AE award is out. Junior Captain nearly reached 10,000

If the vacation you were trying to use was in the current month then they won't let you use it. It has to be unused vacation in future months. I don't get why other than it messes with their coverage. I've used future vacation before and had no problems. Just takes some time to get everyone to work it out.

Thanks for posting that.

I suppose Mike could have used a different image to make his point than a hypothetical future contract, with this one looming. This is even more true in the sense that our company and the company's survival will go hand-in-hand, so this would not represent one side getting the upper hand at the negotiating table.

It's true that our airlines are facing a clear problem, the solution to which is not evident yet. It's also pretty clear that labor concessions will not be the solution, because it will only exacerbate the differences in service. Facing the ME carriers will require a highly motivated workforce, high levels of service, innovative thinking by management, and some serious joint lobbying. Their advantages are geographic (especially vs. European and Asian carriers), regulatory (backing of their government), and financial (backing of their government, our own government, and aircraft manufacturers).

As such, I think Mike is right that 2019 will be yet another fight for survival by the airlines, but I don't think it will have anything to do with any contract. Qantas employees could give, and give, and give until they bleed, but it will not overcome the advantages enjoyed by the ME carriers.

All in all, forward thinking on Mike's topic (maybe too forward, really), but marginal choice to use the "C2019" image. Not much to see here in terms of C2015, however.

What we have going for us vis a vis the ME carriers is someday the Sheiks and Princes and Sultans won't be able to throw enough money at their pet tiger called ISIS/Al Qaeda/Hamas/Hezbollah. The Islamists already hate the Saudi Royals and the Emeratis won't be far behind in the line to the beheading stone.

That's why we should stay the hell out of it and let them kill each other off.

I tend to agree with you, satch.

We HAVE to hardcore oppose cabotage in the states just in case.

Excellent post.

For those of us with a few decades left this is the biggest threat. It transcends industry cycles and contracts. There is a fundamental change in the global environment and I think Mike's point was to try to shake us up a little bit and see the threat for what it is.

Have I made a PAC recruiting post lately?? In DC money talks, and the ME carriers haven't been shy about tossing it around. IMO, our govt affairs guys are the best hope we have of keeping our politicians from selling us out.

And only a small percentage donate to PAC and participate in the call to actions. We will only have ourselves to blame if things come crumbling down and all of this doom and gloom talk comes to fruition.

ISIS is 8 miles away from taking Baghdad Airport. That's going well.

No. I was looking for an honest answer to my questions. I gave him the reality of the situation and asked him to reconcile his statement with that. The lack of response tells me that he didn't really mean what he said about "the best contract in airline history"... he's just throwing out a platitude in a feeble attempt to rally the troops.

I wrote my reps with the same questions. All they would do is agree with what Donatelli said in his Chairman's Letter but without really answering my questions... i.e. they would not or could not reconcile his statement with reality.

Not in my case... the first request was to move a "future" vacation into a "current" month... The second request was to move "current" vacation in "current" month. Was specifically told "no moving of vacations outside that provided in the contract." Period. (i.e. vacation move-ups or slides only.) Seems things have changed (at least as of last month).