Qotsaautopilot

We at spirit are planning on protecting against the possibility of that codeshare.

Gunga Din

United is one Carl Ichan away from the same fate as TWA. In fact all our airlines are. However, UA has historically been the worst managed legacy with more boom bust cycles than others.
Lots of evolving threats these days and I think it's silly to be so sure about any airlines future.
As far as the ULCC sticking to less than 10% of the market, just look at your own example of Ryann Air. It's now the largest airline in Europe.
If we are going to keep wages high in this country we can't be cavalier about the threat NIA poses. And legacy pilots should be pulling for NK and JB to get great contracts.

DG1000

X2; As a former 737 ex-pat worker what they're offering is peanuts compared to what's out there. On the 737 side I think they'll have a hard time getting enough applicants that fit their requirements.

rickair7777

Several things...

-The sub couldn't be terminated on that basis alone. It would have to be for other causes, contract expired, didn't win bid, poor performance.
-Transition costs and disruption
-Loss of corporate knowledge
-The fact that the next subcontractor could and probably would unionize as well
- Flight attendants don't make that much anyway and none of them make much more than when they started. They certainly don't go from $20K to $300K. They're simply not goping to save that much by going through the Chinese fire drill of replacing them, especially since they'd have to do it every five years or so.

While pilots in that situation would be inclined to stick it out to the end (see COMAIR), many or most FA's would go find other jobs asap, probably leading to cancellations. Assuming these are American workers, vice third country nationals chained to the oar by H1B visas.

Hopefully nobody in DC is going to be giving these idiots H1B's.

galaxy flyer

WN wasn't always "the best US carrier"; at one time it was looked at as NK or JB is today. EA's MEC was challenged to meet WN labor costs.

GF

NMuir

Probably the most intelligent post on the subject ever.

Dave Fitzgerald

My prediction: They are promising to hire 50% US national pilots. With those pay rates, they won't get enough pilots. So, they "tried." Now they will have to hire foreign nationals to fill the schedule. Oh well.

Car Ramrod

I knew someone would challenge that comment. If you turned 65 tomorrow and you could go back 30 years and choose where you work. Where would that be? Where would you want to work in 1987? I would chose southwest.

galaxy flyer

Car Ramrod,

Yes, true, looking back, but you can't do that. In 1987, WN was down many pilots' list of airlines. AA, DL were first choices, followed by UA after the strike, then some of the now-merged legacies--WA (merged with DL in '87), AK, and perhaps WN. CO was a train wreck. FDX was a night operation, UPS an unknown. No RJs, so that was a future problem.

GF

NMuir

Really? Because last time I checked there weren't enough foreign nationals to go around either.