Originally Posted by CaptainDooley

It is anyone's guess right now how bad this current situation will hit all the airlines.

However, you can learn something from the past.


When 911 happened I was a new hire at United and 44 from the bottom.

Those of us at the bottom knew we would be furloughed, because traffic dropped drastically

The first thing that the Company did was ground all the 727's because they were in the process of being phased out anyway.

Well that was about 80 airplanes. If you reduce your fleet by 80 airplanes and even if your loads stay the same ( they will not), well you don't need the pilots you had to fly those 80 airplanes.

So the first furlough was 844 on Oct 15, 2001. Pretty close to the staffing for 80 airplanes


For those of you that did not live through it, what happen next was a giant .displacement bid. I was already on the street but from what I remember there were 3 different bids before it all settled out.

Then came more furloughs as they got a handle on what traffic levels would be and what the total number of airplanes in the fleet were left. The did the furloughs in phases, but in the end 2172 were furloughed out of about 11,000. It went 5 years into the seniority list.


So you don't know what the numbers will be today, but you can bet the process will be similar. If I was there today I would be looking at how many airplanes are being grounded.The staffing level of those airplanes will be close to the first furlough.


I know what those of you near the bottom are feeling, ( I also went though the Aloha BK several years later.)

After the shock wears off, start thinking about what you will do. You are a little fortunate that you have til Sept before anything can happen because of the restrictions of the relief money. So it gives you some times to make plans. I know that is not much consolation, but trust me it is better than landing in Hawaii and finding out your Company is shutting down the next day, ( yes that really happened)