Originally Posted by
duffrick
If you had any idea of what you were talking about you'd know that NWA was a consistently profitable airline before the Checci-Wilson leveraged buyout.
I don't blame the union for the way airlines are operating right now, I blame management almost entirely. It is the basic job of management to run a profitable operation. I agree that the "cobra" tenacity got them great pay in the pre 9/11 environment, but it seems that airline management/union battle is being played using different tactics now.
Originally Posted by
duffrick
The fact that NWA was considered the "Cobra Airline" due to its many strikes, has absolutely nothing to do with the NWA's bankruptcy filing.
Maybe that is true for NWA but I definitely see a correlation between UALs pilot tendencies/inflexibilities and their current state. When United pilots wanted a piece of the incredible profits that were being reported by UAL, the pilots began pulling back power and intentionally delaying flights causing huge amounts of missed connections that required re-accommodation and stress for the entire airline. Management gave in and the pilots got exactly what they wanted, INCREDIBLE PAY. Almost 350K for a senior 747-4 CA! Then when things started to go bad, UAL's insane labor costs contributed significantly,
BUT NOT SOLELY, to the unprofitability of the airline. Quite ironic that the new contract that the pilots thought would bring them better pay and QOL ultimately put their company in bankruptcy. Now the senior guys make around 180K with per diem & other extras
Like Duane Said, I think a politically savvy, slippery sneak is better equipped for this war than a "cobra".