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Ua 863
IFE not on yet. Aircraft was late due to Wx, I am not going to bother the F crew just yet, they are quite busy setting up the cabin.
(i love my Toughbook w the cellular broadband!)
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Still here, still flyin, just not as often as before
At last! A pond-crossing with Ch9 available. Was LHR-ORD today, and Captain came to say hi (and get coffee). I got the chance to ask him if Ch 9 would be available. He said it certainly would, except when they're over the pond, because it's not worth it.
I think that's when there's no radar coverage, and they are on their fixed tracks, and believe a lot of flight deck crew have a little "chat" with each other during the crossing.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lucky9876coins
Does anyone have an email address or mailing address for the union? I'd like to share my "thoughts" with them.
I don't, but what good would it do? UA sends canned responses to most letters... the union, if it responds, will likely send out something even more canned that doesn't even begin to address the points you'd raise. Every time I listen to union debates on the news, the talking head from the union takes every question, no matter what it is, and entirely ignores it to answer on the talking points. "How's the weather out there, Tom?" "It's as cloudy as our future is, Bill, now that our pensions are gone!" Et cetera.
I've got no problem with collective bargaining, but I just can't stand these juvenile, poorly-conceived, and ultimately anti-customer shenanigans.
__________________ On extended FT hiatus while I concentrate on my thesis...
I may check in periodically. PM me if you really need to reach me.
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You know, I just cruised over to YouTube and searched for "united Airlines". There was just under 1000 hits. I scanned through the 1st 300 or so in random order. And then I rescanned another 300 or so after sorting for most recently posted. Without being really scientific, here's pretty much what I found (and the order doesn't represent absolute quantity):
United Airlines TV commercials (lots of them from 60's to present - many are quite good, many are....eh, a bit dated....and lots are fun and inspiring.
United Tribute videos - made by folks who like United, or flying, or planes, or the romantic idea that a company can represent their own dreams too...meaning "you can do something I can't do everyday and thanks for letting me be a part of that when I fly with you!"
I suppose there is a bit of longing for "the good old days" in this too.
9/11 videos related the the WTC crashes and United 93 - some very hairy stuff and recreation footage, and simulator stuff. Hard to watch sometimes...
United takeoff and landings by home and amateur video shooters, inside and outside the planes, most all of them using the camcorders outside microphone, so lots of plane and wind noise...note - very little ATC use.
Occasional copies of TV reports of incidents involving United or other airlines planes...such as the recent near miss over the midwest. So people are documenting news or newsworthy events by posting the media reports.
And a bunch of Flight Simulator videos of people flying United labelled aircraft in and out of various airports and locales. Looks like fun for most, except when they resimulate aircraft disasters - but you gotta learn from mistakes too.
I only found 3 or 4 videos containing any ATC stuff, and one was a chilling audio only recount of the flight 93 audio, this came from FAA ATC recordings. Otherwise, the number is very low.
There are many general ATC postings but they mostly highlight the ATC, not so much the planes and many of them are audio only. And they are not so much United specific.
I just don't get the issue for the pilots and the union. You have to know really what you're doing (its not hard but the vast majority of folks don't have a clue and the right cables) to put the ATC/Channel 9 audio onto your camcorder and you have to want to shoot the camcorder stuff while the plane is landing/taking off (in violation of the electronics ban).
And from what I see, its just not happening with any significant frequency. Check for yourself.
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A question and one I hope will not get me in trouble. After having cruised over to the ALPA.org site, and read the pilot's code of ethics, can that be part of the discussion here and can one quote the ethics code to debate points about pilot's behavior? I'm not trying to single them out but it sort of illustrates what they (the union) themselves say they should be IDEALLY be doing, versus what, as humans, they do subject to all the political, union, management, and financial pressures. Review that page here:
Expecting and holding people to a professional standard happens all the time. As mentioned above, we the customers, and flying public, want to trust and believe in those who serve us. Unlike a waiter or hotel receiptionist, or others, the airplane crew literally holds our lives in the palms of their hands while we are with them. I accord them respect for that very reason, but I would hope they would view me as a human being and worthy, loyal customer (yeah, we may be in a minority with the GM) who could be accorded the same respect - the two way street.
No different in my line of work, being a doctor and dealing with the practice and administration of medicine. And as most of you know all too well, there are some great doctors, a lot of good ones, and quite a few jerk doctors - problem is, we don't have a union so each doctor gets to decide just how he or she wants to act on their own.
So, back to my first point - is the COE a legitimate talking point? If not, mods can remove this post.
Hey, guess what? I'm a pilot, and I own a handheld aircraft band radio. Perhaps I'll ignore the rules and start carrying and using this on flights. Let's see if they can catch me. (No, I won't use the transmit function, as fun as it might be to communicate with the cockpit from my seat...)
Handheld scanners are fairly cheap too.
Maybe I'll record everything and post it to Youtube!
*annoyed*
*further annoyed that professional pilots listen to union rhetoric and repeat it.* These people exercise great judgement in, for example, how to avoid dangerous weather but exhibit extremely poor judgement when it comes to questioning stupid union statements.
Personally, I am going to start handing GTEMs to every pilot who makes channel 9 available.
I'm not sure where the comment from the pilot who said the union was recommending against Channel 9 came from: there has been nothing from ALPA on Channel 9 whatsoever.
Most of the 777 captains I fly with turn Channel 9 on, and I haven't seen any reductions recently.
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UA395 part 2, and Finally, some normalcy!
To continue my story from 395 12/2 IAD-ORD:
After we took off, I went to use the lav. The (excellent!) flight attendant whom I originally asked about Ch 9 stopped me near the C galley on the way back and asked me what the captain told me during my flight deck "visit."
I told him I got a lot of attitude, and that I wasn't really crazy about that. I also mentioned that I keep getting different answers from different pilots, and since no one will be straight with me, I suspect it's some little union game, and the timing fits, as the contract between the pilots and the airline is expiring soon.
At some point, the purser had come up behind me and listened in. She chimes in: "Oh, that's ridiculous, why are you making up these conspiracy theories? It has nothing to do with anything like that."
I said: "Ok, well, what does it have to do with?"
Purser: "The captain can turn on Channel 9 if he wants to, it's at his discretion." (again, like the 50th time that day I heard that very annoying phrase. And don't talk to me like I am 12 years old, and don't interrupt. )
Me: "Yes, I understand that completely, he is the Pilot In Command, and that's fine. But this keeps happening, it's been off on many recent flights, and I can't get a real answer out of anyone. So, what is the issue here?"
Purser: "I don't know. But it's up to the pilot to turn it on."
Sensing this was going nowhere, I gave up, went to the lav, and listened to the XM holiday music until we landed at ORD.
************ *************
UA 863 last night, ORD-SFO, one of the nicer flights I have had in a while.
As I mentioned above, the aircraft was late getting in, and the ORD crew had to do a quick turnaround, and it was done very efficiently. When I boarded, the FA's were busy, the IFE was off, and I wasn't going to make a fuss. (What a great crew, even with the short turn, pre-dep drinks were whatever anyone wanted. ) With all this going on, I did not elect to visit the flight deck and chat with the pilots, they were plenty busy.
Finally, after the safety video, the IFE came on, and much to my delight, Channel 9 was there with it. I really dig Ch 9 at ORD, just love the busy airport and all the activity.
Anyway, like I said, great crew on the flight, and after we landed at SFO, I wanted to go thank the captain personally, but the cockpit door stayed shut for a good while, even after I let the F cabin clear out. I chatted with a very nice FA for a bit, and said "Please tell the captain a big Thank You for having Channel 9 on. I've been having terrible luck with that lately."
She said she noticed that a lot lately too - lots of people asking for Channel 9, and many captains not making it available. When I asked if she knew why a lot of captains seem to be "using their discretion" to keep it off, she went with the YouTube thing. She also mentioned that some recent flight had a lot of ground delays, and several pax were listening to Ch9, and found the info coming from the captain over the PA conflicted with what they were hearing from ATC. (interesting!) Evidently that caused some trouble on that flight.
IMO, the moral of that little story: be straight with the passengers, and you needn't worry about getting tripped up by Channel 9.
Bottom Line:
Clearly, there is a movement within the pilot ranks to keep Channel 9 off. Lacking any real answers, we are left to make educated guesses.
My educated guess: Is it part of some dumb little union-advocated game? I don't know, but I certainly suspect it is. Why else would all these pilots, especially the ones who are (suddenly) quite surly, be switching it off? Whatever this YouTube thing was, it provided an excuse to eliminate Channel 9, at least for some pilots.
What Can We Do About It?
Well, I am still thinking about that. I gave it a lot of thought last night.
-Some sort of petition is the most obvious choice. "We, the undersigned, are United elites, and we love Channel 9, and we want to ensure it remains part of United."
-Certainly, we all have the option of making as much fuss as possible when Channel 9 is off. Talk to the purser, go through them first, then take it to the flight deck. Pilots still interact with us before departure, at least for now. Talk to everyone involved, let them know why you enjoy Channel 9, and why you choose United.
-I am still working on drafting a letter to people (at the very least, Barbara Higgins) at WHQ.
This is OUR AIRLINE TOO, and since we spend the money, we get to have a say in all this. To me, Channel 9 is something worth fighting for, and I do not intend to sit back and let it go away, regardless of the reason.
I welcome your thoughts.
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Wow Ryan, the fact that the purser interrupted you and called what you said a conspiracy is absolutely ridiculous. Really makes me mad.
I like your ideas. One thing I encourage everyone to do is to thank the pilot everytime Channel 9 is on. I know I haven't done it till now because I took it for granted, but I will. Please folks, if you are at all interested in Channel 9 do the same on your way out.
In addition, I know I will always go to the flight deck before my flights now. Not to be confrontational, but if it's not on I want a straight answer as to why it's not. Anything less wont be tolerated, and I think flyinryan did a very good job with it, despite the awful pilots he had.
Lastly, as stated above, does anyone have a t-shirt or wristband company or have connections?
Please, as a community of FF'ers and mostly aviation geeks, I think this is just another battle we can overcome. I wrote the union yesterday and am curious to see what canned response I get back.
I am not flying for a while, but if anyone else has any experiences or chooses to fight for Channel 9, please post your experiences here.
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Yeah, that purser is getting the opposite of a GTEM - a nastygram from me to .com Customer Service and 1K Voice. So is the pilot who b1tched at me about his salary and the one who asked me how I would like it if he watched me do my job all day. When I am a paying customer, I do not tolerate it when employees are rude to me, regardless of their position, especially when I am doing nothing wrong. I don't do that to my customers. That's why I have a job.
The cabin crew on 863 last night are also being singled out by me - for being great! As are the two awesome RCC agents I dealt with recently.
Win some, lose some.
And we are going to win this fight for Channel 9. When was the last time the FT collective did not emerge victorious? Hell, United just threw a party for us at SFO - simply because one person asked! It will take some time and effort, but we will change this.
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Still here, still flyin, just not as often as before
![The Consolidated "Channel 9 Availability" Thread [Merged]](/forum/iconimages/united-mileage-plus/consolidated-channel-9-availability-thread-merged_ltr.gif)
My favorite part about channel 9 is in the middle of the ocean when they chit chat. Can be very entertaining!
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Really makes me mad.
