Airline Pilot Central Forums - Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Timbo (Post 1345209)

Well in my cockpit, if we are not buttoned up and ready to push at D-0, I'm on the ACARS to the dispatcher asking What's the Delay??

Until Flt. Ops leadership starts pushing back, and saying "No, WE WERE READY, it's all the other Depts. that are not." we'll keep getting the fingers pointed at us. Especially if there is no backlash for us, vs. all the other depts.

So...is that going to change?

Here's one for you, my last big delay, I had an airplane with a MCO that had been flying around the world with that MCO for 3 days. When I got in the jet, at 8:30pm, the rt. engine cowls were open and the cockpit had 3 mx guys in it running tests.

I asked what's up, the MX lead said, "That MCO expires tonight, at midnight, we have to fix it before we can let you go, but NOBODY ordered the PART!"

Long story short, the flight was delayed 7 1/2 hours, it departed at 4:30am. We timed out after waiting 4 hours, then left for a motel.

Another delay; we are all buttoned up, ready to call for push, when the Purser comes up front and says, "We have a pax who is on the phone with her Sister, and her daughter, who are outside in the concourse, trying to get on this flight!"

I thought maybe we were full, but the Purser said No, they have seats!

Well we look out the window, all the lights are off in the boarding area. We call Special Assist, tell them to get someone out here pronto to open the door (closed early) and put them on!

A couple minutes go by, S/A calls us back, he says, "Nope, I talked to the gate agent and he said there's nobody there..."

I said, "How would he know, HE'S NOT HERE!" I told him we have a pax on her cell ph. talking to the sister, who says she is standing in the gate area, no agent in sight!

Another two minutes go by...S/A calls us again and says, "Well, go ahead and leave with out them, we'll put them on another flight."

Our flight was ATL-Johannesburg, SA.

There is NO other flight, until tomorrow night. :rolleyes:

I tell the Purser they are not going to open the door, they want us to go without them. In another minute she comes up and says, "Well, this lady is NOT GOING without her daughter and her sister, so she wants off!"

Sooo...we call S/A back, and as calmly as I can say it, I tell him, "OK, now you'll need to send out an agent to open the door, take this lady off, and send out a ground crew, to remover all 3 of their suitcases. That will take at least 45 minutes. Is that what you want to do? OR...would you rather just open the door and put them on?"

Two minutes later, the door was opened, the two of them got on, and we finally left, 15 mintues late.

WHY?

Because the AGENT closed the door 5 minutes early, while the two of them were returning from the bathroom. He then turned out the lights and left the area. He then lied about it to the A/S guy, and said there was nobody left in the gate area.

I'm sure they blamed that one on Flt. Ops. as well.

http://www.comic-mint.com/media/clie...-d2089_sml.JPG

Why do I have a feeling this is going to get exponentially worse if the gate agents decide their best course of action is to close the door at D-10?

That's why I said, you're not going to want to nonrev unless a flight has 40 open seats. They're not going to be able to risk you making them late. And of course, full the passengers making connections, it'll be pretty ugly.

One day we'll say, "it's funny how the gate agent has been standing here since ten prior and no other passengers came on..."

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Cavalier (Post 1345223)

Well duh! The HF 75 is going to LAX! ;)

I did some research when I got back from my turn about one week ago. Of the 144 domestic 757's in the fleet, only 49 are equipped with HF radios. But to plan a route and sell tickets based on a WATRS route is wrong. My numbers don't include the 6800's or the 753's. BTW do you guys know that 6818 is a former Aeromexico bird? that one snuck into the fleet, somehow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wasatch Phantom (Post 1345214)

Back in the day a frequently asked question during the pilot interviews was "Who pays your salary"? The correct answer was (and still is, IMHO) "The passengers".

Maybe a month or two ago I was in DTW on a Friday night flying the last flight to DCA. I saw the gate agent head down the jetway with our final paperwork and maybe 30 seconds later I saw four passengers show up hurriedly to the gate, now with no agent.

It was maybe D-3 and I hustled up the jetway, met the agent and told her I was going to grab the passengers. I think we still pushed on time, but honestly I was more concerned about getting all of our paying passengers to their destination. I told the agent if we were late to blame me.

Perhaps I don't "have the big picture", but those folks got home on Friday night instead of late Saturday morning. They were very thankful when saying good-bye. To me that's customer service, and that's the business we're in.

I tip my hat to you Sir. Well done! :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wasatch Phantom (Post 1345214)

I remember many years ago, we would always hold the last flight of the night out of ATL, for late connections. We left late, of course, but we got all the connections on and they were very happy they didn't have to spend a night in the ATL.

In those days, Delta led the industry, in CUSTOMER SATISFACTION, not On Time Pushbacks leaving late connections.

Which is more important for Delta's long term survival?

The bean counters have been running the show for too long, looking for any Metric (their favorite word) which will generate a bonus for themselves, when the only Metric they should be concerned with is; CUSTOMER SATISFACTION.

It's still a customer service industry, is it not?

Or are we now Greyhound?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timbo (Post 1345251)

Timbo, I remember as a new hire FE making the PA that we were holding the flight for late folks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dalad (Post 1345228)

I'm not sure if this helps (i.e. is the right info) but according to that Fleet Information booklet online, all of the 6800s, 6900s and 753s have Dual HF Radios.

That'd add 18 6800s, 4 6900s and 16 753s to the mix.

This is what Delta tells every passenger:

The Early Bird Catches the Plane

When you’ve got a plane to catch, it’s important to arrive on time and ready. But it's often hard to tell how long everything is going to take. That’s why we’ve created the suggested check-in requirement times for various locations below. To get a general idea of when you should arrive at the airport, add the helpful check-in times below to the current security wait time. It’s that simple.

Remember, it’s your responsibility to arrive at the airport with enough time to complete all ticketing, baggage check and security clearance procedures to arrive at the gate ready to board. If you don't complete the check-in process by these deadlines, you won't make your flight and change fees may apply. We don’t want that to happen, so keep these times top of mind when planning your airport arrival.
A Great Rule of Thumb

Always arrive at the airport at least 75 minutes prior to departure for travel within the U.S. If you're traveling within the U.S. and checking bags, your baggage must be present at the check-in counter and checked in at least 30 minutes before your scheduled departure time and you are required to be at the gate and ready to board at least 15 minutes before your scheduled departure time.

I think that's pretty clear. If you aren't on time for our flight, and you miss it, then that's your fault. (unless it's a misconnect, in which case there are a myriad of service recovery tools available that our agents can provide) If you're at the airport bar 10 minutes before departure... your fault! Don't ask us to bring the jetway back, load your bag, check you in, find you a seat and in the meantime delay 180 people and make a few of them miss their connections, and also delay the inbound flight waiting for the gate, and the other flight that's waiting for the rampers that are all tied up with this flight. "Delta is ready when you are" was the tagline 30 years ago. We don't live in that world any more. As an old salt once told an air traffic controller-- "Poor planning on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on mine"

Our business depends on running an on time operation as best we can and as safely as possible. Lots of examples of stupid planning on Delta's part. This is about fixing those issues. You can't fix what you don't know is broke.

Quote:

Originally Posted by forgot to bid (Post 1345289)

Yeah, I knew those did but the SXM turn requires a domestic bird for the 24 FC seats. I was surprised to see that only 49 domestic aircraft had the HF's, since the 757 used to do a lot of BDA turns. All the 737's have dual HF's.

I was flying a MIA JFK flight. We were buttoned up and waiting for a tug at least 5 minutes before D-0. The only tug available was connected to a 757 next to us. The 757 was closed up, beacon on, waiting for ramp to approve their pushback request.

At that time, I looked up and saw a man pounding on the glass window in the concourse. He was hitting it so hard, the vibrations and reflection from the sun is what caught my attention. The CA said to the ground guy downstairs "Boy that guy is really upset about something." The ground guy tells us, "Yeah, he missed your flight and he's been yelling at the gate agent to let him on. We can hear him yelling down here."

The CA gets on Ops Radio and we find out he is a First Class passenger going to Paris. The CA relates that we can get him on because no tugs are available and the 757 has yet to push. Ops calls the Gate Agent. The GA is furious and WILL NOT let him on. Ops relays back to the CA that the passenger isn't getting on. Then the CA says "I'm setting the parking brake and I'm not leaving until he's on the flight. He's paid thousands of dollars to fly first class, and we're not even close to pushing back yet. Put him on or I'm not leaving." 5 minutes go by. Then I see the GA talking to someone on the phone. Now the tug is up to the aircraft and they're ready to push us. The gate agent appears at the end of the jetway. CA and her exchange words and she REFUSES to put him on. CA is defiant and tells her that he's not leaving. GA leaves in a rant. 5 minutes later (now we're like 20 minutes late at this point), the GA moves the jetway over to the aircraft and they put the first class passenger on. He gets on the jet, thanks the CA over and over. We leave. We made up most of the delay in flight.

Had some common sense been used by the GA and Ops, we could have put him on the plane well within the time it took to push the 757 and rest the tug. Ridiculous. I was embarrassed for the passengers even though everything worked out in the end.

Ruh roh. Niners in trouble. Alex Smith soon? Hope so.