Originally Posted by
m3113n1a1
Anyone else tired of Delta just completely melting down every IROP? I understand this was a big hail event and there is of course going to be major disruption, but the way things melt down completely here is embarrassing. Why do the phone lines always go down? Isn't dispatching via unrecorded cell phone a FAR violation? Why does it take hours and hours to get through to crew accomodations to then wait even longer to not be assigned a hotel? Why haven't we invested in better technology or hired more schedulers for IROPS? Instead, flight ops has been blowing money on failed uniforms and obsessing over APU usage and hat wearing, tracking commutes, and harassing people for sick calls.
The amount of unnecessary money lost during these IROPS dwarfs any possible savings from not running APUs and roasting our passengers.
I would guess the net cost of over-staffing 10 months to seamlessly handle 2 hot months is greater than the cost of 12 months running "lean" with the occasional meltdown. They've ran the cost/benefit numbers and this is how they prefer to do things, for years if not decades.
We also have tools like VAS, silver slips, or premium PBS rotations to protect reserve manning well in advance, without tying up phone lines while playing catch-up with coverage, but the company has chosen not to pay for these.