NICE Job Continental Airlines

[grillinmike]

Another Empty Kitchen!

The chick should have taken control of the situation. Grow a pair of balls and be creative. I think any experienced pilot would have just gone back to the basics and taxi to the FBO. They have better crew lounges anyway. Plus free popcorn. That's right! For all of us cheap pilots out there...free popcorn and probably a movie or two also. Hopefully they fire the chick and open up a spot for a more deserving guy. That's why upgrading based solely on seniority is horse sh!t

 

[SFR]

You guys worry to much about useless junk.

 

[SFR]

too much I meant

 

[zonker]

It's over..it was over a long time ago.

declare an emergency when you reach the final anger point.

 

[whymeworry?]

Passengers don't know this and they don't care. As far as they are concerned it is CAL.

Larry and crew wrecked that airline. I only see negative CAL stories on the news anymore. What a shame.

Fortunately for us that doesn't really matter anymore. Afterall, passengers these days have no loyalty whatsoever. A couple of years back, I might have been concerned for all these negative stories. These days it just doesn't matter. We're now in a commodity business.

If pax can save $7 they'll spend 4 hrs on the internet looking for the cheapest ticket.

 

[zonker]

Well that's great that it worked out for you, and I realize Expressjet charter uses FBOs and that many times things go normal. So why didn't they do that this time? I'm inclined to side with the crew's decisions. Must have been some lack of willingness on the part of the FBO.

Most importantly guys, oversight has firmly laid blame with someone other than the airline and the crew!! That's a good thing for all of us.

Flopgut I agree with you 100 percent on the age issue but on this one you've lost it.

You have to set your own personal standards and be a leader at some point. Allowing yourself, others, young children, etc. to sit in that environment is not acceptable. Period!

We have a great privilege as captains to make things right when they've gone wrong. We need to use that authority and make people understand why we deserve to be paid and paid handsomely!

 

[astroglider]

Flopgut said, "Can you do it safely? No. Not safe enough. And if you do, where do they go then? You let them out of the plane in that scenario and you'll have them scattered all over the ramp. I've seen a lot of injuries. Lot's of unsafe scenarios. One broken bone in this goatrope and the whole thing would have been the airline/captain's fault in a completely new way."

Flopgut you are ridiculous...Just as many things could go wrong if you keep pax prisoner in a jet all night long without food or water. Heart attacks have been caused by a lot less...

Frankly, you sound like you are afraid of your own shadow.

Bottom line, once they got to Rochester it was the Captain's fault they spent the night in the airplane. Regardless of what the station manager did those folks should have been off the aircraft. Why they were in Rochester to begin with is a whole other argument.

 

[Flopgut]

Zonker: I know I'm going out on a bit of a limb supporting this as I am. Bottom line is nobody got hurt and the plane didn't get bent. And the big plus for me is that the blame has been shifted from the flight crew/airline.

As far as being a captain, yes this one could have done better. However, I think your garden variety US airline customer could back off a little bit and deal with a bit of discomfort in these instances. If they want flexibility in their schedules and perks like using FBOs, they can pay for them! Get their f-ing wallets out and charter the airplane. We don't have to show them why we used to get paid well, why we still should be, and want to be paid in the future well. We've done too much of that. US customers have been completely spoiled and grown to expect something lavish, immediate, and cheap. F-em! This was/is a perfect example of a time to reset customer expectations. The airplane diverted and the customers had to sit on the plane for several hours and it was NOT the airline or the crew's fault. They have to blame somebody else. I'm sure every one of these customers is stunned to find out they can't blame the airline. It's a good thing.

One of my favorite analogies: If you're an actor, when you get a shot at a movie role you take it because that's where the money is. But if you're a real thespian, you always want to get back on a stage. That's where you get an immediate audience reaction. If you do well, you know it. I say that to say this: I spent a lot of years in charter where I saw a lot of opportunities to turn a bad customer issue into a good one. I grew to thrive on it. The airline paid more money so I left, and it was difficult to throttle back those instincts. I'm not confused about customer service, and I know there are many things this crew could of done. But I'm tired of these mouthbreathing, dirtballs we fly around that expect a rabbitt pulled out of a hat everytime something comes up.

Nobody got hurt. Somebody else got blamed. Let's run with that.

 

[Flopgut]

Frankly, you sound like you are afraid of your own shadow.

I'm just tired. The current relationship this industry/profession has with the US consumer sucks.

 

[glasspilot]

I think I actually see where you're comming from Flop, but it then becomes a chicken and egg situation. The pax treat pilots like bus drivers so the pilots act like bus drivers so the pax treat them like bus drivers so the pax...

If I was a pax on that express flight I would think the airline is worse than GreyHound and the pilots inept. I don't know how to reverse the trend. But I imagine that stopping pulling rabbits out of hats will have less of a chance impressing them than continueing to.

As to this event, do you think the Captain considered all this when she decided to let 'em sit? Or is her being in that position a result of pax spending hours to save $7 and running the profession into the ditch?

Like I said, I don't know what the fix is but I understand being fustrated with the situation.