Seriously US Airways?
 

RANT

We didn't go because 1 flight attendant was timed out and couldn't legally do the flight. They cancelled a packed A320 flight to their hub because 1 obviously union flight attendant couldn't do an under 2 hour flight. Just unbelievable.

At least I don't have to ride a scarebus til tomorrow

/RANT

that's the FAR's for ya

"We're not happy til you're not happy"

I used to hate dealing with crap like that. ...one of the main reasons I left the airlines

Not a union thing, it's a regulatory thing (FARs). The airline screwed up in personnel management - the should have seen it coming and gotten coverage for the required attendant position.

Normally they get a replacement who get paid pretty good for that trip.

That's a management issue, not a union issue. And what, no manager could man up and do the role for the flight to help the customers?

It's always a union issue

sounds like they were out of base, and no, managers can't just work a flight. flight attendants have to be certificated. managers aren't. if they are out of base, then having somebody time-out just happens. especially this time of year with thunderstorm delays and diversions.

Certainly it is a great inconvenience - but with the memory of the Asiana crash still fresh, the value of F/A's is much more than passing out the peanuts.

While true that duty days are imposed by the FAA, delays due to duty-out are completely the fault of the airline essentially every time.
My company supports american carriers here in Canada, and I can tell you these duty-out failure to depart events have increased at least ten fold in the last few years. The truth is they plan their days to max duty time and cannot endure one delay througout the day without putting the final flight of the day in peril for duty time reasons. Proper staffing by airlines, as they used to exercise, prevented this from occuring as they had less saturated duty times, more available over run and extra staff where required. It is important to remember duty time is not as simple as hours in a day, your day, month and year of hours worked come into play. Meaning that is they say for example daily duty at 10hours, monthly at 180 and yearly at 2000, the daily can legally be extended to 14, but that impacts your monthly and yearly. If they were properly staffed, your FA duty day would have been extended and other staff would have made the shortfall in that FA's hours for other flights. They most often won't extend a crew members duty day as they have no way to compensate for it on the other end due to short staff issues.

And in the end, blame really comes back around to consumers who expect to fly for next to nothing, and then complain about the level of service on the flight.

This^^^

I had a flight delayed because "they couldn't find a pilot"... WTF?

In this modern age of computers and rising cost of airline tickets these guys can't CYA by having a pilot/attendant on standby... with hundreds of customers and thousands of dollars at stake? B.S.!

modern age of computers doesn't take into consideration every variable that can take place in an airline's schedule. it is so unbelievably dynamic. my old carrier completed around 1300 flights a day. and it wasn't even a Legacy carrier. there are so many factors at stake, that planning for every one is impossible. can it be better? of course. but it's remarkable how good it is, considering how many variables there are.

...and that includes late passengers, people who spend too much time getting their seats and putting their carryon's away, etc.

Entering the airport an md 80 pilot had a flip answer for a TSA inspector.
Why was the pilot taking 2 10lb dumb bells on the flight?
(my guess the pilot works his biceps on the red eye to help stay awake.)

Pilot " Do you know where I sit?"
Did that mean he does not need dumb bells to do something bad?

Anyways..
Plane taxied to the runway but before take off was called back to the gate and delayed 1/2 a day.
TSA wanted to meet the pilot again, so the flight was stuck till the airport departure curfew lifted next morning. :p

I get it but how many other businesses are just as dynamic but still manage to stick to a schedule? Why does the airline get a total pass to f*** the customer?

I don't know how the airlines make any money.

Subs baby subs - From da gubmint' - day gots all sorts and don't mind given

Easy...just like GM. The gov't bails them out.

^^This.^^

Yes, the flight attendant scheduler(s) have computer programs that mark these conflicts ahead of time but sometimes it comes down to minutes, sometimes just one or two. The scheduler probably gambled and assumed the stew would make it under the FAR limit but then she didn't and the gamble failed. Happens all the time. Cost-cutting, radical cost-cutting, is what causes this. They shave the meat so close to the bone trying to squeeze that last buck out of the operation that they shave it too far and get bone. (Only metaphor I could come up with on the fly.) Keep in mind too that if the stew goes past the regulation duty period she (he) can be punished. Pilots too. Airline flying is one of the few places where the feds love to enforce the rules and they rarely punish the carriers, they go after crews. Feel free to stick your neck out for that kind of punishment at your job.

In the US, Southwest Airlines had the lowest rate of complaints in 2006, with 0.11 complaints per 100,000 passengers, while US Airways and United Airlines had the worst rate of complaints, both with 1.36 complaints per 100,000 passengers. US Airways is also the US airline with the worst on-time performance, which might explain its rate of complaints.

Go to this website: Aviation Consumer Protection | Department of Transportation
Left column, click "file complaint"