FoPAA

Not in the airline business, which lives and dies by the clock.

techgirl

I think as passengers we think punctuality is important. If the industry itself thought that, they would pay FAs when they reported to the flight, not when the flight departed. If a FA knows their pay doesn't start until the plane pulls back - and that the flight is delayed anyhow, where is the incentive to rush to the gate?

brp

Right you are, Blumie. I have to keep telling myself...this is Texas, this is Texas, and be willing to accept less .

Cheers.

Blumie

I assume you get your coffee before you get to your home airport. Although SFO does offer Peet's, the couple of times I've had it there it wasn't real Peet's. Is there anyplace in Burlingame where someone might get a decent cup before heading to SFO?

brp

Well, when I'm an airport and need coffee (it is a need, not a want...) I will resort to Starbucks since most places lack choices. Captive audience. Just not a good enough product to delay a flight (unless she had the need as well). I am ecstatic when I can find Peet's. Seattle's Best (yes, I know Starbucks owns them) is also a better product, IMO.

Cheers.

KMiami

No, hypothetically or otherwise, that's not possible. I am surprised you even mentioned it.

What I would have done if I had delayed 267 people was apologized.

or would that just be more ".....ing and moaning?"

DCA Blondie

On my last sequence (trip) I had a 32 minute turn at DFW and had to change planes and terminals (B to D) and was going to my overnight where there was no food available until the morning. Fortunately, my Captain stopped and picked me up something "to go." Had he not, I most certainly would have...and would have taken the delay (delays get coded as to the reason they occurred) and would have had no issues 'splainin' it to my Inflight Manager. We had flown three legs already without a break.

I say, give this FA the benefit of the doubt.

Sprite

A few year ago flying AEagle, after a short mechanical delay, the gate agent announced several times that that we were now delayed for boarding because the FA was eating somewhere in the airport and not answering her phone/page (don't remember). About 30 minutes after scheduled take-off, she lumbered to the gate. I was curious about the fact that the gate kept announcing that we were late because of HER. She turned out to be an odd one all around, so I guess they didn't like her much either. Nothing like getting the passengers on her bad side prior to even boarding.

the phoenix

I am surprised you even mentioned it.

What I would have done if I had delayed 267 people was apologized.


You are 100%, an apology would have been appropriate, much more so that reading about it here.

AEpilot76

And what if the first officer was the reserve first officer they called out at the last minute because the original one called in sick. OR, what if, just what if, the first officer was doing scheduling a favor by coming on a day off to replace an f/o that had called in sick?

KMiami

then I would have expected to be told that ... and i wouldn't have thought much of the last minute excuse. There's lots of "what ifs" but AA is a business; I entrusted my schedule to them. They didn't come through and 267 people were delayed over two hours. The excuse "our F/O is caught in traffic" with no further explanation or apology is contemptous, bad manners and a poor business practice.

What would you have expected a business who kept you waiting to do? Explain, perhaps, apologize? Or just ignore it?

AEpilot76

Been to a doctor's office lately? They're always late!!! We still shell out 200 bucks for 10 minutes with the doctor, or in some cases a 20 dollar co-pay

You're right AA is a business, and their responsibilty is to get your from point A to point B safely, somewhat comfortably, and hopefully in a timely manner. They managed to get you there safely, not sure about comfortably, and apparently not in a timely manner. The 267 people on that plane do deserve an apology, and probably a voucher or miles or whatever they give these days as an "I'm sorry".

AA was obviously in a situation where they were short on FO's that day. Sounds like this was a reserve FO coming in to do your flight if it was delayed that long. They cant predict a day full of unusually high sick calls or unforeseen weather delays stranding crews at different airports. But you are right, you deserved an apology and hopefully it won't happen again

Ready2Go

You're probably right, but they're called "prevailing winds," not "absolutely invariable winds." I was flying LAX-JFK the first week of June, and when the captain did his spiel about our flying route and time he said we would be in the air for almost 6 hours. He sounded quite surprised, but said we were expecting a headwind for a substantial portion of the flight.

Then again, I stepped outside this afternoon and there have been "serious disruptions in terrestrial habitability." It's HOT!

I don't know about other airlines, but AA definitely has something called "ready reserve" (or something like that). On any given day, a small number of the FAs on reserve definitely do have to sit at base airports, ready to jump on any flight that needs someone at the last minute.

AEpilot76

On a busy day they can run through those ready reserves pretty quickly. AA has no ready reserve pilots.

Ready reserve a.k.a. airport appreciation day

heathriel

They only generally call in ready reserve if they know there is going to be a problem - it is a big mess as far as scheduling because it starts their duty day as soon as they get to the airport.

A lot of airlines don't do it anymore at all, or will put ready reserve in hotels so they don't have to start the clock until they call the crewmember active.