AirTran Airways

Sunday December 28, 2014 will mark the final day of operation for AirTran Airways.  Flight #001 will depart Atlanta at 1025 p.m. and arrive just before midnight at Tampa International Airport.  #001 was also the flight number on November 17, 1997 which was a flight from Tampa TO Atlanta, and was the first flight ever with the name AirTran Airways on it.

My first encounter with AirTran came in the fall of 2006.  I was working for Alamo/National Car Rental and not enjoying it very much at all. I was a staffing manager and my basic job was to hire and coordinate the drivers who move the cars to and from the shop and airport to the cleaners before and after the vehicles are rented.  It's a rather cold business, mostly because the emphasis is on the cars, or as they call them in the business "the metal", and not on the customers.  I worked a lot with careeerbuilder.com as far as finding new employees as we were turning over our staff with a ridiculous level of frequency.  One night at home I decided to send my resume to them under the category of "airline" and came up with two possibilities.  One was AirTran and another was ATA (American Trans Air). I sent them in with not much confidence that I would hear anything from either.

In mid-October I received a call from AirTran asking if I was still interested in interviewing for a position.  I said certainly and I did so on October 23rd.  I passed step one and was told that I would be off to Atlanta for training on the 28th.  So I spent my birthday traveling do Dixie for a week of who knows what. I was excited and scared to death on day one as I stepped into the orientation classroom with about 100 other candidates from around the country.  I did the best I could for the week and even though I knew I was probably going to "make the grade", I didn't know for sure until my instructor, Steve Goehring, placed my first name tag in front  of my keyboard.

I got back home to Minneapolis and started the following day. I had not yet left Alamo/National and decided to continue there part-time until I either had my position filled or my mind turned to mush- whichever came first. But I worked both jobs until May when, you guessed it- my mind turned to mush.

I enjoyed the job a great deal. Working the ticket counter, at the gate and in the baggage services office. We had great little thing going even though many of our passengers had never heard of us before, but those who had were incredibly loyal.  They having been refugees from their experiences with Delta and being treated so badly by them in the past. Many people got our name wrong when telling us which airline they were booked on. "Trans Air", "Trans Am" and Air Trans Am" were the ones I heard most often.

I would go down to Atlanta for training sessions to the original training facility which was in an office park near the airport. It was as unassuming a place from the outside as it could possibly be. It was minimal at best and looking back on it now it was ancient by the standards of what I get to go to today.  It had basically one restroom each for men and women, a pretty small area for dining with 8x10 photos of every training class on the walls.  It was always kinda cool to find your own class and wonder how many of those people were even still with the airline. I recall the first sign on the wall that stood out to me. It stated, "LATE IS NOT AN OPTION". That simple phrase stuck with me from my first visit there until my last. It had an area outside where we were forbidden to step on the grass which was between the building and the parking lot. Over the years I heard about more than one trainee who tried to "stretch the envelope" by walking on that grass and found a one-way ticket on the table in front of their chair in the training room later that day.  Our bus driver was a woman who must've had the aforementioned sign about being late tattooed inside of her eyelids because if you were not at the predetermined pickup location at the scheduled time, you were going to be calling for one of the ATL's taxi services. And she drove that bus like when was handling a sports car.  She would miss trees, sidewalks, buildings, other buses and sometimes people with only enough room to slide 2 sheets of typing paper between them. I'm sure she could've driven NASCAR if she'd wanted to.  Eventually we moved to cushier digs a little further away, across from the Boeing simulator building.  This was posh by comparison to say the least. Those who had been at the original facility knew that we were on the rise.

Virtually every week I would have a pilot of ours ask me during a conversation, "Any news, any rumors?" And the answer would usually be that I'd heard that this might happen or that might happen but nothing really substantial followed. But as things progressed during my first few years I knew that something was bound to happen eventually. That's just the nature of the industry.

I was heading to Atlanta for a training session on the morning of November 28, 2010 when I got the news that we had been purchased by Southwest Airlines.  Now, Southwest had moved into the Minneapolis market in March of 2009, at the counter right next to us in the space formerly occupied by Champion Air. It seemed like a logical move as we had just about grown to as much of a market share as far as destinations were concerned, as we could have. I literally found out while siting on the aircraft which would take me to Atlanta. I remember looking out the window at the Southwest jet parked only three gates away and wondering what the future would hold for us at AirTran.

We knew that there would be growing pains and that the nice folks we'd worked alongside of for the past 18 months were going to be our co-workers within the next two years or so as the merger process moved forward.  We would need to learn their computer system and they would need to learn ours. Their's was infinitely simpler to operate as we at AirTran had a system that reminded me of ms-Dos (you youngsters will have to google that) in that it is basically command-based with absolutely no drop-downs and virtually no on-screen help.

It was interesting to see pilots and flight attendants whom I had known in one uniform show up at my gate wearing different colors with new name badges and new employee numbers.  I share a common thread along with them that others do not. I was always pleased to meet fellow AirTran employees who had been with us since the ValuJet days. These nice people had FOUR-digit employee numbers. I was in mild awe, to say the least.

Over time I have come to realize that many of the employees of airlines have worked for more than one airline. I became one of them in September of 2012.

So as the AirTran name disappears from the active list of airlines I take great pride in the work that we did under the teal-colored script lower-cased "a". They were the first airline to give me the chance to do a job which will hopefully take me to my retirement some 20 years or so from now, I would suspect.  I know there are many others who feel the same sense of pride. For while we all are grateful to be in the employ of the largest domestic-flying airline in the United States, there will always be, just under the bold Canyon Blue of Southwest Airlines the ever-present beat of that lower-cased teal "a" that binds us together.

Tomorrow marks the last day of operation for my original airline employer, AirTran Airways. Today's my blog talks about how I got there and some of my experience there.

It is dedicated to those who worked with me under the "a" (In first-name alphabetical order):

Allison Northrup, Amber Havelak, Andrea Urbanski, Angie Sitko, Austen Barranco, Briana Walsh, Casey Fritz, Christine Edwards, Christopher Anderson, Colie Minucci, Colleen Shellum, Cory Petersen, Cris Godoy Franchevich, Dang Tran, David Fox, Deeq Sayed, David Tinetti, Ed Walz, Elham Ferdowsi, Eric Kloepfer, Erica Lynch, Irv Adams, Jaine Lafay Nelson, James Richards, Jan Gottschalk, Janey Roddy, Jason Harens, Jill Christine, John Hillman, Kate Kranz Dennison, Keesha Smith, Kevin Inkman, Leon Weaver, Mark F.E. Barie, Mary Louise Knoblauch, Matthew Volpe, Meghan Chapin, Mike Zirbel, Nikki Williams Locky, Pamela Aanenson, Rob Kneusel, Sara Gavin, Tina Fleming, Tracy Johnson Wagner, Valley Hintzen and Wilfred Johnson.

So tomorrow, when flight #23 leaves Minneapolis it will take a small piece of me with it. But I know where it's going. For as one of our passengers once told me about six years ago, "I don't know if I'm going to heaven or hell but I know ONE thing. It's gonna be via Atlanta!"

............I'm just sayin'.

The Best Worst Flight Ever (The Story of Flight 1439)

It started off like many winter days at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. Disregard the fact that winter wasn't due to officially start for another 10 days.  Saturday December 11, 2010 promised to be full of challenges what with a heavy snowfall on the way.  My shift started at noon and I headed upstairs to gate H10 at the Humphrey Terminal to work AirTran Airways flight 1439 to Orlando.  The flight was due to depart at 1:55pm.

The weather had gotten increasingly worse from the time I had left my home only 9 miles from the airport.  The steady snowfall had already started to wreak havoc on the flight schedules of each of the airlines at both MSP terminals. More and more flights were being delayed and delayed substantially.

We received word that the inbound aircraft for this flight was delayed and there existed the possibility that the inbound flight would cancel due to the weather conditions in the Twin Cities.

I attempted to keep the passengers in the gate area informed as to what was going to happen as soon as I received word myself.  The display boards showed an increasing number of flights canceling as the afternoon progressed.  We finally received word that the inbound flight from Orlando was on its way.  The flight was due to arrive around 6pm. But there was going to be a problem once the aircraft arrived. A problem which would not show up on any display board at the airport. The crew onboard was going to have "timed-out" and would be unable to fly the aircraft back to Orlando, if the flight took place at all. By this time the original flight crew for 1439 had returned to the crew hotel to await further instructions and would be contacted later, if needed.

I gave the good news/bad news announcement and the crowd took it fairly well.  But there was a backup plan.  There was going to be another aircraft arriving from Atlanta which we would use to go to Orlando.  With this established, I told the crowd to anticipate a departure somewhere in the neighborhood of 6:45 p.m.  

As time continued to pass, the display board showed that every outbound flight from every other airline at either terminal had been cancelled.  All, except for AirTran flight FL1439.  I don't know why every other flight at the airport had cancelled.  Beyond the fact that the Metropolitan Airports Commission could only keep one runway open at a time, I was kinda mystified as to how this day had developed in such a manner.  But we had not received word that the flight was canceling and thus my job tells me that I need to work the flight I had been assigned until it departs or is cancelled and the passengers are suitably rebooked.  

The inbound flight from Atlanta finally arrived around 6:15.  The Boeing 717 carrying the paint scheme of the Indianapolis Colts, through a corporate sponsorship deal, pulled into gate H10.  This would be the aircraft we would use to go to Orlando.  There was much anticipation by the 97 passengers when the aircraft arrived that we would be leaving soon.  After the inbound passengers deplaned, we quickly lined up all of the passengers and they boarded  in an attempt to leave in the small window of time which we would use during the light snowfall period we were in.  With all passengers onboard I went down to the cockpit to verify the passenger count with the pilot and give the "all clear" to 
the crew.  It was at this time that the pilot looks me in the eye and says these words, "It's broken.  We have to take everyone off the aircraft."  I thought he was just pulling my leg.  Turns out he wasn't pulling ANYTHING and the plane indeed would not be useable for this flight.

I run back up the jetway and prepared for the tongue-lashing that was to follow.  I felt so badly for these nice folks as now they were back to square one.  I did have one ace-in-the-hole.  Now that the flight delay was mechanical in nature and no longer just weather-related, I could give all of the passengers a free round-trip ticket to be used in the next 365 days.  

I settled everyone back into the seating area and told them they would be receiving 

the vouchers and they all felt better immediately.  I knew that we had one last chance to get this flight out today and that would be the last inbound flight into MSP for AirTran that day.  It was due to arrive at around 9 pm and we would use THAT aircraft to go to Orlando.

Now, I'd had a chance to get to know a number of these nice people.  About a dozen of them were on their way to Ft. Lauderdale to catch a cruise on the following afternoon.  The problem would be in getting TO Ft. Lauderdale.  I suggested that they rent a vehicle and pitch-in together and drive to Ft. Lauderdale and make the cruise in time.  I went onto the internet and made the reservation with one of their names as the primary driver and they would be set.  

When the inbound aircraft touched down in Minny, it needed to be "marshaled" in to the gate. Marshaling is what the guys holding flashlights are doing when the plane pulls into the gate.  But there needs to be three marshalers to do this safely and in the way the FAA would prefer.  Shortly before the inbound flight landed I received a call on the radio from a couple of our grounds crew members.  They had gone over to terminal 1 for something, probably something warm to drink, and when they returned to the ramp vehicle its doors had frozen shut.  It would probably be 30 minutes before they would get back to terminal 2 to meet this aircraft. With only two people available to marshal the plane into the gate I did the only thing I could.  I ran down the jetway, out onto the tarmac, found a couple of flashlights and helped bring it in.  No gloves, only a sport coat over my dress shirt, and in temps that with windchill were approaching zero.  After the plane stopped I ran back up the jetway, first to open the cabin door and greet the flight attendant and to warm up as quickly as possible.  When I got through the door leading into the terminal itself many of the awaiting passengers had seen my efforts and started to stand and applaud.  I was so humbled that I nearly hid behind the podium.  

When I caught my breath I said to the crowd, over the microphone, "If you've liked the service you got from me today, my name is Rod.  If you haven't liked the service you got from me today, my name is Bruce."  Everyone had a good laugh and then I said, a capable, "Let's go to Florida!" To which everyone cheered. The boarding began right after that.

Many of the passengers asked me for comment cards and took them with them as they boarded the aircraft.  The passengers then boarded the new aircraft after the new crew did their safety checks. I performed the "all clear" with the crew and as I did the seated passengers sent me off with another round of applause.  

It was nearing 10:30 p.m. when the aircraft door closed and I was frozen, exhausted but incredibly jazzed for the appreciation shown by these people. For the record some 17.1 inches of snow fell and the roof of the Metrodome, a building in which I once had an office with my name on the door, collapsed from the weight of the snow about 7 hours after the flight departed.

I received 15 comment cards, which led my manager, Irv Adams, to ask me if I had paid them to do so.  He was joking, yes, but I didn't blame him.  In the next year I saw about a dozen of those passengers when they were flying on trips when they used their free vouchers. What a great feeling it was to see them again because even while I couldn't recall them, they certainly remembered me.

It has been nine years already since this event and I think of it fondly and often, especially during the winter months. One of them actually met a gentleman on the cruise out of Ft. Laudredale whom she later married and has started a family with.  She even invited me to the wedding and I've met her husband and the kids in her travels since.  I'm still in contact with a couple of others  on Facebook to this day, one whom I saw only two weeks ago.  Hard to believe it has been nine years.


It was the best worst flight I've ever worked....so far.


...............I'm just sayin'.