Back-to-back snowstorms brought out Piedmont's best
Weather reports forecast
three to six inches of snow
on Thursday, January 22,
for much of our system. By
the end of the day, more
than three times that
much had fallen. Then
three days later, just as we
were getting our operations
back to normal, a second
storm left more snow and
ice.
Of all the businesses af
fected. none was hit harder
than the airline industry.
The first winter storm
roared across the heart of
Piedmont's system, dump
ing snow on cities in the
South where snow removal
equipment is in short sup
ply. It left in its wake
impassable roads and
stranded travelers. Rolling
northward, it picked up
momentum, confounding
our ability to reroute crews
and people and impacting
virtually all phases of oper
ation. Then on Sunday
night, snow and ice fell
again.
How well did Piedmont
survive?
"Our people came out
like champs," Mitchell Car
roll, assistant manager,
Winston-Salem Reserva
tions, said.
On January 22. our res
ervations agents answered
119,000 calls, 21 percent
over projections, and on
the following day, 148,000
calls came in, a 56 percent
increase above the norm.
At the same time the num
ber of calls was on the up
swing. many agents could
not get to their jobs.
"In our office, only 59
Aetna issues
new COB
Effective January 1,
1987, Aetna and most
other insurance carriers
implemented a new Coor
dination of Benefits (COB)
order of benefit determina
tion (OBD) with respect to
a child insured as a depen
dent under each parent's
plan. This new OBD pro
vides that the plan of a
parent whose birthdate
(month and day, not year
of birth) occurs earlier in
the calendar year pays the
dependent’s benefits before
the other parent’s plan. If
one of the plans does not
have this newest OBD rule,
then the plan of the male
parent will pay its benefits
before the plan of the fe
male parent. Other COB
rules such as the divorced/
separated parent rule have
not changed.
This new rule evolved in
response to allegations that
the "male/female” criteria
of the former rule were
discriminatory.
If there are any questions
concerning this change in
COB order of benefit deter
mination, please contact
the Employee Benefits Of
fice, 770-8405.
percent of our staff made
it in on Thursday," Carroll
explained. "We had to
change our recorder to tell
customers that there would
be a lengthy wait. Nor
mally, people may be on
hold 20 to 25 seconds, but
that day, the average wait
was 205 seconds."
Employees with four-
wheel-drive vehicles spent
all day and into the night
providing transportation
for others. Data technicians
who work in communica
tions were answering calls,
and people in reservations
classes, in their last week
of training, got some first
hand experience. All our
reservations centers were
hit hard, because as calls
backed up at INTRO, many
were redirected to other
centers. In addition, under
normal conditions, only
INTRO remains open all
night, but because of the
storm, all six centers were
staffed.
"Customers, for the most
part, were understanding
and accepted the wait,"
Carroll added." On the
22nd, we had a low num
ber of complaint calls. The
snow seemed to bring out
the good in everyone."
At the airports, the situa
tion was grim. For exam
ple, EWR closed down on
Thursday, leaving people
stranded with no way to
get home,
"We left our satellite
open for passengers all
night, and about 800 slept
on the chairs and floor,"
Station Manager Frank
Woodruff said.
'But despite these condi
tions. our people did a
super job, and most pas
sengers seemed to appreci
ate our efforts."
Systemwide, cooperation
among employees proved
to be the key to solving
major problems.
"Our aircraft and llight
crews were stranded across
the system, usually out
of position for normally
scheduled operations," em
ployees at BWI wrote in a
report following the storm.
"Piedmont pilot crews
once again proved them
selves among the profes
sionals who have helped to
make Piedmont the finest
airline flying. These in
dividuals went out of their
way to help cover flights
that were found to be with
out crews and were armed
with suggestions to help al
leviate the many irregulari
ties that were faced during
this time. We would like
to express our thanks for
the opportunity to work
with people of such fine
character."
Praise came from other
quarters as well. An East
ern manager at BWI wrote
to thank Piedmont for pro
viding snow plows to clear
the airline’s ramp area.
"This was an excellent ex
ample of how airlines can
survive and work together
. . .Our personnel were
very impressed with your
equipment, efficiency and
cooperation. ”
"We were most happy
with the way things turned
out considering the cir
cumstances," BWI Station
Manager Bob Bennington
said. "We survived because
of the joint effort of all our
employees."
CLT, where over 200
llights are scheduled daily,
was among the worst hit
by the storms. On Thurs
day and again Monday, as
many as 45 aircraft were
on the ground at the same
time, and on Sunday, 24
aircraft stayed overnight.
The gates remained full,
and people worked long,
hard hours,
■‘I can’t brag enough
abovit our employees," CLT
Station Manager Watson
Furr said with pride,
"Eighty percent of our
agents made it into work
on Thursday and again on
Monday, some coming in
several hours early to make
sure they would be here
for their shifts. Employees
were using their own four-
wheel-drive vehicles to get
crews to and from the
motels. We had to pull
agents from the terminal
building to de-ice the air
craft, and these people
stayed out in the bad
weather all day, often with
out any breaks. I’ve never
seen maintenance crews
work any harder. These
people did a superb job
shuttling aircraft around.
"If it hadn't been for all
these dedicated people,
things would have been a
lot worse."
On Sunday night, 1,200
passengers, caught by can
celled flights and impass
able roads, spent the night
on our concourse.
In one of the many re
ports following the storms,
an employee wrote: "All
personnel working any or
all of these days should be
greatly admired for their
patience and perseverance.
Considering the number of
cancellations, the reasons
for many of them, and the
ensuing confusion, without
a doubt, Charlotte is privi
leged to have such special
folk'
The final report shows
that on January 22, we
were able to complete only
50.5 perccnt of our llights,
and of these, only 35 per
cent departed on time. On
Monday, 73.1 perccnt were
completed, 51.2 percent
departing on time.
"Anytime our completion
rate is less than 97 perccnt
we get conccrned," Jim
Tibor, manager-system
performance, said. "These
figures are a barometer
of just how severely the
storms affected onr opera
tion. But despite that very
bad week, our on-time per
formance for the month
was only about live points
below our goal. In January,
we had day after day of
very good on-time per-
tbrmance, and except for
these live days, would have
exceeded oin' goal.
"We all know how bad
these days were, but wc
kept the airline running.
It was a lough week, but
everyone from agents to
mechanics to controllers to
crews met the challenge."
Ji
\.„l
'I
Running a safe airline is of pri
mary importance to Piedmont, and
employees systemwide worked to
ward this goal in 1986. Tto honor
these outstanding employees in
maintenance, a Maintenance De
partment Employee Safety Award
has been established.
On hand for the presentation of
the first annual award are (1 to r)
Mike Herron, lAM safety commit
tee chairmEin; Harlie Gordon,
director-base maintenance,
GSO; Tbm Schick, vice president-
maintenance and engineering; Bo
Sis, former manager-line stations.
DAY, and now director-base main
tenance, UCA; Jim Swartz, director-
ground safety; and J.P. Richardson,
president of lAM. Gordon and Her
ron represented GSO-MM which
took the lead in first aid training
and hangar safety training. Sis ac
cepted the award for the DAY line
station which has had no lost-time
injuries in five years or 125,000
manhours worked.
Other maintenance locations
with no lost-time injuries during
1986 included ATL, EWR, TPA,
DAY, BOS, RDU, SYR, ROC, BUF,
FAY, JAX, PHL, MEM, and GSO’s
avionics department. Twenty-six
stations reported no lost-time last
year: APF, GNV, ILM, SAV, HTS,
ISO, ROA, STL, ALB, BGM, BTV,
CHO, ELM, ITH, ORH, PVD, UCA,
CMI, FWA, GRR, LAN, MSP, SBN,
TOL, CHA, and TYS. Of these,
agents at ROA worked the most
manhours without a lost-time
injury.
In the GAG, the line service
shop, prop shop, and parts depart
ment, all at INT, and CLT and ROA
locations also had no lost-time in
juries in 1986.