The Comair guys don't get it because they have not listened to their "VISION" tapes. Somebody get those cassettes to the Comair cockpits, immediately!
Anyone else notice that Northwest, Airtran, United and American get parked without much fuss. What is different about ASA's ATL operations?
First, the same "efficient cost controls" have resulted in our rampers being the lowest paid for similar work at the airport. But actually, it is not similar work. Delta rampers turn one MD80 in about an hour and forty. The "aircart" and "power cart" are integrated systems that plug in from the jetway with nice, constant, power supplies. They have complex bag routing and tracking systems, while we have a collection of broken bag carts with cities scribbled on the ends, while we try to drag our power and air carts around the ramp with as many as four airplanes per gate and twelve per zone.
All the APU noise, connecting, locating, and ad lib operations takes a toll on these guys and there is absolutely no incentive to move faster because you can never get caught up.
Gordon Bethune implemented a simple reward system at CAL. His bean counters figured out the cost to the company for late and cancelled flights (hotel rooms, pax disruption compensation, etc...) he then took half of that money and allocated it to a bonus program. It worked out to be some where between $35 and $100 a month if the airline met certain criteria. Sure, it was not much money, but enough to take your sweetie to dinner. I think some sort of positive reward would go a long way to both saving the company moeny and motivating employees. Hack, if they steal of our catering cart, they must really need $35.
Second, someone has figured out it is more cost effective to underpay and understaff the ramp and just accept the delays. I for one wish they had spent the money on the rampers and their managers instead of cassette tapes, posters and Commut a' Walks.
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Paid by the minute, waiting on the ramp with the rest of you...
