions on the agenda for the November MEC meeting, scheduled for November 2nd through 6th in Houston.
Item 11: Special Guest Editorial by Captain Tom Allnatt,
Member of our Local Council 170 Grievance Committee
We Lost a Customer Today
On our return flight from Berlin today, I had the opportunity to take my crew rest in coach, as all of the Business First seats had been sold. I was on break during the second meal service and overheard the passenger behind me tell the FA she had ordered a vegetarian meal. The FA was very apologetic that her name did not appear to be on the special meal list. She quickly got the ISM to speak to her in order to resolve the situation. In the story that followed, it appears she had made her reservation over a month prior and had ordered the vegetarian meals. As a result of previous flights where in a similar manner her special meal had not been boarded, she logged onto continental.com the previous evening to ensure that it showed her meal preferences. She confirmed that it had. The ISM then offered her a comment card with the normal spiel that it goes straight to our highest levels of management and that they will respond quickly. Unfortunately, it appears she had been told the same thing on the previous occasions but after filling out the cards more than once she never heard back. This lady was not a raving lunatic. Quite the contrary, she was calm and polite in spite of her level of dissatisfaction. Her point was quite valid in that it appeared the only way she would get a vegetarian meal was to book on another carrier.
Perhaps the most tragic point of this whole incident is how drastically it contrasts with the rest of the flight. Our flight time today was slightly over 9 hours, right at the maximum performance of a B757. Maintenance, in spite of a plane which hadn’t sat for more than an hour or two in days, presented us with a capable bird. Dispatch, in spite of a heavy payload and unseasonably strong headwinds, presented us with a legal and safe flight plan to get us home. Berlin operations boarded a nearly full aircraft and got us off the gate ten minutes early, giving us a shot at an on time arrival. Our Flight Attendants, in spite of dealing with a single aisle aircraft on a nine plus hour flight, put on an outstanding service and even found time to take great care of us in the pit. Last but not least, the three of us on the flight deck, in spite of enduring the ridiculous and uncomfortable reality of dealing with crew rest in a row of coach seats and launching from Berlin being nearly min fuel from the moment we taxied, pulled safely into the gate in Newark right on schedule. Dozens of employees across multiple employee groups all did their jobs to complete this challenging flight and in spite of it all we lost a longtime customer. Why? The answer is quite simple. Our management team is either unwilling or incapable of providing the product that our customers have come to expect when they step onto a Continental Airlines flight. We now have an airline that refuses to board bottled water in the quantities necessary to meet our passenger’s needs. We close doors in the faces of connecting passengers in order to block aircraft out 5 minutes early. We dispatch full aircraft on lengthy flights with placarded lavatories rather than spend 10 minutes to repair them. We under-staff, not just flight ops but nearly every department, to the point that we can’t deal with irregular ops and then have no one to respond to customer complaints when things fall apart. We have flight managers tasked with spending so much of their time harassing pilots for being sick and fatigued that they have no time to deal with operational issues. We squander opportunities to make thousands in revenue in order to save pennies. Most tragic of all is the individuals responsible for this have been or soon will be leaving with millions in stock options, enhanced retirement packages, and Golden Parachutes. They will not be held accountable for one iota of their mismanagement of our airline. At the same time, all the employees that worked together to make my flight and hundreds just like it a success today will be left holding the bag. We will be told there is nothing left to be able to give us our hard earned rewards. We will be told we need to give even more in sacrifices to ensure our continued survival. We have heard for over a decade the repeated mantra of CAL having the best management in the industry. BS! What we have at CAL are the most productive employees in the industry and a management team more than happy to leach off that fact in order to enrich themselves to the tune of millions.
And the bottom line? We lost a customer today.
Item 7: Sorry About That, Chief! or, Fred’s Cone of Silence
Many of you have probably noticed this and many of you are likely irritated by it as well: how many times have we logged into CCS only to find the words “No announcements available” under the “General Announcements” tab?
Now, by itself, this isn’t such a big thing but, um, wouldn’t this be the place to find things like an announcement of a system bid delay, or problems with the PBS award, or—Friday’s irritant—a problem with the availability of vacation weeks?
While the availability of vacation weeks was a problem quickly solved, the announcement of the problem was not. Instead, it was hidden on Fred’s desk under the Paper-Pusher™—the handy device Fred apparently uses to clear his desk of the information we, as pilots, would like to have but is never forthcoming from management.
We cannot know the motivation for being non-motivated. We can suspect that it comes from an “out of sight, out of mind” thinking, or maybe from “if I refuse to acknowledge a problem, maybe Mr. Smisek won’t find out about it, either”.
Whichever, it is strange for management to create a section for announcements that every pilot must read—and then put no relevant announcements therein. Unless they’re about gate readers. Or DirectTV policy.
Item 8: H*tler Blasts Continental Pilots!
You thought H*tler was just about world domination. Hah! He found time, outside of his plotting to invade Engl*nd and subjugate all of E*rope, to descend into the morass of Contin*ntal’s management/pilot relationship.
Check out this hidden-camera video from one of his ST*R Alliance planning sessions:
H*tler Hates Contin*ntal Pilots
Der Fuehrer looks a little drawn and haggard. It must be The M*genta Line.
Item 9: Request for Committee Volunteers
All of our committees need volunteers. If you are one of the many somewhat selfish and untested among us, if you are interested in committee work, if you have special artistic talents of any kind, or if you just like to chew the legs off your dining room table, we want you to help your fellow EWR pilots. If you are interested or have previously expressed interest via e-mail or a phone call, please confirm your continuing interest in an e-mail to Captain Kaye Riggs, Secretary-Treasurer, LEC 170 at [email protected]. Please put your name and the word “Volunteer” in the subject line.
Item 10: Next Meetings
Our next local council meeting has been scheduled for October 28th at the Newark Airport Renaissance Hotel. This is a change from our normal meeting place at the Marriott. There is an ongoing shuttle from the P-4 AirTrain stop. Those driving to the meeting will have their parking validated just as at the Marriott.
This meeting will be an excellent opportunity to hear our outgoing Alliance Committee Chairman Alfredo Suarez. Bring your questions on our impending STAR Alliance affiliation. Also, this meeting will be early enough to get your resolutions on the agenda for the November MEC meeting, scheduled for November 2nd through 6th in Houston.
Item 11: Special Guest Editorial by Captain Tom Allnatt,
Member of our Local Council 170 Grievance Committee
We Lost a Customer Today
On our return flight from Berlin today, I had the opportunity to take my crew rest in coach, as all of the Business First seats had been sold. I was on break during the second meal service and overheard the passenger behind me tell the FA she had ordered a vegetarian meal. The FA was very apologetic that her name did not appear to be on the special meal list. She quickly got the ISM to speak to her in order to resolve the situation. In the story that followed, it appears she had made her reservation over a month prior and had ordered the vegetarian meals. As a result of previous flights where in a similar manner her special meal had not been boarded, she logged onto continental.com the previous evening to ensure that it showed her meal preferences. She confirmed that it had. The ISM then offered her a comment card with the normal spiel that it goes straight to our highest levels of management and that they will respond quickly. Unfortunately, it appears she had been told the same thing on the previous occasions but after filling out the cards more than once she never heard back. This lady was not a raving lunatic. Quite the contrary, she was calm and polite in spite of her level of dissatisfaction. Her point was quite valid in that it appeared the only way she would get a vegetarian meal was to book on another carrier.
Perhaps the most tragic point of this whole incident is how drastically it contrasts with the rest of the flight. Our flight time today was slightly over 9 hours, right at the maximum performance of a B757. Maintenance, in spite of a plane which hadn’t sat for more than an hour or two in days, presented us with a capable bird. Dispatch, in spite of a heavy payload and unseasonably strong headwinds, presented us with a legal and safe flight plan to get us home. Berlin operations boarded a nearly full aircraft and got us off the gate ten minutes early, giving us a shot at an on time arrival. Our Flight Attendants, in spite of dealing with a single aisle aircraft on a nine plus hour flight, put on an outstanding service and even found time to take great care of us in the pit. Last but not least, the three of us on the flight deck, in spite of enduring the ridiculous and uncomfortable reality of dealing with crew rest in a row of coach seats and launching from Berlin being nearly min fuel from the moment we taxied, pulled safely into the gate in Newark right on schedule. Dozens of employees across multiple employee groups all did their jobs to complete this challenging flight and in spite of it all we lost a longtime customer. Why? The answer is quite simple. Our management team is either unwilling or incapable of providing the product that our customers have come to expect when they step onto a Continental Airlines flight. We now have an airline that refuses to board bottled water in the quantities necessary to meet our passenger’s needs. We close doors in the faces of connecting passengers in order to block aircraft out 5 minutes early. We dispatch full aircraft on lengthy flights with placarded lavatories rather than spend 10 minutes to repair them. We under-staff, not just flight ops but nearly every department, to the point that we can’t deal with irregular ops and then have no one to respond to customer complaints when things fall apart. We have flight managers tasked with spending so much of their time harassing pilots for being sick and fatigued that they have no time to deal with operational issues. We squander opportunities to make thousands in revenue in order to save pennies. Most tragic of all is the individuals responsible for this have been or soon will be leaving with millions in stock options, enhanced retirement packages, and Golden Parachutes. They will not be held accountable for one iota of their mismanagement of our airline. At the same time, all the employees that worked together to make my flight and hundreds just like it a success today will be left holding the bag. We will be told there is nothing left to be able to give us our hard earned rewards. We will be told we need to give even more in sacrifices to ensure our continued survival. We have heard for over a decade the repeated mantra of CAL having the best management in the industry. BS! What we have at CAL are the most productive employees in the industry and a management team more than happy to leach off that fact in order to enrich themselves to the tune of millions.
And the bottom line? We lost a customer today.
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