Originally Posted by
GolfKilo73
Wheels,
Your attempt to flame Green Banana is misplaced. As far as I can tell he was asking a simple question without malice. Additionally, I don't recall anyone ever blaming Virgin for Alaska's problems. In truth, though we are fighting to restore our pay from the third party arbitrated pay cut, things are going very well at Alaska.
Just because we don't blame VA for our problems doesn't mean we have to respect a bunch of pilots who are willing to lower the bar in this industry. Shrinking to profitability has never worked in this industry and the fact that VA is shrinking its capacity so soon doesn't bode well for you. I also find it amusing that VA is attempting to move into many of Southwest's markets.
Start looking for a job in about a year. How's that for a flame?
Flame on.
Quite frankly, not flying your max capacity during the midweek with oil what it is makes a whole lot of sense. We're going to be just fine. Our deliveries should continue through the end of the year and through 2009. People truly interested in Virgin will have the chance to do so before long. It's a great company. We have a solid group of investors that believe in the product and hopefully that will not change. Nothing if for certain of course.
As far as golfkilo goes... 1 - exactly what WN routes are you talking about?? Announcing o'hare and LAS-JFK is hardly WN style... 2 - I will make more money my first year at VX than I would at AS. I should make more money my first 5 years as well. After that, it will depend on our ability to build our airline into something successful. Financial success is what drives pay raises in the long run. 3 - Last I check 88% of AS pilots said it was a lousy place to work (albeit a couple year old figure). Personally I would not choose to switch shoes with a junior AS fo... yet I believe we have at least one previous AS fo here... hmmm.
You have a good company. You're fuel hedges will see you through the current hard times and hopefully AAG will sieze some opportunities that open up. I also wish you the best in success with retreiving what you lost with the $asher award... a truly brutal moment for any pilot to watch and I hope it served as a huge warning to any group considering mandatory arbitration. I still own a lot of stock over there and I consider myself fortunate that it hasn't tanked like some of the others... however, I don't need or care for your respect. Virgin was the right choice for my family and I as it was for the many very qualified pilots that work here.