Originally Posted by
benzoate
Industry standard is just that, industry standard. At Jetblue we pay more for a 190, not industry standard. At Jetblue, management points out that a 321 paying more is NOT industry standard. Convenience is the the key to industry standard for Jetblue. At Jetblue management lies about what vacation, pay, insurance and retirement is industry standard.
According to Jetblue:
Vacation IS industry standard but then it also CAN'T be industry standard because of scheduling practices. Pay is industry standard but then again Jetblue can't pay industry standard because of decreasing CASM. Meanwhile CASM is 28% according to the DOT and a full 18% higher than what Jetblue management claims. Insurance rates are increasing because of Obamacare even though Jetblue made it very clear during open enrollment in 2012 that the decision to gut the insurance was not affected by Obamacare but rather un-sustainability of providing industry standard health care for a self insured airline. Oh yeah, retirement is industry standard provided you put in a minimum 5% on your own.
Meanwhile the broken union/legacy models from Alaska to Delta have all the above and more AND a higher stock price, profit sharing, on time percentages. We have culture, free pizza and the DR.
Other than a rant, I'm not sure where you're going here. Do we want industry standard or do we NOT want industry standard? You've utterly confused me with your post.
Paying an override for the 321 is not something most other airlines do. So why are we even discussing it when we can't even get things those airlines already have? Going after an override on the 321 is a complete waste of whatever "negotiating" captial we have. As I said earlier, I'm sure Dave and the boys would love to be contrarian and give us the override at the expense of other industry standard practices such as insurance or retirement.
Also, I'm not a fan of saying we're different because we pay our 190 guys more than US Airways does. Just becuase it's made by Embraer doesn't mean it's a regional jet. It's more on par with routes flown by MD88s and DC9s, and that's what we should stick to rather than comparing it to other 190 operators (both of them). US Airways doesn't pay their Airbus guys what we do, but no one brings that up at every opportunity.....