Manager Abusing His Power

[OldFogey]

I don't know how true this is but:-

A manager was stuck in Alicante at the end of his leave and abused his power to sit on the flight-deck jump seat to get home.

He was not in uniform or carrying out any duties in his official capacity and had no letter of authorisation to sit on the flight-deck.

The operating captain quietly acquiesced as he rather likes working for this particular company and has a wife and mortgage.

As I said this is doing the rounds and I would give it a 9 7/8 out of 10 that it took place.


Any thoughts ladies and gentlemen?

OF :yuk:

[c.r.m what is it]

So u going to tell us what airline it was?????

[OldFogey]

Well, it's not the orange or the Irish.....

OF;)

[surely not]

I don't think we need to know the specific airline, that info would only end up as a sensational headline in some tabloid trash.

The point is that the Manager acted unreasonably and against the DfT instruction. The Captain could not have been dismissed without him being able to sue the airline to the ends of the earth for unfair dismissal, and that would have reached the papers with all the subsequent bad publicity.

[RAT 5]

Rather than castigate the captain or manager, might it not be more correct to blitz the DfT who have imposed unnecessary draconian rules. A few years ago this would not have raised an eyebrow. Why can not an airline do what it wants with its own equipment? If the captain confirms an employee's status, and the MD approves such action, why cannot any employee use any company seat for whatever reason?
World's gone mad in the hyper knee jerk security enviroment. Commonsense seems to be a very low value commodity.

[OldFogey]

surely not

This airline is quite prepared to fire people who stand up and try and uphold the law. Publicity in these circumstances doesn't bother them.

RAT 5

I agree but the law, whether it makes sense or not, is the law. On the face of it the captain involved could be dismissed and prosecuted for breaching DfT regulations. The manager concerned would probably walk off into the sunset laughing his head off. That's the nature of the man.

OF:*

[Howlowcanugo]

Really!
Air Atlanta takes some ex-Trolley Dolly an makes managment.
Then to avoid getting proper ramp passes or to bypass immigration they are listed as Captain or First officer on the Gen Dec, given a uniform and ID to match.
Witnessed one of those with 4 stripes as a Captain. His job was not even flight crew!
Think to myself how many years I worked to earn wearing this uniform, now this guy walks in an abuses the whole system.

[LatviaCalling]

I was on a flight the other day where the CEO of the airline elected to sit in the jump seat because the aircraft was very much overbooked. They had expected a larger aircraft.

Anyway, after relinquishing my seats, my twosome made $400 in cash on the deal, dinner and drinks, plus a nice hotel near the airport and taxi service to and from. Also my third toiletry kit.

No hard feelings about the CEO. He had a serious meeting the next day and no one else would have been able to sit in the jump seat. At the end, everyone was loaded aboard, except six passengers who had stand-by tickets. They did not show up at our hotel.

[lexxie747]

hello howlowcanyougo,
it wasnt by chance the same guy who ...... on board in uniform?

[yachtno1]

Look ....what is the point of having " a position of power " if you can't abuse it ? ;)

[Howlowcanugo]

No, not at all Lexxie, at least not on this flight.
This commom practice for this airline.
Honesty is not policy. In fact you are a hero if you save company money, time an flights by operating this manner.
Anything and everything to move the Aircraft.

[Flight Detent]

True is true,
Air Atlanta have been moving around Ops people and ground crew in flightcrew uniforms and IDs for years, I never liked them turning up aboard, but what can one do in such an airline?

In their biggest current freight contract, they move crew to and from leave by putting them down as pre-positioning crew and get them on the pax aircraft of that company!

We don't have enough band width here to go into all the things AA is doing 'under the carpet' to get things done on the cheap,
I guess that's one main reason why I don't fly for them any more!

Cheers

:yuk:

[MaximumPete]

Going back to the original posting this is a "gentleman" in a position of authority and trust with whom the CAA has been involved concerning a new AOC to make the airline a stand-alone low-cost operator.

This same gentleman has been instrumental in pushing CAP 371 to it's absolute limits. It has not been unknown for him to approach individuals who do not wish to extend their duty day with the words:- "It would be in your own best interest........"

Proving it is another matter as he is very careful not to use a telephone, just a one on one private conversation.

A rather unsavoury individual?

MP:suspect:

[Shuttleworth]

Hi Flight Detent!
We all know Air Atlanta is a crock of **** .
(They are proud of the fact that they offer poor terms and conditions.. They recently boasted of not having a single pilot or cabin crew person on a full time contract.)
Please tell us more !

[2Bad2Sad]

Shuttleworth,
Go to search, here at pprune, enter Air Atlanta.
Should be busy for days reading all.
99.98 % true.

[411A]

AAI used to offer pretty good terms, especially for those who only wanted to do seasonal flying.
Apparently the poison dwarf has changed the terms...not good.
The rest of the operation remains about the same since the early nineties...if it suits you, if not, say goodbye..Many have, and suspect a lot more will.
A leopard does not change its spots.

[chrisbl]

Look ....what is the point of having " a position of power " if you can't abuse it ?

Seems to apply to Captains too.

[Speed of Sound]

Any thoughts ladies and gentlemen?

Well the guy posed no obvious security threat so what is the problem?

Whether or not the guy is a t****r or not is neither here nor there. If any threat was implied to the captain's position in the company then that would be a different matter but I'm sure in this case there wasn't.

As I've said before. Security gone mad, that will not for one moment make a bit of difference other than to alienate those whose support is needed.

SoS

[HotDog]

Ridiculous! There is no reason why a jumpseat can not be released to a company employee with a valid ID, wether managment or otherwise, by the captain of the flight. I remember as a licensed airman, being involved in a wide body evaluation for my company in the early seventies, where we had to obtain flight deck pass permits from the FAA to be able to observe the operation of various types in the USA. That was way before 9/11. It obviously didn't and doesn't prevent terrorism in the air.

[maxy101]

Notwithstanding what has been written above, it would be an abuse of power/position if the law is being broken. If this occured on a UK registered airline, my understanding is that severe restrictions are now in place as to who may use a flight deck jumpseat. As for the rest of Europe, perhaps someone could enlighten us to the current state of affairs?