AirTran management picks up Spirit scraps
 

From the AAI message board blast email / message to airtran pilots:


And so it begins. Looks as if AirTran management plans to steal some customer loyalty and make some money in the process.


I hope this is a wakeup call for Spirit management. Act fast, or other airlines will.

So, for us ignorant folks.....

Understanding that the MECs have approved this, why is this not "struck work"?

because Spirit recieves no financial gian from the flight. Any flight operated for Spirit is struck work. This was operated for AT, with no financial connection to Spirit. If a company wants to go out and operate their own flights for their own profit along Spirits routes that is ok, and is the direct result of the stupidity of spirit mgmt.

From my understanding, it's a way for the Spirit MEC to put pressure on management.

By allowing other airlines to pick up the routes, Spirit risks losing MORE business the more they delay giving the pilots a contract and getting back to work.

Bringin' the heat. Nice job Spirit MEC.

Not sure this is from the MEC of Spirit. Scroll down to highlighted.
As Spirit Airlines strike drags on, pilots negotiate and passengers wait

June 14, 2010|By Sara K. Clarke, Orlando Sentinel
Spirit Airlines canceled more flights this week because of a pilots' strike, though the two sides have been called back to the bargaining table as stranded passengers continued scrambling to find alternative routes home.
At Orlando International Airport, a steady stream of travelers lined up at the Spirit check-in counter Monday, though few reported getting much help. Other passengers, aware of the problem ahead of time, said they had rebooked themselves on other airlines at their own expense.
"We figured over the weekend nothing would get resolved," said Diane Desrosiers, who heard about the strike from another passenger on the flight into Orlando on Friday and booked return tickets on JetBlue Airways for $149 each. "We knew ahead of time. We were proactive."

Spirit's pilots said Monday afternoon they had been called back to the negotiating table by the National Mediation Board, offering stranded passengers a glimmer of hope.
Orlando-based AirTran Airways, another low-cost carrier that said it has an agreement with Spirit to offer assistance whenever possible, added a last-minute flight from Orlando to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Monday. That flight quickly filled up, with some passengers paying as much at $444 for a one-way ticket.
AirTran said it was considering adding another San Juan flight today. A spokesman said the airline's flights used a tiered-pricing system that raise the price as demand rises and seats become scarce.
Rosa Hernandez and her husband, Jose Santana, paid $2,888 Monday for six one-way tickets on AirTran. The couple had driven up from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Spirit's home base, in hopes of finding a way home to Puerto Rico. Their original fare on Spirit: $134 a person.
"We're going first class [on AirTran] because they're all sold out," Hernandez said in Spanish.
Spirit's planes have been grounded since early Saturday, when the airline's pilots walked out after failed contract negotiations. Despite initial vows to keep flying, the discount carrier has been forced to cancel flights at least through Wednesday.
Spirit carries about 16,000 passengers on an average day. Of those, about 1,100 fly out of OIA, where Spirit accounts for only about 2 percent of all passenger traffic

ass to that the fact that passengers inconvenienced by having their flights canceled with no ability to rebook on other carriers will more than likely never give their $9 to Spirit ever again.

YouTube - Spirit Pilots' Strike Forces More Cancellations

Got a kick out of the lady at that end;
"For me, it's unfair for me, you know the passenger because I no agree wit the amount they ax them. Because now the economy is in bad sape"

I get special little warm feeling in my heart with that little gem of an excuse.
Just goes hand in hand with the ongoing undeserved sense of self-entitlement that passengers get when paying $9 for a seat.

I'm guessing that Spirit, like many other carriers has some sort of inter-airline agreement to carry passengers that are displaced due to mechanical failure, overbooking, etc. Airline A (Spirit) cancels the flight and redirects reservations to Airline B (Air Tran). Airline A ends up losing the revenue (or at least part of it) and pays airline B to carry their passengers.

The nature of the agreement means that this wouldn't be struck work since Spirit has no financial gain during the process. Air Tran would be the whole beneficiary.

If the strike is prolonged (IE into the next revenue planning cycle), expect to see other carriers increase their capacity along the routes overlap the segments that Spirit served. The other airlines will do all they can to gain Spirit's market share.

I believe that if a carrier already flys the route then it's not struck work. But if we ADD FLL to anywhere Spirit flys, then that is struck work.

Good job noticing the added flight in the first place and making sure it's right!

this is taken from spirits contract of carriage under section 7 regarding delayed and cancled flights

7.2. Rebooking

When a customer holding a confirmed reservation on a flight will be delayed because of a schedule
irregularity (including but not limited to, a missed connection, flight cancellation, omission of a
scheduled stop, substitution of equipment, a different class of service or schedule change), Spirit will
rebook the customer on Spirit's first available flight on which seats are available to the customer's
destination without additional charge.

Spirit will not reimburse customers for flights that they take on other carriers.

I dont think they are offering any sort of help to their passengers.

This doesn't make any sense. To me, Spirit would have to make money from the added flight. At some point, SOMEONE is going to move in and take over that stuff. As long as Spirit doesn't recieve any compensation from it, then it isn't struck work.

You're probably right on both points. I'll let the MEC's hash it out! And keep an eye out for new flight numbers!

When a competing airline takes over a struck airline's routes, that isn't scabbing - its capitalism. The revenue generated goes entirely to Airtran at Spirit's expense. Airtran has every right to start flying those routes and would be foolish not to. As someone said earlier, it also puts pressure on Spirit's management to end the strike and give their pilots the fair contract they deserve.

Or a wake up call to Spirit pilots that their customers are going out the door, along with their revenue, and if it keeps up, management may not have much of a raise to give.

I'm all for better pay and benefits, but striking is just not the way to do it. Look what happened the last time we had a union strike in aviation. Or even the last time we had a pilots strike... look what it got them.

Don't bite the hand that feeds you

Don't shoot yourself in the foot thinking you'll be better off after

One only needs to look at the Spirit MEC's resolution and how THEY defined what struck work would be. They spelled it out and decided what would constitute struck work in their eyes.

If you go back and read it, the resolution or statement or whatever you call it ALLOWS other carriers to come in with extra sections and earn revenue for THAT carrier's company as long as Spirit receives no revenue or financial gain from the operation being conducted. The new airline steals the passengers and the money right from Spirit's coffers.

oh boy...
 

Oh boy...here we go....

This has to to be flame bait...but on the off chance it isn't...I would like to ask:

How, iahflyr, do you suggest we try and improve our situation? With the RLA...there is ZERO leverage we have as pilots. The only real legal threat we have is a strike.

I work for Airtran, I will tell you this: If you think that you can actually sit down at a table and have them negotiate in good faith you are sadly mistaken. I can't speak to the guys at Spirit...but we are 9 years into a 4 year contract....that was a concession to keep this place afloat after 9/11. So, I'm curious as to how you would handle this situation. What is the line in the sand? How do you communicate with a company that knowingly violates a CBA day in and day out, refuses to negotiate in good faith, has the executives taking 30% pay increases on the one hand...then talking about how the company is still hurting with fuel...? What are the other legal avenues that work?

To the guys at NKS...I wish you all the best and I hope you all go back to work soon with a kick a$$ new contract!

Spirit's business model all along is to take unsuspecting passengers and hold them up by their ankles until all the change has fallen out of their pockets. They aren't concerned with repeat business. They nickel and dime the passengers, whom only fly a few times a year anyway, into paying more than they think they're paying for air travel. I don't think Spirit is worried about the folks they're stranding. There will be plenty, plenty more ready to sign up after the strike is over for $9 fares.

The MEC's *DID* communicate, before this flight ever left the ground, both MEC's agreed it was not struck work, the AirTran pilots were in constant communication with the AirTran MEC about it to make CERTAIN it wasn't struck work, and as long as those provisions were followed, it seems cut and dry to me.

As far as iahflyr goes. yeah. I'm gonna have to call flame bait on that one too.

You have got to be effing kidding me, right? No really. I'd like an answer.

If striking isn't the way, then what do you recommend to the pilots at Spirit who have been fighting for a contract for over 4 years?

So I take it in the first post that you didn't mean "steal" in a bad sense then?

USMCFLYR

Maybe he would suggest you just say "Please sir, I want some more"

YouTube - oliver twist - oliver asks for more

"Bad" is a relative term... Of course it's bad from Spirit management's POV to have passengers stolen by AirTran... That's why it helps the pilots - management needs bad things to happen to be motivated to offer the pilots a contract that is worthy of them.

I initially took the quote as the poster was angry at AirTran for 'stealing' the flying. Later it appeared that the same poster was saying that it was a good thing because it puts that pressure on Spirit's management team for loss of revenue and market share.
I just wanted to make sure that I understood the initial *intent* behind the first post. If I hear someone talking about stealing from someone else - it is usually thought of in a negative light (unless you got a 'steal' on that new car :))
I'm just learning this union speak too, but from what I have read (and believe I understand) this would NOT be struck work - obviously since it has the blessing of the Spirit MEC.

USMCFLYR

So iahflyr,

Are you a management sympathiser or just a SCAB wannabe? Seriously dude, where's your head at? Are you a Major pilot or a Regional jock? Creds mean a lot.

bot

For the love of Orville and Wilbur, please don't feed the trolls.

EXACTLY! Well stated

Agreed, good post.