Technogeez
Gone but not forgetting
Premium
join:2007-01-20
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·Verizon FIOS
| [Rant] United Air Lines - (LONG)
OK - so I'm flying on United, and because I'm in the mid-west trying to go West, I have to connect thru Chicago.
(Insert your favorite epithet here)
Yeah, I hear ya.
Coming back from Colorado (and everyone knows how screwed up Colorado is right now, what with the early snowstorm they had this week), and I'm taking off out of Colo Springs this morning, and it's 17 degrees (BRRRRR!) and there's ice on the roads, and all kinds of death and destruction (well, several people had traffic accidents) but I get to the airport and lo, and behold, my flight departs on time and gets to Chicago within 10 minutes of scheduled arrival time. So far so good, right?
So I show up at my connection gate and the CRJ is at the gate (GOOD), but the right engine cowling is up (BAD). Apparently, they can't get the sucker to fire up, so they diddle around with it for an hour or so before they decide it ain't gonna fly. Good call from my perspective; twin engine jets don't fly well on one engine.
So the geniuses in Operations hijack another plane for the FULL flight to a small mid-Western city, and move the gate, so all the pax and I head on down (like a bunch of itinerant gypsies) to the new gate, wait for the slightly delayed arrival of our new ride, get loaded on board, and we taxi out about two hours late.
The take off roll is uneventful -- other than being unusually short (first clue) -- and we get to our destination about an hour later.
Pax dutifully unload, and the gaggle harches down to baggage claim. Doors open, buzzers buzz, belts crank, and six bags appear. Belts stop, doors close (second clue), and a disembodied voice advises the 50 or so pax that "that's all the bags that were on the flight, and if yours didn't arrive, file a claim with the agent at the ticket counter..."
Collective groan, and a mass stampede to the counter, where the LONE TICKET AGENT is explaining to one person how Chicago had called and warned her that they had somehow "forgotten" to load "about 20 or so bags" on the flight.
There were at least 45 people in line to claim their lost bags.
If we had arrive with only a few minutes, nay, even a half-hour between connections, I could easily accept United's failure to get the bags on the plane as reasonable.
But with an HOUR AND A HALF, AND a gate change that the system knew about an hour before departure, there's no reasonable excuse for failing to load the bags.
How/why can this happen in today's IT-intense environment?
/rant
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Read your contract and TOS before signing anything. |
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Shadow01
Premium
join:2003-10-24
Wasteland
 ·AT&T Midwest
| said by Technogeez  :How/why can this happen in today's IT-intense environment? /rant because corporations don't care about you.
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GUN CONTROL:
using both hands |
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wilbilt
Pronto Resurrected
Premium
join:2004-01-11
Oroville, CA
| reply to Technogeez
said by Technogeez :How/why can this happen in today's IT-intense environment? /rant Because the focus has shifted to the handheld device. The things that actually make the world go round are peripheral to the equation.
I always stuff everything I need into one carry-on bag. Never check anything.
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We were taking a vote when the ground came up and hit us. |
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disconnected
@snet.net | ...if they don't permit an item as carry on, you're pretty much out of luck there. |
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CylonRed
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
| reply to Technogeez
Lots of stuff had top happen to the new airplane before the bags could have been loaded. I would be willing to bet a years pay that the VAST majority of the people would have been whining about being 3-3.5 hours late even if they had their bags.
It is not like they have dedicated crews for each plane - the crews go from gate to gate and the airline is penalized MORE, if pulling one crew to deal with bags, causes 3 others to be delayed down the line.
They are literally in a no win situation because the passengers put them there every day.
IT does not solve needing time to get the bags off a plane, moved, then on another one while people wait and limited ground crew. That was PLAINLY shown when Denver tried IT to solve all baggage problems - it did not work to well.
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Brian
"It drops into your stomach like a Abrams's tank.... driven by Rosanne Barr..." A. Bourdain |
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gregz
join:2009-10-01
1 edit | reply to Technogeez
Nothing to do with United, it has to do with the ground crews, who are a 3rd party contracted company (Delta flight operations). This is not the first time that they sent the original flights bags along with the plane. Your bags will show up most likely on the next flight, or the last flight of the night. All that you can do is carry on your bags, never ship them as cargo. |
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Sweet Witch
Be the flame, not the moth.
Premium,MVM
join:2003-07-15
Gallifrey
 ·Comcast
| said by gregz :
All that you can do is carry on your bags, never ship them as cargo.
Unfortunately many airlines are now severely limiting what you can carry on.
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"While you can teach an old dog new tricks, you simply can't teach him to be a cat."
"Are you my Mummy?" |
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ElJay
join:2004-03-17
·Great Works Internet
| reply to gregz
said by gregz :All that you can do is carry on your bags, never ship them as cargo. Most planes do not have the interior space to allow this. Still, it doesn't stop more than half of the passengers from trying to do it, which makes getting off the plane take three times long. People cannot manage the huge bags that they're trying to get out of the bins. Then once the bags are out of the bin, the passengers are barely able to wheel them down the narrow aisle of the plane. Plus they have a secondary carry-on (laptop bag, purse, etc) that they're trying to maneuver at the same time. |
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Sweet Witch
Be the flame, not the moth.
Premium,MVM
join:2003-07-15
Gallifrey
·Comcast
| I don't think a purse should be considered a carry-on unless it's one of those hobo bags you can fit two days of clothes and a dog into.
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"While you can teach an old dog new tricks, you simply can't teach him to be a cat."
"Are you my Mummy?" |
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Technogeez
Gone but not forgetting
Premium
join:2007-01-20
·AT&T U-Verse
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to gregz
said by gregz :Nothing to do with United, it has to do with the ground crews, who are a 3rd party contracted company (Delta flight operations). This is not the first time that they sent the original flights bags along with the plane. Your bags will show up most likely on the next flight, or the last flight of the night. All that you can do is carry on your bags, never ship them as cargo. The bags showed up late that night/early next morning, but I pity the pilot who had to fly that segment -- he had 50 people in the cabin, and 100 people's worth of bags down below!
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Read your contract and TOS before signing anything. |
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gregz
join:2009-10-01
| You can actually get 150 bags in the rear of a CRJ, and as for passengers, you can still fly with humans. Pilots just have to make sure that they are within CG. Air Wisconsin actually had a program, that you could plug in the number of passengers (Adult, Children, Infants), Carry-ons, Checked Bags, cargo, fuel. The program would tell you if you where within CG without the pilot doing any calc's. Worked great when you wanted to get the most out of the flight in situations such as delayed flights, cancels, and having to bump passengers to the next, etc.
In all reality, you could send roughly 30 passengers with the 150 bags, 6,000 lbs of fuel, and be within the numbers. |
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Technogeez
Gone but not forgetting
Premium
join:2007-01-20
·AT&T U-Verse
·Verizon FIOS
| said by gregz :You can actually get 150 bags in the rear of a CRJ, and as for passengers, you can still fly with humans. Pilots just have to make sure that they are within CG. Air Wisconsin actually had a program, that you could plug in the number of passengers (Adult, Children, Infants), Carry-ons, Checked Bags, cargo, fuel. The program would tell you if you where within CG without the pilot doing any calc's. Worked great when you wanted to get the most out of the flight in situations such as delayed flights, cancels, and having to bump passengers to the next, etc. In all reality, you could send roughly 30 passengers with the 150 bags, 6,000 lbs of fuel, and be within the numbers. I expect it climbs like a pig, tho, with all that extra weight...
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Read your contract and TOS before signing anything. |
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gregz
join:2009-10-01
| Actually it won't. You would be surprised at the amount of power that the engines have, and actually, the weight is not as much as you believe with that load. The calc's are 30# for a carry on, 170 for a Adult (calc of 30# for assumed carryon), 80 for a child, infants are not considered any weight, avg. bag is figured at 50#. We could weight and balance a plane with 3 crew, 50 pax, 100 bags, 6,000 lbs of fuel, and still have it in CG. They would burn 5,000 lbs getting to ORD with no problems. |
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Technogeez
Gone but not forgetting
Premium
join:2007-01-20
·AT&T U-Verse
·Verizon FIOS
| said by gregz :Actually it won't. You would be surprised at the amount of power that the engines have, and actually, the weight is not as much as you believe with that load. The calc's are 30# for a carry on, 170 for a Adult (calc of 30# for assumed carryon), 80 for a child, infants are not considered any weight, avg. bag is figured at 50#. We could weight and balance a plane with 3 crew, 50 pax, 100 bags, 6,000 lbs of fuel, and still have it in CG. They would burn 5,000 lbs getting to ORD with no problems. I am surprised -- but it still doesn't change the fact that
a) a 2.5 hour flight in the back of a CRJ SUX, and
b) they fumble-farted the luggage loading in the first place.
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Read your contract and TOS before signing anything. |
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cmaenginsb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-19
Palmdale, CA
| reply to Technogeez
At least you got your bag in the same day.
I was on an Horizon flight from LAX to Bend for Xmas last year. Storms had made a mess of flights to/from Portland and Seattle. Our flight was full, some of which were people rebooked because of the cancelations the previous day. Favoring people over luggage we left with many bags on the ground.
My mom was one who didn't have a bag waiting for her when we got off the plane.
4 days later, the day we were leaving her bag arrived at the airport. In order to get the bags there the airline had to Fedex them.
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CCNA, Comtrain Certified Tower Climber |
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gregz
join:2009-10-01 | reply to Technogeez
RJ's are not supposed to be luxury. That is what happens when you fly a Grayhound bus with wings. |
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Technogeez
Gone but not forgetting
Premium
join:2007-01-20
·AT&T U-Verse
·Verizon FIOS
| said by gregz :RJ's are not supposed to be luxury. That is what happens when you fly a Grayhound bus with wings. You make it sound like I had a choice here...
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Read your contract and TOS before signing anything. |
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gregz
join:2009-10-01 | You don't when you are the flying public. Flying commercial is exactly like taking the bus. |
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cmaenginsb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-19
Palmdale, CA
| reply to Technogeez
I worked with company that setup inline screening systems as a part of the BHS. It's interesting to note that none of the employees of the companies who make those systems check baggage. They effectively state they don't trust their own systems.
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CCNA, Comtrain Certified Tower Climber |
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David
No,there is another.
Premium,VIP
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL
clubs:
 ·DIRECTV
 ·magicjack.com
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to Technogeez
Hey they even break guitars
»www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo |
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