Air Jamaica shuts down ASA

[Typhoon1244]

Who's the clown using the callsign "Air Jamaica" that tied up 129.00 for fifteen minutes Wednesday night?

 

[Rook]

We jammin...and I hope you like jammin too...

Rook

 

[chperplt]

What were they doing to "tie" up the radio?

 

[Ty Webb]

We jammin...and I hope you like jammin too...

Rook

He no jokin' . . . . . . . .

Mon, dey be smokin'!

 

[Typhoon1244]

What were they doing to "tie" up the radio?

Somebody--I presume a former ASA pilot--was shooting the breeze with someone about life at ASA versus his current gig, and about how Doug H. was supposed to call him some time, etc. Just a chat between friends...but for fifteen minutes nobody could call for boarding, fuel, lav service, catering, or give their out/off times. The ops folks were pulling their hair out. A couple of pilots were moved to open profanity: "change...f_cking...frequencies!"

Excepte for not being able to call our "off" time in, it didn't affect my flight. I thought it was pretty funny...had no idea someone could be that clueless.

 

[beech1900kid]

hey y'all,

Not for nothin' ... I don't even fly for ASA, but a couple of our pilots got their asses chewed the other day for some nonsense on complany ops freq.

Story goes that an ops person and a pilot were arguing (imagine that) and resorted to profanity. Apparently FAA monitors all public frequencies (obviously not all the time and to our dismay, no pilot had even heard of this practice). At any rate, FAA blew their top and chewed the company out, who in turn chewed the pilot out. Big brother is always watching...hate to see one of you get in trouble for some bs...

 

[chperplt]

Too funny.. Unless of course you were trying to get something done.

 

[av8tor4239]

but for fifteen minutes nobody could call for boarding, fuel, lav service, catering.

Read SP 358.. you are not supposed to call for these things.. and if you do call.. ONE CALL THATS ALL

 

[SBD-2U3]

I agree. Except for the off and on times, Call on the ever present DC.

 

[EMB170Pilot]

haha too funny

 

[Typhoon1244]

Read SP 358.. you are not supposed to call for these things.. and if you do call.. ONE CALL THATS ALL

Well, you know, I'm one of those guys who gives passenger convenience a higher priority than union/management posturing. I saw how well posturing worked at EAL.

(I'm not about to start slinging bags, though...)

 

[73belair]

Well, you know, I'm one of those guys who gives passenger convenience a higher priority than union/management posturing. I saw how well posturing worked at EAL.

(I'm not about to start slinging bags, though...)

(Sigh) Why...??? Haven't had enough yet?

 

[Typhoon1244]

Haven't had enough yet?

Yeah, I have. When ALPA exonerated the CAL scabs, I decided I'd had enough.

 

[CorpLearDriver]

hey y'all,

Not for nothin' ... I don't even fly for ASA, but a couple of our pilots got their asses chewed the other day for some nonsense on complany ops freq.

Story goes that an ops person and a pilot were arguing (imagine that) and resorted to profanity. Apparently FAA monitors all public frequencies (obviously not all the time and to our dismay, no pilot had even heard of this practice). At any rate, FAA blew their top and chewed the company out, who in turn chewed the pilot out. Big brother is always watching...hate to see one of you get in trouble for some bs...

The FCC monitors everything, not the FAA. They then call the FAA and then the stuff rolls downhill from there. It's been that way for eons.

 

[FmrFreightDog]

Well, you know, I'm one of those guys who gives passenger convenience a higher priority than union/management posturing. I saw how well posturing worked at EAL.

(I'm not about to start slinging bags, though...)

Oh man, we're in trouble.

 

[Typhoon1244]

Oh man, we're in trouble.

Well...maybe you guys are right. I guess I should do my part to piss customers off and make sure they fly Southwest or JetBlue instead of us.

Guys, trust me: antogonizing our customers is not the way to put pressure on management. We need public sympathy, not public outrage...and the general public doesn't like--or understand--unions. The American Eagle guys understood this. Why haven't our people figured it out?

I've seen the sentiment before: "We beat 'em in '98, and we'll beat 'em now." Well, guess what. This isn't 1998.

 

[captain caveman]

Well...maybe you guys are right. I guess I should do my part to piss customers off and make sure they fly Southwest or JetBlue instead of us.

Guys, trust me: antogonizing our customers is not the way to put pressure on management. We need public sympathy, not public outrage...and the general public doesn't like--or understand--unions. The American Eagle guys understood this. Why haven't our people figured it out?

I've seen the sentiment before: "We beat 'em in '98, and we'll beat 'em now." Well, guess what. This isn't 1998.

...and how has management rewarded us for our high standards in on time arrivals and completion factor and professionalism? Finding every loop hole in the contract imaginable and treating us like small children. So what's next?

 

[Plug]

Well...maybe you guys are right. I guess I should do my part to piss customers off and make sure they fly Southwest or JetBlue instead of us.

Guys, trust me: antogonizing our customers is not the way to put pressure on management. We need public sympathy, not public outrage...and the general public doesn't like--or understand--unions. The American Eagle guys understood this. Why haven't our people figured it out?

I've seen the sentiment before: "We beat 'em in '98, and we'll beat 'em now." Well, guess what. This isn't 1998.

Typhoon,

Why hasn't our company figured it out? This place has such a flawed system that it has to rely on one group, the pilots, to get the job done. Yet when we get sick of this sh*t we write it up and get no answer. I fly airplanes. To do so I consult my DC for all issues, and they usually get handled if you treat the DC like a human being. My a$$ is not covered if I do another persons job and that goes from washing windshields to calling for services that my DC is supposed to be doing. The only way the system gets fixed is if the company hears about it from someone other than a crew member.

With regards to our passengers getting fed up with our airline a clean lav is hardly going to be the cause. Let's start with our wonderful gate agents in ATL, not all of them but a lot of them do not understand that posting On Time on the boards when it is past departure time tends to piss the passengers off. Walking down a set of stairs only to go outside to go back up another set of stairs, some times steep with the 70, tends to bother passengers. There is a good chance our passengers are already pissed when they get out on the airplane. I do my darndest to be sincere and welcoming but there is only so much I have control over. Lastly, passengers have shown that there is no "brand loyalty" anymore and fly on whomever gives them the cheapest fare. One week it may be Jetblue, the next Delta, who knows.

One thing I find always helpful is making a PA whenever possible when things would be percieved out of the ordinary to a passenger. For instance, sitting at the end of the runway for 10-15 minutes for a release time is normal for you and I but not to Joe Pax. There are several other instances like that where a passenger will appreciate a crew and an airline, but will still by on price.

My name is Drew Bedson, darn glad to meet ya. ;-) TIC!!!

 

[av8tor4239]

Here is a quote from one of our "GO GETers" at ASA...

I and most of the ASA crews will continue to move our planes (mostly) full of passengers from A to B safely and efficiently as professionals should. Things will not always go perfectly as planed but, we will role with it, make use of the common sense that got us our 4th stripe (and will get the 4th for our great FO's) and get the job done. If that means that I personally have to walk up stairs to get my release, toss a bag or two or even wash the dead bugs off my windshield...all things I have done many times over the years I've been here. We will do our part to keep ASA profitable and near the top of our slice of this industry.

Maybe if typhoon and ohplease were flying together, management could get rid of all other positions in the company.. You two could make the reservations for the PAX, check them in, board them, fuel the plane yourself, push it back, cater it, FLY the flight, Park yourselves, and deplane, uload the bags, and shoot why dont you rent them a car while you are at it!

 

[Typhoon1244]

Maybe if typhoon and ohplease were flying together, management could get rid of all other positions in the company.. You two could make the reservations for the PAX, check them in, board them, fuel the plane yourself, push it back, cater it, FLY the flight, Park yourselves, and deplane, uload the bags, and shoot why dont you rent them a car while you are at it!

No, no, not at all! I agree with you completely! I think we should all follow in the footsteps of the Eastern pilots. We may not have jobs, but we'll have made our point!

Oh, and I love your technique of twisting my words into the bizarre paragraph you posted. I try not to leave the cockpit to fix things if I can help it. But if badgering somebody on the radio will save us a fifteen minute delay, your darn right I'm going to do it.

If our pilot group votes to strike, I'll strike. In the mean time, I'll do my best at the job I volunteered to do!

 

[ohplease!]

Here is a quote from one of our "GO GETers" at ASA...



Maybe if typhoon and ohplease were flying together, management could get rid of all other positions in the company.. You two could make the reservations for the PAX, check them in, board them, fuel the plane yourself, push it back, cater it, FLY the flight, Park yourselves, and deplane, uload the bags, and shoot why dont you rent them a car while you are at it!

I've done all that and more. Corporate. I don't have to do it here but, if I see someone who needs help here, I'll jump right in....count on it.