Newspapers / Piedmont Aviation Employee Newsletter / March 1, 1988, edition 1 / Page 3
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up for discussion orouno Piedmont For the past year, "up for discussion” has given you an opportunity to ask ques tions about your Company. But with the introduction of our new 800 number, the column is no longer needed. In the future, all questions/comments should be directed to 800-637-4374. Q, It’s a well-known fact that many em ployees commute on the company system to/from work. Commuters understand the priority seating of all revenue passengers and gladly step aside to accommodate the fare-paying passengers. However, when all revenue passengers have been boarded and seats remain, wouldn’t it save computer search time and contribute to an expedi tious departure if the gate agent would return boarding passes and advise the non- revs “to sit in any available coach seat”? This procedure seems like it would be help ful, particularly on flights to cities where Piedmont provides no continuing service, i.e., STL, MSP, DFW, lAH, MSY. A, We prefer that agents assign specific seats to non-revenue passengers so that their non-revenue status and corre sponding seat assignments appear on the computer-generated information sheet we give to flight attendants at departure time. With this information, flight attendants can readily determine the seat locations of employees in the event they don’t have enough meals, or have to deplane non- revs quickly as a result of late arriving revenue passengers. The procedure you’ve suggested should only be used when agents are pressed for time, and they are dealing with a non-meal flight, and the flight ter minates at the next station. Q. A number of airports, including BOS, EWR, and BWI, have designated certain parts of the gate area as nonsmoking areas. 1 no ticed that American has established separate smoking/nonsmoking areas at its gate area in Concourse A at CLT. Has Piedmont consid ered doing the same at CLT? With the upcom ing ban on smoking on flights of two hours or less, the situation will probably only increase as smokers light up during their wait for con necting flights. 1 ask you to look at this as not only a health issue, but as a competitive issue. I have to believe that we would only ben efit from giving the public clean air to breathe while connecting. A, Many states have enacted laws which specify that designated smoking sections be provided in airport waiting rooms, and some even give the exact ratio of smoking-to-non-smoking seats that must be set aside. California, Utah, Wash ington, and Alaska come to mind as states I've been in recently that seem to have such laws. Also, the private or government bodies that operate airports sometimes have rules with which we must comply. I believe it would be difficult for us to set a company-wide policy due to the varying laws at the airports, the limited seating space in many waiting rooms, and the possible conflict with other airlines with whom we share gates and who may have their own set of standards. Certainly, our station managers should monitor the situ ation after the new law banning smoking on flights of two hours or less becomes effective on April 23, and coordinate the establishment of designated smoking and non-smoking gate areas with our Proper ties and Facilities Department. Carl Crumley director-passenger procedures Ban on smoking begins April 23 A new federal law banning smoking on all flights of two hours or less goes into effect on April 23. According to Ted Phillips, staff vice president-airline scheduling, 1,261 of our 1,376 daily flight segments will be affected by the law. “That number translates to 92 percent of our system departures, leaving only our longer flights to and from the West Coast, Texas, Southwest, and Midwest on which smoking will be permitted, plus our London and Bahamas jet service,’’ Phillips explained. Mike Chumbley, vice president-customer service for Henson, The Piedmont Regional Airline, explained further: “The law leaves open the possibility of allowing smoking on international flights, but we’ve chosen to ban smoking on our Florida Shuttle Link flights operating between Fort Lauderdale and the Bahamas. This decision, coupled with the relatively short flying times on our domestic system, results in all Piedmont Regional and Piedmont Commuter flights being ‘non smoking’ after April 23. Likewise, I under stand, Piedmont and USAir will ban smok ing on their Canadian flights which fall into the ‘international’ category.’’ The State of California led the way for the new federal law by enacting its own legisla tion banning smoking on all intra-California flights earlier this year. Jim Carter, manager- passenger service systems and procedures for our sister USAir Group subsidiary, PSA, notes that the California law and its impact on PSA flights, the majority of which operate wholly within the state, gave USAir and Pied mont valuable experience on how best to handle the nationwide ban. “By and large,’’ Carter explained, “cus tomer acceptance and compliance with the California law was very good. We’re pleased with the public reaction and its understand ing of our desire to comply with the law.’’ Extensive computer reprogramming has been necessary in order to make sure our agents can readily determine which flight segments are short enough that smoking won’t be permitted, and that our customers are properly advised. “Our computer programmers have done a super job of getting CAREsystem ready for the situation that will exist on April 23,’’ Carl Crumley, director-passenger procedures, said. “We have a new computer entry that will make it easy to determine which flight segments are ‘smoking’ and which are ‘non smoking,’ even with the confusion that time zones can cause. Also, information will ap pear in each passenger’s seat assignment record in CAREsystem alerting reservations and airport agents to the status of each seg ment of a passenger’s journey.’’ There is a side benefit expected from the smoking ban. “We have a tough time keep ing our aircraft interiors clean due to the buildup of residue that tobacco smoking causes,” Bob Gabriel, manager-fleet appear ance, said. “The walls and overhead passenger service units in our aircraft should be much easier to clean, and require less frequent cleaning after April 23.” Our thanks to Carl Crumley, director- passenger procedures, who prepared this story for the Piedmonitor. Ji On April 6, our fleet will include a total of 185 aircraft. Piedmont currently has 62 737-200s, 39 737-300s, five 767-200S, 34 Boeing 727-200s, 20 Fokker F28-1000s, and 25 F28-4000s. Eighteen more aircraft arc scheduled for delivery this year including eight 737-300s, one 767- 200, and nine 737-400s. On the April 6 schedule. Piedmont will serve 96 air ports/123 cities in 30 states plus the District of Colum bia, Ottawa, Montreal, London, and Nassau. * 3)C « JetStream International, a Piedmont commuter, will link Atlantic City with Baltimore and Philadelphia begin ning April 3. The airline will inaugurate six daily flights to BWI and six daily flights to PHL from Pomona Field at Atlantic City International Airport. * * * INTRO Agent Donna Feldman and LAX Station Agent Eileen Sucato each received 21 compliments in 1987. the highest number received by employees in the company. Others who received high marks were John Hill, INTRO, with 17 compliments; Linda Elliott, a CLT-based flight attendant, with 16; Martha Jones, INTRO, with 16; Jackie Anton, LAX agent, 15; Linda Faust, BNARO, 15; Dennis Gola, MCORO, 14; Mary Ann Thomas, CLT-based flight attendant, 14; Steve Clary. MCO sales, 13; Fran Bru ton, CLT-based flight attendant, 12; Howard Mabin, LAX sales, 12; Mike Barefoot, ORF sales, 12; Terry Mullineaux, CLT-based flight attendant, 12; and Torri Plemmons, INTRO, 12. * * * On May 2, USAir will begin service to Las Vegas with daily nonstop flights from PIT and IND. On that same day, USAir will begin jet service between PIT and Atlantic City International Airport at Pomona. On June 1, USAir will begin service to SEA with two daily roundtrips from PIT. Also scheduled for June 1 is a further expansion of USAir’s operation at CLE with the introduction of new daily nonstop flights to LAX and SFO. Under the current schedule, USAir serves 19 airports from CLE with 51 daily departures. Systemwide, USAir now operates 1,144 daily departures. * * * USAir opened new USAir Club rooms at CLE in Febru ary and at LAX in March, and plans to open a Club at IND and a second one at PIT by year end. USAir Club mem bers and Piedmont’s Presidential Suite members now have access to each others’ facilities. * * * Mark C. Bisnow has been named assistant to USAir Chairman and President Ed Colodny. Bisnow comes to USAir from the U.S. Department of State where he was special counsel. Agency for International Development, leading a task force to examine financial management practices in the Agency. * * * Piedmont has moved its operations at BUF from the East Terminal to the West Terminal, adjacent to the USAir facilities. Our nine jet and four commuter services now operate daily from gates 1, 2. and 3. ♦ ♦ * Piedmont employees are eligible for membership in two exclusive programs—the Piedmont/NCNB Premier VISA and the Classic VISA. According to David Howard, manager-frequent trav eler marketing, the jointly issued VISA card programs offer many benefits, including no annual fee for the first six months, and competitively low interest rates. “Just complete a frequent flyer enrollment card and an application for the VISA card program will be mailed to you with the frequent flyer membership kit,” he said. Employees who apply will undergo a standard credit check, and NCNB makes the final decision as to whether to issue a VISA card. March 1988 • Piedmonitor
Piedmont Aviation Employee Newsletter
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March 1, 1988, edition 1
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