Quote:
Originally Posted by jimworcs
This illustrates precisely the problem. Lets accept that the captain had made the decision to disembark, as suggested by his order to have the luggage removed. Having made that decision, the right action was to notify the customers (it is a service you are providing) and set things in motion to minimize the impact of the inconvenience to them. This is simple and instead you highlight all the busy, operational things that are keeping you busy, filling out manifests, logging the faults, calling ops and whatever else you have to do. The flight was going nowhere, safety is not an issue, the priority now is customer comfort and convenience. The rest of the stuff... whether it be staff issues or operational matters comes second.
I am not a pilot, but I know you guys are very busy. I have flown in the cockpit jumpseat a number of times (admittedly prior to 9/11, so some time ago). I was shocked at how busy it was up there, before, during and after the flight. My perception before then was that the plane "flew itself". I was quickly disabused of that notion. However, this is not the issue. The issue is timing and communication and attempting to mitigate the effects of the problem.
The issue of pay arrangements is utterly bogus. You accepted the T&C's of the job you are doing.... we all have choices. I work in healthcare....I cannot count the number of hours I have put in unpaid. It goes with the job..... you think I could walk out of the emergency room after my shift has finished? Think again.
There is a disregard for passengers and the standards of service and even civility have declined dramatically in US based airlines.... it needs to change.
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Looks like you are grasping for straws for things to be upset about. The people were kept apprised of the situation every step of the way, and deplaned in a timely manner. The airline then provided a replacement aircraft and the people arrived within a few hours of the scheduled arrival time without safety being compromised. Also keep in mind that the crew may not have even been made aware of the decision to remove the baggage. It is quite common for the ground crew to be advised before the flight crew, and typically the captain does not "order" the bags to be removed. That decision typically comes from the ground station based on a variety of factors, including security issues and type of cargo being carried (live animals, hazmat, etc).
My opinion is that this was most certainly an inconvenience for everyone involved, but was handled in a proper manner.
As far as the issue of pay the only reason I brought that up is that most of the public isn't aware of how flight crews are paid, and I have seen passengers accuse flight crews of delaying flights at the gate in order to make extra money which is entirely ridiculous.
You also mentioned the customer service aspect with the decision to deplane "set in motion". You may have hit on something there without even realizing it. When the decision to deplane is made, we do not just dump the passengers back to the gate without the agents being made aware of the situation. It may take a few minutes to get the agent back to the gate, and possibly have an extra person or two get to the gate to get in place to answer questions and work on re-booking if that is going to be an option. People would be irate if they were released to the gate and nobody was there to help or answer questions. All these things take time.
You also talk about the busyness in the cockpit and how the passenger convenience should come first. You may not realize that that might be exactly what they were doing. Delaying those tasks will most certainly delay the eventual resolution which may entail getting maintenance to the aircraft or starting a plan in motion to get another aircraft in position. People like to complain, I understand that and have done so myself at times. This however seems to have been a rather minor issue that was handled quite well. If the OP was just venting that's fine, but the airline did what was expected.