Dead right westjet
No commitment by the Company? No commitment from the staff. Airlines need the old heads. They did in my day and they do now, but that means employing humans. Humans cost money. Bugger - let's not!
Head count out by 16 is inexcusable. That shows a totally broken system of checks and balances. That aeroplane should never have rolled. The industry has more than started to scare me. As for self checkin there is no longer a crosscheck at all to see if the passenger booked as John Scrotumwarbler III is indeed Achmed bin Bombin. Security is now zero.
Training wheels
Totally agree.
When I left TN after they left North West Tassie and joined as Airports Manager (also bag chucker, loco and checkin dude) for East West the system they brought in was free boarding. We produced a sheet showing how many per zone we required but the F/As obviously knew better.
We had a nasty habit of actually checking where they were vs where we wanted them and on one occasion I pulled down the F/A seat inside the rear door, sat my arse down and put my feet up on the galley. Advised the girls that we go nowhere until you get this right. Gutsy for a then contracted agent but I stuck to my guns. I was signing the aeroplane out and wasn't budging. One of the girls got the skipper who came back and when told why I was being pedantic gave them both a roasting. Problem fixed, load corrected, aeroplane rolled.
That was unusual for East West but may have been caused by rapid expansion at the time.
We have lost the culture obviously. Too many old heads gone. Too few people actually interfacing with SLF and no commitment to an airline when you actually work for Grace L Ferguson Airline Handling and Septic Tank Cleaning Pty Ltd.
Quel domage
Best all
EWL