So, my time with Swissport has come to a close. I didn't do anything wrong this time, as a matter of fact... no one really did.

"So... What happened?" You ask.

Well, about two months ago, we got informed at a new company had won the Sun Country contract, and that our contract was to be terminated effective April 30th. However, Sun Country, in all their infinite wisdom, decided to move the dates up. At first, it was set to be on the tonight at midnight, but then the moved it up again to last night at midnight. So, as of 12:10AM, Central Standard Time, I was forced to once again turn in my badge, and become unemployed.

Why did this happen?

Well, Sun Country has had a checkered history to say the least. They've risen, fallen, risen again, and so on. 9-11 Hit them pretty hard, and they were forced to sell off all of their aircraft, and accept a lease agreement with Wells Fargo. This agreement apparently placed them into a position where they could put whoever they wanted to in charge, and so they did. The last CEO had been hemorrhaging money from the airline (because they ran unprofitable niche routes with aircraft almost 20yrs old), and Wells Fargo couldn't maintain them any longer. As a result, they sold the airline off to another group (Apollo Global Management), who installed their own CEO earlier in 2017 (before I came on board), and told him to make the company profitable come hell or high water.... and that's exactly Jude Bricker has set out to do... by making the airline easily the worst airline you can ever fly on.

You see, there are three types of Airlines:

Traditional: The usual airlines like Delta, American, British Airways, Aeroflot, etc.

Budget Airlines: The cheaper alternatives, such as Spirit, Southwest, Allegiant, Ryanair, etc.

And Niche Airlines: The airlines that fly to very specific destinations, during very specific parts of the year. Condor and Sun Country are just a couple of examples.

Jude Bricker, has decided to take an airline that somehow mashed together Traditional and Niche airlines, and sprinkle in a bit of budget airline as well. Their goal? To compete with other budget carriers such as Southwest and Spirit. Anyone in the aviation business probably knows how stupid an idea that is. Southwest alone has a fleet of over 720 737s, with more on order, and an average age of 14yrs. You cannot compete with that by only having 22 aircraft that are being held together with bailing wire and duct-tape. And before anyone goes "Well that's harsh", keep in mind that as of this writing two of Sun Countrys aircraft have faulty APUs (N814SY and N823SY) that make them audible from several gates away (you shouldn't hear a 737s APU unless you're standing on the adjacent gate area). What makes this worse is the fact that the mechanics have the parts to fix the APUs, but Wells Fargo, who somehow still own the aircraft, are telling them to leave the APUs alone until they fully break down. The part that needs replacing? A fan blade. Yes, a freaking fan blade. A part that Delta mechanics would replace on the aircrafts next scheduled pull-in to the hanger as a preventive measure.

So how does this affect me? Well, other than being a massive assault on my ear-drums, it should go to show just how cheap the upper-management is being. But if that's not enough, there's couple more items.

For example, you like those nice warm pillows that airlines offer you in first class? Or the nice blanket so you can catch some winks on a 5 hour flight? Well, I'd suggest choosing another Airline because you won't get that with Sun Country. Also, if you like your bags getting to their destination, intact... just fly Delta or American, or if you're on a budget, Southwest, because at least those airlines hire their own ground staff to handle the bags (United does as well, but not at every airport). And more importantly, almost every Airline in the US will not leave you stranded. If something happens that forces your flight to be canceled, Delta, United, American, Southwest, and almost everyone else, will put you up in a hotel, and get you on the next available seat out. If they can't, they'll charter a rescue flight as quick as possible (plus the aforementioned hotel).

Sun Country? They like to play the hero airline one minute, and then drop the ball the next. To explain, we had three major snow storms up here. Two of them were bad enough for MSP to completely shut down, forcing any inbound flight to divert until the weather cleared. Sun Country, on both occasions, attempted to make landings despite the conditions, only for the control tower to force them to divert to other airports. However, on the second occasion, the decision was made early enough to force Sun Country to cancel flights from three Mexican Airports... and then immediately turn around and tell the passengers:
“These were our last flights for the season, so we do not have another flight to re-accommodate passengers on. You will receive a full refund...Flights will need to be purchased on another carrier. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”

You read that right. Sun Country told their own customers to find another way home. And if any of you have had to book a last-minute international flight, you know how expensive that can get in a hurry. To add insult to injury, United Airlines had a bunch of stranded passengers in MSP, and routed two of their 757s to MSP to pick up the extra slack (These aircraft normally don't make such a trip). Spirit even got in on the action by releasing a quick radio advertisement telling Minnesotans that they wouldn't leave them stranded.

As for how this all affects me... Part of Jude Brickers plan to cut costs, was to find a new company to do the work. And just who did they pick? Some tiny Canadian company that has 1/8 of the resources Swissport does, and said they'd do the job for half of the cost. This new company, called NavStar if you're curious, was forced by the Metropolitan Airport Commission to hire on as many of the existing staff as possible before they could hire anyone 'off the street'. And they did at least start doing that... only to drop the ball right after the serve. For starters, they won't tell anyone what they want them to do for the next step in the hiring process, and second, they won't offer anyone anywhere near the hours or compensation required. Finally, their equipment is a joke. Sure, it's all new stuff, but none of it is... well... sturdy. It's clearly bought on the cheap, and meant to maximise profit and minimize cost. Buying new is admittedly a good move for that... but you should buy stuff that's also dependable, and will do the job required. I have my doubts any of the gear they got will do. And finally, their training is a joke. A few days of classroom, a day or two of familiarization, and out to the ramp with you. Yeah, I can smell the OSHA, FAA, and NTSB investigations now...

None of this gave me warm fuzzy feelings, and I decided that since they weren't getting back to me, and since I'd have better luck contacting them with smoke signals, that I better start look into getting a job elsewhere. Many of jobs I've applied to have yet to get back to me (even a transfer over to fueling), and sadly, this means that I am going to be unemployed for some time until one of these companies get back to me. Fortunately, I should qualify for unemployment this time around, so at least I won't be starving for money like I was when I first took the job at Swissport (for those wondering, I was denied unemployment after DGS). But it's just not going to be enough.

Currently, there is a YCH in the making, and it will be exclusive to FA due to its content, but I'm sure you guys will enjoy it once it's ready. As an alternative. I am also planning a new innovative product line that deals with Aviation. I won't go into details here, but it has garnered some interest amongst my telegram and discord chats.

Finally, I've decided that my main store page should have a 'donation' option. This option will allow those who just want to help out, but don't really want any art. I know there are already many sites out there that deal with this sort of thing, but I figured that I should at least have one such option on my store, just in case (kinda like those donation/tip jars you see at some places). If you just want to donate, you can do so here: https://squareup.com/store/dragon-d...../item/donation

Anyway... I know I came across as highly anti-Sun Country... and to be very honest... that was the intent. I do not approve of their practices, and I don't like the direction they're going. They need to be bought out by a more responsible airline who will put the passengers first, and Sun Country just doesn't do that. So I urge any of you planning to fly. If Sun Country flys to your airport, do not choose them. Choose Delta, American, Southwest, or United. They fly everywhere. Their aircraft are in good working order. And more importantly, they do actually care about you, and will get you where you want to go come hell or high water.

That's all for now. Tank out.