Originally Posted by
baseball
I understand. But, here's the deal. We're sort of stuck in a rut right now. We have a severe lack of leadership at the airline. Since the merger began we haven't had any leadership. In this airline, Flight Ops doesn't wear the pants. Bean counters, legal, and HR run the airline. After that it's marketing.
Another thing. we don't know if the philosophy gives birth to the procedure or if the procedure gives birth to the philosophy. We come up with pilot bulletins to manage the operation and we keep yo-yo-ing all over the place. There is nothing SOP about our SOP's.
The airline is too disjointed, too disconnected and is like a helicopter. It has too many moving parts and if the wind isn't blowing right the balls can't all stay in the air.
It has been a LONG and painful 5 years, that's for sure. But I caught a glimmer of hope last night. Arrived at the airplane to a small maintenance issue which turned into a much larger maintenance issue after discovering it was not deferrable. Up against a curfew restriction, there were a LOT of moving parts that needed to work seemlessly in order to have a chance to make it, and I honestly figured we had no chance. The mechanic was simply awesome. My FO proved himself to be a truly great hire. Awesome suggestions, stepped in to help whenever he could in whatever capacity was needed. The flight attendants despite a LONG day were really upbeat and exceptional. The CSR's were fantastic, as it involved deplaning the entire jet and reboarding in a ridiculously short time. Everyone from dispatch to LP to customer service to ramp and especially maintenance was hustling and doing what they needed to do to get the plane out in time: and it worked. Landed with 8 minutes to spare.
Honestly, I don't know if it's the start of an improvement in our operational performance or just a one off, but we had some really great folks doing some really great work. And the response from our customers was overwhelming.
I know, I know. I'll be labeled a Marvin by some. But after watching us fail for so long it was nice to have a win for a change.