Reduced Seating Capacity

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llondel
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Reduced Seating Capacity

#1 Post by llondel » Sun May 08, 2022 10:22 pm

I see that EasyJet is taking seats out of its A319 aircraft so it can operate with one fewer cabin crew. I guess they've figured it's cheaper to lose a few paying passengers than have a fully booked flight that gets cancelled because of staff shortages. That's how they're spinning it, although the "we don't expect to fill an aircraft on those routes for months yet, and we can economise on staff costs" could be qanother way of looking at it.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61370175
EasyJet plans to remove seats on some of its planes this summer, so that it can operate flights with fewer cabin crew.

The airline is battling staff shortages as it attempts to return to pre-pandemic levels of service.

By taking out the back row of seating on its A319 fleet, EasyJet said it will be able to fly with three cabin crew instead of four.

That would limit numbers on board to a maximum 150 passengers.

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Re: Reduced Seating Capacity

#2 Post by reddo » Mon May 09, 2022 8:06 pm

Yeah, above 150 seats = 4 cabin crews. Therefore, 150 seats max = 3 cabin crew. Now you'd think they'd then give a bit more leg room... but I doubt it. TOP easyJet Forum has lit up with a lot of photoshopped options, such as a food vending machine, slot machine, selfy machine, ball pool, a bed etc. :D
The cabin crew shortages are pretty bad. Even the pilots aren't turning up for Indocs.

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Re: Reduced Seating Capacity

#3 Post by barkingmad » Tue May 10, 2022 11:28 am

Obviously airline and airport management has not improved since I hung up my headset nearly 9 years ago.

Another snippet from MailOnline;

"Holidaymakers jetting off today face airport chaos, with delays to flights and queues stretching outside the terminals.

Passengers at Manchester Airport say they are facing a two-hour wait at security check-in this morning, with queues leading outside the terminal and into to a nearby car-park.

Meanwhile, at Birmingham Airport, passengers have complained of ‘ridiculous’ queues at departures today, with long queues outside the main terminal building.

There are also delays to flights, with at least ten late flights at Manchester and four at Birmingham as of 8am this morning. Meanwhile at Stansted, there were also claims of two-hour delays at passport control last night.

The reason is that airports laid off almost half their staff during the pandemic, and despite Birmingham saying it began a recruitment drive in November, six months it seems is not long enough to recruit and train replacements for the lost workers. Manchester, however, admitted it only began its recruitment drive last month."

The phrase “proper planning prevents poor performance”, also known as the “5P's of success”, promotes the importance of planning for a successful outcome. For more try:- https://www.conundra.eu/blog/proper-pla ... erformance

One has to wonder if all the staff laid off due to the 'plague' will ever return or will they understandably seek safe sinecure in other industries? :-w

Meanwhile, back in the management offices, as they congratulate each other on a successful 2 years of completing their diversity, inclusion and multiculturalism brainwashing courses, they suddenly noticed that someone had left the bath plug askew and there is now a previously but ignored forecast water shortage. =))

P S. Reddo, what are "Indocs"?

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Re: Reduced Seating Capacity

#4 Post by G-CPTN » Tue May 10, 2022 10:00 pm

new hire #airline #pilot indoctrination, commonly known as #Indoc #training.


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Re: Reduced Seating Capacity

#5 Post by Woody » Wed May 11, 2022 6:38 am

One has to wonder if all the staff laid off due to the 'plague' will ever return or will they understandably seek safe sinecure in other industries?
.

We’re actually beginning to see some staff that left the company returning, obviously we think that they’re completely mad and have given them the name “retreads “. :-o
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Re: Reduced Seating Capacity

#6 Post by Wodrick » Wed May 11, 2022 8:27 am

BM seems to be pointing at EGCC dunno. Staff laid off will I expect have found better paid jobs with much better working conditions. Go back - must be joking.
Minimum wage, 0400 starts etc.
SM did a season, note one season.
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Re: Reduced Seating Capacity

#7 Post by barkingmad » Wed May 11, 2022 10:56 am

G-CPTN wrote:
Tue May 10, 2022 10:00 pm
new hire #airline #pilot indoctrination, commonly known as #Indoc #training.


Google is your friend.
I suspected that "indoc" might have something to do with newly arrived trainees, but to use such a word is to confirm just how far down the road BigCorp has progressed towards 1984, Brave New World etc etc.

indoctrination, noun;
the process of repeating an idea or belief to someone until they accept it without criticism or question.....religious/political/ideological indoctrination. The lasting effect of indoctrination should not be exaggerated.

More examples
"The level of indoctrination among the nation’s youth had reached fever pitch.
Ten years of indoctrination produced a generation of young bigots.
Propaganda and indoctrination reinforced the pressures on people to change their way of life and thought."

If that is what airline (mis)management thinks is necessary for new recruits to the job of airframe movement then I will take another look at the shipping companies, except of course P&O... ~X(

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Re: Reduced Seating Capacity

#8 Post by k3k3 » Wed May 11, 2022 12:56 pm

When I joined NATO AWACS in 1983 the type training, something like an RAF Q course, was referred to as indoctrination by USAF personnel.

I began to wonder whether this was a job or a religious order.

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Re: Reduced Seating Capacity

#9 Post by reddo » Thu May 26, 2022 8:19 am

Indoc - as others and google has said, indoctrination training. Induction would work too. The new hires find out what fleet they're on, get uniforms, iPads, Amex, Fire fighting, SEP, CRM and special airport modules. All fun fun fun.

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Re: Reduced Seating Capacity

#10 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Thu May 26, 2022 11:06 am

On my last flight, about 3 years ago, my seat was more cramped and less comfortable than my Tornado. I shall not be flying again until that's changed.
And, as is the case with some people I know who are not returning to their jobs post-Covid (and this may be true of cabin crew), having made the decision, I will now require more things to change before I go back.
These include.
1) Get rid of the pointless and highly intrusive security. 90%+ of it is wholly ineffective.
2) Stop changing schedules and flights solely for a few extra bucks of revenue then lying about the reasons.
3) Get back to setting schedules based on when people want to travel, and not when best suits crew changeovers. Example: The one flight from UK to my regional international airport now arrives 15 minutes after the one daily shuttle bus departs, and the return flight timing, especially with the security, now requires an overnight stay at the airport the night before.

And, to be honest, I can't see one of these happening, much less all of them.

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Re: Reduced Seating Capacity

#11 Post by Rwy in Sight » Thu May 26, 2022 7:08 pm

Fox,

I suppose that it is easier to change the schedule of the bus to operate in conjunction with the large flight rather than the other way around. Not you are wrong about the other issues but people still vote with their credit cards. When the sort out their choices based on the least expensive first it is an issue for every body. And then we don't want the big security companies to lose money do we?

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Re: Reduced Seating Capacity

#12 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu May 26, 2022 7:55 pm

On A Related Note

U.S. backs flight attendants in California labor law fight
The flight attendants won a lower court ruling that found Virgin America failed to abide by the state’s meal and rest break law.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/us ... -rcna30604

The Biden administration has given its backing to a group of California-based flight attendants who won a lower court ruling that found Virgin America failed to abide by the state’s meal and rest break law.

The Justice Department’s solicitor general told the U.S. Supreme Court it should not take up an appeal after the 9th Circuit sided with flight attendants in a 2021 decision.

The lower court said airlines could comply with both Federal Aviation Administration safety rules and California’s meal and break requirement by “staff[ing] longer flights with additional flight attendants in order to allow for duty-free breaks.”

Virgin America, which was acquired by Alaska Air Group in 2016, told the Supreme Court the decision could wreak “nationwide havoc in the airline industry” and require airlines to add multiple flight attendants per flights, and inevitably pilots, and “will displace paying passengers.”

Alaska Airlines said Wednesday it plans to file a response to the Justice Department, adding “uniform national standards are critical to ensuring the safety of the U.S. air transportation system. The application of individual state laws would introduce unacceptable levels of risk and complexity to air travel.”

Lawyers for the flight attendants said the impact would be limited to flights completely within California, adding “it is undisputed that Virgin can comply with those requirements by simply staffing any wholly-intrastate flights with an additional flight attendant — at the marginal cost of $100 per flight.

Airlines for America, a group representing American Airlines, United Airlines and others, said the California rules should be preempted by federal law and urged the Supreme Court to reverse the decision.

The group said “the only way airlines can comply with these laws is to add more flight attendants on ‘longer’ flights and to schedule longer ground times between ‘shorter’ flights.”

The Justice Department said the Transportation Department and FAA “are prepared to facilitate discussions outside of this litigation with the airlines, unions, and states to address and minimize any other potential disruption to the traveling public that could arise.”

PP

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Re: Reduced Seating Capacity

#13 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Thu May 26, 2022 8:57 pm

RiS
They used to run 3 shuttles a day pre-Covid. I suspect they now run one because there's some outstanding Provincial funding/rules that stops them running zero. I'm sure you know how it works. It gets run at the most inconvenient times precisely to get low use, so they later have a reason for cutting it completely. I've seen the same in the UK several times.
Add in the dearth of bus drivers - they've all gone to drive trucks as there's more money because of that shortage, or retired because of poor treatment (I have a friend who used to drive for them, who took early retirement), or who won't get vaxxed (still a requirement, although all requirements have 'officially' been dropped)- and there is little hope of any common sense returning soon.
And any start-up operation will get squished by a combination of big business and their best friend - government. Indeed the shuttle run was originally a start-up, in fact two (hence 3 runs), but both got squished and bought out by the current effective monopoly company. The big company ran a shuttle at lower rates, the 2 start-ups lost money, then got bought out.

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