Originally Posted by
Sunvox
3 stories that highlight for me the unbelievable gap in pilot and company mentality between L-UAL and L-CAL
Story 1)
L-CAL gate agent comes into the cockpit in EWR on a 767 bound for Europe and says
CSR: "Captain, just so you know, we upgraded an angry premium customer to first class and used the crew rest seat."
UAL Captain: "Well, just so you know this plane isn't moving, until we have our rest seat open."
CSR: "You're serious?"
UAL Captain: "Yes."
CSR then went crying to his boss, but ultimately the passenger was moved, and 3 days later when they returned EWR Chief Pilot said to the Captain (and this is paraphrased):
Chief P: "At Continental we take care of our customers and that's not the way we do things."
L-UAL-Captain: "At United we follow the rules."
Story 2:
This one I was personally involved in. I overheard a L-CAL captain talking on the phone in ops in IAD. The issue was whether or not they needed a 3rd pilot to go IAD to Manchester, England since they had a 3rd pilot for the return leg. Now I may have my facts wrong here and if so I hope some CAL pilots will correct me, but it is my understanding that Section 5-I-6 should now be fully implemented. The L-CAL captain was told by the crew desk that the id had been constructed in February before the rules were in effect so it was legal. The CAL crew flew with only 2 pilots in direct violation of 5-I-6 because the crew desk said it was ok. At a minimum most UAL pilots would have gotten an order to fly, and more likely the majority of L-UAL pilots would have refused the trip until a 3rd pilot was added.
Story 3
The EWR Chief pilot has sent out an email that says in effect "I don't want my pilots to get in the middle of a contract dispute, and this is a blanket order to fly even if you believe the 757 rest seat should have an open seat next to it.
The contract says:
and, the EWR Chief pilot says this means the the adjacent seat shall be the last assigned seat in business-first only.
I agree there are details that need clarification regarding coach passengers not showing up, but if there are 30 unassigned seats in coach and business-first fills up that clearly does not give the company a right to fill the seat next to the rest seat, and I hope to heck CAL pilots are not flying with this situation.
Anyways, I just find the difference in culture to be surprising.
The cultural differences can be summed up in 2 words: Fred Abbot
Fred has ruled with an iron fist and pilots are used to capitulating and accommodating. We have fallen on our swords only to be cast aside by our union, who refuses to stand up for its pilots. We have had only two successes that come to mind:
1. Water gate: pilots were given "cups of water" only by flight attendants. FA's told to give pilots cups of water and no bottled water. Union started a plan to have hydration stations throughout hubs to issue bottled water to pilots. Company gave in and let us have bottled water.
2. Captain's add fuel: Gary Small and his minions led an effort to manipulate pilots and informally pressuring pilots into accepting dispatchers fuel load without considering pilot experience and other factors that at times dictated a higher fuel upload. Vice Chairman Dowell, at CAL MEC, backed by the MEC went on TV to expose the issue and our safety concerns. This done behind MEC Chairman's back because MEC Chair was non-confrontational.
CAL pilots used to being treated like crap, and they have Stockholm syndrome of sorts. Combine that with selfish scabs and the mentality is sort of ingrained. The "mentoring" that takes place to young pilots is off kilter and needs to be addressed when our MEC's combine.
We can fix this, but we need to hold our heads up high and raise the bar.