NorthWorstAir.org
NWA Has Some Good
Ex-Employees - Here is one: Professor James Dixey.
NWA Has
Some Good Employees - #12
Even
I can not help but have empathy for people like this. Names have
been removed to protect the innocent. NWA employee comments are
in black, my replies are in brown and underlined for the benefit
of blind people who are using a screen reader.
11-8-99
I just read some of the comments in your site.
I did not have the time to read them all. I get the picture. I am
a long term veteran of NWA in ground ops.
I can't address you particular situation since
I did not read everything but here is how I see many of the problems,
including yours.
The few employees working for Northwest are
mostly hard working and dedicated people. This is are career and we need
our company to survive. I am frustrated by two major issues. One,
lack of support from upper management, and two, the lack of compassion from
passengers.
On point one. I work very hard all day,
and even longer on weather days if so ordered to stay. I work two gates
with only six workers. Each plane has two compartments and each
compartment needs three men to load/unload. We have two planes in the
gate each bank of flights. We are overwhelmed with trying to do a hard
job with minimum people. My roster usually reads "Minimum 6, actual
5"
On many days we do not even have the six
workers. Northwest does not cover vacations, injured workers or sick
call very well. our entire ramp operation has about 60 vacation and sick call
relief workers. The rule seems to be, if you are down two workers you
might get one relief worker. On many days we had only three men and a
chief to work the gates.
The customer does not see this. We ask
for help to do the job and are told, "Do the best you can" Of
course we do the best we can which is far below what the customer expects and
should have.
As a result, when a plane arrives we attack it
on a priority level. First we unload the transfer bags because they must
get transferred to the departing plane quickly. Next we unload the local
bags because those people are already here and they can wait. Finally we
unload the mail and freight. Usually there are no mail runners to take
the mail so we have to find carts and unload it our self.
After we do the first plane we go work the
other plane that arrived as we were working the first. The cycle starts
all over again. After both aircraft are unloaded one of two things
happens. If we are below staff we work one plane at a time to get it
loaded. If we have our six men we will divide up and load the planes at
the same time.
Of course we can not get the job done in the
40-50 minutes given us. We take "delays" In reality we
don't get delays because our aircraft computers log us out "on time"
when the pilot releases the brakes and the cabin door is closed. We
could be in the gate loading another 30 minutes past departure and still be on
time.
This is why planes land and wait for a gate when they arrive at
a hub.
This is the big scam. We are short
staffed, work hard, take delays but are "on time" so the bean
counters in MSP say, "Hey they are doing a great job! We can cut
staff a little more!" It's a joke.
A few years ago when we were a good airline I
had 40% more ramp crew and less load factor. You figure it out. As
a result of all of the poor media, customer complaints, the dragging out of
our contracts and of course pay cuts, morale is very poor.
I'd like to go to another airline but I do not
have the option. In business, when you change jobs you can deal for a
raise. In the airlines, to cut costs everyone has part time, with a ten
year top out pay scale. I need the higher wages and medical benefits.
I'm stuck at Northwest and will ride out the
storm until things get good again.
The second point. I do not have to deal with the
customers, but my friends upstairs do. I have heard and witnessed many
terrible things. Our agents are also short staffed. Many
passengers have the correct attitude that they paid a lot of money and should
get great service. Unfortunately, we do not have the staff or support
for great service.
When passengers get upset over weather and mechanical delays
they take it out on the agent who has nothing to do with the problem.
They are not told anything, or if they know the plane is no good are not
allowed to tell the people about the problem.
A recent example will illustrate the point. An agent on
my gate knew she did not have a crew for her flight. They were indefinitely
delayed by weather at another airport. No one knew when they would arrive to
fly the plane.
Nevertheless, the agent was instructed to board the plane at
730pm and hope the crew or a replacement would arrive. She was then told
that if no crew showed up by 930pm to deplane the aircraft and wait for the
regularly scheduled crew to arrive from the station with weather.
Of course the plane was emptied at 930pm. Those people
waited until midnight for the crew to arrive, but then the flight attendants
went "illegal" (FAA rules on hours flown per day) and the
flight was cancelled.
Of course all the people were irate and took it out on the
agent. It was not her fault, she did not want to load a plane with no
crew, but she got the brunt of Northwest management's decision to load the
aircraft and wait.
This goes on all the time, especially with mechanical problems.
As a result, our agents are abused every hour of every day of every month of
every year. These agents are tired of being abused and adopt survival
modes. When an agent is confronted by a customer who is irate the agent
immediately assumes the defensive posture and "attitude" you talk
about.
That same agent does not usually have the ability or power to
right the wrong the customer has endured. I wish customers would keep
this in mind and reserve their anger for the manager on duty.
Well, I've vented enough. Next time you have a good
flight try to say something nice to an employee. On your next terrible
flight try not to take it out on the employee. We feel bad about our
level of service. We fly a lot and know how tough it is to have flight
problems. As a result we try out best to avert problems.
I love my job and work hard. I hope things get better.
Please remember, Northwest had the media on their tail, lost mail contracts
and none of the big three will fly us any more and still no changes in the way
we do business.
The short of it, the root of the
problem, is upper management who are paid obscene wages to screw the company up,
and to screw employees and passengers alike. And while I have empathy for
NWA employees I still think that I and other consumers are entitled to get the
service for which we have paid. NWA does not deliver reasonable service
and I simply refuse to fly them anymore. At some point, rather right or
wrong, the employees at NWA end up paying the price for that situation.
I understand the difficulties of
changing your employment, but I honestly think that you and other employees will
have little choice over the long run. I urge that you seriously consider
schooling, with the goal of leaving the airline industry.
Ronald J. Riley
Page last revised 11-2-99
 Northwest Made
Me A Very
Unhappy Customer
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Ronald
J. Riley
1323 West Cook Road
Grand Blanc, MI 48439
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 Wasted Time & Money
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