Originally Posted by
GreatChecko
I wish I was a moderator so I could post such a condescending and sophomoric flame and not fear any repercussions.
He didn't flame you.
Alas, I'll still give writing a response a whirl, but something tells me you won't be happy with anything I have to say. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to have the honor of reading another gem of a response...
Now what did you just accuse him of?
Come down off your cross. We need the wood.
Passengers not flight crews started this security mess in the 70's and again on 9/11. Also, the argument here is whether screening flight crews makes any sense, not whether screening passengers is a good idea. Judging by how some passengers act at the airport and on aircraft, I still think its a good idea.
And given current airline corporate climate with cutbacks, there are a lot of unhappy crew. What's to keep a crew member somewhere from going postal?
True, but a passenger can still make it to the plane 10 minutes prior to departure and still keep their seat. They an arrive at the gate even later if the flight is not full, there are no standbys, and the door hasn't been closed. So any longer than usual security waits are balanced out by the fact that a passenger can arrive with minutes to spare and still get to where they want to go, ontime.
Not always true. Airlines seem more concerned about their ontime performance rather than holding a plane for late pax. UA wasn't going to hold a plane for me when we were late due to their flight being grounded an hour for a minor mechanical. Why should we believe that they'll still get us on even if we're late?
That's a luxury a flight crew doesn't have.
You're not paying for a service. Additionally, if I have to be at a meeting and I'm not there because I'm stuck in traffic, there's hell to pay because I didn't plan ahead.
More or less, that is what occurred. Airlines realized that making flight crews wait in a full line would be a detriment to their operations so they worked it out so they could either have a dedicated line or that they could get to the front of the line quicker.
I don't mind separate crew lines. I do mind crew butting in like it's an entitlement. At least you're getting paid to be there.
If you don't like that explanation, then think of it as a benefit of working at the airport or for an airline. A SIDA badge gets you to the front of the line, much like a Clear pass. I don't get all bent out of shape when they are taken to the front of the line nor do I have a chip on my shoulder because its "not fair."
Again, I don't mind separate crew lines. Some airports have them. I think it's very telling of airline industry if cutting to the front of the line in front of paying customers is viewed as a perk. It really shows the lack of customer focus in the industry.
It really sucks as a passenger after waiting an hour in line to have crew jumping in front ... especially when they're rude about it.
Furthermore, requiring additional time for crews to clear a full security line would affect ontime performance and fares.
Sounds like an airline problem. Why should it be mine? If people are expected to get to work on time and plan their commutes accordingly, I have a hard time accepting that the airline should be different.
Ontime performance is already bad. The airlines are already nickel and diming us.
What happens when the TSA is shortstaffed and the crew gets stuck at the back of the line with a 1 hour show?
It happens to all of us. It sucks, but like the airlines tell us, plan ahead.
Those people who got there early would be waiting at the gate for the crew to arrive, preflight the plane, and board the pax. If the line was 30 minutes with a full plane, it would most likely result in a late flight. In this case, it wasn't the crew's fault they were late, they'd blame it on the TSA, which actually doesn't like being blamed for delays.
Of course it was the crew's fault. They didn't get there in time. They should have planned ahead.
There would be short term costs associated with misconnected passengers/bags and lost good will.
That's already happening.
Eventually, if this continued to occur, the time would have to be built into the schedule either in requiring crews to arrive earlier, resulting in additional costs associated with having to overnight more crews in a city and in lost revenue from the reduced amount of flying the aircraft could do.
I don't see why this is such a hard concept and I can't say I have any sympathy. Almost everyone can't count their commuting time to work, which can number into multiple hours each way. They're expected to be at work at a certain time and plan accordingly. If traffic sucks, oh well, that's not the company's problem.
It's not like airline crews are working 160 hours a month like most people (and no, I don't count overnighting as work). When I worked for the government, I didn't have a fast lane for me even though I was on official doing business and tax payer dollars were wasted when I sat in traffic. Pardon me if I don't have sympathy for getting to the airport an hour earlier.
As much as waiting in a line for a business traveler is lost time and reduces productivity, it has the same exact effect upon airlines. In the competitive and cost-sensitive environment airlines are now experiencing any lost performance or revenue has an effect. As many of you know, there is little slack built into an airline's operations these days and adding security issues on top of everything else would create additional challenges that, while not insurmountable, would, at the least, increase costs and reduce crew and aircraft productivity.
Quite honestly, I don't see why airline productivity takes precedence over everyone else's. What about revenue loss when the airline can't get the person to a meeting ontime without mechanical problems, lost luggage, and cancelled flights?
And given the "productivity" of a lot of crews I've had lately, I don't know that it could drop much lower.
Honestly, if the airlines even hinted at caring about their customers any more and had more of a customer service focus like they did 10-20 years ago, I could have more sympathy. If the airline doesn't care about passengers problems and sees them as things to be squeezed for money, why should we care about the crews?
Sorry if this is scathing, but this is something I really don't have a lot of patience for anymore.