In a recent Quality of Life communication we briefly touched on the secondary line system and we would now like to expand on this topic.
In an effort to clear up a misconception that some pilots seem to have, the current secondary line system fiasco many of you are now experiencing belongs to the Company. Due to the current chaos surrounding the “upgrade” and its results, one could well imagine the Company would like our pilots to believe otherwise.
We were only allowed to beta test the system for the Company and provide input. During that testing we discovered and relayed to the Company that the system was fraught with programming issues. We felt it was imperative that the Company provide pilots with, at a minimum, a clear user guide to include a list of definitions. After it was turned on for the HKG, LAX and IND bases, we recommended that any outstanding issues be worked out before the system was rolled out to additional bases. Our recommendation was discounted and the rollout continued. The upgrade was simply not ready for systemwide implementation.
Obviously, the Company felt otherwise.
Although the Company may not be violating any CBA provisions, it has certainly not garnered the enthusiasm they wanted and needed. It is simply not ready. As pilots, we like to know the rules, but how can we know those rules when the Company refuses to provide any guidance or take any ownership? This product and the lack of a helpful user guide would never pass muster or quality control if FedEx was offering it to its clients and consumers. We ought to expect the same ‘professional’ treatment as our quality of life depends greatly on the schedules that come from systems such as this.
In the absence of a user guide from the Company, we are providing you with the attached Guerrilla Guide to the Secondary Line System. As we move into Peak, this is our attempt to provide you with some helpful guidance as to how we understand some features of the current upgrade. We are doing it to fill an obvious void created by the Company. Hopefully, in the future, the Company will stop ignoring the chaos this upgrade has created and at least provide all of us, at a minimum, a detailed and in-depth Company user guide for its own upgrade. We are standing by.
