TRAFFIC MiiMQRMiUM #39
PIEDMONT AlfiLINES
Winst®n-Salem, North Carolina
©cteber 2@, 1949
1. Card Commendation - ©ur R§A station receivec.
the following card:
"Dear Sirs: I have just received my college
class ring that I lost on your plane from
Charleston to R®an©ke and I wish to thank you
kindly. The ring did n®t cost much, but the
sentiment attached was invaluable to me. For
such kind consideration on the part of your
employees, I will make it a point to use
Piedmont Airlines every time I can. Again X
thank you. — Mrs. Carolyn S. Spencer,
19 Williams Avenue, Richwood, W. Va."
Correspondence such as the ab®ve certainly
does make good reading. I think it particul
arly points ©ut the importance of the many
little things that we have an opportunity t®
do f©r these people that are spending their
money with us«
2. COM AT TO INT - Fir. Nickerson advises us thai.
a great many of the items that are returned
via COMAT from various field stations do not
show in any way the station that shipped the
item. If they receive a piece of Comat
addressed INIM with no other information or
return address, ob''/iously they cannot tell
where it came from. I believe it would help
all concerned if a anall note was placed on
the package, for example "FROM CLT". In
addition forward a memorandiam at the same
time advising that the article has been
shipped. This again is a little thing, but
it can cause considerable trouble.
3. OIL CHANGE - As most of you know, in the
beginning Piedmont contracted to use Shell
Oil exclusively. Recently we have been con
ducting experiments with various types of oil ‘
in a never ending effort to find something
better. It has been decided to continue these
experiments and to use another type oil for
some period of time so as to compare results
over a long period. Therefore, for the time
being we have discontinued the use of Shell
Oil. However, we c^o not want to imply nor do
we want you to assume that this change is a
reflection on Shell, This is purely an
experimental change.
4. CHARTER FLIGHTS - At the present time we
are so set up that ordinarily any day we have
available one DC-3 for charter work. Natural
ly, the more we can work this ship, the better,
From time to time all of you receive inquiries
regarding charter flights, some of which are no
doubt idle questions to some Extent on the part
of the person contacting you. All stations by
this time should have received copies of our
Charter Tariff and by use of this Tariff you can
answer at least in general the main question of
"how much does it cost". For your guidance we
always follow the 75^ off-line and 50^ on-line
ferry mileage charge® Usually we quote the
full llolO charge per mile for the actual charter
flight, plus 15% Federal tax. This tax does not
apply to ferry mileage. Certain circumstances
may warrant a charge of |1.00 per mile for the
charter portion. We would not be interested in
going below this figute. Vve feel it best for
all concerned if stations in handling the ini
tial inquiry would give an estimated cost. If
the prospect is still interested then contact
this office for confirmation and information
as to equipment availability. When forwarding
charter inquiries to this office it will help
if you can let us know whether or not other
Airlines are bidding for the business and if so
what carriers. In general, we can pretty well
estimate the amount of their bid. However, if
you know the amount of their bid, let us have
that too. Again let's keep this ship working
as much as possible.
5, MORE ABOUT LIVE ANII-IALS - I^-vA is amending
Rule 2.4 F of the Air Freight pules Tariff to
indicate that TWA will not accept live animals
as air freight on passenger equipment. Delta
is revising Rule 16(E) in the Redfern Tariff
cancelling the provision that Delta will not
accept pets on DC-6 flights. They now i-d.ll
accept pets if confined in a suitable container,
providing the gross weight of pet and container
does not exceed 45 pounds.
6. HANDLE liVITH CARE - The Air Express Company
has again contacted all airlines regarding the
handling of various fragile and perishable
shipments. They advise that apparently the
labels "Handle with Care", "This side up",
"Perishable", etc., are not noticed and cer
tainly not adhered to, I do not believe that
we have been an offender in this respect, but
let's watch it. Not only does it result in
claims which must come out of our revenue, but
it gives the shippers a poor opinion in general
of all airlines. Vt/ith winter coming on, let's
particularly watch those shipments that might
be damaged by freezing.