A wonderful Comair scheduling story for all to enjoy.... Allow me to set the scene:

So there I was, two weeks off of IOE in mid December, sitting in the Cleveland airport. This particular day, there was about 1" of snow on the ground and it was snowing moderately. I was on day 2 of a 3 day trip and this particular assignment had me deadheading back to CVG (on Chautauqua) at about 3pm for an hour break and then off to DSM for the overnight.

As the CA/FA and I show up at the gate, we notice there is no A/C at the gate. Given the weather we weren't surprised. We were informed that there was about an hour and a half delay. Now, just off of IOE, I had not had an opportunity to "learn" that scheduling does not EVER know what is going on. I assumed they had the ability to see that I was delayed and all was cool. (This would bite me in the arse... more on that in a bit).

The CHQ -135 shows up and we all board. As I sat in my seat, I pulled out my iPhone and turn on airplane mode. When doing this, I also check to see if I missed any calls or messages; there were none. As I settle into my seat and take a quick nap, we taxi out, deice and takeoff. About 60 minutes later, we were taxiing into concourse C in CVG.

After everyone deplanes, we slide out and pick up our bags. I turn on my cell phone to find 4 voicemails from scheduling. I didnt bother to listen to them and instead got on the computer right inside the terminal to see what my schedule had on it and how it had changed. When I pulled it up, I had an "SD" on my line. For those of you that don't know what an SD is, it is a Scheduling Discrepancy. Basically scheduling's way of flagging your schedule and forcing a telephone 'carpet dance' with a CP.

I called scheduling and told them that I just landed on my DH in CVG. They said I had been in for an hour and a half and my schedule had changed, I was due to fly a flight to TYS that was supposed to leave 45 minutes ago. Flight is already boarded and they were waiting on me. I said that we were delayed in CLE and I thought they knew about the delay.... it isn't my job to babysit you guys!! After going back and forth, they refused to remove the SD thinking I had purposefully avoided them and I had to call a CP to get it removed. I told the story to the CP, he laughed and explained to me that scheduling doesn't have the ability to see delays on offline carriers to track DH's. With the SD removed, I started to head over to the TYS aircraft so we could blast off.... At this point, I just wanted to get to the hotel. As I start up the stairs of the A/C, the pax all clap... trying to be professional and not show that I had about had it, I smiled, waved and quickly got to work. As I get my stuff settled in, the captain gets a call on his cell phone from scheduling re-assigning him to another flight.... He was livid, and at this point, I was too. Then scheduling asked to talk to me... so the CA handed me his phone, and I mustered out a rude "What!?". They said that the flight was cancelled and I was released to go home. I was speechless.... after everything today, I was about fatigued anyway, so I didn't ask any questions, checked out, turned off my phone and drove home before we got another several inches of snow.

Day was finally done.... and I learned my first two lessons about crew scheduling; No matter what you do or don't do, in scheduling's eyes, you are always guilty until proven innocent. And, scheduling is always 30 minutes late to the situation (sometimes longer).... they never know what is going on it seems.

I will leave you with a quote:

"Comair, because being pwn3d by Delta means everything!"