What is really wrong with aviation.....

[getonit]

Is that customer service sucks. It is that simple. I can't tell you how many phone calls I have made that have gone unanswered and unreturned. I am trying to spend money and people don't want to be spending time with you. I have had this problem with aircraft painting companies, FBO's, repair shops, part supply houses, local airport operators, etc. I will admit that I only have a C-152, but I also fly charter in a citation and the problems are still there only they cost a lot more. I don't even need to apply any of this to airlines, which I think everybody knows. Just venting, because no one wants to call me back with tie down availablity or cost and I want to spend money. The examples are so numerous, I just am frustrated because now I am wasting my time.

 

[urflyingme?!]

I feel ya man...

Just try working in aviation (cold chill travels down spine).

 

[sky37d]

Or the idiots that ask me what the second engine is for. Duh, it's for backing into the hangar, that's why it's in back.

Or the ATC person who asked me to descend, then asked me how fast I was going (Uh, 180, ma'am), then asked me if I could slow to 100. Sure, cut the power, stall it out, we'll do 100.

Or, at a recent fly in, the guy who wants me to start my front engine so I can get out of his way, (the idiot couldn't see the rear engine running) even though I'm on grass, with the wheels sunk in the friggin mud because he doesn't know how to taxi his 172 anywhere except straight down the taxi way.

Or the folks who want to charge you $5.15 a gallon cause they have such a swell facility (NOT!!)

Or the mechanic who quotes you 2.5 hours, and bills you for 6.

Or the place that want's to fill your tank, (in leu of their not posted ramp fee) even though you just stopped to take a leak.

Oh, never mind. It's been a bad couple of days.



Or,

 

[FN FAL]

Is that customer service sucks. It is that simple. I can't tell you how many phone calls I have made that have gone unanswered and unreturned. I am trying to spend money and people don't want to be spending time with you. I have had this problem with aircraft painting companies, FBO's, repair shops, part supply houses, local airport operators, etc. I will admit that I only have a C-152, but I also fly charter in a citation and the problems are still there only they cost a lot more. I don't even need to apply any of this to airlines, which I think everybody knows. Just venting, because no one wants to call me back with tie down availability or cost and I want to spend money. The examples are so numerous, I just am frustrated because now I am wasting my time.

You have to consider how many noobs that these people have to deal with all the time.

Another consideration is whether or not there is one facility on the field and how backlogged they are. If they were in competition with each other, you might get better treatment.

I remember once when I positioned my partnership owned twin Cessna back to the field we operated from, I spent 30 minutes on the phone with the FBO manager telling him not to do any maintenance on the aircraft at all. The plane was repositioned for the purpose of letting the other partner show the plane to a prospective buyer.

A month later, the bank we got our loan through, was paying me to repossess it for them. The plane had been whisked away to another airport and hidden away. It also had gone through a 9,000 annual including brand new props, the before mentioned FBO did the work and I had the pleasure of telling them to stick it up their bungholio. Too bad, I hope the employees of that FBO didn't suffer, but I told their management adamantly not to do any work to that plane.

Funny thing, the "potential" buyer had installed a new fangled ELT in the airplane. When I was there to seize the property I saw that his credit card receipt was still in the corrugated box for the ELT unit, which had been placed in the aft cargo space. Pilots and plane partners can sometimes be a bunch of crooks.

 

[NW_Pilot]

FN FAL, I understand I deal with it day in and day out!!!

I really like it when I have to Wait an hour for a quart of oil and/or a funnel?

Or

You arive and know the line guys will be parking your ugly airplane in tiedows far away from the jets so you call in 2 hours before your arival to have the airplne ready full fuel/oil windshield cleaned (what you get in the $5.50 gallon fuel price and $10.00 tiedown/line fee) when you arrive it's still on the other side of the airport and they don't even offer ya a ride? You get to the airplane and guess what? bugs on windshield and they did not fill 2 tanks Oil is still 1 quart lower than requested.

I have lots of FBO horror stories.... I prefer to share the fun stories!

 

[FN FAL]

FN FAL, I understand I deal with it day in and day out!!!

I really like it when I have to Wait an hour for a quart of oil and/or a funnel?

Or

You arive and know the line guys will be parking your ugly airplane in tiedows far away from the jets so you call in 2 hours before your arival to have the airplne ready full fuel/oil windshield cleaned (what you get in the $5.50 gallon fuel price and $10.00 tiedown/line fee) when you arrive it's still on the other side of the airport and they don't even offer ya a ride? You get to the airplane and guess what? bugs on windshield and they did not fill 2 tanks Oil is still 1 quart lower than requested.

I have lots of FBO horror stories.... I prefer to share the fun stories!

It depends on whether or not it is a county government operation or a privately operated one. I get really good service at the private places, but getting a county airport employee to move their butt is a task.

 

[NuGuy]

Is that customer service sucks. It is that simple. I can't tell you how many phone calls I have made that have gone unanswered and unreturned. I am trying to spend money and people don't want to be spending time with you. I have had this problem with aircraft painting companies, FBO's, repair shops, part supply houses, local airport operators, etc. I will admit that I only have a C-152, but I also fly charter in a citation and the problems are still there only they cost a lot more. I don't even need to apply any of this to airlines, which I think everybody knows. Just venting, because no one wants to call me back with tie down availablity or cost and I want to spend money. The examples are so numerous, I just am frustrated because now I am wasting my time.

Heyas Get,

I know what you are talking about.

I think the principal reason that service sucks bad on average is the number of people involved that start aviation businesses because "its cool" (sort of like SJS).

These people often have no business plan other than what was scribbled on the back of an envelope, and are so far short of adequate capital it's comical. These places are usually run by someone with more ego than business acumen.

You see the results of this everywhere...mostly with crappy customer service because they won't pay for decent help. Also in evidence is the office furniture that was jacked from the Goodwill bin in the middle of the night. Almost every aviation enterprise I've ever seen (with the exception of a few FBOs) has looked like crap-o-la with broken furniture, an ill-concieved office layout and nothing but white walls.

Of course, costs can be high. Anyone who deals with airport government on any level knows that they are out to jack everyone connected to the airport. The FBOs with a monopoly can get away with crap service, because where else are you going to go?

I've worked in the restaruant business quite a bit. New restaurants have a %90 mortality rate at 12 months, and %95 at 24 months for almost the same reasons as above.

Nu

 

[Way2Broke]

What is wrong with aviation?

The good jobs just don't last, and the bad jobs just will not seem to go away.

 

[Publishers]

Many many years ago, a friend and I took a $10 ride and decided to fly. We agreed that we did not want to rent aircraft that we did not know and so decided to buy one. It took six stops to find someone who thought that maybe these twenty somethings might be able to afford and buy a plane.