Freedom Pilots Loading Bags

[eatme]

You guys are going about it all wrong, hell, where else can you work and starve your fat ass larded bodies into lean powerful and fit physiques based on throwing 50lb bags into the cargo hold and lack of $money that this company pays.

 

[veneratio]

I am not trained on how to throw bags, push wheel chairs, nor clean the airplane. It is not part of my job description, and I don't get paid more money to do it. Therefore I never do it, if the flight leaves late because of bags, than I call ops and tell them the reason, that way perhaps they can fix the problem.

 

[Soverytired]

I am not trained on how to throw bags, push wheel chairs, nor clean the airplane. It is not part of my job description, and I don't get paid more money to do it. Therefore I never do it, if the flight leaves late because of bags, than I call ops and tell them the reason, that way perhaps they can fix the problem.

And yet, if you ever get an interview at a better company, you'll fall all over yourself telling a prospective employer how much you love customers and how you "went the extra mile" to go above and beyond your basic job description . . .

 

[Turtlesfly]

If you can fly an airplane you should be able to help with a little cleaning or handling bags without training.

NO. Let's just expand on that thought for a second. There are a LOT of flight attendants that will tell you outright here at XJT that they don't want your help cleaning because they know what they're doing. Take it one step farther: if you just go "Set up the galley" for them, do you not think they'd object? You don't know where they want stuff to go.

How about bags? You don't know what order they want stuff in - maybe you put the gate-checks in first but the crews want them to go in last. Were you counting the bags properly for the count whne you put them in? What about the ones already in there? How do you know the final total bag count?

Push a wheelchair? In this day of liability? What happens if you don't know how to use the wheel brake locks or what if they fail?

So why not just allow people to "help out" your job? Reminds me of the FO's who want to start APU's, fill out logbooks, call Mx, order fuel, commence boarding, etc, just to "help out the captain." Thanks but no thanks.


People who want to "help out" other people's jobs is like mowing your neighbor's yard. "Hey it's getting long and I just want to help out." You're not helping - this is my yard - don't mow my ********************."

 

[Raskal]

NO. Let's just expand on that thought for a second. There are a LOT of flight attendants that will tell you outright here at XJT that they don't want your help cleaning because they know what they're doing. Take it one step farther: if you just go "Set up the galley" for them, do you not think they'd object? You don't know where they want stuff to go.

How about bags? You don't know what order they want stuff in - maybe you put the gate-checks in first but the crews want them to go in last. Were you counting the bags properly for the count whne you put them in? What about the ones already in there? How do you know the final total bag count?

Push a wheelchair? In this day of liability? What happens if you don't know how to use the wheel brake locks or what if they fail?

So why not just allow people to "help out" your job? Reminds me of the FO's who want to start APU's, fill out logbooks, call Mx, order fuel, commence boarding, etc, just to "help out the captain." Thanks but no thanks.


People who want to "help out" other people's jobs is like mowing your neighbor's yard. "Hey it's getting long and I just want to help out." You're not helping - this is my yard - don't mow my ********************."

Dammit, I hate it when you make sense. Point taken.

 

[PCL_128]

And yet, if you ever get an interview at a better company, you'll fall all over yourself telling a prospective employer how much you love customers and how you "went the extra mile" to go above and beyond your basic job description . . .

Actually, no, I've never done that in an interview. If the job is contingent on me doing someone else's job, then I don't want it.

 

[PCL_128]

NO. Let's just expand on that thought for a second. There are a LOT of flight attendants that will tell you outright here at XJT that they don't want your help cleaning because they know what they're doing. Take it one step farther: if you just go "Set up the galley" for them, do you not think they'd object? You don't know where they want stuff to go.

How about bags? You don't know what order they want stuff in - maybe you put the gate-checks in first but the crews want them to go in last. Were you counting the bags properly for the count whne you put them in? What about the ones already in there? How do you know the final total bag count?

Push a wheelchair? In this day of liability? What happens if you don't know how to use the wheel brake locks or what if they fail?

So why not just allow people to "help out" your job? Reminds me of the FO's who want to start APU's, fill out logbooks, call Mx, order fuel, commence boarding, etc, just to "help out the captain." Thanks but no thanks.


People who want to "help out" other people's jobs is like mowing your neighbor's yard. "Hey it's getting long and I just want to help out." You're not helping - this is my yard - don't mow my ********************."

I agree with most of your post, but what exactly is wrong with the FO starting up the APU? When I was a CRJ CA, I hated it when I got to the airplane and the FO had been sitting there for 10 minutes in the sweltering heat with no air hooked up and hadn't started the APU. Is it because he was scared of guys like you yelling at him for it? The kid knows how to push a couple of buttons to start the APU, you know.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

................

 

[BoilerUP]

I cannot believe some of you people are either too good or too proud to provide good customer service to your passengers when others have failed them...and are hiding behind the weak veils of "I wasn't trained for that" or "Its too much of a liability".

You shouldn't be expected to do somebody else's job all the time...but doing a good thing for somebody every once in a while? Most people trip over themselves to do those things if it makes the difference between them making their commute home or not...

Then again I was one of those FOs that separated the release, programmed the FMS, started the APU, did the acceptance checks, told the fueler to slightly lower our order when I knew they chronically overfueled us and we were expecting a jumpseater, bought the crew coffee the first morning of those early shows and yes, occasionally tossed a gate-checked bag or pushed an old woman up a jetway in a wheelchair.

Funny...nobody ever told me I was demeaning the airline pilot profession, stepping beyond my responsibility, or doing my peers a disservice.

 

[Speedtape]

I cannot believe some of you people are either too good or too proud to provide good customer service to your passengers when others have failed them...and are hiding behind the weak veils of "I wasn't trained for that" or "Its too much of a liability".

You shouldn't be expected to do somebody else's job all the time...but doing a good thing for somebody every once in a while? Most people trip over themselves to do those things if it makes the difference between them making their commute home or not...

Then again I was one of those FOs that separated the release, programmed the FMS, started the APU, did the acceptance checks, told the fueler to slightly lower our order when I knew they chronically overfueled us and we were expecting a jumpseater, bought the crew coffee the first morning of those early shows and yes, occasionally tossed a gate-checked bag or pushed an old woman up a jetway in a wheelchair.

Funny...nobody ever told me I was demeaning the airline pilot profession, stepping beyond my responsibility, or doing my peers a disservice.

And where does it stop? Do you fuel your own airplane? Do you generate the releases? Do you provide your own ATC clearances and separation? Do you help do the payroll? Do you take and make reservations? Maybe you can really be cool and dump the lavs!

Maybe your are practicing that 3 year old kid behavior of "Hey Mom and everone else, LOOK AT ME!"

Carry on Dude! J.O. needs a whole army of guys like you! Meanwhile, the ramper is laughing his arse off when he sees that you will do his job--you have been well trained but misguided! Maybe you should stay away from the expresso at Starbucks!

 

[BoilerUP]

And where does it stop? Do you fuel your own airplane? Do you generate the releases? Do you provide your own ATC clearances and separation? Do you help do the payroll? Do you take and make reservations? Maybe you can really be cool and dump the lavs!

You lose credibility when you resort to extreme slippery-slope examples...although it'd be nice to be able to print your own releases at every outstation. I think UAX currently does this at many of their gateways...

Maybe your are practicing that 3 year old kid behavior of "Hey Mom and everone else, LOOK AT ME!"

Not really...I didn't do anything special and don't expect any kudos for my actions, although a cookie or two would be nice. If I were a passenger and saw somebody doing the things I did, given the situation, I'd be thankful somebody, ANYBODY seemed to give a damn about running an airline.

The passengers saying "thanks" was more than payment enough.

Carry on Dude! J.O. needs a whole army of guys like you! Meanwhile, the ramper is laughing his arse off when he sees that you will do his job--you have been well trained but misguided! Maybe you should stay away from the expresso at Starbucks!

I worked at Air Wisconsin, far from being a bottom-feeder. I didn't push wheelchairs or assist with carry-on bags every trip...but when I felt it prudent to do so in order to provide good customer service I took the initiative to make it happen.

Working as a team to provide a quality product people want to use and an experience they want to repeat...what a novel concept in the clusterfark known as the airline industry...

 

[Captainzero1]

Folks,

KEEP THIS IN MIND

While loading bags may seem to be very commendable, going the extra mile, taking care of your customers, there is a HUGE drawback.

Injury.

Say, a back injury from lifting a heavy bag. This type of injury occured while you were doing something that was not considered as a duty for your assigned position (FO or CA). Something that was not your job, and you get injured while doing it. You are covered if something happens while doing part of your duty on the job, not while doing something extra that wasn't your job.

Good luck getting out of that can of worms!

Tell that to the NetJets/CItationShares and Avantair Crews who get paid a alot more than you do about throwing bags.

 

[navigatro]

And where does it stop? Do you fuel your own airplane? Do you generate the releases? Do you provide your own ATC clearances and separation? Do you help do the payroll? Do you take and make reservations? Maybe you can really be cool and dump the lavs!

Maybe your are practicing that 3 year old kid behavior of "Hey Mom and everone else, LOOK AT ME!"

Carry on Dude! J.O. needs a whole army of guys like you! Meanwhile, the ramper is laughing his arse off when he sees that you will do his job--you have been well trained but misguided! Maybe you should stay away from the expresso at Starbucks!

Are you serious? Do you have ANY common sense? Or are you just stuck up and lazy? You must be a lot of fun to fly with.

 

[regionalcap]

Tell that to the NetJets/CItationShares and Avantair Crews who get paid a alot more than you do about throwing bags.

Isn't loading bags part of their job description though? Therefore, they would be covered if they had an injury. Guys are just saying that it is a gamble if you are not covered.

 

[Raoul Duke]

whether you are trained or not has absolutely nothing to do with whether you are covered is something goes wrong or you get hurt. That is a lame excuse and is not correct at all. Helping out once in a while is definately part of any job.

 

[PCL_128]

whether you are trained or not has absolutely nothing to do with whether you are covered is something goes wrong or you get hurt. That is a lame excuse and is not correct at all. Helping out once in a while is definately part of any job.

As a former union rep that dealt with this crap all the time, I can assure you that you are most certainly not covered when you are doing things outside of your job description. If you get injured while throwing bags, then workman's comp doesn't cover your injury. If you injure a wheelchair passenger while pushing them up the jetbridge, then that passenger can hold you personally liable, because you were not trained in the operation of the wheelchair and you were not authorized to handle that job in your job description.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

Sorry man, if the company holds out on me (in a myriad of ways), I'll hold out on them (i.e. going out of my way.)

Slinging bags as a 121 pilot? Get real dude. That's a job which is already spoken for. Maybe in 91 or 135 (depending on the outfit) where you cater to a client and not the common cattle trash.

 

[navigatro]

As a former union rep that dealt with this crap all the time, I can assure you that you are most certainly not covered when you are doing things outside of your job description. If you get injured while throwing bags, then workman's comp doesn't cover your injury. If you injure a wheelchair passenger while pushing them up the jetbridge, then that passenger can hold you personally liable, because you were not trained in the operation of the wheelchair and you were not authorized to handle that job in your job description.

My brother is a worker's comp manager for a major manufacturer. He says that you are absolutely wrong.

 

[PCL_128]

My brother is a worker's comp manager for a major manufacturer. He says that you are absolutely wrong.

I doubt you even have a brother that works in this area, but I'll humor you. Your brother's employer may not challenge these cases, but many other employers do. The law is clear: if you engage in activities at work that aren't part of your job, then you are not entitled to worker's comp payments. Your employer may be benevolent enough to let you get by with it, but if they decide to challenge your claim, then they'll win. Since most airlines aren't exactly benevolent, then good luck on them not challenging you.

 

[EmeliaE]

I non-reved on Freedom Flt 6211 (JFK-CVG) a few days ago and during boarding BOTH the CPT & FO left the flight deck and started loading bags.

Is this now a required flight crew duty over at Freedom?

I am sure it ruined your day as you 'did not' get the response you were looking for, did ya?

If Air Blue pilots can clean the cabin, what's wrong with Freedom pilots helping with bags.