OUTSOURCING at Alaska Airlines leads to big safety concerns

[Bluebear]

Alaska Airlines jets with Barbara Bush's picture on the tail.

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An Alaska Airlines plane clipped a fuel truck at Sea-Tac Airport last Friday. The incident is under investigation. Is there trouble on the tarmac? Over the past three months, the KING 5 Investigators examined incidents similar to that one at Alaska Airlines. This has become clear: safety and security problems at Alaska increased after the airline fired all its baggage handlers and outsourced the work....

We've analyzed three years of incident reports, FAA logs, and internal company memos. After Menzies Aviation came on board in May, the number of incidents reported problems on the tarmac rose 300 percent...

Every day, 30,000 people take Alaska flights. 29,000 bags shuttle through their system. It takes thousands of employees to make it all happen, many of whom you rarely see: The ramp workers who load everything from pets to hazardous materials into the planes. It's their job to safely direct aircraft in and out of the gates.

But the KING 5 Investigators have found that since Menzies took over the ramp work in May, there's been a dramatic spike in problems. More theft from checked baggage. More injuries to workers. More vehicle accidents. And a rash of aircraft damage caused by ramp workers. Alaska had a total of 17 ramp problems in 2003, 15 in 2004. But that number jumped to 72 in the first nine months of this year...

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_113005INKalaska_rampworkersJK.2bbed4a4.html

[Zenlitened]

1. It's okay though. They have bible verses printed on napkins used...

... for in-flight drinks and meals, or somesuch.

Gawd will watch over everyone.

:eyes:

[Bluebear]

2. How could I forget...

[izzie]

3. My trips to and from Ak. 3 times a years are done. Thank God

When I lived their the 'Southern' Church group said it would run the state. Have they made it yet? I sure did love the state and hated seeing some wild churches take it over and they were working hard to do it.