Hi there. My name is Joshua and I currently live in Louisville, Kentucky. I feel I was treated unfairly during a termination at my former employer. I was a flight attendant with a company named Compass Airlines which is wholly owned by Trans States Holdings. Compass is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota which is where I actually technically worked at (most airline crew members commute into their bases).
Now because I have a lot to say and I'm limited on how much I can write, I'm gonna have to post this in two parts.
In February I was working a flight with an extremely light load. For those of you familiar with airplanes, Compass flies the Embraer 175 which seats 12 first class and 64 coach passengers, a total of 76. Anyway, we were required to do a weight and balance of the aircraft, which means totaling the amount of passengers in each "section" of the airplane. On this particular flight, I decided to get creative and perform my weight and balance involving the passengers help. I asked them to help me count off in each section to make it fun. Of course there were a few people who did not seem to want to get involved but I really didn't "force" it upon them but the ones who knew what was going on seemed to enjoy it. After I finished some people were curious as to what I was doing, so I simply explained the purpose of the weight and balance.
A few weeks before this flight we had started using these machines called the "M2" to be able to use credit cards for onboard sales. The company had sent out memos about the M2 and its operation, as well as what to do when the device is not functioning. Well, on this particular flight, I discovered the printer was not printing anything. It was a laser printer so I could not replace the ink; it was defective. So policy was if the M2 is not functioning to write it up. Then, do not advertise any on board products and if a passenger asks for a for-sale item, hand it to them discreetly. So upon discovering the M2 printer was not printing right, I figured that a defect. Although it was Delta's (the airline we were contracted to fly for) policy to not give a customer a receipt unless they asked for it, I believed the printer not printing to be legitemately defective because not only could I not print receipts for customers who may request one, but I could not print out a close out report for myself to keep a copy of. Instead, I wrote the item up as defective and used the manual papers. The machine was fairly new to me so I thought that was the best solution.
Now I admit I did make one mistake, and that is that I approached a group of passengers I felt were enjoyable to be working with, and I made it public that the M2 was not working and told them if they needed anything to let me know and I would take care of them. Some of them just smiled and laughed, but when it actually came time for our in-flight service, none of these passengers actually took me up on my offer. Only 2 or 3 people actually requested alcohol, and none of these people had heard me announce that I would be comping items. These passengers tried to hand me their credit cards, but I refused to take them as the machine was technically not functioning. IN fact, one guy requested a receipt as he handed me the card, and I just told him the machine was not functioning and that I would comp him a drink.
On the E-175 there are two pilots and two flight attendants. I of course was working the main cabin. When I wrote the M2 device up, I told the flight attendant working in first class of the defect, and she agreed we should write it up. The procedure we were told to follow when the device was not functioning was to report it to the flight attendant in first class, then for he or she to report it to the pilots. Well, that's exactly what we did. We reported it to the pilots and had put a huge "DEFECTIVE" tag on the device so that maintenance would be able to see the device needed to be replaced and fixed.
This flight was on a Friday. The following Monday, I received a phone call from my in-flight supervisor requiring me to attend a "mandatory meeting" before my next assigned flight the next day. I honestly had no idea what the meeting was about, and it did not even occur to me that it would about this particular flight.
Compass flight attendants elected to be represented by the Association of Flight Attendants. Though the union was voted in, the contract is still being negotiated at this time, so that makes us employees at will. However, that does not mean that the AFA cannot offer assistance. Anyway, before my meeting, I ran into some AFA representatives in our crew room and I informed them of the meeting, and they informed me that since we had no contract they could not go in with me, but that if I felt uncomfortable at any time during the meeting that I could come out and refer to them for advice.
I went into the meeting and the in-flight supervisor along with a member of management informed me that a "Delta executive" had been on the flight sitting around this group of people I announced to about the M2 and he had written in about the incident. He explained how I performed my weight and balance and how I had stated I would be offering items "for free." When they read the quotes to me, I felt like my words had been twisted around. This was the only write-up for the incident, however, because it was a "credible" source, they were quick to believe what they wanted to believe.
I explained everything to them. I told them I had performed my weight and balance getting the passengers involved because we were taught during a customer service class to engage our passengers, and I thought this a great way to break the ice. I admitted to them it may not have been a good idea, but I was experimenting and I had not done it on any other flight. They then stated I had not "performed my duties." I disagree. Nowhere in our manual did it say you couldn't do the weight and balance that way. And as for me not performing my duties, well the aircraft cannot leave until they have their weight and balance numbers in, and obviously we took off because I handed in the paper work to the pilots.
[CONTINUED ON NEXT POST]. . .
Now because I have a lot to say and I'm limited on how much I can write, I'm gonna have to post this in two parts.
In February I was working a flight with an extremely light load. For those of you familiar with airplanes, Compass flies the Embraer 175 which seats 12 first class and 64 coach passengers, a total of 76. Anyway, we were required to do a weight and balance of the aircraft, which means totaling the amount of passengers in each "section" of the airplane. On this particular flight, I decided to get creative and perform my weight and balance involving the passengers help. I asked them to help me count off in each section to make it fun. Of course there were a few people who did not seem to want to get involved but I really didn't "force" it upon them but the ones who knew what was going on seemed to enjoy it. After I finished some people were curious as to what I was doing, so I simply explained the purpose of the weight and balance.
A few weeks before this flight we had started using these machines called the "M2" to be able to use credit cards for onboard sales. The company had sent out memos about the M2 and its operation, as well as what to do when the device is not functioning. Well, on this particular flight, I discovered the printer was not printing anything. It was a laser printer so I could not replace the ink; it was defective. So policy was if the M2 is not functioning to write it up. Then, do not advertise any on board products and if a passenger asks for a for-sale item, hand it to them discreetly. So upon discovering the M2 printer was not printing right, I figured that a defect. Although it was Delta's (the airline we were contracted to fly for) policy to not give a customer a receipt unless they asked for it, I believed the printer not printing to be legitemately defective because not only could I not print receipts for customers who may request one, but I could not print out a close out report for myself to keep a copy of. Instead, I wrote the item up as defective and used the manual papers. The machine was fairly new to me so I thought that was the best solution.
Now I admit I did make one mistake, and that is that I approached a group of passengers I felt were enjoyable to be working with, and I made it public that the M2 was not working and told them if they needed anything to let me know and I would take care of them. Some of them just smiled and laughed, but when it actually came time for our in-flight service, none of these passengers actually took me up on my offer. Only 2 or 3 people actually requested alcohol, and none of these people had heard me announce that I would be comping items. These passengers tried to hand me their credit cards, but I refused to take them as the machine was technically not functioning. IN fact, one guy requested a receipt as he handed me the card, and I just told him the machine was not functioning and that I would comp him a drink.
On the E-175 there are two pilots and two flight attendants. I of course was working the main cabin. When I wrote the M2 device up, I told the flight attendant working in first class of the defect, and she agreed we should write it up. The procedure we were told to follow when the device was not functioning was to report it to the flight attendant in first class, then for he or she to report it to the pilots. Well, that's exactly what we did. We reported it to the pilots and had put a huge "DEFECTIVE" tag on the device so that maintenance would be able to see the device needed to be replaced and fixed.
This flight was on a Friday. The following Monday, I received a phone call from my in-flight supervisor requiring me to attend a "mandatory meeting" before my next assigned flight the next day. I honestly had no idea what the meeting was about, and it did not even occur to me that it would about this particular flight.
Compass flight attendants elected to be represented by the Association of Flight Attendants. Though the union was voted in, the contract is still being negotiated at this time, so that makes us employees at will. However, that does not mean that the AFA cannot offer assistance. Anyway, before my meeting, I ran into some AFA representatives in our crew room and I informed them of the meeting, and they informed me that since we had no contract they could not go in with me, but that if I felt uncomfortable at any time during the meeting that I could come out and refer to them for advice.
I went into the meeting and the in-flight supervisor along with a member of management informed me that a "Delta executive" had been on the flight sitting around this group of people I announced to about the M2 and he had written in about the incident. He explained how I performed my weight and balance and how I had stated I would be offering items "for free." When they read the quotes to me, I felt like my words had been twisted around. This was the only write-up for the incident, however, because it was a "credible" source, they were quick to believe what they wanted to believe.
I explained everything to them. I told them I had performed my weight and balance getting the passengers involved because we were taught during a customer service class to engage our passengers, and I thought this a great way to break the ice. I admitted to them it may not have been a good idea, but I was experimenting and I had not done it on any other flight. They then stated I had not "performed my duties." I disagree. Nowhere in our manual did it say you couldn't do the weight and balance that way. And as for me not performing my duties, well the aircraft cannot leave until they have their weight and balance numbers in, and obviously we took off because I handed in the paper work to the pilots.
[CONTINUED ON NEXT POST]. . .
