You hear us say this all the time, “no data, no problem.” The Company has created a system where we have to fill out time-consuming reports and forms to validate what we know to be a problem.
Is there any doubt when ground transportation does not show up on time or does not show up at all? Is there any doubt when a pairing has unrealistic times associated with it, either the leg itself or the turn? What about trips that were diverted, revised, or a million other things the Company altered that caused a problem?
But yet, we still have to fill out a report to prove there was a problem. Remember, “no data, no problem.”
The Company has built a system of reports and forms so that we can let them know when there is a problem. Yet, time and time again after we do, nothing gets changed. We often hear from pilots that a report was filled out, but they never heard anything back or received any feedback.
Why do these reports and forms have to be excessively difficult to complete? Why do they have to be confusing and inconvenient? This picture comes to mind for some when filling out Company reports.
Company reports are the equivalent to a retail store’s rebate system. Why do stores provide rebates instead of just putting an item on sale? If we are purchasing a $1,000 pool table and the store has a rebate for $200, why doesn’t the store just sell the pool table for $800 in the first place?
Here’s why. Up to 60% of all rebates are never redeemed. These businesses know that only a certain percentage of people are going to take the time to go through what is typically an inconvenient, sometimes complicated, time-consuming task required to accomplish the rebate process. The result is the store is able to keep their price point for the pool table high (it remains a $1,000 product) and only refund those customers who successfully completed the rebate procedure.
Let’s compare this to filling out a Company report. Frankly, the Company knows that a certain number of pilots are just not going to take the time to fill out these reports. Let’s say that eliminates 60% of the pilots. That leaves 40% who might actually take the time to fill out the report. The pilot actually tries to go to PFC to fill out the Company report and experiences a technical issue; the PFC website is down, you can’t get a computer to work in AOC or you attempt to fill out the report multiple times only to get kicked out of the system each time. How often have those failures happened lately? Well, that just eliminates more pilots; let’s say another 10%. Now out of the 30% of pilots who are left, some realize the reports are too complicated or time consuming and 10% more give up. You can see that now there are only a small percentage of pilots left who are actually successful in filling out these reports to notify the Company of a problem.
As a result, the Company can make claims like we don’t have any Insite reports or only 20% of pilots have this or that issue. Then they can also make claims that they have industry-leading programs that might not be so industry leading.
Again, “no data, no problem.”
Please don’t let these complications we write about above deter or stop you from filling out these reports as these are the games we have to play to try and improve our quality of life. When you are successful, we ask that you send us a copy.
Send copies or screenshots to:
Insite@alpa.org
FatigueReport@alpa.org
