I do not blame the Captain for the emergency issue that brought the landing in Buffalo. That happens. But the Captain is the senior Alaska employee on site, and he, with his flight crew are the ONLY Alaska employees on site, period. So yes, he has a responsibility to deal with it, until some relief can be brought forward. There is no one else to do that. That's part of the job and always covered on our duties as an employee and a human being.
Regardless, employees are representing the company and they need to step up and deal with it - each one of them. It's not a great situation, but it is what it is. Pilot needs to communicate with Alaska's HQ staff and then communicate that. It may very well be for each to "call reservations, or please get a hotel for the night.....we are working on a contingency plan and we will post that info on our website and it will be available to reservations shortly. We have no services at this airport, and its late and we know we have a bad situation..." A captain, even in the most generic situations, includes taking charge and going down with the ship. Look, it sucks, period.
Flight rules on rest do not play into this at all. The flight was on the ground and that pilot was not going to fly outside of his period. But that does not prevent him from doing other things. Maybe the union agreement does not allow for it - and maybe that is a problem. But even union officials need to understand that the airline itself needs to put forth a good image.
Clearly this situation shows Alaska lacks any contingency plan for these issues. I don't know whether contract ground personnel are available in Buffalo that work for any company that Alaska does business with at any airport anywhere and how that might work to get an existing contractor to help cover, but there needs to be some plan because this issue is not that out of the ordinary. Further, the airport itself is also in the middle of this and should also try to lend a hand.
It is a mess, but at the end of the day, the Captain, First Officer, and Flight Attendants are the ONLY Alaska employees on site. Period. Crisis management says we step up and do someone else's job because the situation requires it.
Originally Posted by
JacksonFlyer
You seem to be throwing the Captain under the proverbial bus. When the front door is closed the Captain is in charge, when the door is open and the plane unloaded, he/she is just another Alaska employee. He/she has nothing to do with scheduling, gate assignments, catering, etc. Want to have some fun? Ask a an Alaska flight scheduler and an Alaska pilot who really is in charge of a flight. The argument that ensues is amusing. The plane had to go to BUF. The flight crew unloaded the galley of everything to give to the passengers. From what I read, they stuck around long enough to know that there was a "plan" in place (plane on the way). As others noted, there are regulations for rest time and it is my guess (and only a guess) is that crew had to fly the "damaged" plane to the stated West Coast maintenance facility. Could he/she have said "go and get hotels folks and send the receipts in"? Sure, but he/she most likely would have a reprimand as that was not his/her job (on the ground, off the plane they are "just" employees) AND who was going to re-clear those folks back through security when the replacement plane came? Would the Captain force TSA to open things up at 1 AM?
There are a lot of things that Alaska did not do well in this incident and a lot I hope they learn from. I would not want to be in this position, but I would not blame the Captain or the crew. I am sure they were not happy as well. Still waiting to hear what compensation the passengers will get for all of this.