AMWest Feelin' The LUV and a Little Blue

[PHXFLYR]

Boy,it's hard to say. I would say it's a little bit of everything. Wx in PHX or LAS sure doesn't help matters,thats for sure . We took a 40 min ATC delay coming out of ELP the other morning heading to PHX, The weather? 10 Miles visibilty in light rainshowers!! Unbelivable!!! That's VFR weather conditions!! Another thing I have noticed is the constant turnover in customer service and ramp personel. No one seems to stay in these positions for any length of time due to the extremley poor starting salaries and pay progression, thus you are constantly stuck in this hiring and training mode which I am sure has a tendency to slow the operation down to a certain extent. And then there is the little matter of our fine French Whore Fifi.Never in my life have I flown an airplane that needs as much coaxing and pampering in the morning to get going as this one does. Say what you will about the 737, it's the Timex watch of airplanes in that it "takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin' ." That coupled with a company that refuses to spend one thin dime on anything other than the minimum required to get the job done, and mediocrity is just about assured.


PHXFLYR

 

[Ty Webb]

Hhhmmmmm, this sounds familiar . . . . sounds like Airtran three years ago, but without Fifi.

We managed to get much of it turned around in the last three years (still holding if it's clear in ATL, though!). Hopefully, you guys will be able to as well.

 

[Wiskey Driver]

First off, you've got to catch PHXFLYR after atleast two cups of coffee in the morning to get a descent response!! :>) Second, the bus ain't that bad. Keep in mind a couple of things about the bus, first it was never really built with the intention of flying over here(USA) It was intended to fly Europe where the air is much colder and more dense. Second it is a disposable airframe (20yrs) I think is the number I've heard. Many of ours are really close to that mark. For all of it's technology it's really day before yesterday in comparison to the NG's and 777. Now the good about the a/c is it's really easy to operate and if you get comfortable with the flight control panel watch out!!! It can and does do a great job of keeping you out of trouble if you let it do it's job!!

Sure she has her moments and I just chalk it up to her being on her period.
(Ahh no offense to our female drivers) this is just a joke so please take it
that way...

WD.

 

[PHXFLYR]

Whiskey Driver....

That IS how you spell "whiskey", is it not? Just so you know, I was half way through my third cup of coffee when I posted that response to UALjan15 regarding the operational questions he asked about. Do you ever tire of being Doug Parker's apologist?



PHXFLYR

 

[PHXFLYR]

Ty;

Really suprised to read your post about Air Tran's similar problems several years ago. I thought you guys we're wrapped a little tighter than we we're, even back then. Glad you guys got it turned around ,though. In our defense we have come along way since I first hired on here in '98 under the Bill Franke regime, but lately there seems to have been quite a bit of back-sliding yet again and that's getting old. Between on time performance dropping off the cliff, getting run out of most of our trans-con markets by the legacy carriers , letting SW push us around in "our hubs" of PHX and LAS,not to mention two consecutive quartely losses and a full loss for 2004, all happening while you guys and other LCC's with similar cost structers are posting a profit, you really got to wonder if our management people are nothing more than an aeronautical version of "the gang that couldn't shoot straight." I guess time will tell.


PHXFLYR

 

[Wiskey Driver]

Whiskey Driver....

That IS how you spell "whiskey", is it not? Just so you know, I was half way through my third cup of coffee when I posted that response to UALjan15 regarding the operational questions he asked about. Do you ever tire of being Doug Parker's apologist?



PHXFLYR

That is how you spell the drink!!! Maybe before you went off on your usual tangent you should have asked why I spelled it that way What you would have found is that there is no H in Wisconsin, Wiskey Driver for being a driver/pilot for Air Wisconsin!! Just how do you get DP's apologist out of understanding the airbus?? This ought to be good!!!

WD.

 

[PHXFLYR]

You know something?You're right! I looked at your avatar of the pirate holding the
"wiskey" bottle and never even thought about "Air Whiskey." Whadda ya think,maybe 4 cups of coffee next time? As far as the Airbus, I guess you' right about the automation and it being a good thing once its all working but the tricky part is geting all those electrons to line up in the first place, especially first thing in the morning. I don't know.Just guess I wish it we're made here in the US.

PHXFLYR

 

[Wiskey Driver]

You know something?You're right! I looked at your avatar of the pirate holding the
"wiskey" bottle and never even thought about "Air Whiskey." Whadda ya think,maybe 4 cups of coffee next time? As far as the Airbus, I guess you' right about the automation and it being a good thing once its all working but the tricky part is geting all those electrons to line up in the first place, especially first thing in the morning. I don't know.Just guess I wish it we're made here in the US.

PHXFLYR

Ctrl Alt Delete, always seems to work at home I will test the theory on the bus to see what happens

WD.

 

[PHXFLYR]

Knowing the French,you do something like that and the wings will fall off.... See ya on campus!!PHXFLYR

 

[Wiskey Driver]

Knowing the French,you do something like that and the wings will fall off.... See ya on campus!!PHXFLYR

D amn, didn't think of that!!! See ya.

WD.

 

[Cactus73]

I'm new to the airline and still in the schoolhouse. I'm just trying to get some perspective on the "why" for the reality of the above statement. Some of my hunches include:

• • Spillover delays from the shabby Mesa operation?
  • Crowded departure banks cause lengthy takeoff delays (although these may be built into block time)?
  • VFR optimized PHX operation falls like a house of cards during summer monsoon and winter storms?
  • Corndogs getting taxi and takeoff priority (Just kidding! I've seen that thread before...Close that can of worms fast!)
  • Blue-Hairs just can't get on and off the airplane fast enough?

Any of you more seasoned Cacti like to comment on these or any other ideas?

Reasons for our bad operation? All my opinion of course and just from what I see on line.

-Mesa runs their own shabby operation, they really don't cause us too many delays, just bad customer service. I guess one could argue that they take jetways away from us.

-We have a gate problem in the morning in PHX. I have arrived 30 minutes
early and blocked in 30 minutes late. Arrive in PHX at 10AM on any given morning and there will be airplanes holding all over the place. Because we don't focus enough on ontime zero, every plane that leaves late causes a holding plane to arrive even later. Because this happens in the morning it just makes everything late by the end of the day.

-As I stated above most people just don't seem to care enough about on-time zero departures. There are times where it will be 15 minutes past departure time and everyone is just sitting around. You call ops and they have no idea. Suddenly the trim sheet shows up and we can go. The reson for the delay- remains a mystery. This may change as they just announced a new incentive program that pays out $50 for every month that we get at least 65% of our flights out OTZERO.

-Lots of 30 minute turns. When you arrive with 134 people on a 737 into LAS and have to change crews and then load up another 134 people, it just doesn't happen.

-One rain drop in PHX or LAS and approach just can't handle it. We had ten mile spacing last week for 025OVC and -RA 10 miles vis. WTF? You already have a 1 hour block time from SAN and then you hold on the arrival for 15 minutes. Minutes add up quickly.

-MX. I've had to write up tires in the early AM in PHX after the airplane was given an overnight check. This just shouldn't happen. We also have some old airplanes. Some of our 757's are ex-Eastern and Republic birds = old. Some of our 737's are the first -300's to fly. The USAir birds are 301 models which was Piedmont's designation. They were built around 1984/5.

-Gate agents in a lot of stations are just understaffed. They will have 2 rampers working outside and one of them will be an ops agent also trying to get you your paperwork. The gate will only have one person. This is a tough problem to solve when in cities like LAX one can work at SWA for better wages, career advancement, and job security. We just don't get quality people in many of our stations. In a lot of a cases, even if they are qualified, they get little training before being put on-line.

-Pilot and FA pairings. Since we use PBS and the FA's are on hard lines, we rarely stay with the same crew or airplane for more than a leg or two. We have crews going a million different directions. During irops this becomes a big problem.

I can write more but I just got a call from crew scheduling that my outbound flight was canceled for MX and we are now going in the morning. I'm not joking! Our completion factor is another story in itself.

 

[PHXFLYR]

Seeee????? And all you newbies thought it was just me being negative. Sorry to say this is one "sheeetty" operation and has been for the last 7 years I have been here.This outfit doesn't want to invest in anything be it aircraft, infrastructure, or personel and the chickens are coming home to roost. Where we go from here is anybodies guess. One thing for sure. If I we're a United, USAir or American furloughee that got hired here , I would think long and hard before I resign my senority number.


PHXFLYR

 

[Sandhawk]

Thanks for the positive input, PHXFLYR !!

The grass is always greener on the other side..........

 

[TWA Dude]

If I we're a United, USAir or American furloughee that got hired here , I would think long and hard before I resign my senority number.

...good thing we didn't have to...

 

[PHXFLYR]

Yeah,must be nice not to have any skin in the game

PHXFLYR

 

[LnkyLmy]

These are some of the reasons after 7 yrs at AWA I left for SWA. I miss my friends in PHX but I never regret the move.

Good Luck to all the Cactii drivers and dont let Dan catch you without your hat.

 

[MK82Man]

Different Perspective

Ok, I’m still new so cut me some slack. I don’t have the history and scope that some of my senior AWA pilots do, but I’ll tell you what I’ve seen on the Airbus in my first hundred hours. I’ve posted before about great training at AWA – search for that if you like. After training … Great IOE Check Airmen. Got some dedicated guys who wanted to make sure I was comfortable in the airplane. Asked me a zillion questions to probe what I knew and didn’t know. Never made me feel dumb ‘cause I didn’t know, they just wanted to make sure I left IOE comfortable. Post IOE, I’ve flown with Captains who are solid AWA assets. Everyone of them did his best to make the airplane push on time and we strived to arrive on time – yes crowded gates at PHX, but I’ve seen guys (who are commuting home after the flight) work to arrive on time, rather than early, to minimize the impact of crowded gates. Have I pushed late? Sure, but it was never over something we could control. I’ve arrived at the Gate and twice there hasn’t been a gate operator to get the jetway moving so we could get the door open and get the paxs off – found that frustrating about out station manning/operations. The Airbus is great IMHO. I’ve had MX at the gate, but they fixed it as quick as they could and didn’t squawk about it. Just did their job as maintainers as quick as they could. I’ve called MX from the jet and they’ve walked us through resetting the system and after five mins or so, we were on our way. Over 50% of the jets have had zero MELs and stayed that way on the flight. Again, I’m new, but the Airbus is a great platform to fly efficient travel at minimum cost – from what I’ve seen Fifi does her job quite well. Jammed high and fast -- sure, but you got plenty of outs on the 319/320 if you are paying attention. I’ve always been part of the team up front; haven’t had a single captain who was egotistical or though I was anything less than a part of his team to take the jet from A to B. Everyone says we have a few, but I’ll tell you each guy I’ve flown with so far has a great attitude. We have some great legs at AWA, want up and down – you can bid for it, want long haul – you can bid for that too, want international – yep, we have that too. I’m thrilled to be here and of course I wish we could have made money in the fourth quarter, but with a CASM now of 6 cents, we have our costs as low as anybody. MESA – I’ve ridden up front (and in back) with them a lot. Thanks again. I’ve never seen anything less than professional from them as well. Those guys are working hard under some really tough circumstances. Am I too optimistic? Maybe, but I just want folks to know that AWA can certainly be what you make it. I’m grinning from ear to ear to be here and I’d hate for some applicant to get the wrong idea. We have more aircraft coming, hiring 200ish again this year, and are cranking up LAS as a new pilot domicile. If you are new and get the Airbus and bid LAS you’ll be off reserve ASAP. If you are going to commute, that might be exactly what you are looking for. Are we gonna be around long term … who freaking knows. In this industry NOBODY knows. But we’ve been in business 20 years and Mr. Parker seems to know what he’s doing and almost every guy I’ve talked to seems to think he is at least 6 or 7 out of 10 on a management/competency/honesty basis. We got incentive checks in January and the company has a plan to pay ‘em out every month if we meet targets in the future. Could it be better, sure. $38.00 an hour the first year, yeah it is low, but I’m one of those guys who thinks it is better to have an airline career where I can get paid (most likely) for the next 15 years rather than worry about making top dollar today and maybe the airline goes under at year 7. My Captain on the last trip said he made $155,000 last year – I’m sure he worked hard for it, but he was looking forward to 2005. Sure SW pressures everyone, and Delta's new fares will impact the industry too, but MD80DVR don’t worry about being furloughed – I’m not. Do we Suck, Are we Horrible, Mediocre, Is the future Grim?? I don’t think any of these apply. Again, I’m new so I don’t have the background that others have. Are we the carrier of choice for applicants, maybe not, but with 10,000 guys looking for work, we are a major airline who is hiring and you could end up in a lot worse places. If you can get on at SW, UPS, or FEDEX, super, but if not, and you want to be a Major Airline pilot for at least two years (we got enough cash to survive that long), come to AWA. I don’t think we have too many guys leaving today for other carriers. We aren’t perfect, but I just see the glass 75% full. Will time harden me ……. Stay tuned.



PS, LnkyLmy – they are polling the pilots now on the hat policy. Over 60% say optional, and 20% say get rid of it. My guess it will be history within a month.

 

[PositiveRate]

Thanks for the perspective MK82man. For those of us in the pipeline behind you, this thread was getting pretty depressing.

 

[Cactus73]

MK82Man, PR,

I wasn't trying to be negative in my posts but having been on line for a year now these were my observations. We get a lot of negative press from the media and very few positive stories. Almost all of my non-airline friends here in PHX have an "America Worst" story. I finally convinced a friend to take us on a trip to IND for Thanksgiving instead of SWA and sure enough we cancel the IND-PHX leg on Sunday (the busiest day of the year). The best they could do for her was to get her home Monday night. She missed a day of work. This was on a regular paid ticket.
I convinced my parents friends to buy tickets on us last summer to go to D.C. for their vacation (also on a regular paid ticket). Both ways they misconnected out of SAN and arrived over five hours late. Both days were clear days in PHX, DCA, SAN.

I was taking my sister back from LAX to PHX on a buddy pass last week and sure enough they cancelled the 750pm flight. We had to go the next morning. All of Southwest's flights to PHX were leaving on-time. We have less flights than they do and we have to cancel the last flight. There were some really angry business guys standing in line when they broke the news. They had to go over to Southwest and buy tickets for themselves because we don't have a ticketing agreement with them. How many of these guys are going to just keep flying the competition?

It gets tough to keep defending us all the time. I asked Doug Parker how much this bad operation was costing us (cash from the bottom line) and he could only say that he wasn't happy with our performance.

We are a great company and I think we are going to make it. I just wish there was more emphasis here on on-time and customer service. Some of our FA's are great and some will make you cringe. We need every customer we can get and it just pains me sometimes to listen to the first FA yell, belittle, or just be rude to some of our first class customers.

Don't get me wrong, I still go to work with a huge grin on my face. I've wanted to work here since I was a kid growing up in PHX. That's my whole point. I need this place to be around for a long-time to come. We need to start speaking up when we see rude employees or when we are taking stupid delays.

I'm willing to do my part to help change things, I just wish management will do their part.

Get On Board

 

[oldxfr8dog]

MK82Man, AWA is lucky to have such a positive individual as you. I'm sure you'll do a great job for them.
Cactus73, I agree with all your observations. As a matter of fact, that is why I quit after 12 years, I was tired of apologizing to my customers.
It was a gamble, but so far has been worth it. On a more positive note, about 800 guys were delighted to move up a number when I left!
It IS what you make it, the place just ground me down...