And we thought Rush organized "Operation Chaos"!!

This is beginning to seem like a comedy of errors. I think the best thing for the union and the company to do is to communicate clearly the lay of the land and show their cards, what the company's plans are if there is an excess in HKG....how many can expect to go, etc, how they will handle it...and what the union's position is......otherwise, without a specific effort to untie the knot, the situation is going to get worse if we take this bird's nest tangle and keep shaking it in the hopes it will work its way out.

I see us (crewmembers, union, management) all being distracted by training letters, adjusted/cancelled bids, passover issues, FDA openings/closings, aircraft acquisition and fuel prices for the forseeable future. Too many moving parts in my opinion. Though the unpredictable future of those in the crew force are of really little concern from the share holder/bean counter standpoint, the effect will eventually come home to roost in the form of increased training costs, negotiating with foreign governments regarding domicile size, location of crewmembers and other commitments as well as the time, effort, and lack of specificity of redoing and undoing all the chaos.

Eventually, some items of specificity such as manning, training, etc will have to be pinned down so the long term plans the company has won't suffer. If some of us are uncertain of what the future holds, I imagine some of the managers responsible for implementation of this mess are probably having a few sleepless nights as well. When the higher-ups see the time line (the one they are held responsible for) move significantly right, then and only then will they start putting things in writing. It was the same when we inked our contract. Conditions got to the point where it was time to settle. I don't think we are there yet, but it has to be close.

I think the excess bid now is the first attempt to do that. If it works, it would be the cheapest and most painless (for the company) option to deal with the situation. Bids are cheap if you can keep redoing them and practicing till you get it right. That's why there are so many practice bids lately. If the crew force all bids HKG CA or MEM MD-11, then there is a problem. From the companies perspective, it doesn't hurt to try, and if it works, so much the better. If not, then it'd be time to put the LOA back on the fire and season it a little better.....stop the press and start from scratch.

Since the passage of the LOA, I have said that the only way the LOA will be improved is if some impediment to implementation occurs (either actual or perceived). Could it be that with the cancellation of Paris, and the age 60 fiasco, it can now go back and re-negotiate an LOA specifically for HKG without losing face? Perhaps.....and maybe once that is approved specifically for HKG, then "conditions will have changed once again" and Paris will be back on and will require a new LOA because the HKG LOA is not appropriate for Paris.

I hope to be wrong on all counts and that it will all work out fine, no one will be negatively affected and the company will be financially secure till long after my lifetime. Just my musings. Time to be observant and wait it out. Down Periscope.

 

I think the "right thing to do" is only used in special cases... chaos in the crew force isn't all that special is it?