Well it is a well kept secret but yes the Marines are part of the Navy. The official Marine Corps emblem even says Department of the Navy I believe. Since I spent 4 of 7.5 years on Navy bases I was reminded of this often by my Navy brethren.

 

Well Tiller how do you explain a recent article in the WSJ that says a Frontier reservation center is being closed in New Mexico and Denver based mechanics are being displaced? It also has been mentioned that personnel who overlap at cities are being eliminated because of "synergies." If you are forced to move and don't isn't that like losing your job?

You can say that SWA was outbid all you want but when RAH has a market cap of 310 million and SWA's is 6.5 billion one might conclude that SWA didn't find the value worth the fight.

The job losses by YX alone are pretty significant especially to those intimately involved. I certainly hope that those flying the old YX routes didn't volunteer but were forced to by management. One thing is quite apparent, the job of melding all the different employee groups at the new RAH will be interesting to watch. Pull it off with a cohesive employee group focused on competing effectively and you will have my congrats. I won't be holding my breath though.

The Oscar

 

The Marines are in fact a department of the Navy.

The Men's Department.

 

So, you point out to me that a reservation center is closing in New Mexico? This is a company coming out of bankruptcy...as you are aware. Don't you think that changes will have to be made so this doesn't happen again? I fully support these necessary displacements if it means that F9 can succeed in the future and continue to make money post bankruptcy.

The next few months will be interesting and I expect all sides to be ****ed. A successful integration will be when everyone feels like they got screwed in someway.

 

Haven't seen anyone at RAH complaining about what happened to Midwest :/

 

It was a rhetorical question, that usually results in having a beer bottle broken over the questioner's head.

 

My point Tiller, is that whether RAH won the bid or SWA had there were probably going to be job losses one way or the other. You seem to think that SWA would have booted everyone while RAH is some sort of white knight coming to the rescue of Frontier. I would be willing to wager that the given the history of employee relations at SWA as compared to RAH that those being displaced if SWA had "won" would have had a better chance at a position with SWA. While the scenario involving SWA may never be proven I know given my over 30 years of association with SWA how they treat their people. You can argue with me on that point but I will wait and see how RAH treats the Frontier folks who are being displaced or having their jobs eliminated.

I do however agree with your last sentence in that if pain is not felt by all it was not a successful integration. That is why if time had been allowed for FAPA and SWAPA to negotiate a "realistic" integration agreement the "pain" would have been spread more fairly instead of the unreasonable positions that each union started with. All of this as far as SWA is concerned is rather moot. However, RAH is now in a position to be observed and of course critiqued on every aspect of their integration with Frontier. I personally am more interested in how "all" of the former Midwest folks are treated. That and how the RAH folks fight to make it right will be very telling.

The Oscar

 

Fair enough. The jobs I was referring to being lost were non flying jobs with Frontier, which would have been almost all of the ground/behind the scenes jobs in DEN...along with the flying jobs, which I also believe would have been a lot. GK stated that he expected SWA to grow by about 10% with the purchase of F9. If that was true, that's a lot of pilots and F/A's on the street.

I personally want nothing but a fair integration with the Midwest group. To be honest, it's getting harder and harder for that desire as the name slinging gets tossed around and the personal attacks get very personal. It made sense to me to attempt to do all the integration meetings together, which will be starting in 3 days, but apparently others don't feel that way. We're protecting ourselves as well and this was the best way. We're 2000 before the purchases and over 3000 afterwards...it's nothing to take lightly and do quickly. Maybe I need to stay off the boards until the crap is sorted out.

 

Not trying to start anything and I realize it is not up to either of us, but just curious what you consider fair?


In my eyes, it's very simple. Take every body's entire list, and ratio them together. Nobody gets bumped from seat or base. Some fences in until all pilots off street, then bid where ever you want to go or fly. Every one shares some pain and every one has some thing to look forward to. Working together to make some decent wages again in this industry!

 

Way too late for that Q!

FAPA has thrown their membership to the desires of RAH (Which FAPA says their membership wanted).

All we can do at this point is watch the blender and see who gets 'thrown out'. At this point, MidWest guys are stuck to the wall and sliding into the abyss. Next will be the Frontier guys (unless they want to work for RAH wages). All while management rakes in the MONEY.

We're all in the same 'kitchen' hoping we come out near the top knowing that the chef's are in control.