[Eugene Marchese]

Flight was delayed for 7 hours. It was due to leave MSY at 6:50 AM and arrive in PHL at 10:35 AM. Flight did not leave until it had been pushed back 4 times, then shut down by the Captain, then re set and finally left around 3 PM. A dented panel held the flight while the mechanic had to be called, arrive then stand around while the manufacture in Brazil was contacted. This problem had been identified by US Airways personnel the night before when the plane arrived, however the night crew did nothing about it and left it for the morning crew to resolve. My wife and I missed out son’s college graduation at 2 PM and his graduation dinner at 6:30 pm. We arrived in PHL at 6 PM and not to the graduation celebration until it were all over at 8 PM. Due to US Airways personal negligence of not fixing the plan the night before, this is not just an unavoidable mechanical failure. The night crew damaged the plan and then did nothing to start repairs on it. US Airways offered a whopping $125 credit on future flight. They stated the plane was owned by Republic Airways and the crew worked for Republic Airways and they had no authority to offer more. Further more they could not elevate the complaint or give me any contact or address info for Republic Airways. Since UA Airways is just a ticket agency, dispute with our credit card company has been filed for full refund.

[A320FAN]

Originally Posted by Eugene Marchese

Flight was delayed for 7 hours. It was due to leave MSY at 6:50 AM and arrive in PHL at 10:35 AM. Flight did not leave until it had been pushed back 4 times, then shut down by the Captain, then re set and finally left around 3 PM. A dented panel held the flight while the mechanic had to be called, arrive then stand around while the manufacture in Brazil was contacted. This problem had been identified by US Airways personnel the night before when the plane arrived, however the night crew did nothing about it and left it for the morning crew to resolve. My wife and I missed out son’s college graduation at 2 PM and his graduation dinner at 6:30 pm. We arrived in PHL at 6 PM and not to the graduation celebration until it were all over at 8 PM. Due to US Airways personal negligence of not fixing the plan the night before, this is not just an unavoidable mechanical failure. The night crew damaged the plan and then did nothing to start repairs on it. US Airways offered a whopping $125 credit on future flight. They stated the plane was owned by Republic Airways and the crew worked for Republic Airways and they had no authority to offer more. Further more they could not elevate the complaint or give me any contact or address info for Republic Airways. Since UA Airways is just a ticket agency, dispute with our credit card company has been filed for full refund.

1st off I have seen this situation playout before. You do not know what was happening and what was going on from the time the aircraft arrived the night before. While it is fun for some to play pass the buck, untimately, safety is the 1st and foremost important for all airlines alike. This may have been an issue were US Airways mechanics could not just simply place that dent on an MEL, and issue a QC number for it. I applaud US Airways mechanics for taking their time to address the dent significantly and consulting with other mechanics. The aircraft sounds like it is a member of the E-jet series (i.e: E170, E175, E190, E195) which are built in Sao Jose Dos Campos, Brazil. Yes, a conference call with Embraer enginering needed to take place. Yes sadly you missed you sons graduation and celebratory dinner. Guess what, you are alive for him to tell you about it. Next time leave a day or 2 ahead of time so you know that you are going to make an event like this. You got the most compensation that US Airways was willing to offer. At least they offered something.

[Eugene Marchese]

Your response is written like a true Airline Union Employee, “not our fault”,“not my job” and “there is nothing else we can do for you”. I do know what happened the night before as it came straight from the morning Captain’s mouth as he was very ****** off that the night crew left the problem for the morning crews to fix. (Not my job scenario) The plan sat at the gate for over eight hours from the night before. The problems had been identified by the night flight crew and ground crew before they left for the night. Since the plane was delayed that morning for Seven hours, the problem could have been solved had the night crew stayed, called out the mechanic and had the plane ready to fly by the 6:50 AM scheduled departure. Not only did the night crew cost the airline thousands of lost dollars while that plane was grounded for seven hours, they also cost approximately 250 passenger customers Seven hours of their life alone in waiting. That is 1,750 hours of life gone. Add in that at least another 250 people on the arriving end of the flight lost hours of their life, and the next departing fight that this plane was scheduled for in Philly and we are loosing a lot of life. Don’t forget about the once in a life time events passengers may have missed such as our sons graduation! Of course US Airways is not responsible because they don’t own the plane and the crew works for Republic Airways. Here is the “not my fault” excuse. Your comment about leaving 2 days ahead of time is absurd. If US Airways customers had two extra days of their life to travel the airline would be out of business for driving is a whole lot cheaper and more reliable than flying these days. Even if we had noting to do in our life and left two days earlier, if that plane had canceled or delayed for a similar reason, US Air had no available flights our of New Orleans to Philly for three days, so your suggestion would have been useless. The difference is negligence and gross negligence is that negligence is usually due to poor procedures and or poor planning. Gross negligence is when it is done on purpose and it could have been fixed or resolved, but the employees and company neglected to do so. The other difference is a lot more zeros to the left of the decimal point.

[A320FAN]

You say my suggestion would have been useless about leaving earlier? Boy you are the dumb one here. No one limited you to using US Airways. You must not have heard of Southwest, Delta, American Airlines, flying into an alternative airport such as JFK and driving to Philly. You may have had to suffer with a stop and change of planes somewere, but you would have been ontime. As far as the pilot vs the mechanics, yes US Airways does still have some internal strife, but What happens when PHL or MSY maintaince staff does not have the parts for certain aircraft because they do not see them on a regular basis. They have to be AOG'd to the outstation and sometimes the 1st flight may have already left, and the maintaince department has to find alternative ways to ship the parts to the out station. So yes this does play out on a daily basis. Sometimes the part shipped may not be the exact part they need, and has to sent back and then a call has to go out to other stations that see that particular aircraft series on a constant basis and carry the parts, and the part may be coming from Tuscon or LA etc.....By the way I work for a NON-UNION AIRLINE.

[Eugene Marchese]

Of course there are always less desirable options that you would have taken. I guess you would fly in two days earlier to JFK with stops on a different airline and pay more for the ticket, pay for tolls, gas, and spend 6 hours driving to your destination in New Jersey and paying to stay in a hotel for two nights instead of taking the only direct flight from New Orleans to Philly that was scheduled to leave at 6:50 AM after the plane had arrive 8 hours the evening before to New Orleans. Let’s add extra hours and more money to a trip is your logic? Gee, which seems like the intelligent choice here? Since this delay did not need a part to fix, just a clearance from the Manufacture, again, 8 hours during the evening would have solved the problem. Damn, I guess I should have just charted my own plane and invited all 250 people to fly with me for free. That would certainly have avoided the US Airways/Republic Airline screw up. They need a new marketing hook. Us Air, where we don’t care!

[A320FAN]

I would fly into the city I needed to be in, and I would have booked my flight for 1-2 days before and 1-2 days after the event. Yes you may pay more, but you would have been there for your son. Again, conference calls, and the maintaince department is responsible for ensuring that the aircraft is airworthy before a single passenger is boarded. I actually bought 2 round trip tickets on US Airways for the end of July. I have flown US Airways many times and only had 1 mechanical issue on a flight leaving FLL for CLT.

[jimworcs]

I think it s a bit much suggesting everyone leaves two days in advance of whatever they are attending to account for the airlines tardiness. The economy would grind to a halt. Doctors speaking at conferences waste two days on the off chance the plane is delayed. Pilots deadheading leave two days early and sit for two days twiddling their thumbs. Its a ridiculous suggestion. US Airways should have rerouted them immediately, that was the solution.

[azstar]

Originally Posted by Eugene Marchese

Since the plane was delayed that morning for Seven hours, the problem could have been solved had the night crew stayed, called out the mechanic and had the plane ready to fly by the 6:50 AM scheduled departure.

While I'm not condoning US Airways handling of this situation in any way, you are making some assumptions here. 1) The night crew may not be authorized to stay past their shift and get paid. Airline employees are rarely "empowered" to do anything so there is no benefit to them going beyond what is minimally required. In fact, they may have been penalized for working beyond their shift. 2) It was a Republic aircraft and, therefore, 100% the responsiblity of Republic to fix it. US Airways mechanics are not authorized to work on contracted carriers aircraft. There may not have been any Republic mechanic on duty overnight.

I agree with jimworcs, however, US Airways should have accommodated all the passengers on any available airline rather than making everyone wait until the aircraft is repaired. There is no excuse for that.

[Eugene Marchese]

From the postings of "A320 Fan", as an airline employee I guess he/she sees it from inside the companies. Using his perspective we all can expect no airline ever be trusted to be on time, never fly on the actual day it is scheduled, to have spare parts on hand, to have personnel on call to fix problems, to have a procedure or person designated to fix problems when they occur instead of waiting for the next crew, or be responsible to its customers when they screw up or things go wrong. Successful companies have expediters and managers that step in when things start to go wrong and are empowered to fix it fast. Apparently US Airways and possible other airlines don’t understand that concept? Eventually it all comes full circle. Customers don’t fly that airline any longer, costs go up, employees get ******, costs go up, Employees don’t go the extra needed to be efficient and profitable, costs go up, etc and before you know it bam, an airline that is history. Eastern, Continental, Pan Am, TWA, just to name a few all cease to exist. The question is when not if, will US Airways and Spirit, two of the worse customer friendly airlines meet their end?

[jimworcs]

Sadly, their bribes to legislators work. They seem most reluctant to let airlines fail and prefer to let them merge, offering them anti-trust immunity to do so. Indeed, there may be a forced marriage between AA and US Airways...watch this space.