Newspapers / Piedmont Aviation Employee Newsletter / Feb. 1, 1988, edition 1 / Page 3
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up for discussion Have a question about Piedmont? This column, “up for discussion,” gives you an opportunity to ask questions about your Company. All questions must be signed and include your neune, title, and location. Your name will be withheld from publication and will not be revealed when your question is sent to the proper department for an answer. Unsigned questions will be automat ically discarded. When related questions are received, they will be consolidated and answered as one question. As many questions and answers as space allows will appear each month in “up for discussion.” Send your questions to Piedmonitor Editor, H440, or One Piedmont Plaza, Winston-Salem, NC 27156-1000. Q, 1 would like to know if Piedmont has thought about service to the U.S. Virgin Is lands? I work in MIA and see a large num ber of bags going to other carriers to the Virgin Islands, and it seems to me this might prove a lucrative market. program is simply one of the many ingre dients that is necessary for Piedmont to compete in today's deregulated environment. Dave Howard manager-frequent traveler marketing Q, I, along with numerous passengers, was wondering why Piedmont doesn’t have ATL-BWI service (without making CLT con nections)? We used to have a couple of BWI flights that did real well! Q, As a reservations sales agent, I have received numerous requests for service to Hawaii. Now that Piedmont is using our 767-200S from CLT to LAX, is PI/USAir considering starting service to Hawaii? A. No plans are underway for Piedmont to serve the U.S. Virgin Islands. However, as I have mentioned in this paper before, any city with good potential is a possibil ity for Piedmont. A, ATL to BWI nonstop service is cer tainly a possibility for the future. Cur rently we have attached a low priority number to this market because of all the nonstop service provided by our competi tion. There are other markets with less di rect flights where we feel our aircraft can be more efficiently used. A, Serving Hawaii by Piedmont/USAir has not been discussed. Piedmont's new 767-type aircraft is certainly capable of flying this route from our east coast cities. Schedules are firm for the first six 767s and the decision to pick up the option on an additional six aircraft has not been made yet. If this decision is in the affirma tive, then meetings will be held with USAir to plan the use of these aircraft. Bob McAlphin vice president-airline scheduling Q, , Each day as a reservations agent, I am asked to sell Piedmont. One feature of Piedmont that I push is our Frequent Flyer Program, but I have very little feedback. Is our Frequent Flyer Program successful and how many members do we have? A While enrollment figures for Pied mont’s Frequent Flyer Bonus Program are confidential and must remain so for com petitive reasons, our program, by all crite ria, has been extremely successful. Piedmont was one of the last airlines to establish a frequent flyer program; how ever, our program consistently ranks very well when compared with the programs of our competitors. I do think, however, that the purpose of our program should be kept in perspective. While a good frequent flyer program can help Piedmont build and retain a loyal customer base, it can never make up for bad service, late flights, or non-competitive fares. A strong competitive frequent flyer Q. Will USAir adopt or adapt our vaca tion/holiday policy? If they don’t, we will lose 2 to 5 weeks time off (depending on how many extra vacation weeks we’ve ac crued), and for some of us that time is as valuable as the overtime pay USAir gives for working holidays. Q, Having had two major operations in the past IV2 yeairs, I am greatly concerned about the sick leave policy of the combined airline. With PI, I currently have 5V2 months at full pay. I understand with USAir you have to build up sick leave time at the rate of two days per month. Where will I stand, with 24 years, if I should need another major surgery after the two carriers merge? A. There are numerous questions about how Piedmont's benefit plans and person nel policies compare with USAir At this time, these plans and policies are being studied Jointly with USAir in light of the pending operational integration of the two carriers. It is too early to answer specific questions because final decisions and im plementation plans for the changeover have not been made. Current Piedmont and USAir employees will learn of changes which affect them as soon as possible, but at this point, there remain many details to be worked out before this massive commu nication and education effort can begin. Stay tuned. . .You will be informed! Jack Mahood director-compensation and organization planning Q. While flying on Piedmont, I have no ticed that a lot of lap children cry during the take-offs and landings. What I have been told is that it is the change in cabin pressure. Is there any printed material out on child care during flight? A, Normally a question about child care during flight doesn’t come up until the parent and child are airborne and the par ent suddenly realizes he or she has a problem! Our flight attendants are given some guidelines and suggestions during their training so they can handle these sit uations. Since we get so few questions, we've never felt it was necessary to pub lish a brochure giving this information. Our medical advisory service tells me it's best to have an infant suck on a pacifier during climb and descent to help relieve the pressure that builds up at those times. An infant should not be given a bottle until the flight reaches cruising altitude. Carl Crumley director-passenger procedures traffic January passengers 1,891,437 -t- 8.6% revenue passenger miles 905.7 million + 14.5% available seat miles 1.7 billion -1-13.2% load factor 53.31% + .60 pts. •Record January in all categories. •The following stations set new boarding records in January: NAS, PHX, and SAN. • Our seven reservations centers answered 3,024,568 calls in January. around Piedmont On March 1 our fleet will include 62 737-200s, 39 737- 300s, 34 727-200S, 20 F28-I000s, 25 F28-4000s, and five 767-200s for a total of 185 aircraft. Eight more 737-300S are scheduled for delivery in 1988, one more 767-200, and nine 737-400s. The first 737-400 is sched uled to arrive on September 14. On the March 1 schedule. Piedmont will serve 96 air ports (123 cities) in 30 states plus the District of Colum bia, Ottawa, Montreal, London, and Nassau. * * * Every Piedmont employee—21,334 people—received a Christmas card along with a crisp $100 bill from Chair man Bill McGee for their efforts on behalf of the company in 1987. It was the seventh year in a row that Piedmont has said thank you to employees in this manner Pied mont also paid the tax on the money so that the total gift amounted to $2,989,472. * * * Chairman Bill McGee has been elected to the Air TVans- port Association’s board of directors for 1988. * * * Billy Hagan—owner of Hagan Racing Teams, Inc., which fields the #44 Piedmont/Underalls NASCAR Win ston Cup Oldsmobile entry driven by Sterling Marlin— has named Herb Hupperich the operation team man ager. Hupperich joined the Hagan Racing Team in Au gust 1987 as business manager. In addition, Danny Culler, Piedmont Beechcraft salesman in Winston- Salem, has been named assistant team manager. Culler has been actively involved in Winston Cup Racing since 1982 when Piedmont joined the NASCAR circuit. * * * Agent Jeff Girdwood won a dinner for two in FAY’s first class upgrade contest in November. Girdwood upgraded 40 passengers for the month. Agent Robert Rotan came in second with 29, and Mary Ann Huskey was third with 26. FAY employees accounted for 331 upgrades repre senting $6,620 in additiongd revenue for Piedmont. * * ♦ Piedmont jumped on the Boston Herald “Beat the Colts” bandwagon in December by offering to fly 100 New England lobsters and a case of premium cham pagne to the Tkmpa Bay Buccaneers if they could beat the Colts. BOS Agent Dave Smith first suggested that Piedmont offer to fly the prizes directly to the Bucs. Operations Supervisor Rich Henry contacted Kerry Eggleston, manager-cargo sales, who gave the go-ahead to the proj ect, then Henry contacted the Boston Herald with the offer. The results; Piedmont was featured in a story in the Herald. But the Colts defeated the Buccaneers, and the lobsters and champagne never left Boston. ♦ * * In March, the movie scheduled to show on our flights from CLT to both LGW and LAX is “Three Men and a Baby.’’ On the return flights, passengers will see “Suspect.’’ * * ♦ Reservations agents at INTRO led employees in Winston-Salem in total percentage giving to the United Way. Eighty-three percent of the employees gave to the annual campaign, and over 70 percent of the employees in general aviation, revenue accounting, and at head quarters contributed this year. Contributions by employees in computer services in creased 59 percent over 1986; by flight attendants, 51 percent; by employees at the training center, 59 percent; and at headquarters, 166 percent. * * * Our customer relations department reports that no complaints were received in 1987 for 11 Piedmont sta tions. Congratulations to employees at AZO, BHM, CHA, CHO, ELM, EVV, GNV, NAS, PHX, SAN, and STL. 4: >ti Jetstream, a Piedmont subsidiary and a member of the Piedmont Commuter System, experienced record growth in 1987. Jetstreaim enplaned 573,473 passengers in 1987 com pared to 150,166 in 1986. During 1987, the airline added 17 aircraft and expanded its route system which now in cludes 29 destinations. Jetstream operates 73 daily departures at DAY and 39 at BWI. ♦ ♦ * Colin Coyle, city sciles manager, BDL, has been ap pointed to serve for a second term as a member of the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau. February 1988 • Piedmonitor
Piedmont Aviation Employee Newsletter
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Feb. 1, 1988, edition 1
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