It has been a while...

It certainly has been a very long time.

For a while, now, I was working in the printing industry. Well, more retail than printing. I never liked it. But it was simply to ride out the economic slump that affected aviation deeply.

I waited after taking the AT-SAT test (initial aptitude test for air traffic controllers) for an academy date. The FAA had contacted me to make my facility selections. But after that, nothing. My test has since expired, and can't take the test again because they aren't hiring "off the street" anymore for controllers. Sucks to be me, huh?

While working in printing, the management of that organization began making some unusual changes, and began to find reasons to accuse their employees of errors. Errors are made by everyone. Nobody is immune to it. But, apparently, middle management was immune...their actions were to be taken as Gospel, and anyone acting otherwise was to be punished severely. I am glad I'm no longer there.

So, despite the fact that I have things to pay off, I have started working at a hotel recently. Things so far have been interesting. Although it isn't an airport job, the hotel is on the grounds of a general aviation airport...so the scenery is naturally beautiful.

Let's wait and see what adventures in aviation hold for us in the near future! For more of my aviation adventures, I invite you all to visit aerochronicles.blogspot.com and enjoy the content there as well.

One month into the furlough, AT-SAT, and the Aircraft Experience

So it's been nearly a month that I've been furloughed. Looking for work has been my full-time job, but since I am furloughed, those who have seen my application fear that I will return to the airline, which may happen, unless I find something better and stay with that.

Now, shortly after I found out that furloughs were going to occur at my airline, I applied with the FAA as a "controller trainee". This coming Tuesday, I will be taking the AT-SAT (Air Traffic Selection and Training) test in Ft. Lauderdale. We'll see how that goes. I'll post my views on the test here.

The following Thursday, it's back to Ft. Lauderdale for me. I will be attending the Aircraft Experience sponsored by Porsche Dealers of South Florida. It should be pretty cool. I'll be posting photos on the sister blog, "Four Stripes for Flying", as well as on my Facebook profile.

Three days and counting...

I'm currently at work, three days away from the furlough. I've been searching for work, but nothing has come about. I'll be filing for unemployment for the first time in my life. But this time away from work will allow me to get a little traveling done (if I'm gutsy enough). I was not able to travel at all this year, so this may be my window of opportunity. Go to LA, and debut my poetry and debut myself as a professional writer, go to Philly and have a genuine cheese steak, get my passport and visit my family in Costa Rica (and possibly find love, since I have no luck here in the States), or visit Europe. All where my airline flies, since I'll still have flying benefits on said airline.

Three days away from furlough, and I'm wondering...where can I travel? Where should I travel? Should I travel?

We'll see. Specific locales will be featured in my travel blog, "World Traveler". Aviation specific travel information will be posted here. LA specific travel information will be in "Southern California Gold".

I'll keep posting as much as I can. But we'll see.

Sitting in wait...

So here I am, at Palm Beach International Airport, sitting in wait. Waiting for something to happen. Something extraordinary...

A few weeks ago, not too far from where I sit now, a beautiful young lady sat near me, as I was waiting for my ride home. I wrote a poem about her, which you can read at golf.november.world, one of the recent posts..."Intersection of Solitude".

She is a pretty girl born in Florida, but raised (and currently living) in a small town in my home state, in Redding, California. She is involved with a church that deals with the supernatural (something that I'll admit, scared me, though I held back my fears to prevent offending her. My faith isn't that popular with most people, so I would know where she's coming from. I would like the same respect for my religion as she wishes for hers).

This intersection of solitude was the meeting of two souls, two beings, two persons by chance, both opening up to each other, and never to be seen again. She had the prettiest blue eyes...and her blond hair was just as beautiful. But, if you read the poem, you'll also note that there is another that I am holding out hope for.

And the intersection of solitude strikes again tonight.

As I was writing this, I was called into my office by a customer (or who I thought was a customer...actually another airline employee). I found some promising news that comes against this furlough. Air Wisconsin may be hiring flight attendants soon, and I am really considering applying to work as a flight attendant. I'll get used to the life of flying as air crew for an airline, and it will allow me to make contacts with pilots at the airline so when I get my ratings, it will be easier for me to get into the right seat, and make it faster for me to make it to the left seat.

Now...when is my food arriving?

"There Will Be Furloughs"...

"There will be furloughs", my manager told me.

With that, my greatest fear was confirmed. I was in a position where I would be furloughed from my job. The economy played a big factor, but another factor that caused the layoffs was the recent transition to the flight boarding method the airline I work for adopted: from two agents to a flight to only one, and a computer to scan boarding passes. Technology, which is what many airlines have been pushing for, is killing jobs everywhere. I'm all for the progress of aviation, though; don't get me wrong. However, I realized that most progress comes at the expense of people. Eliminating the navigator, then the flight engineer...all that was a product of the advancement of aviation.

However, aviation as an industry should stand out, not as a cutthroat industry, but one that helps people do what they need to do. And that is my vision for my contribution for aviation.

After getting the news, I have already applied to work as an air traffic controller (which, coincidentally, the FAA started hiring off the street the same week that I got the announcement). I'll keep you guys posted on how that goes, if it does blossom into anything. I'm just hoping to get a test date right now.

It's not our fault you missed your flight...

You have no idea how many people miss their flights and blame it on us.

People simply want to absolve themselves of all responsibility, and blame the airline for everything. Today, for example, at the ticket counter, a person walked up to the kiosk to check in, and after I told him he was late, he began cursing and swearing, saying all sorts of stuff, and all the while, trying to blame me for HIS error.

For entitlement, people also say some of the craziest things. If a flight is delayed due to reasons beyond the airline's control, no compensation is provided. Why? It wasn't our fault. Simple as that. If, let's say, an airplane had a mechanical delay, then if the situation applies (i.e., delayed more than 4 hours, compensation is provided in the form of vouchers for free food), compensation is provided. But if it's anything else, forget it. Today, a woman, younger than me by a year, with her newborn child, demanded to receive compensation for a delayed flight. The delay was caused by air traffic; responsibility falls on the FAA on that one, since it affect not just every airline, but general aviation as well. And even then, this was not caused by congestion. It was caused by inclement weather. The supervisor told her "no" to compensation. It was not our responsibility. She then demanded to check a bag free (I do not work for Southwest Airlines). I told her no.

A few months ago (and this one riled me up, since I was paying off some medical bills), a hospital director/surgeon (not sure if he was bluffing), flying to Greensboro, North Carolina, asked to fly only to Charlotte, North Carolina (he was connecting in Charlotte, then onto Greensboro). I told him he could do it, but would cost him a change fee plus difference in fare. He didn't understand the concept, since he figured we could simply change the bag tag (he checked two bags) to say that he was flying only to Charlotte. He got upset, needless to say. He didn't want to pay the change fee, nor the difference in fare. A supervisor got involved with the madman, and waived the difference in fare, which was well over $400 US, but nothing. He went on to Charlotte, no-showed for the Greensboro flight, and the bags went as tagged to Greensboro. They were sent back to Charlotte for the doctor to pick up. If he couldn't afford to pay the ticket reissue, I certainly hope he could afford the minimal gas that he had to put in to his Aston Martin.

Why did this one rile me up so much? I had to get three months worth of medication for a skin and nail infection. Each bottle was a month's worth. A month's worth of pills, and a month's worth of pay. Each bottle was about $500. And that is AFTER benefits. If I could pay for those pills with the chicken scratch pay I get, he, a doctor, a self-proclaimed hospital administrator, could most certainly pay for the difference in fare and change fee! Hell, he could even buy the tickets first class the entire way there! But, no! Because he wasn't getting his way, he had to make a big stink about it. Well, guess what, doc? Tough luck! I had to suck it up when I paid for those pills. And you don't see me yelling at the pharmacist because the pills are way out of my budget. Yes, it's life and death, just as it was in his case (he was supposedly operating on a patient the following morning).

The days of the airlines treating passengers like royalty went away with deregulation in 1978. The consumer was helped out with lower ticket prices at the expense of airline operability, finance, pay, and safety. So don't even bother. We, as employees, are suffering as much as you are. You refuse to pay the right price for tickets. And guess where that bites us employees: IN OUR PAYCHECKS! Thank you, paying customer.

Another day, another day...

That's how I've been seeing work lately. Just another day.

When I started, I was dumbfounded. So much to know, and do, and in such a short span of time! It was crazy!

I got home that day, not sure if I wanted to go for more, but I took the beating.

There were some days where I would want to go into work. There were others when I loathed it. But it was just another day.

A few nights ago, I had a run-in with a passenger whose bags were delayed after doing a triple connection from Europe to Palm Beach. After the claim was done with his wife, he barged into the office like an elephant in heat, and demanded to know where the bags were. He kept at it, pressing the issue, interrupting my work with other passengers, and it got to the point where I called the police on him. They came late, though. His own son pulled him out of the office...physically. What a tirade!

People are strange. And it's another day at work.