I can’t believe no one’s brought up not negotiating in public?

 

As if it even matters? It's like rearranging the chairs on the Titanic at this point.

 

This is how it goes down. Fewer hours, no furloughs. A few months come by, company comes back after paying everyone fewer hours and says we need to furlough again or we need more from the pilot group.

This isn't just an American problem. All the legacies are reading from the same playbook.

 

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I agree with you. I think all the carriers are going to try to level us down a bit

 

FWIW, the ORD CA rep on the zoom call last night seemed to be of the opinion that reduced ALVs is pretty much the same thing as VSTLOAs. Therefore, he doesn't want to support it. I personally disagree with that view.

Reduced ALVs would give pilots greater flexibility with their schedules. Those who want to fly more are able to pick up open time and/or trade into higher time trips. As flying picks up over the next year, ALVs will have to increase organically to keep up with demand. So it's basically letting our line values fluctuate with market forces, all the while not forcing anyone to fly 80+ hours a month if they don't want to.

Not to mention the cost savings to the company, and therefore the possibility of avoiding furloughs. If anyone else agrees I suggest sending soundoffs and an email to the negotiating committee expressing your view points.

 

Yeah but don't forget the company still has to pay for health insurance for the average family of 4, plus 401k, etc. Having reduced line values but keeping more pilots on payroll just makes each pilot more expensive on a per hour flown basis.

Gary Kelly was quoted today that he doesn't expect the industry to recover for 5 to 10 years. At that duration, unfortunately, it doesn't make sense not to furlough.

 

The fact of the matter is, nobody, not even an airline CEO should play Nostradamus with “predictions”. We live in an era where last month was completely different from this month, and next month may bring better news (or worse). There is no way Gary Kelly can predict 5-10 years aside from a crapshoot.

The only way I see us preventing furloughs has very little to do with the NC and everything to do with congress extending the CARES act and bailout funds for the airlines an addtl. 6 months, hoping that by March 2021 things start picking back up after a vaccine comes out (hopefully) by the end of the year or shortly thereafter.

 

Recovery isn’t projected to begin until 8-12 months after a vaccine is available. Without a government lifeline this whole industry very well may collapse.

 

His quote on that 5-10 year timeline was in regards to business travel.