"Big Announcement" about ATL hub for ASA tomorrow

[wms]

This is a tremendous statement concerning ASA's lack of mgmt of the ramp. Whenever there is a bad report about our operation, ASA mgmt makes another blank promise about how they're going to change things. "We're going to hire more people, buy more equipment, start a focus group", etc. What the ramp has lacked is intense, directed supervision. AD did wonders with maintenance, but you can establish maintenance practices from the back office and follow up by reviewing data. You can't run an environment as intense as the ATL ramp from the back office. In fact, by dividing AD's responsibilities our maintenance has suffered. The condition of the airplanes is not what it was and we're flying around with more deferals than in the past.

To run a ramp takes common sense, intensity, energy and a relationship with the people you supervise.

This is also a slap to SKYW mgmt. They knew about our ramp and the ineffectiveness of BL and his "leadership team". Yet they failed to send their own people to ATL to fix things. Instead they have rewarded them heavily for their inaction.

Not that we're geniuses either. But we see the operation first hand and are affected by it. And when we provide input it's just disregarded as whining from a disgruntled pilot group. Instead barriers are put up to make it harder to even get to our planes. DAL wants 25 minute turns in ATL, we can't even get from plane to plane in 25 minutes with the blocked doors and mazes in the way. Now ASA and SKYW mgmt are being "dissed" for their lack of attentiveness.

 

[FmrFreightDog]

LOSER!!!

Excuse me? What crawled up your ass???

 

[Texx]

One would think thats an awfully hard slap to ASA management.

Hoser

Why do the actions of DAL suprise anyone that has been at ASA since 1999?

This is not ASA management, it's DAL.

Think back to the late 90s. ASA was sold to DAL for the same reason we are transfering the ramp ops.

When this took place Skip and BL, DAL employees, took over ASA. DAL did not invest in the ramp operation to improve the conditions, one of the reasons they bought us for in the first place.

So from 1999 to the time we were sold to SKYW INC, did anything change with the ramp? NO.

2005, ASA has new onwers BUT we still have the ex DAL management at the top. I will say that the ramp has improved a great deal in the last 90 to 120 days at ASA. If DAL would have taken care of the problem WHEN they owned us we wouldn't have been put in to this position.

From what I understand, Carmine had proposed these changes to the ramp about a year ago. Funny that he is gone and after he has left the changes are put into play.

It's appears a little late.

 

[HoserASA]

When this took place Skip and BL, DAL employees, took over ASA. DAL did not invest in the ramp operation to improve the conditions, one of the reasons they bought us for in the first place.

It's appears a little late.

Bingo! You're so correct Texx. But, G&J didn't invest much in the ramp either. Delta did in fact buy alot of ground equipment which was basically destroyed by rampers who didn't have any supervision out there.

Only now has SKYW begun to buy support equipment. With top management at ASA ex-Delta managers (as you state), perhaps Delta had confidence that they would fix ASA. Apparently now Delta has realized that Delta will have to fix ASA. Why Delta didn't when they owned ASA is because of the problems Delta had with their own airline I think, and didn't have time to fix ASA at the time.

It's really basic, and not too late Texx. Get some dang supervision out there on the ramp!

Hoser
Roll Tide!

 

[Tarzan]

I have to chuckle how there is a new sense of urgency now though. I've never had so many calls from Ops, rampers on the plane and gate agents bugging..... To get boarded and get out. Now if we can just get scheduling to get out of REACT MODE and get into the PROACTIVE MODE, we may be able to get somewhere better numbers.

As a side note, when I hubbed out of ORD, the ramp there was terrible as well. I pulled up the gate one day and a ramper was lying in the baggage cart. He sorta looked up, and then layed back down. My poor CA hit the roof! For you TSA guys, it was Total Recall. Great guy to fly with but he loses it over stuff like that. I nearly choked on my crackers watching him cuss the guy. Anyhow F gates sucked.
I came back next month and Yo-nited had taken over. Before the door dropped there was fuel truck already trying to hook up. As soon as we dropped the door we had a ramper jump on the with the dispatch ask if we needed anything special. They would even point out things like a missing static wick. Thirty minute turns back the norm and were done almost lazily. I don't know if that is still the case but when UAL got involved, stuff changed real quick. It would be nice to see that sort of stuff happen in ATL as well.

 

[wms]

I have to chuckle how there is a new sense of urgency now though. I've never had so many calls from Ops, rampers on the plane and gate agents bugging..... To get boarded and get out. Now if we can just get scheduling to get out of REACT MODE and get into the PROACTIVE MODE, we may be able to get somewhere better numbers.

Too little, too late. Mgmt is poor to nil at ASA and should bear the blame for our poor performance, but work ethic means doing a good job when no one is watching. We've all been saying they should fire them all for years and now they have. All those times of not coming out to park airplanes, not caring when bags don't get on, treating passengers poorly, and on and on, has finally caught up with them. There are a few great people in our ground ops and I'll offer to write them recs for DAL or any place else (not that it means much coming from me) but for the most part they brought it on themselves.