Originally Posted by BitterOHFO

So I wrote my first email to the president today. Don't know how the response will be but I think I summed up everyone's frustrations at the moment.

"Dear Mr Bendoraitis,

I wish to voice my concern over current staffing levels. I know you said we were properly staffed in the spring. I would like to respectfully disagree after having expierenced the recent events that have happened at Comair. I am a 3rd year FO at Comair. I am on reserve which I accept but that is not the problem. I realize the current state of affairs with the airline industry and the current challenges.

I think I speak for my fellow reservists who have been turned into zombies or robots with the current schedules. Between December 18th and January 13th I have one day off between blocks of 5 or 6 days on reserve. Most of us at JFK commute and we hardly get enough time to go home and reload for the next block of days on and deal with normal lives. The 5 on 2 off schedule was working very well. I wish that would reappear. The average FO cannot afford to live in the New York area so we are left with no choice to commute. We are burned out and morale could not be any lower.

Today was just like any other day at JFK. We ran out of FO's as usual. The captains side I hear is just the same. This is also happening in CVG. I have done more flying out of CVG than in my base which is JFK. I know CVG is short staffed as well. Something is not right.

I know the recent weather events have greatly contributed to staffing lately but that should not be an excuse. I am tired of being yelled at by passengers because they cannot get home because no one is available. That storm happened a week ago and from my observation the company has still not recovered. An airline should be properly staffed for events like this. The weather forecast for New Year's weekend is about the same. I would imagine we will have another meltdown.

I know we recalled a small amount of pilots but I fear it is still not enough. I feel that scheduling has cost Comair millions of dollars in revenue over poor decisions and canceled flights due to lack of staffing. The average hold time to return a scheduler's call is 30 minutes and I have heard up to an hour even 2 hours. We are allowed 15 minutes by contract to return a call or suffer a penalty.

You have been the first president that Comair has had in awhile that actually communicates with the employees. I express my appreciation for that. I know you answer's are influenced with decisions made Delta in Atlanta. I hope you can do something to help make this company return to it's former greatness. "


We will see what the response is. I doubt anything will change. Something has got to give. Everyone needs to send him an email with the current scheduling horror stories so that something may change. Doubt it but it can't hurt.