SpeedRacer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2001
- Posts
- 60
Just passing this guys story on...Speed
The following is from a Delta guy. He's been on my jumpseat from ATL to TYS, and I recall him being a very nice guy. His story is extremely unfortunate ...
Dave
I am posting this incident in the hopes that someone, some day will run into CVG-based Comair Capt. ***CENSORED*** on the line and return the favor.
I had a recent trip on the ATL 73N that had a ALB layover followed by a one-leg deadhead return to Atlanta. I commute from Knoxville, and got permission from crew sched to deviate from the deadhead. My plan was to take a Comair flight from ALB to CVG, then home to TYS, which would get me home about 6 hours earlier than my scheduled deadhead.
I went to the airport (in uniform), and listed non-rev for the flight. The agent said it was tight, but I should make it on. Just in case, she suggested I fill out a jumpseat pass to save time if the flight was full. Good idea -- I did it. They boarded, and ended up with a seat for me in back, the last seat. I got my boarding pass and boarded, showing the flight attendant the pass as I got on. A few moments later, the f/a came to me and said, "The Captain says your seat is broken." In hindsight, the flag should have gone up...why would the Captain be aware of a cabin discrepancy the f/a wasn't? I went to the cockpit, introduced myself to the Capt, and said, "I understand seat 12B is broken?" "That's right," he said.
"In that case, can I have your permission to ride your jumpseat to Cincy? I have the form already filled out."
"No, you can't."
I was perplexed. "Why, is the jumpseat broken, too?"
"No...I don't take Delta guys."
At this point, I was in shock. "Can I ask why not?" I asked, trying to stay calm.
"I don't like the way you guys treated us during our strike."
I thought to myself, the only things I remember doing during your strike was writing out assessment checks for your strike benefits, and making sure none of my flights were struck work, while you guys were suing us for date-of-hire seniority list integration. But I kept my mouth shut. I said some futile stuff about how I was sorry if he'd had a bad experience, but we should take it to the appropriate level, and not personalize it, I'm a line pilot just like you, etc, etc, but to no avail. "No - sorry" was all he'd say.
Now the story gets really surreal. At this point, the f/a came to the cockpit to tell us that they actually ended up with two open seats in back -- the "broken" one I was issued, and another in the first row. So I said, "In that case, can I just use a non-rev pass to ride in that seat, and we don't have to worry about the jumpseat?"
"No, you can't," he replied.
"Why not?"
"I won't take you in the front or back."
The gate agent was on the aircraft at this point, also, and, looking completely baffled, she shrugged her shoulders. The flight attendant was similarly mystified. The F/O was just staring at his feet, completely silent, probably embarrassed to be sharing the cockpit with Mr. ***CENSORED***
"Let me get this straight," I asked him again, "you won't let me ride in the jumpseat, and you won't let me use my travel benefits to ride in back on a pass?!?"
"That's right."
"Just because I'm a Delta pilot."
"That's right." He wouldn't let me see his ID, so I asked his name, which he gave me reluctantly, and mumbled, so I had him spell it.
"I need yours, too," he retorted menacingly. I almost laughed with disbelief over the whole thing as I handed him my ID.
"OK, see ya," I said and got off the aircraft with the agent. After the ramp guys retrieved my bags, they buttoned up and pushed back as I watched in bewilderment.
I am not downplaying my reactions, or overplaying his. I never laid eyes on the guy before, never raised my voice, or lost my composure throughout, although I wanted to pull the asshole out of the cockpit and beat the **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** out of him in the worst way.
I filed a report with the ALPA jumpseat committee, but that won't do anything as far as disciplinary action. When I got back to ATL, hours later, I told ass't Chief Pilot Joe Fusco the story. He pulled me into Alan Price's office where I repeated it to their amazement. They got pretty fired up, and had me write a written report, which I did. I have no idea if this jerk will ever see any repercussions from Comair, though he deserves to be fired, in my opinion. I sincerely hope, however, that someone who reads this will run across him stranded somewhere, in desperate need of one of our jumpseats, and the old "what goes around comes around" principle will take effect.
Anyone has my complete permission to forward this, copy it, post it anywhere, distribute it, whatever. I would be happy to provide any details like flight #, date, time, etc, if anyone needs them.
Andy K.
ATL 73NB
The following is from a Delta guy. He's been on my jumpseat from ATL to TYS, and I recall him being a very nice guy. His story is extremely unfortunate ...
Dave
I am posting this incident in the hopes that someone, some day will run into CVG-based Comair Capt. ***CENSORED*** on the line and return the favor.
I had a recent trip on the ATL 73N that had a ALB layover followed by a one-leg deadhead return to Atlanta. I commute from Knoxville, and got permission from crew sched to deviate from the deadhead. My plan was to take a Comair flight from ALB to CVG, then home to TYS, which would get me home about 6 hours earlier than my scheduled deadhead.
I went to the airport (in uniform), and listed non-rev for the flight. The agent said it was tight, but I should make it on. Just in case, she suggested I fill out a jumpseat pass to save time if the flight was full. Good idea -- I did it. They boarded, and ended up with a seat for me in back, the last seat. I got my boarding pass and boarded, showing the flight attendant the pass as I got on. A few moments later, the f/a came to me and said, "The Captain says your seat is broken." In hindsight, the flag should have gone up...why would the Captain be aware of a cabin discrepancy the f/a wasn't? I went to the cockpit, introduced myself to the Capt, and said, "I understand seat 12B is broken?" "That's right," he said.
"In that case, can I have your permission to ride your jumpseat to Cincy? I have the form already filled out."
"No, you can't."
I was perplexed. "Why, is the jumpseat broken, too?"
"No...I don't take Delta guys."
At this point, I was in shock. "Can I ask why not?" I asked, trying to stay calm.
"I don't like the way you guys treated us during our strike."
I thought to myself, the only things I remember doing during your strike was writing out assessment checks for your strike benefits, and making sure none of my flights were struck work, while you guys were suing us for date-of-hire seniority list integration. But I kept my mouth shut. I said some futile stuff about how I was sorry if he'd had a bad experience, but we should take it to the appropriate level, and not personalize it, I'm a line pilot just like you, etc, etc, but to no avail. "No - sorry" was all he'd say.
Now the story gets really surreal. At this point, the f/a came to the cockpit to tell us that they actually ended up with two open seats in back -- the "broken" one I was issued, and another in the first row. So I said, "In that case, can I just use a non-rev pass to ride in that seat, and we don't have to worry about the jumpseat?"
"No, you can't," he replied.
"Why not?"
"I won't take you in the front or back."
The gate agent was on the aircraft at this point, also, and, looking completely baffled, she shrugged her shoulders. The flight attendant was similarly mystified. The F/O was just staring at his feet, completely silent, probably embarrassed to be sharing the cockpit with Mr. ***CENSORED***
"Let me get this straight," I asked him again, "you won't let me ride in the jumpseat, and you won't let me use my travel benefits to ride in back on a pass?!?"
"That's right."
"Just because I'm a Delta pilot."
"That's right." He wouldn't let me see his ID, so I asked his name, which he gave me reluctantly, and mumbled, so I had him spell it.
"I need yours, too," he retorted menacingly. I almost laughed with disbelief over the whole thing as I handed him my ID.
"OK, see ya," I said and got off the aircraft with the agent. After the ramp guys retrieved my bags, they buttoned up and pushed back as I watched in bewilderment.
I am not downplaying my reactions, or overplaying his. I never laid eyes on the guy before, never raised my voice, or lost my composure throughout, although I wanted to pull the asshole out of the cockpit and beat the **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** out of him in the worst way.
I filed a report with the ALPA jumpseat committee, but that won't do anything as far as disciplinary action. When I got back to ATL, hours later, I told ass't Chief Pilot Joe Fusco the story. He pulled me into Alan Price's office where I repeated it to their amazement. They got pretty fired up, and had me write a written report, which I did. I have no idea if this jerk will ever see any repercussions from Comair, though he deserves to be fired, in my opinion. I sincerely hope, however, that someone who reads this will run across him stranded somewhere, in desperate need of one of our jumpseats, and the old "what goes around comes around" principle will take effect.
Anyone has my complete permission to forward this, copy it, post it anywhere, distribute it, whatever. I would be happy to provide any details like flight #, date, time, etc, if anyone needs them.
Andy K.
ATL 73NB
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