drinksonme

not sure who you work for, or if you even are a pilot, but I am way more proud of how AA has handled this particular situation as opposed to UAL and DAL. UAL literally cancelled a class just a few days before it was suppose to start. That means all those pilots were left hanging cause they probably had already left/resigned from their previous employer (classy). Then UAL sent out a 4000+ displacement announcement (leverage grenade for concessions). DAL is doing the same, making sure to infest fear throughout their pilot group and trying to capitalize on a unnecessary downturn. DAL is taking this as an opportunity to gut profit sharing and all the other pilot group weighted items in the contract. AND BOTH OF THEM OFFERED GARBAGE LEAVE OF ABSENCE AND EARLY OUT DEALS COMPARED TO AA, NOT EVEN CLOSE!

So yeah we are proud AA has at least TRIED and NOT EXPLOITED this made up crisis. They are extending a lot more good will and partnering than the supposed best (DAL) and UAL. Maybe it doesn’t work out, maybe it does, but at least they tried. Definitely trying to build a bridge unlike the others. AND SWA has an offer coming out soon on LOA’s and Early-outs. It’s far beyond what UAL and DAL did, but still NOT as good as AA’s.

C5Drvr

Your characterization is off the mark. They didn’t “FORCE” anyone to make a choice. They made a decision to not have the classroom portion of training 2 days prior to the start date, the Sunday night before a Monday travel day, Tuesday class. Everyone had already made their choices. AA could have easily not brought the class on board at no cost to itself, but at great personal cost to those who had already resigned from previous employers/separated from the military. AA chose people over the company. And they did this before the CARES Act when they thought that the cost would come out of their pocket. Since then, the have offered voluntary personal leaves to anyone in the class that wants fly elsewhere while they await training (that has to be approved by the VP of flight ops and was) and for any military to take mil leave and even revoke retirement or return to active duty.


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Flying101

YeAA! You tell him!!

texaspilot76

Reinstating the new hire class is a good sign. I seriously doubt they would invest the time and resources if they anticipated having to put them back out on the street in October. It wouldn’t make sense to train them if they thought that would be the case.

rcflying53

Even if they get furloughed, running this class through training is pretty beneficial to them personally. It at least gives those guys and gals a free 737 or 320 type rating. Seems like a pretty generous deal by the company that could’ve just kept them on the sidelines with nothing to show come October 1.

We may very well furlough, go bankrupt, shutdown, or all the above. But, kudos to the company for taking care of our fellow pilots.

Al Czervik

Yeah. I think buying extra pens is a no right now.

WhiskeyDelta

At least get some facts to back up your hyperbole.

Delta has not so much as touched profit sharing let alone “gut”ted it. It’s in our contract. Neither have they offered a pilot-only early out program. Ours should be out next week. Delta knows AA set the market on this. If they are in real need of a good ERP they’ll make it worth it to take.

nootpilot

No such good news at AAG HQ today...

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT

May 27, 2020

Management and support staff (MSS) team:
Since the start of this pandemic, each day has brought a new challenge. Our team has tackled every obstacle with incredible tenacity while staying true to our mission to care for people on life’s journey. While navigating this pandemic, we are committed to three goals:
1. Ensuring adequate cash to weather the downturn;
2. Reducing our cash burn by removing as much expense as possible; and
3. Restoring confidence in air travel.
Although our pre-pandemic liquidity, the significant financial assistance provided by the government, and the cash we’ve raised in the capital markets provide a foundation for stability, we need to reduce our cost structure, including our most significant expense - the cost of compensation and benefits. And we must plan for operating a smaller airline for the foreseeable future.
We have already taken steps to prepare for this new reality, with nearly 39,000 team members electing to take a voluntary leave or early retirement. Fleet retirement accelerations are underway, and we will fly roughly 100 fewer aircraft next summer - mostly widebodies - than we had originally planned. Additionally, running a smaller airline means we will need a management and support staff team that is roughly 30% leaner.
A more efficient leadership team begins at the top, and we are restructuring all levels around key future leaders and functions, beginning with our officer team. We will announce a reorganized officer team soon, and those leaders will be restructuring at the next levels shortly thereafter.
In addition to the plans to reduce our MSS team by 30%, we are also announcing other cost-saving measures. These include:
• Suspending the 2020 MSS merit program;
• Requiring MSS to take 50% of their vacation by Sept. 30 and suspending the vacation rollover policy so that no unused vacation days roll
into 2021; and
• Canceling the 2020 L5 and above short-term incentive plan, which was scheduled to pay a portion of the target as a result of meeting
operational metrics.
As part of creating a more efficient management structure, we are opening a new voluntary early out program for MSS team members. Details can be found on Jetnet here, and the window to volunteer will remain open through the end of the day on June 10.
Once volunteers are known, leaders will then finalize the remainder of their go-forward MSS teams. If there are not enough early out volunteers, we will have to take the difficult step of involuntary separations. Those decisions will be communicated in July, though impacted team members will remain on payroll through Sept. 30, 2020, and will receive full pay and benefits through the expiration of the CARES Act Payroll Support Program. While no severance will be paid, in addition to full pay through September, we will also provide these team members with one year of D2R travel status as well as access to COBRA health coverage for 18 months. We offer this transparency and timing so those who may be impacted can make the best decision for themselves.
Once we ensure we have the right size and structure in place for our MSS team, we can begin the work for our frontline team, recognizing that we will be a smaller airline, with fewer routes and fewer flights. While we are still working through the details of our future schedule, we plan to open a new voluntary leave and early out program for frontline team members in June. We will have additional details on these programs in the coming weeks. As we have previously stated, our preferred outcome is to properly size our frontline team for the future without having to implement involuntary furloughs. This is a goal, though, not a commitment, and a stretch goal at that. We will be working with our unions in the weeks and months ahead in hopes of developing programs to facilitate that goal.
In difficult times it is even more important that we stay true to our purpose of caring for people on life’s journey, even when that journey is a very difficult one. There is no doubt this is going to be a painful time for all, especially for our departing colleagues, who have given American Airlines their all and are leaving through no fault of their own. They deserve our respect and gratitude. Most of all, they are owed our renewed commitment and our collective effort to return American to profitability and growth as quickly as possible.

Thank you,

iahflyr

A lot of people wonder why American is signaling no layoffs and plenty of cash to pay senior pilots 200k a year to sit at home, while United and Delta set up to be 30% smaller airlines. Is American really that different than United and Delta? The answer is no. They’re all in similar circumstances.

Just recently Doug Parker said American Airlines would never lose money again. I’m not saying anyone in aviation has a good crystal ball, just that Doug Parker’s crystal ball is horrifically bad. No doubt American will need to furlough in October 1.

Al Czervik

It has been long term knowledge that middle management needed to be trimmed at AA.