Guys
Having the honour of being one of the afore mentioned 'cack' Servisair dispatchers the ABO944 refers to, I can confirm that yes, we are losing the Flybe contract - a case of jumping before being pushed!
However, I'd like to be the first to warn all the happy folk at Menzies, its something of a poisoned chalice!
Endless tech problems, crew shortages, crew non arrivals, late crews at aircraft (the earliest you'll spot a Flybe crew is around -20 mins), abnormally abusive passengers, occassionally abusive crews, bizarre scheduling concepts (as mentioned above with the 19 Jun incident), plus some truly brilliant pieces of Flybe management logic that gets handed down from on high every once in a while which keeps everyone chuckling! My point is ABO944 that people in glass houses shouldnt throw stones - yes Servisair is not blameless, but to assume that it is responsible for all of Flybe's woes ignores your company's many operational inadequacies.
Addressing the Servisair staffing issue raised here, yes it is a problem, and I totally agree that along the way our management has lacked the foresight to recruit the staff needed to plug the gaps - which has led to delays on our part. For my part, I work my a** off like a blue a**ed tit most of the time, along with others, trying to keep people happy, running 3 or 4 flights at once and trying to keep flights vaguely on time.
However, I take offence to some of the comments, particularly those of ABO944 as expressed earlier. It is often the case that crews, who have a rather cushy time in the turnaround, sit in their cockpit handing down 'decrees' and orders, and informing us as to how to do our jobs. With respect, you are not ground handlers - kindly refrain from hassling dispatchers who already have 101 things to worry about, and who dont need to babysit a captain who would like another moan to the dispatcher who he/she often sees as their personal lapdog whilst on the ground (being asked to fetch a copy of the Times or buy some shortbread are two personal favourites of mine).
I don't know if im included in your elite of good rather than cack dispatchers - frankly it doesnt bother me. But I do know that all my colleagues work their best in trying circumstances to do their jobs, and we have come to realise that sometimes (yourself being a good example) we just cant please anybody.
Kind Regards
Pishpatcher