OK, now I'm confused. I've read posts that said the Company really wants us to commute because it gives them flexibility on field drafts and because there really weren't enough dead heads on Monday morning to cover all the trips. Now I hear that management wants us to live in Memphis because of "more crew member availability." Boy those management guys are really confused, and devious. Why the hell would they really give 2 sh1ts where we live as long as we show up for our trips. Now there's a real concept. Personal responsibility..

 

Yeah, they don't care if we commute or not. They'll say anything if you attach "it saves money" at the end. Being in the field is good when they need you. They just want to save the money. Some MBA is trying to save the company a few bucks by hitting the easiest target, the commuter.

I am getting tired of the deviation bank getting shorted. One month the bank is 400 then it goes down to 280 the next month. Tickets cost the same. The company then has to pay 100 dollars more for a ticket they "underpriced" in the first place. But the deviator gets stuck with the lower bank. No recourse to hold corporate travel accountable. Brilliant...

You deviate and corporate travel will not help you if flights get cancelled and ground transportation is automatically cancelled, don't even hop in the car or you are a violator. If they cancel ground transportation shouldn't their be a separate "grnd transpo" bank separate from airline ticket bank? Brilliant...

Fuel saving initiatives? Should we add up, as commuters, what we are getting shorted and use that much extra fuel every month? Brilliant??

 

I am getting tired of the deviation bank getting shorted. One month the bank is 400 then it goes down to 280 the next month. Tickets cost the same. The company then has to pay 100 dollars more for a ticket they "underpriced" in the first place. But the deviator gets stuck with the lower bank. No recourse to hold corporate travel accountable. Brilliant...

You deviate and corporate travel will not help you if flights get cancelled and ground transportation is automatically cancelled, don't even hop in the car or you are a violator. If they cancel ground transportation shouldn't their be a separate "grnd transpo" bank separate from airline ticket bank? Brilliant...

Remember an old saying " A clerk is a Jerk".....................

 

C'mon, nobody said you guys were CONFUSED!

Seriously, however--what avenue can we take to improve the deviation process. Are there a few "reasonable men" in the ACP offices that could make some minor tweaks? Nobody is asking for a custom limo...we just want to be able to join our SCHEDULED trip segments when its practical. Jack's old FCIF/email on the subject a few years back more or less made sense, although I don't know if that' still the policy. Do you have any suggestions from your side of the desk?

With fuel as high as it is---it seems like a few disgruntled folks could cost the company a lot more than a taxi ride here or there. How much does it cost to reach out and help the guys trying to do things right? While there will always be someone mad we can't use deviation money saved on personal massages, I think 95% of the commuters out there would be very appreciative if we could perhaps tweak this back a bit more towards "the reasonable man..." As a former Gulf Coast commuter, you probably had a few trips where you trip out of GPT joined an existing NWA D/H leg. That model right there is about 95% of my own front-end commuting.

And along those lines--most commuters have no sympathy for those 2% alluded to in the past that play games and don't end up in Asia or Europe like they were supposed to. However--the backlash against that very small group can make it a lot tougher on the guys who try to do it right.

 

To answer your question; no it is not still the policy. They cancel the ground transportation if you deviate. I catch up with the scheduled pairing 90% of the time I front end deviate and the ride is not there.

Don't know how the policy can change with out a retraction but stranger still is how the union dosen't care.

 

It isn't as strange as you make it seem. Neither Dave W. nor Bob C. are commuters so ... why waste negotiating resources on items that aren't inportant to them. It doesn't seem strange to me at all.



Mark

 

Unfortunately, the fuel savings MBO goes to a different bean counter than the deviation bank milking MBO.

 

Perhaps with all these complaints we do need a little fresh blood. That issue can wait a bit, however...

I don't think fixing these little issues requires an MEC chair anyway. We outght to be able to fix this with some committee work and a few reasonable guys at MGT. Aren't we working together anyway with the SIG, fuel savings, and safety? This isn't a hard fix...

 

I midtrip deviated from SFS to HKG a couple of times within the last few months, but prior to the recent ACP email on the new policy. I'm just going to take the scheduled deadheads from now on.

Wish I knew the back story on this one because it doesn't seem to make sense. Maybe some Asian ramps were complaining about having to work the deviation issues? With HKG mentioned so directly, I'm wondering if they were the ones who raised the issue...?

 

Interesting since the ramp doesn't really arrange transportation, I don't think. If you're holding a reservation, the hotel will transport you. The cost though, maybe they are being squeezed by bean counters too. I've been on the jumpseat from SFS to HKG and often gone to the hotel with the crew - I always picked up the big giant tip of course. I've also been on a deviation to HKG from SFS and there were 8 of us from 2 flights needing to get to the hotel. They insisted on sending only 2 cars. The 4 operating guys took those, and the 4 of us took the next 2. In either case, its still WAY cheaper than the scheduled trip to HKG from SFS via MNL.