ASA Dullas day three: It has started

[great cornholio]

While I can't add anything ASA specific I can talk about UAX ops in IAD and ORD. Both IAD and ORD suck. IAD sucks because of ops and ORD because of ground stops. Here is a rundown of some of the things you will run across.

IAD:
1. Over 20 languages are spoken on the ramp...and I don't think English is one of them.

2. Even the person that is on ops radio doesn't speak English. Anything that is not ordinary (IE "in-range or ready to board") will take at least 5 attempted transmissions before the English speaking person in ops will get on the radio. Then it might take up to 30 to 60 mins to get the service you just asked for.

3. Wheel chair service super slow. It is common to have a pax on the plane for over 30 mins after block in waiting on wheel chair. If its a straight back the probs are worse.

4. They are super understaffed. In the A gates there is 1 push crew / tug for 6 gates. UAL schedules those 6 gates to leave within 5 mins of each other. Obviously this doesn't happen. So every bank there is a "loser" on that finger.

5. De-icing in the pad....hahaha well lets just say they usually "lose the list" and then people end up waiting around on average of 3 hours with pax on board before getting de-iced.

ORD.

1. When taxiing DO NOT STOP unless you want to get yelled at or need to talk to ground. They will be more than willing to double you back if you miss your turn.

"Double back" means basically a U-turn. IE you're on A and need to pass you gate then turn on A12 then head the other way on B for a bit.

"Bridge transition" They are talking about going over the bridges by 32R. These are on A and B taxiways. Sometimes they call this "the long way around"

2. Its run much better than IAD

3. Main problem is having to wait on a gate when you get to ORD. Usually only a few mins, but if its snowing you can wait for hours.

4. They de-ice on the gate...which leads to major backups in during periods of winter wx.


Welcome to IAD and ORD. Hope this helps you guys out a bit.

 

[777forever]

I the IAD rampers and gate agents are an extremely diverse workforce. Lots of accents and I believe most if not all speak English as a second language at best. Its a very international environment. Lots more international airlines than ATL.

Also, taxing around IAD is a dream compared to ATL. The airport is very dead except for a few pushes. Reminds me of CVG.

 

[Erlanger]

Skywest is joining ASA in Dulles come July 1st.

 

[enuffalready]

of course they are. heaven forbid asa gets some flying other than atlanta that we are actually responsible for. We know we wont be getting SLC or DEN or anything that skywest can do.

 

[Taco Rocket]

This is like a bad movie, remade with the same script but different actors.

You can take almost all of the comments in this thread and apply them to Mesa's UA startup a few years ago.

Sooner or later you may come to the same conclusion: that UA is the problem.

 

[doh]

If they TDY you, don't they have to positive space you to and from your permanent base?

 

[SPDBRD747400]

Skywest is joining ASA in Dulles come July 1st.

IAD to Colorado Springs, long haul for the -700!

 

[ILS8L]

If they TDY you, don't they have to positive space you to and from your permanent base?

Yes, plus hotel, plus transportation to and from the airport, plus per diem.

 

[777forever]

Yes, plus hotel, plus transportation to and from the airport, plus per diem.

Plus min day credit if they don't use you. In other words, you getting PAID! Lot of the reserve guys up here are ticked because the TDY guys are doing the same job we are but getting paid much more with hotel provided. I told them that's just how the seniority system works and we gotta hang in there.

 

[Abernathy]

Why are they TDYing Atlanta based pilots. If we're short staffed in IAD, shouldn't we have sent a few more people to IAD? I heard they are sending people for 5 day stays in IAD hotels. Give me a break. This needs to be addressed.