PAX complain @ crew line-jumping

[densoo]

If this spreads, the airlines will be shamed into getting CrewPass. They don't want to spring for a separate entrance for flight crew, and instead want the crews to trample over first class passengers, disabled passengers, elderly passengers, moms with babes in arms.

It is shameful and has got to be very frustrating to be told to get to the airport three hours early, wait in a line to check bags, then wait in another line for security, only to watch a 19-member international crew get off a bus and jump to the front of the line while you may miss your flight.

If 60 Minutes did a story on this there'd be a CrewPass line next week.

Three flights out of Newark were delayed this morning after officials said a disgruntled passenger incorrectly complained that an airport employee had been allowed through a security checkpoint and had triggered an alarm.

The passenger had been standing in the EliteAccess lane, waiting to be screened, when an airport employee went to the head of the line and was allowed to pass through a metal detector.

After the passenger himself had been screened, he complained to the supervisor that an airport employee had gone ahead of him in line.

“He took offense that airport employees were bypassing Elite passengers in the Elite line."

Told that was in accordance with airport policy, the passenger further complained — inaccurately — as it turned out, that the employee had set off an alarm.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/newark_flights_delayed_after_p.html

 

[Ex737Driver]

How about a nice cup of STFU! Give it a break. When was the last time in EWR that you actually saw the employee line being used by employees only?

 

[Booker]

Don't get me started. Where I am based, we had our line-jumping privileges yanked earlier this year, and there are no employee lines beyond the ID checkers. Presently, my "CrewPASS NOW!" sticker is nothing more than ironic.

 

[waveflyer]

Is that charlotte?

 

[XGmaninGA]

I wonder how they'll feel when their flight departs an hour late because the crew couldn't get to the airplane in time.

 

[BoilerUP]

I love the diplomacy of that article.

disgruntled passenger incorrectly complained

the passenger further complained — inaccurately — as it turned out,

Why don't they just say the passenger LIED?

Any punishment for the LYING passenger?

 

[Headfake14]

I've done CREWPASS only two times...in BWI. It's so quick and soooo nice not to have to jump in line.

It appears that it really wouldn't take much effort/resources to impliment. BWI has one or two guys manning a laptop at the OUT hallway from the terminal. Takes maybe 30 seconds.


CREWPASS rocks!!

 

[ERfly]

Don't get me started. Where I am based, we had our line-jumping privileges yanked earlier this year, and there are no employee lines beyond the ID checkers. Presently, my "CrewPASS NOW!" sticker is nothing more than ironic.

I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same airport, but down in IAH a major carrier (who has their home base there) has even placed a flight attendant that is currently on OJI at the checkpoint to ensure that their Express partner does not cut ahead of the mighty Blue Carpet Walkers.

 

[LandGreen]

Any contracts currently being negotiated?

For those pilot groups that are painfully negotiating labor agreements:

Does it say anywhere in your books that you HAVE to jump the security line? Are most pilots doing this to accommodate an "on time" departure for....THE COMPANY?

I would think the airlines/TSA would find a solution to this in 1 second if pilots would actually take a position at the end of each security line at every airport in the US for a day...watch all the delays light up CNN!

 

[beagle pilot]

I wonder how they'll feel when their flight departs an hour late because the crew couldn't get to the airplane in time.

Exactly. It doesn't hurt to be smile, be polite and say "Excuse me" and "Thank you" when shoving a Platinum card holder out of the way so I can put my belongings on the x-ray machine and stroll through the metal detector.

It does help to be ready for it. My shoes are non-metallic and I've always de-metalized myself before heading for checkpoint. It causes me to wonder when I see a crew member as screwed up as a passenger when going through security. Pulling out a computer is one thing, but spending 2-3 minutes pulling metal stuff out of their pockets shows a distinct lack of situational awareness and moxie.

 

[mamba20]

Thats fine with me. I don't need a crew line. I'm more then happy to show up at the appointed time and wait in line. Our policy is to show at the airport 1 hour a head of departure time. Well, if I'm standing in line then I'm at the airport. I'll happily stand there listening to my ipod waiting my turn to go through security. If the plane is late because of that, well not my problem is it? Give me a crew line or crew pass.

 

[jetflier]

We should begin getting on the end of all the security lines , so as not to inconvience our passengers who pay all of our salaries.

Crew pass would shortly follow.

However, until a united front appears, we will always wish for "Crew Pass".

 

[densoo]

No one's going to go to the back of the line. It just won't happen. Sure, it would highlight the problem in a day, but it won't happen.

As long as the planes move on time and the passengers don't notice, it won't change.

Bad publicity is just about the only hope for this to change--a major story that highlights the so-called insensitivity of the airlines to passengers.

Once the first class passengers get pissed at this and they show a harried mom trying to corral her kids when crew members jump the line, then the airlines will see it in their best interest to get CrewPass and even tout it as an edge over their competitor.

Anyone who's been into LAS knows it's possible, but ALPA will never get it done nationwide. There's just too much inertia against it. They can't push a wet noodle.

 

[flygirlqt]

Another perfect example of what a joke ALPA is. How long have they been touting crew pass? Throw a crumb out here and there and the membership won't notice what a lame duck organization they are or exactly how much money they are raking in. This crap could be stopped instantly.

 

[Flash]

Am I missing something here? The article says an "airport employee" which could be a McD's cook. Does it say a crew member?

 

[Booker]

Is that charlotte?

Nope. Like ERfly wrote, I was referencing IAH.

 

[ultrarunner]

Am I missing something here? The article says an "airport employee" which could be a McD's cook. Does it say a crew member?

Nope, you're not missing anything....

I'm all for it. I'll be dammed if I want to wait for my coffee while the person that's gonna pour it is held up at security!

 

[densoo]

Am I missing something here? The article says an "airport employee" which could be a McD's cook. Does it say a crew member?

It was just an employee. But crewmember or not, I think the passengers still see it the same way.

 

[CRJ's suck]

The pax are probably just mad they have to stand in line more than anything. I remember taking a road trip to syracuse, NY. Found the problem quick enough but didn't have the right part. MX control told me the part would be there in three hours, so the crew and I went to that little deli place outside security. Low and behold they were wrong and found it it was coming in much earlier. Crew and I cut in line to go meet the plane with the part. Some loudmouth pax started spouting off how, "they should wait in line like the rest of us", and "who do they think they are". Turns out she was on that delayed flight so I chalked it up to the stress of being delayed.

It would have been funny though if we waited in line behind her and she was more delayed, although I like seeing people get to their destination with a minimal delay, when possible of course. If we had waited in line and delayed her further, she surely would have griped about that too.

 

[crazee8]

It kills me that we are going through security screening like common criminals - after having years of background checks - while most other airport employees go through the back door in baggage claim. We all have the same access to the airplane yet we have to be patted down when WE ARE THE ONES THAT WILL PAY with our lives if one of those airport/airline employees goes rogue.

Yes I've heard the argument repeatedly that they have airport IDs. So they went to a how-to-drive-on-the-airport and a make-sure-no-one-tailgates-you class and suddenly they can bypass security.

Infuriating.

 

[Tripower455]

Another perfect example of what a joke ALPA is. How long have they been touting crew pass? Throw a crumb out here and there and the membership won't notice what a lame duck organization they are or exactly how much money they are raking in. This crap could be stopped instantly.

They've been "fighting" flight crews being screened as pax since 1988, when they first started requiring it.

Ironically, it is due to a ground ops type committing mass murder (PSA 1771) that pilots are searched for weapons, yet ground ops types are not always required.

Pilots submit to pax screening for one reason only. Eyewash. It makes the squeamish and generally ignorant public feel better if they see an easily identifiable "authority" figure being subject to the same screening as they get.

Look at it logically:

Why screen the only employees that don't NEED a weapon to take over the airplane (for weapons that could be used to take over an airplane), right before they TAKE OVER AN AIRPLANE?

It makes ever LESS sense when every ramper, fueler, provisioner, gate agent etc. waltz in the back door unchecked at the same time.

Either pilots are "trusted employees" or they aren't.

If they are, then they shouldn't be inconveniencing pax and diverting tsA resources from screening them.

If pilots aren't "trusted employees", then they shouldn't be flying the airplane, since regardless of how well screened they are, they still have complete control over a potential WMD.

 

[densoo]

Corporations change only if the bottom line is affected. Crew inconvenience will never affect the bottom line. Bad publicity will. The more the passengers get angry at crews jumping the line, the closer CrewPass gets.

The TSA isn't the villain here. They provide a rational and secure way for crews to bypass bagcheck. The airlines don't want to pay for it--right now.

One can only hope Schumer decides to make an issue of passengers' rights in these lines, and there might be some change.

 

[Tripower455]

Corporations change only if the bottom line is affected. Crew inconvenience will never affect the bottom line. Bad publicity will. The more the passengers get angry at crews jumping the line, the closer CrewPass gets.

The TSA isn't the villain here. They provide a rational and secure way for crews to bypass bagcheck. The airlines don't want to pay for it--right now.

One can only hope Schumer decides to make an issue of passengers' rights in these lines, and there might be some change.

Think about how many crews are unnecessarily screened as pax by the tsA. That has GOT to add up to millions per year in salary and benefits for people that otherwise wouldn't be needed.

It could pay for biometric ID and separate entrances for crewmembers a thousand times over, but then again, the object of the tsA isn't to save money, it's to make itself bigger.

Oh, and don't count on Chuckie to make our lives better. He'll come up with something far worse for us. Making us stand in line instead of cutting comes to mind, which would then lead to shorter overnights etc.

We should have had an SOS back when this nonsense started in '88. Unfortunately, the horse is out of the barn, and we're gonna have to live with this crap for a looooooong time.

 

[densoo]

Think about how many crews are unnecessarily screened as pax by the tsA. That has GOT to add up to millions per year in salary and benefits for people that otherwise wouldn't be needed.

It could pay for biometric ID and separate entrances for crewmembers a thousand times over, but then again, the object of the tsA isn't to save money, it's to make itself bigger.

Oh, and don't count on Chuckie to make our lives better. He'll come up with something far worse for us. Making us stand in line instead of cutting comes to mind, which would then lead to shorter overnights etc.

We should have had an SOS back when this nonsense started in '88. Unfortunately, the horse is out of the barn, and we're gonna have to live with this crap for a looooooong time.

Agreed.

But I have an unshakable faith that bad publicity can change anything.

 

[Tripower455]

Agreed.

But I have an unshakable faith that bad publicity can change anything.

Maybe, but be careful what you wish for. Pilots are always the enemy in the publicity battle.

 

[maru657]

Prior to the 80's, flight crew did not go through security and it worked just fine.

 

[NuGuy]

Heyas,

To be perfectly fair, I've been in line, in uniform, just pushing my stuff onto the xray belt when some fast food worker barged in line in front of me. And they weren't nice about it. I've also had a FA type push my stuff BACK from the xray without so much as an "excuse me, I'm running late", to which I would have been happy to accommodate them.

Sometimes we do it to ourselves.

Nu

 

[tomgoodman]

The real reason

Pilots submit to pax screening for one reason only. Eyewash. It makes the squeamish and generally ignorant public feel better if they see an easily identifiable "authority" figure being subject to the same screening as they get.

An FAA official privately admitted this years ago. He said they knew that properly-identified crewmembers were not a threat, but that making them go through screening had a beneficial impact on "public compliance" with the program.

 

[BLUE BAYOU]

And this will all stop that FFDO from going postal too... Flight crew screening is a waste of taxpayer money. Doesn't the traveling public already entrust the flight crew with their lives?

 

[ultrarunner]

Flight crew screening is a waste of taxpayer money....

Sure is. We're wearing a frigging SIDA badge for christ-sake.

Of course at some airports the crew bus will take you directly to ops, bypassing the mess, right? Or has that stopped now too?

Wish it was all standardized.