VPS Mesaba station disaster

[Tarzan]

On a side note: Do you think that their refusal to train their replacements only made the transition worse?

Absolutely.

Incoming Station: "Well you can keep your job but we're going pay you about five less an hour and you lose all your seniority."

Outgoing: "Keep your job. Here is how we show our appreciation."

No loyalty what so ever was shown to these folks. Work hard and do your job and here is a thumb in your eye. Why in the hell should they show any in return and help Delta do this?

If I were in their position, I'd have done the same thing. Just to clarify, I am a free market guy and I understand that a company primary function is make money for their investors. But once you hose your employees or contractors after they've done nothing but great work, you had better expect some of that free market stuff to come back your way.

 

[flap operator]

Last time I checked... $8.17/hr is not minimum wage. If you're going to argue the point that Mesaba stations are some how inept because they're paid minimum wage... get your facts straight. I'm not saying $8.17 is much better... but come on. Argue based on facts... oh... also, everyone gets travel benefits too.

Poor pay, poor training and high turn over rates are an epidemic everywhere at the regional ramp level. The same BS is happening at good NWA Airlink stations, so get off the woe is me ASA, Mesaba is coming in to ruin the world mentality. It's old, tiresome and unnecessary. As previously mentioned, the best we can do as crew is to document the infractions and send them in.

It would be interesting to note if the DCI stations taking over for Airlink will offer them more than a thumb in the eye. Doubtful. This is isn't anything new and targeted towards ASA. The same BS happened in the past when XJ stations became 9E and vice versa. Everyone started over at 0.

 

[Tarzan]

Seems like some southern maintenance bases are taking care of that on their own.

Apples to oranges. Argument.... Fail.

 

[sopdan]

I'll certainly be writing up everything I see at these stations where my company once ran the show.

But you won't write up everything you see at the stations still operated by your company? Or maybe your company never has problems and everything runs smoothly and perfectly 100% of the time...

Is this about customer service, or is this about spite?

I, for the record, report problems regardless of which company is running the show.

 

[Tarzan]

Is this about customer service, or is this about spite?

I, for the record, report problems regardless of which company is running the show.

Ummmm.... yes.

Wow! You're my hero. Will you sign my logbook?

 

[crj567]

But you won't write up everything you see at the stations still operated by your company? Or maybe your company never has problems and everything runs smoothly and perfectly 100% of the time...

Is this about customer service, or is this about spite?

I, for the record, report problems regardless of which company is running the show.

Shut the hell up and get back in your motorglider!

-Cut, Print, Gay!

 

[belchfire]

Unfortunately these kinds of things are going to happen from time to time as we integrate 2 airlines into the World's Premier Global Airline.

Maybe integrating into the World's Second most Dysfunctional Airline right behind those lovely folks at AMR!

You've got some catching up to do though...

 

[whatitdoing?]

VPS has really gone downhill. Completely mismanaged and it's not a learning curve. I thought I saw the short bus drop them off in the morning.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

Oh how I do not miss those days.

Best of luck guys. Sooner or later they will learn that having everyone employed by Momma Delta will save them a ton of cash.

 

[WMUSIGPI]

Oh how I do not miss those days.

Best of luck guys. Sooner or later they will learn that having everyone employed by Momma Delta will save them a ton of cash.

AHHH HHHAAAAA HAAAAA HAA AHHH AHHHH AHHA ....
Uh oh I think I just creamed my pants......

 

[sweptback]

Oh how I do not miss those days.

Best of luck guys. Sooner or later they will learn that having everyone employed by Momma Delta will save them a ton of cash.

How's that working out on the Atlanta ramp?

 

[JoeMerchant]

Oh how I do not miss those days.

Best of luck guys. Sooner or later they will learn that having everyone employed by Momma Delta will save them a ton of cash.

YOUR Delta rampers are doing a lot of damage to aircraft on the ATL ramp....I would take the ASA VPS employees over most of the ATL Delta employees any day.....

 

[Regional4life]

Tarzan,

Good for you for writing everything up. But do you really think it's going to make a difference? It won't go down as a station delay. It will go down as a maintenance delay or a crew delay. It won't make a s&*t a bit of difference to the station as it's not on them. They won't break airplanes at the station. And even if they "scratch" an airplane, the majority of the crews are professional enough to work to get the airplane out on time, and then bi*$h about it enroute.

So, you are saying that there are crappy gate agents. Hmmm, there's a surprise. That's been happening for years. I"ve been denied getting on a few flights over the years cause the agent didn't know how to input the information. Granted, they were all Mesa flights. (Again, MESA SUCKS). Regionals are bottom dollar. If you haven't gotten that by now, you never will. Mesaba Upper Management is more interested in expanding ground operations than they are with their pilot group. That means low dollar ground services. Does that mean that they screw up every station? No more so than the 9E guys, the COEX guys, the Comair guys. Whatever. I've had just as worse service with a NW agent that's been there for 20+ years as I have with a brand new 9E guy in MEM or a brand new XJ gal in MSP or DTW.

 

[Tarzan]

Tarzan,

Good for you for writing everything up. But do you really think it's going to make a difference? It won't go down as a station delay. It will go down as a maintenance delay or a crew delay. It won't make a s&*t a bit of difference to the station as it's not on them. They won't break airplanes at the station. And even if they "scratch" an airplane, the majority of the crews are professional enough to work to get the airplane out on time, and then bi*$h about it enroute.

So, you are saying that there are crappy gate agents. Hmmm, there's a surprise. That's been happening for years. I"ve been denied getting on a few flights over the years cause the agent didn't know how to input the information. Granted, they were all Mesa flights. (Again, MESA SUCKS). Regionals are bottom dollar. If you haven't gotten that by now, you never will. Mesaba Upper Management is more interested in expanding ground operations than they are with their pilot group. That means low dollar ground services. Does that mean that they screw up every station? No more so than the 9E guys, the COEX guys, the Comair guys. Whatever. I've had just as worse service with a NW agent that's been there for 20+ years as I have with a brand new 9E guy in MEM or a brand new XJ gal in MSP or DTW.

I've been drawing breathe for a couple of days now. I've held more types of jobs and positions than many folks at the regional or even major level. I've had quite a few more than 3 or four people under my watch as well. I was responsiblr for everything my guys did and didn't matter if they were on duty or off. I'm not wet behind the ears and understand this bottom dollar stuff. However, I disagree with getting quality out of people. I begins at the top with leadership. Without it, you'll never attain good results. Many companies have grasped that concept. Delta at many levels doesn't get it either. In the interest of instant profits, they turned to this debacle. I understand this mindset when it comes to getting investors but I believe it is misguided at best.

These providers are no better. If they were truly concerned about this, there would have been a couple of trained ground personnel at VPS to oversee and get the new folks feet on the ground. Instead, there was no one to really guide them. My captain and I actually took it upon ourselves to do this. They still managed to screw it up and diconnected the steering when they are not supposed to do this on 700's. We found out when we attempted to taxi away. To their credit, after I got the attention of the ground guys, they did move quickly to fix their mistake. We were still the first to get a first flight out on time after all this so don't lecture me about professionlism. My company's profits come before cheap shots at another ground handler.

 

[whatitdoing?]

Oh how I do not miss those days.

Best of luck guys. Sooner or later they will learn that having everyone employed by Momma Delta will save them a ton of cash.

Jesus, man.....not you again. I'm guessing you're joking....so I'll leave it at that. Delta isn't happy unless they frick it all up first.

 

[JoeMerchant]

Oh how I do not miss those days.

Best of luck guys. Sooner or later they will learn that having everyone employed by Momma Delta will save them a ton of cash.

You're "Delta" rampers on Concourse D today were worse than when ASA ran the ramp.....They were terrible...

 

[79%N1]

You're "Delta" rampers on Concourse D today were worse than when ASA ran the ramp.....They were terrible...

Today???

I'd say every single day! D rampers are the most useless, slow, lazy and incompetent of the whole bunch, especially on ramp 5.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

Jesus, man.....not you again. I'm guessing you're joking....so I'll leave it at that. Delta isn't happy unless they frick it all up first.

Yes, it was a joke. And I am very familiar with all of the ramp issues over on C and D.

 

[whatitdoing?]

Jeez, I was wondering.

 

[Regional4life]

I've been drawing breathe for a couple of days now. I've held more types of jobs and positions than many folks at the regional or even major level. I've had quite a few more than 3 or four people under my watch as well. I was responsiblr for everything my guys did and didn't matter if they were on duty or off. I'm not wet behind the ears and understand this bottom dollar stuff. However, I disagree with getting quality out of people. I begins at the top with leadership. Without it, you'll never attain good results. Many companies have grasped that concept. Delta at many levels doesn't get it either. In the interest of instant profits, they turned to this debacle. I understand this mindset when it comes to getting investors but I believe it is misguided at best.

These providers are no better. If they were truly concerned about this, there would have been a couple of trained ground personnel at VPS to oversee and get the new folks feet on the ground. Instead, there was no one to really guide them. My captain and I actually took it upon ourselves to do this. They still managed to screw it up and diconnected the steering when they are not supposed to do this on 700's. We found out when we attempted to taxi away. To their credit, after I got the attention of the ground guys, they did move quickly to fix their mistake. We were still the first to get a first flight out on time after all this so don't lecture me about professionlism. My company's profits come before cheap shots at another ground handler.

Thanks for your resume. If you understand bottom dollar "stuff" then you surely understand that Regional Airline Senior management's priority is not quality. It is strictly performance based because quality is not quantifiable. Just as safety and training is not quantifiable to an accountant. Training and safety are the first things that go and suffer under economic crisis for the regional level. Training gets cut (even at the rampie/CSA level), safety sees cuts, etc. I'm not saying I agree with it, but that's the reality of the situation. Senior managers look for ways around the ASAP programs to jeopardize pilot jobs. You said it yourself, they weren't concerned about it because they don't care. Again, bottom dollar, not quality. It's the Regional Senior management way. So you had to help a rampie or gate agent out? Big deal. No surprise there. Happens all the time. Again, back to my statement, pilots are generally more professional and get the job done.

So chill out Francis, I wasn't lecturing you on your professionalism. The statement was that regardless of what is going on, most pilots are professional enough to get the flight out on time and then complain about it enroute. I have only seen a handful of guys that have delibrately delayed a flight.