Originally Posted by
dosbo
It's been my experience that doing your job within the confines of the FOM and JCBA without going above and beyond your job requirements will slow the operation down and begin creating ripple effects as schedules are compromised. It may not cripple the company but it may cause enough headaches in other parts of the company, scheduling, maintenance control, dispatch, and most importantly management to get their attention. Of course the pilot group as a whole needs to fly the contract not just one or two crews, this is where unity is important.
It's a shame there is so little unity in this business.
This is pretty much true, especially here. Without the pilots (both CAs and FOs) coordinating things and constantly pushing the other departments (or flat out correcting their mistakes), I don't think we'd have more than 10% on-time performance. Late boarding? Don't mention it to the gate agent. No cargo slip yet? Don't close the door. See a scheduling issue where you're going to time out? Don't call until you time out.
Now, obviously things like alternates that are required but dispatch failed to read the TAF properly (or the one dispatcher is so swamped with flights, he or she did the release 4-5 hours before hand) and MX screw ups (like forgetting to sign something off) need to be addressed because we're legally on the hook as well.