! Paula Jean and Louis Parsons 878 1 Cool Sunshine Circle - PO Box 10 16 Alamosa, Colorado 81 101 71 9-850-8 141 April 11,2007 Mr. Kevin Schlemmer US Department of Transportation Air Carrier Fitness Division 400 7h Street, Southwest Rm 6401 Washington, DC 20590 Mr. Schlemmer; It was a pleasure to speak with you tod(ay. It was quite a chore to find anyone that was interested in my problem and quite a relief to finally discover you. This letter will detail the problem. Also, more importantly, I request that you (or someone in what I believe you referred to as the Billing Department ) do an investigation to verify that Great Lakes Aviation is not committing fraud. I think the body of the letter will show that the Airline is playing funny games at the minimum. I ve sent this letter to everyone that see:ms to have even a peripheral involvement in this issue. Background You might think that the San Luis Valley is populated only by potato farmers and ranchers, and until the Essential Air Service Program began to work well here that was generally true. Now, there is a growing community of consultants, salesmen and others that live here (pay taxes, contribute to the local economy) and travel to earn a living. For example, Paula Parsons commutes to work at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore to do business consulting twice per month (more or less). She works by the hour and when she misses a day it costs us more in lost income than we can really afford. In addition to Senator Salazar and Congressman Salazar it has been Paula s pleasure to meet Buddhist Monks on their way between Tibet and Crestone, several people that fly out even more frequently than she does, a ballerina that flies to New York city to perform and teach, and one gentleman that commuted to Budapest, Hungary every other week for several months. Service was generally good for the years prior to this winter, but in recent months, the Airline has not been meeting the needs of any of the regular fliers. In February of 2007 the airline cancelled 17 flights from Alamosa to Denver and 16 flights from Denver. In
I b. March they cancelled 8 flights to Denver and 6 flights from Denver. So far in April, they have cancelled 8 flights to Denver and 9 from Denver. The above listed cancellations should have cost Great Lakes about $40000 in lost payments from USDoT. I don t think it did, and so I am asking for an investigation. Accommodation I m no expert on air travel jargon, but a~~~mm~dation seems to mean that the passenger somehow managed to get where he was going. When traveling in or out of Denver, as a practical matter, it means a one or two hour wait and, a little rescheduling. Not really a big deal. When traveling to or from Alamosa, accommodation means that the passenger is not going to have a good week. If Paula c,an t get out of Alamosa before 8:OOAM, she misses a day of work (and that income). If we can t trust the airline to have a flight the next day, she misses a day of work, then we must rent a hotel room in Colorado Springs or Denver, and then we must drive 3-4 hours one way. We aren t alone. One of the regular passengers we know is so desperate that he is working to create a van-pool to get himself and others to DIA every Monday and back on Friday. We have spoken to people who have lost clients (thousands of dollars in potential income) but who were technically awommodated by the airline. Past complaints Paula was in Denver at the end of January when the flight to Alamosa was canceled. She led a minor insurrection and, as a result, Brenda King of Great Lakes (manager of public relations) was compelled to leave her office and go to the terminal desk to apologize to Paula and the 8 other people that were being inconvenienced. (Those 8 people had been waiting 24 hours and were facing another 24 hour wait!) Imagine Paula s surprise when she talked to Brenda King on April 1 Oth and Brenda denied that anyone had ever complained about Great Lakes service to Alamosa. You have never seen my wife angry, but I: assure you that Brenda did not forget her and her 8 friends. Later, in February Congressman Sal.azar told Paula that he had contacted the CEO of Great Lakes to complain. When Paula spoke to Chuck Howell on April loth he said he had never heard that there was a problem with service to Alamosa. He tried to make Paula believe that he forgot the congressman s phone call.
From OUT conversations with Brenda and Chuck, we determined that Great Lakes Aviation has no intention of providing good service to Alamosa. They clearly don t pay attention when people complain, and sire apparently lying about their understanding of the level of passenger outrage. Contract The US Department of Transportation pays Great Lakes Aviation $1,150,268 per year ($625.15 per one way flight). In exchange, Great Lakes agrees to provide 18 round trip nonstop flights from Alamosa to Denver per week. In addition, US DOT pays Great Lakes $796,577 per year ($432.92 per one way flight) for 18 round trip nonstop flights from Cortez to Denver each week. The contract states: No service to any intermediate point is contemplated... accordingly, no such service may be provided on subsidized flights.... (I take that to mean that a nonstop flight doesn t stop.) This rate assumes an annual completion factor of 98 percent. (I think this means that the airline should provide service that is 98% useful to the passengers. (i.e. that it should cancel far less than 25% of its flights as it did in February)) The carrier understands that an aircraft take-off and landing at its scheduled destination constitutes a completed flight.... (Theoretical (or semantic) accommodation does not constitute a flight!) The carrier must complete all flights that can be safely operated; flights that overfly points for lack of traffic will not be compensated. (I think the whole point of the Essential Air Service program is to provide service to places without many passengers. The airline is being paid to fly to Alamosa regardless of the number of passengers.) Fancy Flying It is these practices that need to be investigated. (Congressman Salazar and Senator Salazar have been included in the recipient list for this letter so that I can ask you to please cause the investigation to go forward.) Example 1 On February gth I flew out to Baltimore. The night before (Thursday the sth) the scheduled flight to Alamosa didn t come in and so there was no plane waiting in Alamosa as there should have been. To accommodate me and the passengers waiting in Alamosa, the flight from Cortez was diverted. It lit here, everyone with enough clout (my wife is a 1K United Airlines member) got on, and away we went. I made my connection and all was well? Not really. There are three problems with this scenario.
a. Great Lakes gets paid to fly directly from Cortez to Denver. Per their contract, if the flight from Cortez is diverted, they are not paid. Did Great Lakes bill US DOT for the diverted nonstop flight from Cortez to Denver? b. Great Lakes saved the fuel, wages, etc. that it should have spent to get a plane into Alamosa the evening of Thursday the Sth by not sending the plane. Then they saved a significant amount of money by using the Cortez plane to accommodate the Alamosa flight. Did the airline get paid for the two flights it didn t make? If Great Lakes did get paid for those imaginary flights, was it because they billed USDoT for those flights? If they submitted a bill, and got paid, is that fraud? c. Everyone that bought a ticket for the Alamosa to Denver flight and who was not a United Airlines 1K member got accommodated by getting stuck in Alamosa for up to 24 hours. Example 2 This above scenario has become standard operating procedure for Great Lakes in Alamosa on Monday mornings. They tried to do it Monday April gth. There was no plane waiting when we arrived at the airport. They tried to divert the Cortez flight, but before it arrived a thick fog rolled in. The people that should have had a direct flight from Cortez to Denver were delayed for 30 minutes while the aircraft circled Alamosa above the fog. Finally, they gave up and went to Denver. Is a flight that is delayed for 30 minutes for circling still nonstop? Did Great Lakes bill USDoT for the Cortez to Denver flight? Is it safe to circle an airport that is not your destination until you run your fuel so low you must leave? Example 3 On April 6 h all flights were cancelled into Alamosa because of weather. I live 2 miles from the airport and I assure you that the weather here was warm, there was very little wind, and the visibility was at least 50 miles. I know Great Lakes was flying out of Denver, because they indicated that if Paula got to DIA on time, they would divert a Farmington flight and land it in Alamosa. How can an airline cancel flights because of weather when the weather is fine? My to-do List All Paula and I (and the other unhappy Great Lakes customers) want is to get where we are going. Now that I know more about the company and USDoT than I ever wanted to, I also want Great Lakes to earn the money that the taxpayers are giving it. I am committed to drawing the attention of Chuck Howell and even (perhaps) Brenda King to service in Alamosa. To that end, I am taking the following steps (in order of priority):
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Create a pamphlet that describes the contract between Great Lakes and USDoT and who to complain to when there is a problem. Contact frequent flyers in Cortez to determine if they enjoy being diverted to Alamosa - thus missing their connection in Denver. Visit airports and distribute the pamphlet to disgruntled passengers. Get access to public records of Great Lakes flights status and timing. I know the USDoT has the data. My current method of retrieving it from the United Airlines web site is not acceptable because it is a purely manual process (I miss days), and the data is not sufficiently detailed. Find a disgruntled frequent-flying attorney who might be interested in pursuing freedom of information act queries to USDoT (to get flight data), and perhaps, a class action lawsuit. Get weather information that matches the flights that were canceled due to inclement weather (ostensibly). &Q- Louis Parsons cc: Douglas G Voss - President Great Lakes Aviation 1022 Airport Parkway Cheyenne, WY 82001 US Department of Transportation Aviation Consumer Protection Div, C- 15 400 7th Street, Southwest Washington, DC 20590 SLV Regional Airport Board of Control 9168 S. County Road 110 Alamosa, CO 81 101 US Congressman John T. Salazar 609 Main Street, #6 Alamosa, CO 8 1 101 US Senator Ken Salazar 609 Main Street, #110 Alamosa, CO 8 1 10 1
Things YOU Should Know about Great Lakes Aviation Most importantly, they would fly to Alamosa and Cortez and probably make money even if no one bought tickets! Great Lakes Aviation flies to Alamosa and Cortez because the US Department of Transportation pays them handsomely to do so. They do not fly to Alamosa and Cortez out of the goodness of their heart. They do not fly to Alamosa and Cortez because of the few passengers that they can count on. The US Department of Transportation pays Great Lakes Aviation a lot of money: Per Year: One Way: Per Week Alamosa Service $1,150,268 $625.15 $22,505.40 Cortez Service $796,577 $432.92 $15,585.12 They are not the only carrier interested in these very profitable routes. In the summer of 2006 when they were given these routes, there were two other airlines that competed. Great Lakes Aviation was the most expensive bidder, and was given the two year contract because (per USDoT) While we are concerned that Great Lakes proposal requires about $200,000 more subsidy than the least expensive option... we find that the higher subsidy is justified because of strong community support. The airline is paid for nonstop flights from Cortez to Denver. Every time they divert the Cortez to Denver flight and delay you in Alamosa, they are in violation of their contract. The airline is paid for completed flights. Every time they cancel a one way flight without a safety reason, they should loose money. They may be getting paid without flying, and I have asked USDoT for an investigation to see about that. The contract requires an annual completion factor of 98 percent. Please check my facts: http://dms.dot.pa Order 2006-7-1 9 Docket OST-1997-2960 COMPLAINING WILL NOT MAKE THINGS WORSE!! Call Brenda King, Manager at 307-432-7000 or Chuck Howell, CEO at 307-432-7020. Many people have complained to them withoul result. We ve found it to be a wasted call. To get action and perhaps even get Brenda s and Chuck s attention write (especially if you suspect fraud): US Department of Transportation Kevin Schlemmer 400 7fh Street Southwest Rm 6401 Washington, DC 20590 Douglas G. Voss, President Great Lakes Aviation 1022 Airport Parkway Cheyenne, WY 8200 1 (write USDoT - just cc Great Lakes)